The Second Annual Liveblogging the Oscars

6:49
My friends are here. We are finalizing our ballots (I am starting to feel Babel might win, but I am sticking with The Departed).
I am very excited about Ellen hosting. I love her stand-up and her talk show, so I think she will do a good job.

The Red Carpet Nonsense:
7:06
I don't like Chris Connelly.

7:14
Today there were tabloid pictures of Cameron Diaz toking up with Drew Barrymore. Just sayin'.

7:27
That purple-bedecked fashion guy was highly annoying. And he called Jennifer Hudson the "people's princess," several times. This nickname a) won't catch on, and b) is already taken.

The Show:
7:33
I like this opening bit. Highlights: Clint Eastwood, Eddie Murphy, Peter O'Toole, Alejandro González Iñárritu.

7:36
First thoughts:

• Ellen is wearing purple velvet. She wins already.
• My favorite lines: "We don't have time for boring speeches" and " . . . half a box of Chardonnay"
  
• Why is Screech sitting next to Peter O'Toole?
• I have always thought that the Oscars needed more gospel choirs.

7:45
First Award: Art Direction
And the winner is . . . Pan's Labyrinth. I picked it. 1/1

7:53
Max, Will Ferrell has stolen your hair. I suggest you sue for royalties. New highlight of the night: John C. Reilly singing "I chose to be in both Boogie and Talladega Nights."

7:57
Best Makeup
And the winner is . . . Pan's Labyrinth. 2/2
(I have not seen this yet, but it must be good--it beat Click in this award.)

8:00
Best Animated Short
(I have no idea about this. I guessed.)
And the winner is . . . The Danish Poet. Damn, I thought for sure The Little Matchgirl would win. Oh well. 2/3

Best Live Action Short
And the winner is . . . West Bank Story. This actually looks pretty cool, though I did not pick it. 2/4. I am failing.

8:13
OK, this Sound Effects Choir is awesome.

8:15
Best Sound Editing
And the winner is . . . Letters from Iwo Jima. I am glad this won. It is not what I picked. 2/5

Best Sound Mixing
And the winner is . . . Dreamgirls. Crap. 2/6
They are not going to let me get my degree.

8:21
(The first big award!)
Best Supporting Actor
And the winner is . . . What?!?! No Eddie Murphy? The first shock of the night. Well, I picked Eddie, but I am very happy that Alan Arkin won. I have always loved him, and he was brilliant in LMS. 2/7

8:26
"It's a cross between Goodfellas and Big Momma's House." I love Ellen.

8:37
Goddamn treehugging hippies. Go home, commies.
(That music cue was pretty funny though.)

8:43
Best Animated Feature
I did not see any of these, but everyone predicted either Cars or Monster House. And the winner is . . . Happy Feet. I suck. 2/8

8:52
More big awards . . . (PS. Helen Mirren looks great.)
Best Adapted Screenplay
And the winner is . . . The Departed. Woohoo! Finally, I got one right. (And the one I wanted to win, too.) 3/9

9:00
With one look, Meryl Streep can single-handedly save a terrible skit.

Best Costume Design
And the winner is . . . Marie Antoinette. I lost again, but I am glad this won (even though I have not seen it). 3/10

9:10
Ellen with Clint was quite enjoyable. I like that she gave Steven Spielberg tips on how to use the camera.

9:13
Best Cinematography
As I said in my predictions, Children of Men had some of the best cinematography I've seen in a long time. We'll see . . .
And the winner is . . . Pan's Labyrinth. Hmm . . . 3/11

9:20
Visual Effects
And the winner is . . . Pirates. Another win for me, though I did not like this film very much, it did have good special effects. 4/12

9:28
I am reminded of Jon Stewart's call for a "Salute to the Montage" from last year's show.

Best Foreign Language Film
And the winner is . . . The Lives of Others. Big surprise -- I thought Pan's Labyrinth would win. 4/13.
There are a lot of surprises tonight. Who knows what is in store . . .

9:34
Best Supporting Actress
If Jennifer Hudson does not win this, then all bets are off for the rest of the night.
And the winner is . . . Jennifer Hudson. 5/14

OK, she just said, "Thanks to everyone . . . for helping me keep the faith, even when I didn't believe." What does that mean?

9:43
Best Documentary Short
Yeah, I just guess on this one. And the winner is . . . The Blood of Yingzhou District. Guess whether I picked that . . . 5/15

9:45
Seinfeld just said "soda-welded." Sweet.

Best Documentary
OK, Hollywood liberals. Don't let me down . . .
And the winner is . . . An Inconvenient Truth. Awesome. I loved this important film, and I am glad it won. And I like the Gore renaissance. 6/16

9:55
First of all, Clint Eastwood must have been drunk.
Second, Morricone's score for The Mission is the best score of all time, as I mentioned once before.

10:08
Best Score
And the winner is . . . Babel. Excellent. This music was movie and beautiful. 7/17. (Hey, I got two in a row.)

10:12
Best Original Screenplay
And the winner is . . . Little Miss Sunshine! This screenplay truly deserved to win. I am very pleased with this award. 8/18

10:27
Nice singing, but it does not make me want to see the film any more. Jennifer Hudson was . . . filling out.

10:29
Best Original Song
And the winner is . . . Melissa Etheridge. Wow. This makes me happy. I liked this song and film, and I like her. But I picked one of those Dreamgirls songs, but who cares? The best song won. 8/19

10:41
(Too many montages . . .)
Film Editing
And the winner is . . . Thelma Shoonmaker for The Departed. OK, maybe this is a good sign for this film. I predicted Babel because of all of the story lines, but again, I am happy to lose. 8/20.

10:44
Time for the salute to dead people. Let us all reflect . . .
Seeing the actor from Cinema Paradiso in this tribute reminds me: if you have not seen Cinema Paradiso, do yourself a favor and rent it.

Now for the biggest awards . . .

10:52
Best Actress
(Again, this should be a lock. But who knows?)
And the winner is . . . Helen Mirren. Of course. The best performance by far. 9/21.

11:03
Best Actor
And the winner is . . . Forest Whitaker. Again, this was expected and deserved. Although Peter O'Toole would have given the best speech. 10/22

11:06 - But Forest Whitaker's speech was quite good.

11:07
Best Director
(Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please)
And the winner is . . . Martin Scorsese. Praise Jesus! (And the academy.) That makes me so happy. And the presenters sure make a powerful lot of people. 11/23

And the final award . . . It's like a mystery . . .
(By the way, Jack Nicholson bald = spectacular.)

11:13
Best Picture
And the winner is . . . The Departed!!! 12/24
I guess my pick here helps make up for my 50% score for the night. I am thrilled.

It was a good show. Not enough Ellen and too many clips, but enjoyable nonetheless. There were a few big surprises and some good laughs. And the best picture won Best Picture.