2009 Oscar Weekend Live Blog!

2058

--am going to post my final thoughts since I got major shaft shift-wise
--Kate had me crying, bless her! So happy she won!
--I really liked having former winners address the nominees. Makes it so much more meaningful, and everyone does feel like a winner.
--Robin Wright Penn looked amazing. Hope she doesn't mind husband Sean didn't mention her in his speech.
--Gus Van Sant looked so sad when Sean was acknowledging him, I wanted to fly to LA and hug him.
--Slumdog wins. Dammit.
--must watch Baba Wawa ask Mickey Rourke painful and inappropriate questions about his lifetime of failure.

Until next year,
TEK

~~~~~

2056

--Doesn’t sound right: “Academy Award Winner Reese Witherspoon.”
--Director. Danny Boyle
--Actress: Sophia Loren TWomen; Shirley MacLaine TOEndearment; Marion ? LVERose; Nicole Kindling THours; Halle Berry MBall.
--Winner: Winslet. She is welcomed to the club by five women pretending to be the Pi Beta Phi rush committee. The secret handshake is passed on for another year. Cute dad whistle, though.
--Suck it up, Meryl.
--Actor: Robert DeNiro RBull; Ben Kingsley Gandhi; Anthony Hopkins TSOTLambs; Adrian Brody Pianist; Michael Douglas WStreet. Not a bad lineup. DeNiro talking to Penn is a particularly touching combo. Clearly Hopkins has not seen BButton.
--Winner: Penn. Strong Prop 8 Words. Si Se Puede. And a shout-out to Mickey.
--Apparently, I get all the good ones during my “shift”
--Pic: Chinatown, Kane; ATPMen; 12 Angry Men; Platoon; Out Of Africa; Million Dollar Baby; Forrest Gump; Graduate; Best Years Of Our Lives; Private Ryan; Schindler; Braveheart; Network; Gandhi; Norma Rae; Raging Bull; Butch and Sundance; Godfather; Wonderful Life; Shakespeare in Love.
--Winner: SD$

--Final Score: MWC 19; TEK 12

MWC

~~~~~


2024

--Reese looks and sounds great.
--Are we already at Director? Holy Hell!
--David Fincher looks pissed as they mention his nomination. He's over the Slumdog hoo-ha.
--DAMMIT! STOLEN from Gus Van Sant. The prize goes to Danny Boyle.
--Danny told kids he'd accept as "Tigger." Gladly he explained that to us.
--Nice. Apologizes to Bollywood choreographer for forgetting him in credits.
--Sons of bitches, MWC will never let me live down my score this year.

TEK

~~~~~

2018

--Foreign: Departures (Japan)
--Winner talking to us, like you yell at someone who doesn’t know your language. Oh, wait a minute…
--Four Biggies Left.
--Someone at The Onion is Tweeting in spectacular fashion. While Eddie Murphy on stage, Onion posts ten Murphy-related headlines. Jerry Lewis, Japan (after win for Foreign). Very well done.
--All hail the Queen. Who will now sing during the In Memorium portion of the show.
--Get ready for the pan out from the skybox or the shot towards heaven as we head to commercial. But wait, this year an empty spotlight.
--The “winner”: Paul Newman.
--Song/Score winner AR Rahman is the sixth biggest selling musician on the planet, apparently.

--After 20 categories: MWC 16; TEK 10

MWC

~~~~~


2009

--I'm actually glad "Jai Ho" won - that song is awesome.
--Agree with Michael about Peter Gabriel boycott, though.
--It sucks I haven't seen enough of the Foreign Language films to make a judgment.
--DEPARTURES from Japan wins. Big upset!
--I'm totally getting shafted by way of the commercial breaks.

