Best Picture - No Country for Old Men
Director - Joel & Ethan Coen No Country for Old Men
Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis There Will Be Blood
Actress - Marion Cotillard La Vie en Rose
Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem No Country for Old Men
Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton Michael Clayton
Adapted Screenplay - Joel & Ethan Coen No Country for Old Men
Original Screenplay - Diablo Cody Juno
Foreign Language Film - The Counterfeiters
Animated Feature - Ratatouille
Documentary Feature - Taxi to the Dark Side
Film Editing - Christopher Rouse The Bourne Ultimatum
Cinematography - Robert Elswit There Will Be Blood
Original Song - "Falling Slowly" Once
Original Score - Dario Marionelli Atonement
Documentary Short Subject - "Freeheld"
Animated Short Subject - "Peter and the Wolf"
Live Action Short Subject - "Le Mozart de Pickpockets"
Visual FX - The Golden Compass
Sound Editing - Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg The Bourne Ultimatum
Sound Mixing - Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis The Bourne Ultimatum
Make-Up - Didier Lavergne, Jan Archibald La Vie en Rose
Costume Design - Alexandra Byrne Elizabeth: the Golden Age
Art Direction - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

11:56 Well, the technical issues aside, this was some Oscar night... couple surprises and upsets (FX and Documentary come to mind) but it seems that everyone who got an Oscar deserved it, it not for the role/movie but for previous work. I'm very happy with the amount of wins for No Country for Old Men and The Bourne Ultimatum, both masterfully made films, and I guess There WIll Be Blood just has to settle for two with Daniel Day-Lewis and the cinematography award (beating poor Roger Deakins). Hope everyone who read along and posted comments had as much fun as I did and we'll see you again next year!

11:46 No Country for Old Men!!!! No big surprise really... it was the frontrunner and the favorite, however many people were thinking otherwise. Great job Academy for picking a great selection of winners for your 80th Awards!

11:44 And Denzel Washington replaces Jack Nicholson to announced the Best Picture winner.. he's looking a little heavy with a shaved head and beard. Interesting look, probably for The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3? And the winner is...

11:43 Yup, it goes to the Coens, Joel & Ethan... hopefully they'll talk a bit more this time. So this means that No Country has to win for Best Picture, right? Ethan is a man of very few words.. but he got a good laugh for it. He's the Teller of the duo obviously :)

11:40 And Martin Scorsese, last year's winner for Best Director, comes out to present this year's award to.......... (DRUM ROLL... they really should do that at the awards)...

11:39 Only two more awards to be given out, Director and Best Picture, and we have to assume these both go to the Coens and No Country, right? Will P. T. Anderson spoil the night for the Coens? The funny thing is that Scott Rudin wins either way since he produced both movies.

11:34 Yup, Daniel Day-Lewis wins his second Oscar... 2 out of 4, not bad at all, Mr Day-Lewis... here's hoping you continue working regularly rather than making a movie every five years! :) A wonderful speech... very gracious and eloquent. What a brilliant actor and man and I hope we see more of him.

11:33 I hope this ends soon... I haven't been to the bathroom since I started five hours ago and I REALLY have to go... wonder if we'll get another commercial. No, probably not. (Phew! They did give me a bathroom break... I'd like to thank the Academy for it.)

11:30 This has to go to Daniel Day-Lewis, right?

11:29 Next up, Best Actor presented by Dame Helen Mirren after the obligatory montage...

11:25 And Diablo Cody wins!!! Not that big a surprise even though I was kinda hoping Tony Gilroy would get it. She gave a VERY emotional speech...but a lot tamer than you might expect based on her personality. (When I interviewed Diablo back in November, I suggested she say "In your face, Tony Gilroy!" as part of her speech but she didn't... oh, well.) She looked quite fetching in that leopard print dress though... a definite hottie, and there are so few hot writers these days so good for her and congrats on winning so many awards on her first produced screenplay. It's really an amazing achievement.

11:23 Harrison Ford comes out to present Original Screenplay... Enters to the theme from "Indiana Jones" of course. This is Diablo Cody's to lose... and it might be a big upset if she does.

11:17 Another MAJOR Upset!! I think most people were thinking No End in Sight or Sicko, but nope, it goes to Alex Gibney, whose second doc Taxi to the Dark Side came out just last month and was barely seen by anybody. I've interviewed Alex a few times and he's a really smart guy, and it's a really good movie, very deserving and congrats to THINKFilm for getting a win with one of their films. (I personally liked War/Dance the best, but whatev)

11:15 And now the Documentary Feature... here's hoping it's anyone but Michael Moore! :)

11:13 The Documentary Short Subject Oscar goes to "Freeheld", which I believe was my blind flip-a-coin pick for the category... just a lucky guess. And a very VERY emotional speech. Of course, no one knows what she's talking about since no one has seen this.

