Join us at 7 PM EST as we provide running commentary on Barbara Walter’s Pre-Oscar Special, Red Carpet Coverage, and the Oscar Ceremony. Keep refreshing this post for the latest updates! [I added some post show comments in brackets. – Ella]
CR: The carpet’s been unrolled and Miley Cyrus popped out of it
CR: Is this geezer with the white hair a regular E! presenter? He’s like OMG… a tool
CR: By the way this is CR, who is tonight wearing Gap sweatpants and a thriftstore top complete with hummus stains
CR: I can’t be the only person who thinks that Ryan Seacrest is a bit of pretentious untalented twat. Can I?
CR: Dev Patel! Brilliant in “Skins”, a little better known for “Slumdog Millionaire”
CR: To hell with the ‘blimp cam’ and the ‘shoe cam’.. where’s the ‘upskirt cam’?
CR: Ooh, Tara Henson!! Grrrrrrowl
CR: Pheobe Cates and Kevin Kline are married??? WTF!
CR: The big secret? Give me a break.
CR: Stars are going to appear from behind a curtain to announce winners? They should have a handful come out of a closet too
CR: Awww… the Slumdog puppies (and Seacrest making a knob of himself for a change)
Mackenzie: I haven’t seen Slumdog, but is it really worth all the hype? I really hope Milk cleans up.
CR: Frieda Pinto is soooooooooooooooo beautiful. One hotTT curry
Nate: I have some thoughts on Slumdog that most likely will not be popular. To be revealed later. From what I’ve read, Sean Penn & Milk have little to no shot at awards this year.
Nate: Why the hell are the Jonas Brothers on the Barbara Walters Oscar special?
Nate: Oscar Predictions…Mickey Rourke – Best Actor, Kate Winslet – Best Actress, Best Picture – Slumdog, Best Director – Danny Boyle.
CR: I kind of agree with you Nate, but a part of me feels there might be a “best actress” upset.
Nate: Maybe, Meryl Streep is the only serious contender, probably. She gets nominated every year, it seems. But Kate is way overdue for an Oscar win.
CR: I’d LOVE to see Richard Jenkins win – but he won’t
CR: Natalie Portman should not be bareshouldered with those tanlines! Looks skanky.
Nate: Oooo, good choice on Jenkins. “The Visitor” seemed like a role especially made for him. Character actor, you don’t really remember specific roles he’s done, but every time you see him on screen, you recognize him.
Mackenzie: I was bored to death with the Visitor, but I’m very interested in seeing the Wrestler. As for Slumdog, I’ll take people’s words that it’s good, but I have no desire to see it based on the plot.
Mackenzie: As for Natalie Portman, check out her shaved head: http://www.myspace.com/natalieportmansshavedhead
Nate: Mickey Rourke is damn near a blubbering mess on the Barbara Walter’s special.
CR: Seacrest to Evan Rachel Wood .. “I think I can smell you”
MissK: Hi everyone! What’s up with Angelina’s tattooed arm? She tryin’ to hide it now or something?
MissK: Beyonce is rocking that dress. Wowza.
Nate: Hopefully this will be easier to read and follow once the show starts in a few minutes…sorry, folks!
Ella: Finally checking in. Just caught the last few minutes with Hugh. Yum.
CR: Count the number of times it is pronounced “Windslut”
CR: Now switching to ABC’s Red Crappit Coverage
CR: “Richard Nixon cannot be here tonight” TF for that!
Nate: Jerry Lewis is receiving a Lifetime Acheivement Award tonight. Let’s hope he doesn’t break into a rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in his acceptance speech.
(7:30) – Nate: The 81st Annual Academy Awards kick off with what else? Cheesy jokes!
(7:34) – Nate: My cynicism meter is off the charts right now with this musical number.
(8:42 EST) – Ella: I enjoyed the opening number, but Hugh Jackman can do little wrong in my book.
(8:44) Nate – Ahh yes, my bad. We’ll go EST time for the rest of this. Best Supporting Actress category is up. Why do Goldie Hawn’s boobs start up at her collarbones?
(8:47) Nate: Not a big fan of the former winners talking about the nominees. Takes. So….long. Over under on this show actually being done at 11, anyone?
(8:49) Ella: It’s actually scheduled to last until 11:30 PM, so I’ll take over. 😀 While this was the widest open race, not a big surprise that Ms. Cruz won.
(8:53) Nate: DOH! :p But yeah, Penelope was the favorite. Tina Fey & Steve Martin are killing it right now.
(8:57) Ella: So far they are 2 for 2 with the Independent Spirit Awards. (Excellent way of presenting the nominees, too!)