TEK

~~~~~

2002

--Lewis spoke so succinctly that I almost didn’t have time to take all the breaks I wanted.
--Original Score: Do they tell the orchestra members to leave the pit and head upstairs for their moment in the spotlight? I’d hate to be the harpist.
--Alicia Keys is shiny!
--Winner is: SD$. Winner is a standup comedian. I just flew in from India and man are my arms tired. [rimshot]
--Song: How dare you make genius Peter Gabriel shorten his song to 60 seconds? John Legend instead. Dancers incredibly hot, so there’s that. Which is nice. In the future, if Mr. Gabriel says he needs 12 minutes for the long version of Biko or Family Snapshot or In Your Eyes, you give it to him.
--Winner: Jai Ho!

--After 19 categories: MWC 16; TEK 10 [psst: it’s over]

MWC

~~~~~


1948

--Is Coldplay official sponsor of 81st Annual Academy Awards? I'm not complaining, I'm just saying...
--Michael, here's your pee break (Jerry Lewis tribute)
--Did anyone else catch the cranky Lewis interview about this in Entertainment Weekly? He seemed pretty pissed he never got a real one.
--Jerry has an interesting tie on.
--Obligatory pan to the over 60 crowd in the audience. Everyone is standing.
--Almost thought Robert Downey, Jr. was Tom Hanks for a second. May need to put the glasses on.
--Anne Hathaway is crying over Jerry (hey Anne: this isn't a telethon, you don't have to).
--Bravo Jerry: your speech was nice, short and sweet.
--Another commercial already, so it's back over to MWC.

TEK

~~~~~

1938

--Supporting Actor: Walken DHunter; Kline AFCWanda; Gooding JMaguire; Arkin LMSunshine; Grey Cabaret. Here to pass the torch. This is a pretty cool idea. Remember for the 75th they had everyone alive who had ever won up on stage at once?
--Ledger, which in Vegas was referred to as your lock-box-100%-guaranteed-pick of the night.
--The Oscar statuette will go to Michelle Williams to be held in trust until Heath’s daughter, Matilda turns 18, then she gets it. There is no legal next-of-kin rule for unmarried couples in the Academy. They made this rule up this year.
--What are the chances that the orchestra plays the Ledger family off the stage? That’s right, zero.
--Docs of 2008: Was this the only segment that only showed us the five nominated films? As usual, docs get short shrift. Weren’t there 50 other docs released they could have chosen scenes from?
--Bill Maher out of place on the stage.
--Winner: Man On Wire. Go rent it. Now. Pay no attention to the pompous Frenchman.
--Short Doc: Smile Pinki
--Commercial: How do you turn an ordinary nut into an extraordinary snack? I’d watch a full-length movie about the woman running the soup kitchen.
--2008 in car chases? Montage edited by Michael Bay?
--Will Smith emerges from under the stage.
--Visual Effects: BButton
--Sound Editing: TDKnight
--Sound Mixing: SD$
--Is Nicholson there tonight? Has he ever missed one of these?
--Editing: SD$

--There are 7 categories left. They’ll never make it. The East Coast is going to sleep.

--After 17 categories: MWC 14; TEK 8

MWC

~~~~~


1920

--MWC, why is the musicals bit more relevant? Because the Oscars ACTUALLY RECOGNIZE them from time to time. Comedies are ignored, so why even pretend to respect them?
--Plus, Hugh and Beyonce kick ass.
--Nice. Arkin calls "Seymour Phillip" Hoffman during his "time of honor" nomination bit.
--They paired these up perfectly. They have a black man riff on Robert Downey, Jr. playing a black man! :) Go Cuba!
--Christopher Walken for Michael Shannon. ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. Creepy + creepy (in a good way).
--Kevin Kline for Health Ledger. There could not been a better man for this. Excellent choice, Academy.
--No surprise here - Heath wins. Family accepts. Standing ovation. I have tears before they reach the podium.
--Kate Winslet's expression made me full-on cry. So did Brad Pitt's. So did Adrian Brody's. So did Melissa Leo's. So did Anne Hathaway's. So did Angelina's.
--Lovely family.
--"On behalf of his beautiful Matilda."
--Please pass the Kleenex.
--Oh, good. There's Werner.
--Are we going straight into Documentary? Okay. I'm on board.
--Hell's yeah! My ugly crush - Bill Maher!!!
--documentaries are "windows to the world" Aw, yeah, Bill.
--I think they missed a few of the nominees with their wild camera pans.
--Big surprise (not so much) MAN ON WIRE wins.
--Dammit there's that crazy Philip. Apparently wearing pleather.
--He just HAD to balance Oscar on his face.
--Nice joke about it, Bill.
--SMILE PINKI wins and Bill says it with a straight face, God love him.
--Hey MWC, my count just went up with SMILE PINKI.
--I enjoy writing SMILE PINKI.