11:11 Tom Hanks to present Documentary maybe? Yup, they're having soldiers in Bagdad presenting the nominees for Documentary Short Subject.

11:08 And the gorgeous Amy Adams is back to present for Original Score and she looks much better in this outfit... I'll be happy with any of the winners here, but I think Atonement will get it. Yup... it's Atonement, a gorgeous score and film and I'm glad it got something this year, although it sure feels like this year's Babel, doesn't it? I wonder if Bill Conti and the orchestral will play HIM off early too...he's a fellow composer! Nope, they're giving him more time to talk... I wonder if someone talked to them about cutting off people so early.

11:04 Of course, they end on Heath Ledger as expected, but it was all very tastefully done as usual... very sad. And speaking of sad, what does Roger Deakins have to do to win an Oscar? Seriously... the guy is one of the best, having shot most of the Coen Brothers' films and he probably should have won for The Man Who Wasn't There, but nope... Granted, There Will Be Blood looked great, but I just fear that Deakins is not getting any younger and in 20 years, the Academy will finally give him an Honorary Oscar rather than honoring him with a REAL one. Maybe he'll win next year finally? Martin Scorsese eventually did.

10:59 And the Oscar goes to.... OH NO!!!! Another loss for Roger Deakins. This is a shame, but I think Robert Elswit did a great job on There Will be Blood and it's just as deserving, but such a shame that Deakins lost after shooting two amazing looking films last year. (Note: Elswit won the award for my group, the New York Film Critics Online, too.) And now here's HIlary Swank... to present the In Memoriam montage.

10:57 WOW! John Stewart actually brought Marketa out to say something since she was cut off and she gave the most WONDERFUL speech!! John Stewart is now officially my favorite Oscar host ever... that was so awesome of him to give her a chance to say something after such a wonderful win. And here's Cameron Diaz to present.... documentary? no idea. Actually Cinematography... oh, please give this one to Roger Deakins already... it would be a real shame if he lost again. it would be good if she could actually say "Cinematography" right?

10:51 This is my favorite moment of the night for sure. I still remember seeing the Swell Season back in October playing live and someone yelled out "You should win an Oscar" and they did!! The orchestra cut off Marketa before she could talk... and she almost never talks! The cads! They actually stopped playing but she had already walked off stage... Bill Conti really sucks tonight, I just want to say that. (Oh, John, you didn't! LOL! A couple great zingers back-to-back!)

10:48 John Travolta gets to present Best Original Song even though Hairspray wasn't nominated for any of them? That's as big a burn as I've ever seen. And the winner is.... Please please please please... Glen and Marketa for "Falling Slowly"!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!! (for those who can't remember, Once was my #1 movie of 2007 and I'm sure this song has a lot to do with it.)

10:45 Patrick Dempsey presents the last song nominated from "Enchanted" and I'd expect that they'll announce a winner right after it. John McClaughlin sings "So Close" which is a song from the movie I don't even REMEMBER, but it looks like Amy Adams is dancing to the song. That's her, right? I can't imagine this song having even a chance and I still don't understand why two songs get these huge production numbers while Amy just has to sing her song on her own, when she's not the singer/performer of the other two. Oh, well, whatever... this one has to go to "Falling Slowly" or I'll be upset all day tomorrow. I'm still not sure if that's Amy or not. Probably not.

10:41 And we're back with John Stewart saying they'll have to restart the show (ha ha)... and here's Penelope Cruz to present.... Foreign Language Film maybe? Yup... I decided to go with Beaufort on this one, just to be different, and because I wasn't as crazy about The Counterfeiters as others. I really want to see Mongol.... and of course, The Counterfeiters wins. Not surprising... it was the favorite and the Holocaust movie ALWAYS wins. Shame that so many better movies weren't even nominated this year.

10:38 Thanks to Robert Boyle for giving me a much-needed breather with his nice speech... I was getting worn out between all the technical problems and the fast pace of the awards being handed out. So far, I've enjoyed the Oscars and probably would be able to enjoy them more if this blog didn't keep flakin' out on me.

