Oscar Live Blog 2011!

It's Oscar night. I'm home watching with my wife Emily and mother-in-law Barb. I'll be live blogging all night tonight, keeping track of the arrivals, the embarrassing moments, and, of course, the winners. I'll be going bottom up, with the most recent post here at the top.....

11:36

Picture: The King's Speech, of course we all knew by now. I was hoping for some kind of weird upset. This will go down as an OK pick for the Academy-not the best and not the worst. But as we heard from Spielberg, sometimes the nominees are even better than the winners. 19/24 for the evening. Not so bad overall, right?

-I loved the montage of the Best Picture nominees at the end.

-PS22-quite charming, and I liked the winners coming out at the end.

-That's all folks! Thanks for following throughout Oscar season. Keep reading my blog for updates throughout the year!

11:28

-Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan. She looks absolutely lovely. This is the sweetest and most touching speech I've seen her give-she's seemed a little cold the rest of awards season. 17/22

-Actor: Colin Firth, of course. "I have a feeling my career's just peaked." Great comment, and it could be true. He gives a nice charming speech. 18/23

-Thoughts on the ceremony. I've enjoyed James and Anne. The producers have also kept the ceremony quite tight with little filler. Still, it's lacked a certain drama. Maybe because the main categories have worked out as everyone thought...... I am excited for PS22 to sing!

11:10

-Celine Dion..... singing for the dead folks. This is always where I realize that I forgot certain people died.

-Director: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech. OK, I picked him but didn't want him to win. 16/21. I would have loved for Fincher to have won this (or, even better, Aronofsky). He did do a nice job though.

10:49

-Who ever thought Gwyneth would be called a "country music star"?

-Are these best song nominees particularly weak this year? Nothing even approaches "The Weary Kind" from last year.

-Best Song: We Belong Together. Got that one. 15/20.

10:37

-Billy Crystal-standing ovation? Why?

-Bob Hope quote: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Academy Awards. Or, as it's known at my house, Passover." Classic joke. But ghost Bob Hope is really creepy.....

-Visual Effects: Inception. 13/18. So Inception is the winner of the night so far. This is where it ends for them though.

-Film Editing: The Social Network. Got it. 14/19. Can it possibly win Best Picture? I hope so.

10:23

-Documentary Short: Strangers No More. Picked it. 11/15. It's an inspiring movies about refugee

-Live Action: God of Love. I saw all these in the theater. Didn't pick it but it was my favorite! 11/16. Luke Matheny is awesome!!

-Musical montage. Let's show some Harry Potter and Twilight even though they weren't really big Oscar players.....

-Oprah. Your outfit is not one of my favorite things.....

-Documentary: Inside Job. Picked it. 12/17. OK, here's the political comment of the night. It usually does come from the documentarians.

10:08

-James Franco: "Congratulations, nerds." to the scientific and technical award winners. Love it!

-Makeup: The Wolfman. Got it, 9/13. Now The Wolfman can call itself an Oscar-winning movie.

-Costumes: Alice in Wonderland. God it, 10/14. Most boring speech ever though.

-Interviewing folks about their favorite movie songs. Barack loves "As Time Goes By." Me too, prez, me too.

9:51

-Original Score: THE SOCIAL NETWORK!! Even though I didn't predict it, this is my favorite win of the night. Is TSN going to win Best Picture? Perhaps. 6/10.

-Sound Mixing. Inception. 7/11. Easy call.

-Sound Ending. Inception. 8/12. Another easy one.

9:35

-OK, 55 minutes until the first Charlie Sheen joke.

-Foreign Film: In a Better World. Not only did I predict it, I saw them all and it was the best!! For once, the foreign film branch did well. 5/8. Everyone should see this when it gets released in regular theaters-I think sometime soon.

-Supporting Actor: Christian Bale. 6/9. Well deserved. Shout out to Dick Eklund's website-way to go. Good speech.

9:22

-Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network. 3/6. I think everyone got this one.

-Original Screenplay: The King's Speech 4/7. Another easy one.

-Thoughts so far: Does The King's Speech losing Art Direction mean its a bit weak? At this point it will probably just win Picture, Actor, Screenplay, and perhaps director and score. Could The Social Network still upset? I'd be happy.

9:08

-Kirk Douglas-how charming..... good for him.

-Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo. 0/3 on my predix. If anyone doesn't know, she put some really weird ads out for herself. I guess they didn't stop her from winning. Drops the f-bomb. Guess there's a slight time delay. She's definitely a little weird, but obviously sincere and moved. Weird ending though......"selling motion pictures" a reference to her campaign??

-Animated Short: The Lost Thing! 1/4. Academy Member Marjorie Simpkin comes through! She gave me the inside info at the foreign film screening I saw.

-Animated Feature: Toy Story 3. 2/5.

8:46

-The opening is awesome!! Best moments: Morgan Freeman- "Alec likes me to narrate his dreams." Anne Hathaway doing her Boston accent in "The Fighter."

-Hmmm, connecting classic Hollywood to the current awards. Interesting, we'll see.

-Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland. 0/1 so far. Oops. I've heard this was just terrible. Anyone see it?

-Cinematography: Inception. 0/2 so far. Wow, when will Roger Deakins get his due? All those great Coen Brothers movies and not a win in sight.

8:17

-Nicole Kidman always classy and beautiful. I'm so glad she escaped from the grips of Scientology and Tom Cruise....

-Gwyneth Paltrow-looking like an Oscar!

-Christian Bale-not good facial hair.

8:09

-Natalie Portman. Barb quote: "Nice dress for a pregnant woman. She doesnt' have to show off her baby bump."

-James Franco....poised to become the most charming Oscar host ever? Discuss.

-Sandra Bullock looks good and seems really nice. She used to annoy me so much, but I have to say she has grown on me, although I'm still annoyed she won for The Blind Side last year.

7:59

-Annette and Warren, Hollywood royalty. Annette's dress is really nice and Warren is looking really old.

-Anne Hathaway looking beautiful in her Valentino. Barb's favorite dress so far.

-Reese Witherspoon looks great. Why hasn't she done anything interesting since Walk the Line? Perhaps Water for Elephants will be good.

-OK, the red carpet is fun and all, but I'm ready for some awards!!

7:35

-Cate Blanchett. One of my favorites. When is she giving her next great performance? Brave choice in dress.

-"The Mominees" speaking about their children. So great.

-Mark Ruffalo and wife Sunrise are a great couple. And they are friends with Julianne Moore in real life. Can I be friends with them too?

-Marisa Tomei is great as well and looking beautiful. What's she doing next? She was so great in The Wrestler.

7:22

-Amy Adams. Love her, but her dress is a little "matronly" (Emily's quote). Too many sequins.

-Jennifer Lawrence. Simple dress but she looks beautiful. Very far from the Ozarks....

-Kevin Spacey. I used to like him, but now I think he just seems sleazy. Anyone else?

-Russell Brand. "Subliminal erotic tension with Helen Mirren." I can't believe he didn't bring Katy Perry.

-Melissa Leo looking......terrible.

-I LOVE the PS22 chorus. What are they performing tonight? Over the Rainbow. Can't wait!

7:09

-Tim Gunn! This should make the 90 minutes red carpet coverage great.

-Mila Kunis is looking great, although it's definitely not hard for her.

-Hailee Steinfeld looking charming. Barb comment: "Nice appropriate dress." She seems very mature and

-Jesse Eisenberg doesn't have a TV and he's not on Facebook. Wow, that's pretty awesome.