TEK

~~~~~

1901

--Comedy 2008. Pineapple Express short film is hilarious. I again stand by my PExpress better than TThunder. “Hey Kaminski, you want to come hang with us?” I wrote this before seeing that TEK completely disagrees. Because she's wrong.
--Short Live Action: Here’s where the office pools are won or lost. Toyland.
--Here comes the musical theater part of the show. Rapidly losing the young, male demographic who switched over when buddies texted them that the two potheads were on the TV about five minutes ago.
--Now TEK, tell me how this top hat segment is a better use of valuable Oscar time than the PExpress thing.
--West Side Story; Grease; Sound of Music; All That Jazz; Moulin Rouge; Jailhouse Rock; Zak, your eyes are magnificent; Who’s the guy dueting with Big Eyes from Mamma Mia?; Evita; Mamma Mia; On the Town; The second appearance by USC drumline in two weeks of award shows; Flashdance; Funny Girl; THE MUSICAL IS BACK! (at least for one night, maybe two counting the Tonys)
--Baz. It’s his fault. And I again claim my musical theater credentials.
--Awards given out that segment: one
--Mark your calendars. At 7 pm PST, something remarkable happened. An advertisement for a movie on the Oscar broadcast. First time ever. Isn't that Scarlett's husband with Sandy Bullock.

--After 10 categories: MWC 9; TEK 3

MWC

~~~~~


1851

--Pineapple Express montage is COMPLETELY UNECESSARY. And they really think they're going to keep it under three hours with junk like that cluttering up the broadcast?
--Finally! One of my picks actually wins! TOYLAND for Live Short. Hurrah!
--These commercial breaks don't seem timed fairly.
--Slumdog isn't a bad movie, just wildly overrated with a terrible lead actor to boot (and I'm sick of seeing them pan to him in the audience, too).
--Bah Humbug.

TEK

~~~~~

1842

The tech awards don't even get a proper segment. Quick commercial.

--Aren’t we done with the Joaquin Phoenix thing?
--Natalie deserves better. And so do the DPs. Stiller walks around and people giggle instead of watching the differences between photography styles.
--Cinematography: Slumdog. So that girl wasn’t gorgeous, it was all camera tricks? Fabulous.
--Hot girl announcing tech awards section of the show now. Yes, that Jerry Lewis. Speaking of which, when is the ten-minute bathroom break, er, I mean the special Oscar for Lewis.
--TEK, sorry. The Slumdog juggernaut will continue. It must suck to be so cynical about love among the trash heaps of Mumbai.

--After 9 categories: MWC 8; TEK 2

MWC

~~~~~


1841

--One more thing: that was a sweet ass commercial for U2 on Good Morning America.
--That's all.

TEK

~~~~~

1839

--Also liked Coldplay song and romance montage. Made me want a hug (and a kiss).
--SJP will keep her fashion title until at least the next SEX AND THE CITY movie comes out on DVD.
--Natalie Portman never looks bad. Ever.
--Enough with the Phoenix parodies. He doesn't deserve the attention and the more we mock him, the longer he stays in the news.
--Enough with Slumdog Millionaire. O.V.E.R.R.A.T.E.D.

TEK

~~~~~

1830

--Sorry. Thanks TEK. Back now and filling with pizza.

