Philip Seymour Hoffman thanking his mom at the 78th Academy Awards was incredibly endearing. You'll notice that this clip, however, features another actor who died way before his time: Heath Ledger, who would've probably won the Oscar if Hoffman wasn't so amazing as Truman Capote.

Cate Blanchett won a SAG award last night (hooray!) for her performance as Blanche DuBois in Woody Allen Movie No. 463. She was understandably thrilled about winning, but not so thrilled about getting the hurry-it-along music after 29 seconds, especially since America's stoned older cousin who made us all watch A…

Okay, I want everyone to shout out the most exciting part of the Academy Awards on the count of three. 1...2...3...THE SPEECHES. What?! That is so crazy how we all shouted the exact same thing, but, on second thought, maybe it's not so crazy after all. I mean who doesn't like listening to a bunch of millionaires…

OK, we need to walk through what just happened. I think it was Jodie Foster refusing to come out as she came out, and then retiring. I think? I was crying, but I wasn't sure why, and then I was laughing, but I wasn't sure why. I think maybe Jodie Foster felt the same way. Also, she was possibly kinda drunk.

Here's a commencement speech by David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at a Massachusetts high school, who took the opportunity to remind his graduating seniors that they are, in fact, not at all special. "Climb the mountain not to plant your flag," he says. "But to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold…

Your gay BFF President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at the all-women's Barnard College today. During his speech, he encouraged the Class of 2012 to focus on their own personal improvement rather than the "beauty and fashion" obsessed pop culture that surrounds them, but added an important caveat:…

Even if you're not, say, the President of the United States, you may well be called upon at some point to give a speech or presentation before an audience. This can be super-stressful! Luckily, we've assembled some tips to help you wow anyone and everyone.

Amy Poehler's string of great speeches continues! This time, she tackles the fact that she's the first woman to win Variety's Power Of Comedy award (of course, she's only the award's second winner, as it started in 2010) by pitching some women-centric comedies to the networks that we actually might want to watch.…

At weddings, people with no public speaking experience — and no desire to have any — sometimes have to get up in front of a big group of people and say something moving, charming, and memorable. Unsurprisingly, this is stressful! But we have some tips to make it less so.

Let this impassioned speech by a kid who just became the champion of his neighborhood inspire you to learn something new today.

Last night Amy Poehler spoke to Harvard's graduating class of 2011 in a speech that was filled with personal life lessons, with Boston accents thrown in for good measure.

Kayla is a senior at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, California. Last week, during an all-school assembly on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Kayla came out as a lesbian to her peers. Here is her courageous, inspiring speech.

• Is Obama pulling inspiration from Going Rogue? Sarah Palin seems to think so. After his speech yesterday in Oslo, Palin said she recognized some familiar sentiments:

After Barack Obama's stunning, revelatory speech on race, many feminists wondered if Hillary Clinton could give a similarly rousing speech on gender. We already figured that Clinton wouldn't be the one to give such a speech, which is why we were so heartened to see that the Huffington Post is taking matters into its…