84th Academy Awards Live Blog

8:24 Getting ready. Starting to rethink my prediction for Best Documentary. Undefeated could well win the award. But I picked Pina.

8:30 Maybe I should have picked Hugo over Tree of Life for Cinematography too. Too late.

8:30 The quintessential "Magical Black Man" opens the theme of the show: "The Magic of the Movies."

8:32 I would have liked this a lot better if fucking Bieber hadn't shown up.

8:33 Crystal sneaks in a reference to The Princess Bride.

8:36 I actually just got a rush of excitement when Crystal came out on stage reminding me of watching the Oscars when I was younger.

8:37 An uncomfortable joke about Kodak's impending bankruptcy.



8:38 The sound mix is off. His voice needs to come up and the orchestra needs to come down.

8:42 Tom Hanks out to present the award for...Cinemtography

8:43 They're just setting me up to go down early here...damn!

8:44 Hugo wins it for Robert Richardson and I'm down 0/1 now.

8:45 Bang! Here we go with Art Direction.

8:46 Hugo wins and I'm 1/2 now. And Hugo is 2/2.

8:54 Billy Crystal is so quick I don't catch his jokes until 5 seconds later.

8:54 Costume Design now.

8:55 The Artist takes it. And I'm down to a terrible start 1/3. Hugo  is 2/3 and The Artist is 1/3.

8:56 Makeup now. The Iron Lady sinks me to 1/4. My worst start ever I think.

9:06 Very early for the Foreign Language Film award.

9:07 A Separation and finally I've got something right. 2/5 Well deserved. Bravo!

9:08 Why Spielberg? Because some producer in the control booth said, "Quick! Find a Jew because the Iranian guy is talking politics!"

9:10 Best Supporting Actress goes to Octavia Spencer. No surprise there. I'm now 3/6. Back to 50%.

9:13 There's always a standing ovation when a black person wins an acting Oscar. Always.

9:18 That was a very good joke about the closest black person being a 45 minute drive from Beverly Hills. Multi-layered very good joke.

9:20 This is a pretty good bit using Christopher Guest's acting troupe.

9:23 Film Editing is a strong test of what will win Best Picture.

9:24 And the winner is Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. That's a shock. Truly a shock considering the general lack of love for Fincher's film. I'm 3/7.

9:25 They were truly as shocked as I was. It was nice and spontaneous.

9:26 I got Sound Editing at least and I'm back to 50% with 4/8. Hugo wins it. Ugh! Bad joke. "You go. No, Hugo"

9:27 Sound Mixing goes to Hugo. Thankfully I'm now 5/9 and over 50%.

9:34 When's the last time The Muppets were on The Oscars?

9:42 This schtick with Downey and Paltrow is not all that funny.

9:43 Undefeated and I said it at the beginning. Fuck! I should have changed my prediction. I'm 5/10

9:44 Very poor form. Those guys didn't acknowledge the high school students or the football coach whose story won them an Oscar. boo!

9:45 That was actually a very good set by Chris Rock.

9:47 Rango scores me a win. 6/11

9:53 I hope Emma Stone is kind of kidding.

9:53 Okay, now it's obvious. It's just shitty banter.

9:56 Fuck! This category was so much easier to predict when there was only one standout visual effects movie. Like Independence Day in 1996. So now I'm 6/12 and Hugo tallies its 5th award on the night. It's the only film with mulitple wins so far.

9:59 Best Supporting Actor goes to Christopher Plummer and he is now the oldest winner of an acting Oscar ever. 7/13

10:01 Old people get standing ovations also.

10:11 Tom Sherak had to know that Crystal was going to skewer him after that. Good line.

10:14 The Artist wins for Original Score. I'm 8/14. I need a strong finish.

10:19 I had a 50/50 chance on that category and I fucking got it wrong. 8/15 because the fucking Muppet song won.

10:20 The announcer just said that 9 SNL cast members have been nominated for Oscars. They showed Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. Kirstin Wiig makes 4. Who are the other 5?

10:22 Re above comment - Michael McKean was nominated for Original Song for A Mighty Wind.

10:26 Adapted Screenplay is for The Descendants. I'm now up to 9/16.

10:29 Original Screenplay is for Woody Allen. His first Oscar in 25 years. Nice work! I'm now 10/17. These awards are really spread out even if Hugo is being selfish with 5 awards.

10:33 I just remembered the year that Lorne Michaels left SNL and the entire cast was new. Randy Quaid, Joan Cusack and Robert Downey Jr. were cast members that year. All Oscar nominated. That's 3. Who are the other 2?

10:40 The Shore? Really? Really? That was the worst of the 5. The worst!! Now I'm 10/18.

10:42 Thank god Saving Face won. It's the best of those five. 11/19.

10:45 It really helps to see the films in these short film categories. I got 2/3 to bring me up to 12/20.

10:46 Really nice when a couple of winners are so obviously overjoyed and speechless to win an Oscar.

10:52 Best Director goes to...this will be a big indicator of Best Picture. Or not.

10:53 The Oscar goes to Michel Hazanavicius. I've got 13/21.

10:58 See? Standing ovations for black people and old people.

10:59 I actually really wish they would give out the Honorary awards on the real show. I like to see a legend honored and see a tribute to their work.

11:03 Let's see who died in the last year.

11:07 I'm not going to list them all, but I think everyone I mentioned was in there. 39 people were mentioned. The Academy website lists 87 members who've died since February 1, 2011.

11:13 The difference between Billy Crystal and almost everyone else who's hosted in the last decade: he's a natural host. He's quick-witted, he's natural, he's warm and caring.

11:16 I want to get my predictions right, but I'll be thrilled if Oldman takes a surprise win.

11:18 Boring! No surprises. 14/22

11:30 "Thank god I don't have to do this anymore," she's thinking. I can't believe Meryl Streep finally won another Oscar. Good on her. It was a very good performance even if I don't think she had quite enough to do. I would rather have seen Viola win, but oh well. 14/23.

11:31 She still needs two more of these to REALLY beat Katharine Hepburn.

11:36 The Artist wins Best Picture. Not too surprising. Final tally for me is 15/24. Not too bad.

The Awards Count
Hugo 5
The Artist 5
The Iron Lady 2
A Separation 1
The Help 1
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 1
Undefeated 1
Rango 1
Beginners 1
The Muppets 1
The Descendants 1
Midnight in Paris 1
The Shore 1
Saving Face 1
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore 1