--Animation 2008 yearbook? I thought I was at a rave.
--WALL-E wins. No surprise.
--Animated Short? La Maison… Japanese winner thanks his pencil and also Domo Arigado Mr. Roboto.
--Production Design. The stage looks good, but is this increasing the audience for the broadcast? If people don’t like watching the Oscars, will this new “narrative” style help in any way?
--Winner: BButton. A lot of time for speaking by one guy and then no time for other guy.
--Costumes. Duchess. When will SJP stop being the official fashion laureate of the United States of America?
--I sense a rushed last half hour. But fewer montages this year, correct?
--Apparently Bond and Bradshaw are giving out the rest of the 18 awards by themselves.
--Makeup. BButton.
--As a straight (though pretty gay) male I must say that this is the time to send the boys to the store for snack replenishment. Art, Costumes, Makeup in a row? My testicles are shrinking as I watch.
--The Twilight Guy and the Big Love girl. That’s the guy setting all the hearts aflutter?
--Romance in 2008: Sigh no more, I spotted Emma Thompson; the Wrestler RATT dance; George Michael Bluth; Ratio of straight kiss to gay kisses: 48:1. That was pretty cool even with the Coldplay song.

--After 8 categories: MWC 7; TEK 2


MWC

~~~~~


1812

--Thanks for your patience with us Copyeditor, Paul, Russell and all else who are following along. It always takes us a few commercials to figure out our structure. :)
--As a screenwriter myself, and huge fan of Tina Fey & Steve Martin, that was just about the most perfect way to present the screenplay awards that I've ever seen, right down to the Courier New font. Perhaps they could've picked scenes that more closely followed the written word, though.
--Am happy for Dustin Lance Black, as that screenplay was wonderful, but am sad for Courtney Hunt because for a first screenplay, Frozen River was really something.
--Am unhappy with Slumdog's writing win. The Reader and Frost/Nixon were more deserving.
--How many times did they pan to Brangelina while Aniston was on stage? Too many to keep their snob-dignity.
--MWC will post next. Promise.

TEK

~~~~~

1753

--Michael currently busy, so I'm jumping back in.
--Hugh is surpassing expectations.
--LOVED the way they 'honored' all nominees before presenting award.
--Not happy about Cruz's win - she was great in the role, but it wasn't an Oscar®-worthy role.
--It's back on.

TEK

~~~~~

1733

--MichaelVox, are we switching to the posting-during-commercials system? If so, you can have first turn.

TEK

~~~~~

1730

--It's showtime!!!

TEK

~~~~~

1720

This is who I WANT to win:

PICTURE - Milk
ACTOR - Sean Penn
SUPPORTING ACTOR - Heath Ledger
ACTRESS - Kate Winslet
SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Amy Adams
ANIMATED - Kung Fu Panda
ART DIRECTION - Changeling
CINEMATOGRAPHY - Benjamin Button
COSTUME - The Duchess
DIRECTING - Gus Van Sant
DOCUMENTARY - Encounters at the End of the World
FILM EDITING - Slumdog Millionaire
FOREIGN LANGUAGE - The Class
MAKEUP - Benjamin Button
MUSIC (Score) - Slumdog Millionaire
MUSIC (Song) - Jai Ho - Slumdog
SHORT FILM (Animated) - Presto
DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Smile Pinki
SHORT FILM (Live Action) - Toyland
SOUND EDITING - The Dark Knight
VISUAL EFFECTS - Benjamin Button
WRITING (Adapted) - The Reader
WRITING (Original) - Frozen River

TEK

~~~~~

1710

--Damn you, MichaelVox
--I will post it in my next update.
--Big question - is this who you think WILL win or who you WANT to win, M?