(8:58) Nate: That was a great acceptance speech from Lance Black. Tearing up a little over here.
(9:05) Ella – Biggest upset would be if Wall-E doesn’t win. [And there’s no upset.]
(9:11) Nate – Have to admit, the show hasn’t been that terrible so far. Inventive ways of introducing nominees, I’d agree. I’ve found myself LOLing a few times.
(9:13) Ella: Loved the “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.”
(9:15) Nate: What are the odds Sarah Jessica Parker runs off with Daniel Craig here to get back at her husband? What if they started making out in front of everyone? And then the camera pans to Matthew. That’s comedy gold!
(9:23) Ella: No big surprises in Art, Costume, and Makeup [Benjamin Button, The Dutchess, and Benjamin Button]. I did like the context they presented the awards in.
(9:25) Nate: My wife is frightening me right now with what she’s saying she’d ‘do’ to Robert Pattinson. I almost want to change the channel.
(9:28) Ella: He doesn’t do much for me. Did like the romance movie montage, though. Ooh – short film from Judd Apatow coming up.
(9:32) Nate: How far has Joaquin Phoenix fallen recently? This skit confirms it.
(9:33) Ella: Already saw this skit yesterday. It was funnier because it also had “Christian Bale” dressed as Batman doing his rant.
(9:52) Ella: Enjoyed the skit with James & Seth – especially when they were watching James in Milk. I don’t mind musical numbers featuring Hugh, either. And is that Beyonce? Although I don’t need HSM.
(10:12) Ella: Still so sad about Heath, but very nicely done by his family [accepting the Best Supporting Actor Award].
(10:24) Ella: I guess the musical number scared away Nate. Hopefully the action movie montage will bring him back (or the music by The Hives).
(10:38) Ella: So it was the computer that couldn’t handle the musical montage – not Nate. So I’ll blog on alone. They’ve done an excellent job on the presenters this year. Will Smith did a good job on the more technical categories.
(10:41) Ella: Time for the award for Jerry Lewis. Appropriate for Eddie Murphy to be presenting it. Did you know Jerry also invented the ‘video-assist system used in the directing process? And wrote The Total Film-Maker, which is still referenced by directors?
(10:46) Ella: My predictions for some upcoming awards: Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Danny Boyle, and Slumdog Millionaire for score, song, and best picture.
(10:51) Ella: How is an orchestra going to capture the sound of the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack?
(11:01) Ella: Two more [score and song] for Slumdog Millonaire. That’s 2 of 6 correct.
(11:09) Ella: The foreign language award was a bit of a surprise [the Japanese film]; I was expecting it to go to The Class or Waltz with Bashir.
(11:21) Ella: And another one for Slumdog Millionaire. I love the variety of Danny Boyle’s directing choices: Trainspotting, Millions, 28 Days Later…, and Sunshine. Down to the final 3. While they won’t get it in in 5 minutes, I think they will be finished by 11 PM CST.
Mackenzie: Yeah, Nate’s computer went down. I thought the Heath Ledger win was appropriate, classy and sad. Insane how Slumdog is cleaning up. I’ll have to see this movie whether I want to or not now. It’s now a law.
(11:34) Kate Winslet wins best actress. They are giving neat tributes to past winners of awards over the years, and there was also a nice tribute to Paul Newman. They even handed out a jar of spaghetti sauce to everyone in the audience. But not the people in the balcony….only the famous people.
(11:35) Ella: No big surprise with Kate’s win. Loved the whistle from her dad so she’d know where her parents were sitting. That’s 4 of 6.
(11:40) Al Pacino (what’s the difference these days?) Robert Deniro looked like Jay Leno in roasting Sean Penn. Penn rightfully wins the Best Actor award and starts off saying “you commie, homo-loving sons of guns.”
So Jolie and Pitt go home with no awards….and 300 kids. In a rage, Jolie publicly announced that she plans to “beat the record” and to be implanted and have 10 children…. by July.
John Mayer is rumored to be the potential donor.
(11:48) Ella: We seem to have a mystery poster. Excellent speech by Sean. That’s 5 of 6.
(11:50) Mackenzie: Oops, I’m the mystery  😉
(11:52) Ella: And Slumdog Millionaire wins best picture. 6 for 6 – woo hoo!
(00:13) Ella: Having seen all nominated films for best picture, I don’t mind the Slumdog Millionaire win, as well as the Best Actor, Actress, and Director awards. I just need to see Vicky Christina Barcelona and The Dutchess, and I’ll have seen most everything but the documentaries and shorts.
