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Only slightly less joyful than discovering who's been tapped on the shoulder by Oscar's golden finger on nomination morning is reading the nominees' reactions. (We sometimes wish the snubbees were approached for comment, too, though processing endless sentiments along the lines of, "How do you think it feels? It sucks!" might drain some of the giddiness from the proceedings.) A round-up of some of the more memorable responses:
· Mark Wahlberg: "I was able to put my real-life experiences with the Boston Police to good use after all. After all the torture I have put [my parents] through, to know they cried happy tears today. I'll think about that for a while." [Variety]
· Al Gore returned to his robotic ways, saying he was "so grateful to the entire team and pleased that the Academy has recognized their work. This film proves that movies really can make a difference." [ABC/AP]
· Stephen Frears on the Achievement in Directing field: "If you get put in a list with those guys you've done pretty well.'' [Guardian/AP]
· Peter O'Toole closed his eyes, and, after a long pause in which he carefully formulated what he wanted to say, replied, "If you fail the first time, try, try, try, try, try, try, try again. Yoicks!" [USA Today]

· Meryl Streep was just thrilled not to receive a flaming bag of poo on her doorstep: "I am thrilled in a way that no one can possibly imagine. It's extraordinary that anyone in the actor's branch is even speaking to me, never mind nominating me yet again. I'm very, very grateful." [THR]
· Little Miss Sunshine writer Michael Arndt was in semi-disbelief, saying, "It's crazy. I was just thinking that exactly two years ago in January 2005, I gave up that this film would ever get made." Sunshine's success has earned Arndt a full-time writing gig at Pixar, where he's learning quickly of the pitfalls of succes, having been typecast as the resident VW bus specialist.