TEK

~~~~~

1705

--Prior Head-to-head competitions:
----2007 MWC 14, TEK 11
----2008 TEK 13, MWC 10

--I think I speak for our readers when I say to TEK that she must post her picks before we begin. I’m not sure how I was supposed to know what her ballot looked like as we haven’t discussed it.

--Pizza here.

MWC

~~~~~


1700

--M-Vox, I'm confused by yesterday morning's e-mail, I guess.
--Folks, I'll just say before it happens who I want, etc.
--Where the hell is Michael's pizza? Doesn't Papa J's know it's Oscar night???
--Tassoula is starting her dessert (lemon cake she baked last night)
--I'm forced to switch over to ABC, as E! is done w/red carpet coverage. Drat.

TEK

~~~~~

1655

--35 Minutes to kick-off and no pizza yet.
--As TEK mentioned, the appearance of George Pinnochio eliminates an entire network from being shown in my house for red carpet. I’d wished I’d Tivo’d both E and TV Guide channel instead of ABC. How that guy continues to get a job. What sort of pix does he have? And of whom? A quote I heard before I turned it: “Frank Langella of the nominated film Frank/Nixon”
--I love watching the background during interviews to watch the non-VIPs crane their necks to see who Seacrest is speaking with.
--Oh Shit, does E have Ben Lyons, one of the pair of dickheads who took Mr. Ebert’s job? They couldn’t even get the half of the new pair that actually knows about film? I’m running out of channels to watch. Who’s hosting Univision’s coverage?
--Christopher Nolan is still alive and well, thank you.

--TEK, I don't know what your choices are this year. I thought I'd be an example and you'd post yours. I can go find the old scores, though.

MWC

~~~~~


1650

--M-vox you said you would post our ballot differences and prior year scores. Do you have those handy?
--I love Kate's dress, but hate her hair.
--I would so love if something else got Best Picture and upset S-dog.

TEK

~~~~~

1645

--MichaelVox Ballot:
BBUTTON: ART, MAKEUP, VISUAL
DKNIGHT: LEDGER, SOUND EDIT, SOUND MIX
DUCHESS: COSTUME
MILK: OSCREEN
MOWIRE: DOC
PRESTO: ANIMATE SHORT
READER: WINSLET
SLUMDOG: CINEMA, DIR, EDIT, SCORE, SONG “JAI HO”, PIC, ASCREEN
TOYLAND: SHORT LIVE
TWFTBOR306: DOC SHORT
VCBARCELONA: CRUZ
WALL-E: ANIMATED
WRESTLER: ROURKE
WWBASHIR: FOR

MWC

~~~~~


SUN 1640

--Crazy squeal from E! lady now that Brangelina has arrived.
--Anyone else hoping for Aniston-Jolie collision?
--I wish Amy Adams hadn't worn red.
--I may not even switch to ABC for their red carpet coverage, now that I see Pinnochio has been invited back.

TEK

~~~~~

SUN 1630

--Yay - Welcome, MichaelVox!
--Robin Wright Penn & Sean are stunning.
--Mickey Rourke telling Seacrest about wife leaving him.
--Meryl opted for a dress this time (good).
--I think I like Beyonce's dress.

TEK

~~~~~

1625

--Pizza ordered. For those of you playing at home, Round Table put me on hold for five minutes so I went with Papa Johns online. Sometimes human interaction is a minus, not a plus. Ham, Pepperoni, X Cheese.

MWC

~~~~~


SUN 1620

--Am enjoying first bites of Extra Pepperoni pizza and drinking a Hansen's Mango Orange corn syrup-free soda. Yum!
--MichaelVox, where art thou?

TEK

~~~~~


SUN 1530

--I went with the "Extra Pepperoni" pizza and am headed out to go pick it up.
--Hoping MichaelVox will be here when I return.