10:34 Ah, I stand corrected.. Robert Boyle is an Honorary Oscar Recipient at the age of 98, because people feel he deserves an Oscar for his work but has never had a chance to receive one (and might not have another chance).

10:31 And here comes Renee Zellweger's (I'm giving up on trying to spell) Cold Mountain co-star Nicole Kidman doing a presentation for Robert Boyle, a lifetime achievement award for a Production Designer? Nicole looks kind of thin considering she's pregnant, at least her face does. I'm assuming he must have done Moulin Rouge right? That's why Nicole is presenting to him?

10:29 Yup, Christopher Rouse for Bourne Ultimatum... three technical Oscars is quite an achievement.

10:27 A very tasteful presentation... beautiful music accompanying some of the best moments from some of the greatest films ever made, most of them deserving of the accolades for sure. Wonder what this year's winner will look like next to them. Here comes Renee Zellwegger to present something...documentary maybe? Nope, film editing.. I'm guessing this also goes to Bourne Ultimatum.

10:23 And here's Jack Nicholson... surely, it's not time for Best Picture already? Nah... he must have been demoted to another category. Actually, he's presenting a montage of all 79 Best Picture winners from previous years as part of the 80th Anniversary Oscar celebration... I bet I haven't seen half of these.

10:21 I love that Glenn is still playing the same beat-up acoustic guitar that he's been playing forever.. he plays it in the film, he takes it on the road and he's playing it on the Oscars!! I wonder if he has many guitars with that same bashed-in hole... gets them made custom? :)

(I've enjoyed John Stewart's hosting...very strange intros and returns from commercials like the recent one which had him playing WII on the giant screen on stage.)

10:20 I'm not sure what's going on here but things keep disappearing when I hit "save"... I hope this problem is fixed now or I'll be cursing a lot more on this blog very shortly. :)

10:18 Colin Farrell is here to present the musical performance for Once... "Falling Slowly"...and I'm dealing with more technical problems... *sigh* Glenn and Marketa with an orchestra!!!! OMG!!!

10:10 Nope, it's Marion Cotillard for her brilliant performance as Edith Piaf... a well-deserved win for a great performance but definitely an upset for those who thought Julie Christie would get her second award. So we get a very emotional speech in broken English... hurray! Still, I just have to pray Marion doesn't become like all those other young actresses who squander their Oscar clout by making bad movies.

10:06 And The Bourne Ultimatum sweeps the sound awards, and if it wins Film Editing, its sitting pretty with three technical awards. Of course, that makes you wonder why Paul Greengrass wasn't even nominated. Looks like they're leading up to the Best Actress award next... probably presented by Forest Whitaker.

10:09 That was a really amazing montage of all the past winners... definitely worth going through all of them because there's so many of those wins and speeches I never had a chance to see. A really great presentation by Forest Whitaker, very dignified. I have to hope this is still going to Julie Christie, but frankly, I think all the actresses are deserving...this is just a really strong category this year.

10:05 And now Sound Mixing which also could go any way... lots of Oscar pools are getting trashed tonight!

10:03 And the Bourne Ultimatum gets it... nice! I think I picked Transformers but I might have had Bourne in some other online contest... who knows anymore? I can't keep track. Still, it will be great to see this movie honored, though it's looking like a Transformers shut-out as well as a Pirates shut-out... at least they all made LOTS of money and don't need the Oscars... like I'm not There did. :)

10:01 Dame Judi Dench and Halle Berry (now, that's an odd couple) presenting...something... no, good one, it's actually Seth and Jonah!! LOL! Very funny. Okay, this is a great bit though again, it doesn't seem that original. Haven't they done this gag before on some awards show? Where two comedians did the lines for other actors? Still, they're turning it into a great bit. They're actually presenting Sound Editing, which could go a lot of different ways.

10:00 A much-needed long commercial break... trying to catch breath..and we're back!

9:56 I'm getting this bad feeling from the applause that the Academy will go with this since it's so much more of an Oscar-type song and how many members actually bothered to watch "Once"? Hmm... I hope I'm wrong.

9:54 Kristin Chenoweth (I can never spell her name right) gives the song a bit more edge than Amy Adams' innocent, though I'm not sure why she gets the big song and dance while Adams has to sing on her own, maybe because Disney has more hopes for this song winning over "Happy Working Song." Still pretty amazing that the movie got three songs nominated when there are so many great songs and musical movies this year. Looks like they're trying to recreate the huge musical number from the movie as best they can with lots of dancers in costumes... too bad they couldn't actually do it in Central Park like in the movie. This is the spoiler for "Falling Slowly" winning and I'll be really angry and bitter if it does win.

