Sitting on the stage of Frank Gehry’s monumental Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen doesn’t look a day over 30. But the Finn will turn 50 this year and embark on his 17th season as music director of the LA Phil. And then he will turn the baton over to a conductor who makes everyone look old — Venezuelan star Gustavo Dudamel. When the “wunderkind” takes over in September 2009, he will be 28.

Salonen reminded the audience at his 2008-09 season presentation that this is a city that dares to be different. “What other city would do this kind of thing, give its orchestra to a completely unknown Finnish guy? The kind of tradition this city and organization has is the kind of risk-taking that pays off.”

Salonen himself is known as a risk-taker and has given young and obscure composers the limelight in Los Angeles during his reign. As he looked up at his orchestra from the stage on Thursday, he said his musicians had a “lack of fear…they have followed me to some strange places and come back out with me.”

Before he wraps up and heads to his next gig as principal conductor at the Philharmonia in London, Salonen warned he will be giving many more farewell speeches like this one. “There will be at least 25 more. Brace yourselves. Now that Fidel Castro is retiring, we need somebody who gives those four-hour speeches.”

Could Oscar shine his powerful beam on health care reform this year as he did last year on global warming? Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose documentary “Sicko” is nominated for an Academy Award, would like that.

“I think a number of people out here hope the film wins,” Moore said from Hollywood on a conference call with patients from his film. “They talk about ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ last year really putting the issue of global warming much more strongly on the political agenda. If that can happen Sunday with ‘Sicko’ — all the better.”

Moore says that Hollywood actually has quite good health care coverage. “I am a member of the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild and we actually have, as far as American insurance goes, pretty good insurance,” he said.

Moore says that the Hollywood movers and shakers he has encountered in what he called “Oscar week craziness” want to help him in his crusade for government-supported universal health care, like Canada’s system. His advice: use their influence with Democratic presidential contenders Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. “Please talk to them about this and get them on the right path. They are having nutty debates about who is going to mandate, how many people,” he tells the power players.

If Moore wins a second Oscar Sunday, he promises to have a safer acceptance speech than in 2003, when he was “booed off the stage” for coming out against the war in Iraq after winning best documentary for “Bowling for Columbine.”

“If I win, I am going to stick to thanking my stylist, my rolfer and my pedicurist and leave it at that.”

It was supposed to be a night to celebrate the work of documentary makers in Hollywood, including the 10 films nominated for Oscars in both the feature and short documentary categories. But the conversations at the International Documentary Association annual gala were pretty dark as many of the filmmakers talked about the tough subjects they broached, including young soldiers killed in Iraq and prisoners tortured in U.S. detention camps.

No one was more down, however, than Michael Moore, even though his film “Sicko” on the failures of U.S. healthcare has brought him his second Oscar nomination and new success at the box office.

“Not much shocks me in this country,” said Moore, who famously scolded President George W. Bush for taking the United States into war in Iraq when he won his first Oscar in 2003 for “Bowling for Columbine.” “The level of my disappointment is so profound, I don’t know how we’re going to crawl out of the hole we’ve dug ourselves in. I’m hoping we can do that — a lot of good people in this country, and I’ve got to believe that we’ll find our way.”

Moore wasn’t very generous about the 2008 presidential contenders either, though he did tell Reuters that “the two Democrats have many fine qualities.” He has not endorsed either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama.

“I think the American public has been so bruised and battered over these last eight years, they’re going to stagger into the voting booth in November, they’re going to look for whoever the Democrat is on the ballot, that’s who they are going to vote for and the Republican are going to be removed in a huge way.”

Asked if he was counting the days to January 2009, when the next president will take office, the burly Moore said: “The only thing I am counting now is calories … trying to be healthier.” With that, he patted his belly and worked his way through a crowd of faithful followers.

“Size was never an issue…” That’s what British filmmaker Chris Waitt said at the Sundance Film Festival last week where his documentary “A Complete History of My Sexual Failures“ was in competition. For his film, he embarked on a mission to learn why he kept getting dumped by girlfriends. What did he hear that was most disturbing?

“There were issues to do with my penis, sexual performance. The use of the penis was a recurring theme. For other people, it is a joke. But for me, I have had to try to address that issue.”

And many others, too. Waitt went out and interviewed five ex-girlfriends, out of the 30 he had originally targeted.  One was his girlfriend when he was 11, so she didn’t really count. Another talked via computer behind a screen, so neither her voice nor her face would be recognized. The consensus was that Waitt was lazy, chronically late and he had those darn performance issues.

But he also had a disgusting apartment, piled so high with junk that his mother — who is also sharply critical of her son in the film — comes over to move mountains of trash and clean the bathroom before he can invite a new woman over.

“I try dressing better, I wash a bit more, I’m cleaner. Personal hygiene came up and I am addressing that,” Waitt said.

Waitt said making the film had been a form of self-help. He has even become a beacon of hope for others in similar situations. Now that his movie is screening and his intimate secrets are on public display, Waitt said he’s going into hiding for a few months. Then, he plans to emerge a fresh man.

“I am hoping to just have a good successful relationship with someone,” he said. “I don’t really mind how the film does, just as long as my pain and my humiliation gives someone a little happiness will be fine.”