TEK

~~~~~

SUN 1520

--Trying to decide on pizza toppings as I track down my partner.
--Wishing Miley Cyrus would quit being invited to these soirees.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1605

--That’s a wrap.
--Join us tomorrow at the crack of before noon for the announcement of the pizza toppings. Also, snarky commentary about the dresses and E’s car-crash-like coverage.
--As Matt Singer has appeared on my screen, it must be time to turn off the TV until tomorrow.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1600

--Fox Searchlight is smelling like roses today.
--I wish Darren would shave off the 'stache
--Pillow fight in my hotel room? Better luck next year nailing down a good host.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1555

--THE WIRE’s Tom McCarthy wins Director trophy.
--Alec Baldwin wants back into the movie business. What did Eric Roberts do 15 years ago?
--Best Feature. Ballast, Frozen River, Rachel Getting Married, Wendy and Lucy, The Wrestler
--Winner: The Michaelvox ™ Best Film Of 2008: The Wrestler.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1550

--Partner, thank God you wrote all that Rourke-speak down. Priceless!
--Director award from a Deschanel and a guy who just wrote an inspiring essay about U2's new album.
--THE VISITOR is recognized. Although not my first pick, I'm happy for it.
--Getting hungry now. When does this thing end?

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1545

--Best Male Lead: Oh Mickey?
--YUP. It’s a great day now. Leo and Rourke.
--Get ready for the train wreck, er, speech
--I promise all of this was straight out of Mickey’s mouth:
--Eric Roberts is the best actor I’ve ever worked with. Eric Roberts is the fuckin’ man. I’m gonna beat your [Rainn Wilson] ass when I get out of here. I don’t know what you do, honey [to model on stage]. This is for my dog. Thank you to Darren Aronofsky for believing in me. If they don’t got the brains to bring it, then fuck them. I’d like to thank gap tooth. Melissa, Marisa Tomei, with her bare ass, and she brought it. Not many girls can climb the pole and she did it well. Banging the girl in the ass in the bathroom. My publicist told me how to dress, who to fuck and all the rest of it.
--Thus spoketh Rourke.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1540

--These clips kinda make me want to see THE VISITOR again.
--I don't know if I need to see THE HURT LOCKER.
--Hoffman just wiped his mouth on his shirt before announcing nominee Rourke. Classy!
--If I see the "broken down piece-of-meat" scene from THE WRESTLER one more time, I'm gonna like the movie less. Seriously.
--Mickey Rourke wins!

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1535

--Any juice THE WRESTLER can get tonight before the shocking upset of Rourke over Penn tomorrow is welcome.
--It’s 14:59, Cameron Diaz
--I get absolutely no sense of what Sch…, New York is about from the clips. Which is either the mark of something special or the mark of something terrible. Here comes the entire cast. In honor of Mr. Altman, they will now all talk over one another. That must have been the weirdest film set in history.
--Hi, I’m Eric Roberts. I was in several straight-to-video releases with my friend Mickey Rourke. But now he’s the redemptive story of the year and I’m still only on late-night Cinemax.
--Rainn Wilson is the Wrestler. Ram Jam You!

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1530

--Damn. I wish I felt better. I'd go see THE CLASS tonight (it opened in Seattle yesterday).
--THE WRESTLER just took the Cinematography award. I bet my partner is smiling ear-to ear.
--Aronofsky is rocking the beige.
--I wonder what those white ribbons everyone is wearing are for.
--Yuck. Cameron Diaz.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1525

--I love how the Spirits make fun of the sponsors who are keeping them in business.
--I guess I spoke too soon about Sandra Oh being the only qualified Asian actress. Lucy Liu on stage right now. There is quite a drop-off to the third-highest-ranking one. And could we find an Asian male? Besides that incredibly tall guy escorting winners off the stage. Stay near your phones, Maggie Cheung, George Takai, Joan Chen, Grace Park, and god help us, Bai Ling.
--OK, Frozen River song not bad. How relieved is Melissa Leo now? Don’t count her out tomorrow night.
--Rosie Perez is pretty cool. She says “Brit-In” and “The nahmahneez aah”
--Foreign category is stronger than the Oscar equivalent. I want to see them all.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1520

--Emile Hirsch looks about 14
--Big Surprise - Woody Allen is absent
--Am thirsty for a Heineken, much like I am for Stella when I see a movie at a Landmark theatre.
--Must see FROZEN RIVER again. Dammit that was good.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1515

--Andie MacDowell on stage now. Say it with me, the worst-delivered line in movie history: “Oh, is it raining? I hadn’t noticed.”
--Frozen River is still winning. Nice. Producer has sweet tats. That wasn’t a typo.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1510

--MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE was complete Shite.
--WTF?! It just won.
--I kid you not; after the press screening of this at SIFF last year, critics were going out for coffee afterwards JUST TO DISCUSS HOW MUCH IT SUCKED.
--Sean Nelson horribly pretentious.
--Am shaking my head in disbelief.
--Wish she hadn't said she lives in Seattle.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1505

--Juno reunion. Ellen and Jason. Hard Candy shout-out.