9:52 And here's Miley Cyrus to present her award... I wonder what it might be... oh, she's presenting another song from "Enchanted", which makes sense since she's owned by Disney. Next song performance is "That's How You Know" which should be a really amazing number....they'll pull out all the stops for this one I'm sure.

9:47 I think this goes to Joel & Ethan, though I think all of them are deserving, but the Oscar goes to Joel & Ethan as most people expected.... their first Oscar of the night and their second Oscar for writing, though this time adapted vs. original screenplay. Glad things are getting back on track with the favorites.

9:46 Josh Brolin and James McAvoy, two guys who should be in the Lead Actor category, are presenting the screenplay categories, as they quote from famous movies. And Josh Brolin tries to do Jack Nicholson with him sitting mere feet away...ouch! First up is Adapted Screenplay....

9:46 John Stewart gets a great Jack Nicholson zing... not bad!

9:44 And it's the pregnant Jessica Alba who presented the technical awards... good for her! I wonder if she had any problems reading all the technical names. I wonder why they never include any of these in the Oscar pools, eh? :)

9:43 Well, I'm finally getting caught up after that horror show... still shocked and surprised and elated at the same time for Tilda... if there's any actress who deserves an Oscar, it's her, and I'm sure Cate is fine, having won already, though I thought she was better as Dylan than she was as Katherine Hepburn but whatever.

9:38 Wow... well it looks like the late pundit reversal going for Tilda Swinton was right.... hey, she's a great actress and deserving but I'm not necessarily sure she's deserving for THIS role. She certainly was great and worthy of a nomination but was she better than Cate Blanchett and Amy Ryan? I doubt it. Oh, well... I guess it's good that Michael Clayton won something but I really would rather see Tony Gilroy get an award.

9:36 And the winner is.......... (DRUM ROLL)....... (MORE DRUM ROLL)..... (OKAY, ENOUGH WITH THE DRUMMING!).....

9:35 This is the big one and here's Alan Arkin, last year's Supporting Actor winner to present what is the toughest race of the night for sure... I can't wait to see who wins... I hope it's Cate!

9:34 Okay, a commercial is coming up so I can quickly say that The Golden Compass might be one of the bigger upsets of the night because most people assumed ILM would win for Transformers, considering that they'd already won for Pirates last year... looks like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has been completely shut out. Looks like they're doing supporting actress next!!! Hold onto your seats folks!!

9:32 Ah, of course Jerry Seinfeld as an animated bee is there to present animated short, which goes to... "Peter and the Wolf" which has been the favorite for a while. Hope there's a commercial soon so I can update and check in on the commenters. Sorry, that crash put me behind a bit.

9:29 Owen Wilson just showed up to present Live Action Short... his first appearance in public since his suicide attempt and the winner is.. "Le Mozart de Pickpockets" which has been my guess for Live Action short for weeks! Yay!! Trying to catch up and salvage this blogging because the last 15 minutes has really been a pain. Missed a lot of the show. Why is Jerry Seinfeld doing something for Bee Movie?

9:29 It worked!!!! PHEW!!! okay, can't have so many programs/windows open

9:27 Been in hell for the last 15 minutes while the blog proceeded to erase everything I'd posted and I tried to salvage it and then the browser and computer crashed. In the time since then, they did a montage of Best Supporting Actors including Cuba Gooding Jr's memorable speech and then Jennifer Hudson announced Supporting Actor, which went to Javier Bardem, who gave a super-fast speech including some Spanish for his mother who was in the audience. They also performed the musical number from August Rush, a gospel number which I mostly missed because I was dealing with the computer problems...here's hoping this saves when I hit save this time.

9:13 Yeah, things are going haywire here... missed Cate Blanchett presenting Art Direction, which went to Sweeney Todd, which most expected to get Costume Design but it makes sense that it would win here, too.

9:08 Having some technical difficulties here (which is why everything disappeared) but The Rock is presenting Visual FX, which goes to The Golden Compass... a HUGE upset for ILM who was nominated for the other two movies. WOW!!! This is turning into a night of upsets already!

9:00 Hmm... wonder if she's lip syncing? I thought she'd be dressed more like Giselle...she's absolutely gorgeous and i don't think that outfit is particularly becoming. I thought they'd be doing a bigger production for this but it's just her singing on her own. Weird.

8:59 Here comes Amy Adams to sing "Happy Working Song!"

