7:33:00 PM: And we pick it up here. Hello!
7:33:52 PM: Will Smith is sticking around for Editing and this has to go to Slumdog… Has to.
7:34:34 PM: And the winner is…
7:35:24 PM: That gives Slumdog Millionaire the lead for the night with 4 Oscars. Button is second with three and The Dark Knight has two.
7:36:38 PM: Danny Boyle is so happy out there in the crowd. Pretty cool to see their excitement.
7:37:03 PM: Coming soon is a tribute to Jerry Lewis.
7:38:01 PM: Arizona State is up on Arizona 29-24 with just under five minutes to go in the first half. The Pac-10 is tightening up folks.
7:38:38 PM: Oh, and the Oscars are taking a commercial break.
7:39:43 PM: You have to like how I turned off most of the ads all over the site for tonight eh? No flashing and annoying boxes to deter you.
7:41:33 PM: Interesting — Eddie Murphy is making his way on stage. He is out to give the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis.
7:44:27 PM: “From one Nutty Professor to another,” I like it.
7:50:33 PM: The Academy Awards orchestra is now going to play a medley of the Oscar nominated scores. My pick here is WALL-E only because it was the best one, but I have a feeling the Slumdog score will win even though it hardly has one. The Defiance score is certainly the best to listen to of the bunch though.
7:53:32 PM: Zac Efron is making his way to the stage with Alicia Keys. She’s a cutie.
7:53:53 PM: And the winner for Best Score goes to…
7:54:32 PM: Another miss on my part… Damn! 11-15
7:55:46 PM: Next up is song and I think I will get back on track with “Jai Ho”.
7:56:11 PM: This is the performance segment Peter Gabriel dropped out of, but the performance is looking pretty good. Rahman goes from Oscar winner to performer… Nice!
8:01:18 PM: Nominees announced and the winner is…
8:01:39 PM: About 30 minutes to go and the big awards are about to be handed out.
8:05:51 PM: Freida Pinto is now presenting with Liam Neeson for Foreign Language Film.
8:06:16 PM: I have heard a lot of weird things about how these nominations were made, but my pick remains Waltz with Bashir even though it sounds like Departures may take it in a surprise.
8:07:12 PM: And Departures takes it.
8:10:56 PM: Queen Latifah is out for the “In Memory” segment.
8:15:36 PM: The sad part is over and all we have left are Best Actor, Actress, Director and Picture. Not a lot of surprises left except the question of who will win: Rourke or Penn? My pick remains Penn, but that is not to say I am confident in that pick.
8:18:02 PM: Sid Ganis, Academy president, decides not to make a speech! Boom, that’s a win!
8:18:39 PM: Reese Witherspoon steps on stage to announce Best Director.
8:19:37 PM: Gotta go with Danny Boyle from Slumdog here, but am I the only one wondering why they got Witherspoon to announce this one?
8:20:16 PM: And the winner is…
8:21:09 PM: That’s seven wins for Slumdog with Picture pretty much in the bag, which will mean 8 for Boyle’s film. Not too bad.
8:23:34 PM: Oh, and I think I am now 13-18 with my picks. Not too bad, but I need to learn to go with expectation in some cases and stop thinking so logically.
8:25:06 PM: The show is back and it looks like we are going with Best Actress. Who will be there to present?
8:25:28 PM: Sophia Loren, Shirley Maclaine, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard are out to present for Best Actress.
8:26:44 PM: You know what’s crazy, all five of these women will be in Nine later this year… Look for it, it’s gonna be great!
8:27:22 PM: Oh wait… Halle Berry’s not… Shoot me.
8:27:33 PM: Still, four out of five ain’t bad. Forgive me.
8:27:59 PM: My pick here is Kate Winslet for The Reader. Will Streep take it from her? Doubt it… pun intended.
8:30:22 PM: Sophia Loren thinks she is the queen bee, but is she? Hmmmmmm?
8:32:11 PM: And the winner is
8:32:34 PM: So that leaves me at 14-19 with a tough call on Penn coming up. I am now curious to see who they will have to present Actor, I am starting to really like this format.
8:33:57 PM: Winslet asks her pops to whistle from the crowd… and he does! Nice moment.
8:35:59 PM: Best Actor time…
8:36:30 PM: The fact I am worried about my Penn pick at all tells me Rourke is probably going to win. I’m cool with either one and happy there is still a little mystery left in the show.
8:36:59 PM: Out to present is Robert De Niro, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Adrien Brody and Michael Douglas. Nice group.
8:43:11 PM: And the winner is
8:43:26 PM: Booyah! Feel good about calling that one correctly, but still congrats to Mickey.
8:44:11 PM: Oh man, and it’s not Shirley Maclaine in Nine, it’s Judi Dench.
8:44:29 PM: Sorry, working too fast here.
8:45:11 PM: Okay, so I am 15-20 with Best Picture left and I think we all know that is going to Slumdog, which will leave me at 16-21. Not too bad, but I still feel I could have done better.
8:47:10 PM: Now I look and see the commenters were way ahead of me on the Maclaine/Dench call.
8:47:31 PM: Steven Spielberg makes his way on stage for what must be Best Picture.
8:53:01 PM: And the Best Picture for 2008 is
You tell me, did the show live up to your expectations? Honestly, it exceeded mine greatly.
8:55:48 PM: Oh boy, now here comes the 2009 movie preview. Should I watch? No, I won’t. Don’t want to spoil the movie before I see it in the theaters.
9:12:08 PM: Just added 51 pictures from the red carpet check ’em out here.