--Why Juno swallow anymore. Bateman drunk, clearly.
--Best Female Lead.
--Judging from the cheering, the crowd is behind Melissa Leo (from the late, great H:LOTS). And she wins it. And gives one of those wacky, heartfelt speeches that isn’t allowed tomorrow night.
--Kerry Washington is in my top ten.
--The songs are not inspiring this year. At all.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1500

--Jason Bateman saves the day. HARD CANDY porn joke is great.
--Ellen Page's delivery also great. Breath of fresh air compared to Batman and the Hassidic Jew.
--I wish I'd been able to see BALLAST
--Best Female Lead is...MELISSA LEO!!! Yay!

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1455

--The Cassavetes category is full of films that have never seen the darkness of a movie theater.
--The winner apparently uses a Scorpions cover song in the film.
--Cassavetes winner loves the F-word. Good luck censors at AMC
--Rachel Getting Married song is an actual song from the film. One of the 35 songs playing in the background during each and every scene in the movie. The songs in the movie are better than the one they just played.
--Eric Roberts backstage
--Bale and Phoenix on stage now. This could be good. It’s fucking distracting!
--Docs are up. Nope, Nope, Yup, Nope (but on PBS this week), Nope (but on my Tivo right now). Winner: Man On Wire. Fab!

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1450

--IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS wins Cassavetes award. Too bad he's the only person who's seen it.
--Bad Scorpions cover is theme song for that film.
--"Fucking" 5 "Fuck" 1 "Shit" 1 (the tally of times said in the speech Cassavetes winner just gave, and then claimed he was too shy to talk to actors)
--RACHEL GETTING MARRIED is next nominee.
--Robin Hitchcock sings RACHEL song, just like in the movie.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1445

--Here comes the first song. Usually a highlight. Not so far this year.
--Mickey Rourke can get away with anything this year, can’t he? Flipping off cameras, wearing whatever he wants, etc.
--Michelle Williams sits in front of an untouched salad.
--Drew Barrymore has some reservations about the anal scene in the new Aronofsky film.
--Is Sandra Oh the only Asian indie actress we can find? Lucy Liu is also there somewhere. Oh isn’t even American. She’s so polite, she could only be a neighbor from the north.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1440

--Hate to admit it, but Penelope Cruz's speech and dress were very cute.
--Did anyone else notice "Office Space's" Ron Livingston sitting with Rosemarie Dewitt?
--Tajari P. Henson can sing too! What a sprite of energy she just was. I like her. Too bad they cancelled ELI STONE before her character on that could develop further.
--Apparently U2's "Desire" is show theme song. I can certainly live with that.
--Am stunned FROZEN RIVER has yet to win anything.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1435

--U2’s “Desire” with Jessica Alba on stage.
--Best Supporting Female. VCBarcelona clip shows Scarlett getting her ass handed to her acting-wise by Cruz
--Rosie Perez clip had a DO THE RIGHT THING reunion.
--Go rent FROZEN RIVER. Right now.
--Winner: Ms. Cruz

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1430

--Aaron Eckhart has trouble pronouncing Synecdoche
--Then it wins, and the winner cracks a joke about it
--I think I have a crush on Michelle Williams—she's just so innocent-sweet
--P. Seymour Hoffman wore same cap that he did on The Today Show (where he claimed it was because of a role). Will he sport it at the Oscars tomorrow too?
--I can't help but dislike said host.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1425

--The Yeah Area’s own James Franco wins supporting male
--First Screenplay is up. Now that the Olsen’s are 18, does anyone care anymore?
--MILK is 2 for 2.
--Did they just silence his words? I want to thank the guy who _____________ me when I was writing this. Who wants to play Mad Libs with that one? I’m looking for a verb, I think.
--Oh My God, how gorgeous does Robin Wright Penn look? She’s not even my flavor.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1420

--The champagne bottles at all the tables look unopened. WTF?
--James Franco wins for Milk! I'm actually kind of surprised.
--Classy speech acknowledging the genius of Van Sant
--Love that the first person he thanked was the screenwriter
--Uh-oh, the annoying sponsor bits have begun (Lacoste)
--Random "proof that Owen Wilson is no longer suicidal" bit; unfortunately not funny.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1415

--Man on Wire would have been “more indy” if you’d fallen at the end of it.
--I see some amazing dicks, er, I mean penis, oops, cock, damn!
--Coogan growing on me.
--Beastie Boys King Ad Rock is now 58 years old.
--I’d like to see the bouncing ball of lyrics as Coogan sings.
--Slow down with the editing, please
--John Hamm sighting.
--Justine Bateman, oops, Monahan on stage.

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1410 (just testing you, MWC - you passed!)

--Man on Wire guy good sport about "wish you'd fallen" and "small penis" jokes
--Beastie Boy looks like Jon Stewart and Anderson Cooper had a kid. When did we get so old??

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1405 (did you already forget your assignment, partner?)

--crowd overlaughing at Ben Stiller
--Steve Coogan?
--Editor has ADHD, shots are more quick than I can yell the names of the people
--“beautiful on the inside” then quick shot of Mickey.

MWC