8:58 Awww.. Marion Cotillard is crying.. and Bill Conti and the orchestra starts to play the winners off before she could even begin her speech even though her partner gave a really short speech.

8:57 La Vie En Rose wins!!! Yay for them! They did such a great job making Mario Cotillard look like Edith Piaf

8:56 And here's the gorgeous and very nervous Katherine Heigl (also dressed in red like Anne Hathaway) presenting the award for Best Make-Up

8:55 Really nice speech by Brad Bird, a really cool guy who I hope keeps making movies like The Incredibles and Ratatouille...the guy is really talented!

8:53 And the Oscar goes to Ratatouille, the second win for Brad Bird!! Alright!!

8:51 And a "Get Smart" tie-in with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway presenting... can't wait to see that movie! I think they'll be presenting Animated Feature, which should be going to "Ratatouille"... Carell makes a joke about presenting Documentary, and I think that joke has been made before.

8:49 This really is a waste of network time. I hope it's not much longer. I'm still surprised by the win of Elizabeth: The Golden Age...should have been really obvious but there were so many strong contenders. It's going to be a long night if the pundits are already wrong so early in the night.

8:47 And we're back after the first extended commercial with George Clooney presenting... and he's already stumbling over his lines. What is he presenting? Does he know? Who wrote this? Not one of the returning writers, I hope. :)

Ah, we're already getting into an Oscar retrospective montage, not that we have anything to do for the next three hours, right? I can already tell this is going to run late if it's almost 20 minutes in with just one award presented.

8:42 Wow! Elizabeth wins! It's not surprising since period costume dramas usually win but there were a lot this year and not so much love for The Golden Age. I think most people were going with Sweeney Todd or Atonement. Lot of Oscar pools are going to get creamed by that win, I think. Not sure if that was the best way to start the Oscars with a technical award. This means they might be saving Supporting Actor until later to "build suspense" even with Bardem sitting in the front row.

8:42 Starting with Costume Designer, presented by Jennifer Garner

8:40 Great camerawork showing Spike Lee laughing at the joke about the black president only happening in disaster movies.

8:38 We've seen Diablo and Julie Christie... phew!!! Want to make sure they're there to accept. I think Stewart's joke about Dennis Hopper would have been funnier with Gary Busey considering what happened early... Stewart's really on a roll now.. his "stripper name" joke killed and he's really good. I gotta rewatch this one later. I'm sure it'll be on YouTube in the next hour.

8:35 Making fun of Javier Bardem's hair in "No Country for Old Men" is already becoming the most overused joke of the Oscar season. I expect better material from Stewart... this is okay, just not quite up to par, maybe because they had less time to write the monologue.

8:35 And the obligatory "make fun of the Best Picture candidates" part of the monologue... "Thank God for teen pregnancy!" LOL!

8:33 Didn't take long for John Stewart to mention the Writers' Strike, but he's already made some funny jokes about the Vanity Fair party.. "Invite the writers!"

8:31 They referenced two of the worst movies in the title's sequence, "Hulk" and "Godzilla"... not a good start methinks.

8:30 Let's see how John Stewart does in his second year, shall we?

8:26 What the hell? Why is Regis talking to the punters in the bleachers and to the dancers backstage and conductor Bill Conti? Is he that bored with the talent on the red carpet? I think there's a reason why he hasn't hosted the red carpet in 30 years.

8:25 Five minutes to go!!! This time I mean it, Ian! :)

8:16 Surprised we haven't seen Diablo Cody or Julie Christie on camera yet... at least they haven't been interviewed on the red carpet.

8:13 Jennifer Garner, star of "Elektra" and "Catch and Release": "It's so gratifying to be in a movie that makes people feel good...that makes people rush to say 'I Loved Your Movie!' It doesn't happen often, or at least I haven't experienced it often..." And she didn't sound like she was trying to be ironic either.

8:09 More Miley Cyrus than I ever wanted to see in one night.... I'm glad I'm an old fuddy-duddy and I don't get the appeal, but hey, she's 13 (14?) and she's already rich so the more power to her.

8:04 Wow, these interviews are even worse than Ryan Seactrest's!! I really need to d the Oscar Red Carpet because I'd never ask such stupid questions.

8:00 Oops... I guess we get another half hour of red carpet on ABC now...with Regis Philbin, no less....*sigh*

7:57 3 Minutes to Go!!!!!! Everyone got the popcorn and ready for the long haul? I wonder if it'll be over by 11:30....

