Attaboy’s to the principal IFP Spirit Awward nominees, i.e., those with three nominations or more. The big winner was Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale with six — Baumbach for Best Director and Best Screenplay, Jeff Daniels for Best Male Lead, Laura Linney for Best Female Lead, and Jesse Eisenberg (one of the more intriguing young actors out there as well as a very cool, sharp and thoughtful dude to shoot the shit with) for Best Supporting Male performance. Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, Bennett Miller’s Capote, George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck and Tommy Lee Jones’ The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada got four each. Congrats to Team Capote‘s Dan Futterman for his Best Screenplay nomination. And a hearty “good going” to Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco, Mark R. Harris, Don Cheadle, et., al. over Crash‘s being nominated for Best First Feature.