~~~~~



SAT 1405

Not sure about the beginning. Could've been funnier. Hope it picks up.

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 1355

Get Matt Singer off my screen. Bring on the cool, nearly famous people! Here we go...

MWC

~~~~~


SAT 1310

Are you proud of me for getting the military time right, partner?

I'm here now, toast in hand, Mexican Coca-Cola on my right, ready for the politically incorrect, casually dressed, allowed-to-swear ambiance of the Spirits. Only 20 minutes until the pre-show!

TEK

~~~~~

SAT 0915

For the third consecutive year, Tassoula and I are going to live blog this weekend. We promise to snark, comment, argue, and ridicule the biggest weekend of the moviegoing year. Today in a tent next to the Santa Monica Pier, what is affectionately called the "Independent Film Community" will meet to hand out the 24th Annual Spirit Awards. Then on Sunday evening, that most American of holidays, the Academy Awards takes place at the Kodak (tm) Theater in Hollywood. Refresh this page for all the updates on boobs, face-lifts, filmmakers who got robbed, dozens of stories on Art-Reflecting-The-Real-Life-Of-Mickey-Rourke, and all manner of snobby commentary. Feel free to add to the comments section as we go along. Those of you in other countries (hey guys) probably won't be awake when the actual ceremonies take place, so you can check here after the shindigs have ended. We'll be live from two couches on the Left Coast of America. Join us and ridicule people with more money, looks, and usually more talent than TEK and I.

MWC

~~~~~

Michael asked that I post a reminder of our upcoming Live Blogs this weekend.

So when should you log on?

On Saturday, February 21, the broadcast on IFC starts at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

On Sunday, February 22, the broadcast on ABC starts at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Of course, keep in mind we'll be blogging during the pre-shows (or even earlier in some cases). And there will be talk of pizza toppings, boob-laden dresses and ridiculous speeches.

But that's what it's all about, right?

We sure hope you'll join us...