7:53 So many actors are showing up now that it's impossible to keep track. Is that Viggo Mortensen's daughter on the red carpet with him? I guess that shows the other side from Colin Farrell (and others) bringing their mother.

7:52 Hilary Swank is into Israeli Martial Arts... okay, that was a weird little factoid.

7:50 Ellen Page looks noticeably uncomfortable on the red carpet. Okay, this is very funny... Colin Farrell was just asked "if he weren't an actor, what would you do?" from a text-in question, and he said "He'd like to make something with his hands." Oh, you mean like Daniel Day-Lewis? That's just what we need... two actors who decide to become cobblers and hat-makers instead of doing what they do best. :)

7:47 I just flipped back for a second to hear Barbara Walters call Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull "the most anticipated movie of the 21st Century". Really, Barbara? :)

7:45 15 minutes until the Big Show! Anyone want to take a guess what's the first award? I bet it's going to be Supporting Actor to Javier Bardem, since it's one of the obvious winners. They'll save Supporting Actress until the end.

7:41 I'm back on E! and Ryan just finished talking to the beautiful Marion Cotillard followed by Tilda Swinton, that's a strange double feature.

7:38 Ellen's pretty awesome.. I don't think she'll win and I do think there's more deserving actresses, but I do hope that we see a lot more of her in strong roles like this one. (I can't believe Barbara Walters got her an acoustic guitar and made her sing!)

7:26 Confession: I've switched over to Barbara Walters to hear her interview with Ellen Page, who I've interviewed three or four times and who I've always thought was awesome.

7:24 Miley Cyrus is saying that she wants to be at the Oscars for her own movie. "Miley Cyrus, Oscar nominee"... my brain just exploded.

7:20 Are Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill officially an item? They seem to be each other's red carpet dates.. not sure what they're doing since none of their movies got nominated, not even for screenplay, but maybe they'll say something R-rated to keep things fun.

7:17 Very funny, Gary Busey has bum-rushed Ryan's interviews with Jennifer Garner and Laura Linney, totally disrupting things and they're all very embarrassed about it, but it's probably the only thing entertaining about this Red Carpet show.

7:10 Wow, Amy Adams is there by herself... that means there's hope for me!! She'll actually be back in town for my birthday so maybe I'll see if she needs a date for the premiere of Miss Pettigrew :) (Damn.. should have texted Ryan to ask Amy if she's single!)

7:09 I think James McAvoy and his lovely wife Anne-Marie Duff are taking the piss out of Ryan Seacrest and I'm not sure he realizes it... they're quite a dashing couple.

7:03 Sorry, apparently the comments aren't working again, but we're working on it and hopefully can get it going by the time the show starts.

6:49 Jason Bateman was saying that things are definitely rolling on an "Arrested Development" movie which would be AWESOME! Says they still have to work on the numbers but I'm going to cross my fingers and everything else until this movie gets rolling. It was one of my favorite shows... just a classic, and I'm amazed that it didn't do better.

6:45 It's pouring rain in L.A. right now, which makes me glad I can watch it from home rather than have to deal with all that. The red carpet seems to be getting mobbed at this point and everyone's trying to get under the tent to stay dry.

6:38 Tom Wilkinson just admitted that he's a fanatic about the TV show "Friends" and that he watches it whenever it's on in reruns... and that when he met Lisa Kudrow yesterday, he became tongue-tied because he's such a big fan. That's hilarious!

6:34 Ooops... already screwing up by posting in the wrong order. :)

6:28 Ryan Seacrest is talking to Amy Ryan who is so adorable and really nice. I got to interview her around the time Gone Baby Gone came out, and I really hope we'll see her in more movies after this nomination. (Actually, she's in the next Clint Eastwood and next Paul Greengrass movies, so she's doing really well.)

6:24 PM Still haven't officially started, although people are just starting to roll in on the red carpet. I'm amazed by how early George Clooney showed up this year, and he's probably the first nominee to show. (And no, I'm not going to talk about what everyone is wearing either... unless it's really funny or hideous.)

But first, I'd like to give a quick shout-out to my two favorite fellow Oscar obssessers, Tom O'Neil at The Gold Derby and Sasha Stone at Awards Daily. Throughout the year, the three of us kibbitz about all things Oscars, bouncing ideas off each other and arguing about why someone might win over another. The two of them spend a lot more time writing and talking about this stuff, and I feel honored to be included in their fun every year. If you have a chance, go check out those sites over the night as I'm sure they'll have some fun insights from the awards themselves.