Jolie is nursing the mother of all hangovers today!  After meeting a dear producer friend for drinks in Santa Monica at classic local haunt Chez Jay, I briefly stopped by a friend’s party in Marina del Rey, then went to the Beverly Hills Hotel for the real action!  The Beverly Hills Hotel plays host to the annual Night of 100 Stars party, and a friend of mine somehow got us in at the last minute, albeit as the party was beginning to wind down.  (We don’t reveal our secrets…but Jedi mind tricks do seem to work remarkably well…)  When I was coming out of the bathroom, I nearly ran smack-dab into Gary Busey, who is…erm…interesting.

Later, on the patio, I was sitting at a table overlooking the gardens and drinking champagne (it all sounds so tragically glamorous, doesn’t it?) when I suddenly realized that the man I’d been sitting next to for the past hour was not only a famous producer and the son of agent Norby Walters, who hosts the Night of 100 Stars party, but that I had literally slept in his bed before!  (Before you go getting ideas, his old roommate is my friend, and I’d crashed in his empty bedroom before while in New York City.)  He then realized who I was, and told me he has my book and refers to it often.  It was a fun, surreal moment.  I spent the last hour of the evening talking shop with writer/actor Michael Boatman, from Spin City, and am now excited to check out his latest book.  He, meanwhile, recognized me from my Bare Minerals commercials — another Wowza moment.

If Milk had won Best Picture, I think it would have been an absolutely perfect night, but I’m happy that Sean Penn was recognized for his work, and that the sublime Kate Winslet finally won.  Some of my favorite photos below, and for gossip from inside the Vanity Fair Party at the Sunset Towers Hotel (as always, the hottest ticket in town), check out the Vanity Fair Twitter, here.

Taraji P. Henson in Roberto Cavalli

Madonna at Vanity Fair party at the Sunset Towers hotel

Saint Brangelina

Hilarious editing during Jennifer Aniston’s on-stage moment.  As the producers kept cutting between Jen and Angelina, the women near me were clucking about how wooden Jennifer seemed and how terrified she obviously was at being mere feet from Angie.  A man with them laughed and said, “Dude, I think you guys are projecting.  Jennifer Aniston doesn’t give a damn.”

Sean and Robin Wright Penn; if you haven’t seen Milk yet, run, don’t walk

Wonder what Teddy C. will have to say about Reese Witherspoon (looking fresh and fun!) and Jake Gyllenhaal…

I can’t wait to see 17 Again with Zac Efron (yes, I am a 12 year old girl), and I think Vanessa Hudgens looks pretty damn cute here…but something about these two does not sit right with me at all.  Jolie no likey.

Have you ever noticed that Diane Lane has the same less-than-super-flattering curly updo at every single awards show?  (And yet, she is still Goddess Divine gorgeous.  Love her.)

Meryl Streep: in a league of her own, and showing the kiddies what true class, beauty and talent is (oh, and what a woman’s face should actually look like free of fillers and away from knives!)

All photos from US Magazine