We just did an Oscar pool at work, for $5 entry and somehow I got stuck with organizing and grading all the ballots. But it's still fun. Gives me something to focus on during all the best song nominee numbers.

Hmm, shouldn't you get the most points for nailing the difficult short categories?

Okay, here's my try:

Picture: The Queen (just because I'm eliminating all the others for various reasons; if voters were in a "Crash" kind of mood again they'll probably pick Babel.)

Best Actor: Peter O'Toole (picked Forest Whitaker in the other pool so I'm covered! er, right?)

Best Actress: Helen Mirren

Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson

Supp Actor: Alan Arkin

Director: Marty Scorsese

my fave categories are tough this year:
Adapted script: Children of Men (just 'cause I'm rooting for it)

Original Script: Little Miss Sunshine

Animated Feature: Happy Feet

Documentary: (Iraq in Fragments should win but it'll probably be) An Inconvenient Truth

Foreign language film: Lives of Others

Art direction: Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography: The Illusionist (rooting for Children of Men too tho

Costume design: Marie Antoinette

Film editing: Children of Men (prolly will go to Babel tho, gack)

Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth

Original score: Notes on a Scandal (Philip Glass)

Original song: Love You I Do, Dreamgirls

Sound editing: Letters from Iwo Jima

Sound mixing: Dreamgirls

Visual effects: Pirates of the Caribbean (what a crap category this year)

Documentary short: Rehearsing a Dream

Animated short: Maestro

Live-action short film: Helmer and Son

Oh, my tiebreaker: Time of finish - 8:10PST

Jon, do you want to post a link to the nominees somewhere?

I guess I could, though they're easy enough to find.

I thought I'd give extra points to the categories that most people either cared about or would be able to have the most informed opinion about. Is it more valuable to predict the NCAA hoops' champ or the winner of the 8-9 game?

My blind stabs in the dark:

4 pts
Picture: Letters From Iwo Jima

3pts
Actor: Forest Whitaker
Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy
Actress: Helen Mirren
Supporting Acress: Jennifer Hudson
Director: Martin Scorsese
Adapted Screenplay: Borat
Original Screenplay: The Queen
Animated Feature: Cars
Documentary: Inconvenient Truth
Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth

2pts
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Costume Design: The Queen
Film Editing: United 93
Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Original Score: The Queen
Original Song: Love You I Do
Sound Editing: Letters From Iwo Jima
Sound Mixing: Apocalypto
Visual Effects: Pirates

1pt
Documentary Short: Two Hands
Animated Short: Bob Cobb
Live-Action: Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)

End of Telecast: 9:09pm

4 pts
Picture: The Departed

3pts
Actor: Forest Whitaker
Supporting Actor: Jackie Earle Haley
Actress: Helen Mirren
Supporting Acress: Adriana Barraza
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu
Adapted Screenplay: Borat
Original Screenplay: The Queen
Animated Feature: Cars
Documentary: Inconvenient Truth
Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth

2pts
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Children of Men
Costume Design: The Queen
Film Editing: Babel
Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Original Score: Good German
Original Song: Love You I Do
Sound Editing: Apocalypto
Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls
Visual Effects: Pirates

1pt
Documentary Short: Rehearsing a Dream
Animated Short: Lifted
Live-Action: Binta and the Great Idea

End of Telecast: 8:48pm

tryin' to mix it up a bit without being stupid (aka, not picking Hellen or Forest) ;D although i did somehow win the griddle's world cup pool by being stupid and having brazil lose very early. hehe on guard!

4pts
Best Picture: Babel

3pts
Actor: Forrest Whittaker
Actress: Dame Helen Mirren
Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy
Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson
Director: Martin Scorsese
Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Original Screenplay: Babel
Animated Feature: Monster House
Documentary: Iraq In Fragments
Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth

2pts
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Costume Design: Dreamgirls
Film Editing: Babel
Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Original Score: Notes on a Scandal
Original Song: Love You I Do
Sound Editing: Letters From Iwo Jima
Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls
Visual Effects: Poseidon

1pt
Documentary Short: Two Hands
Animated Short: The Danish Poet (I took Animation and the National Film Board of Canada is revered for their animation)
Live-Action: Eramos Pocos

End of Telecast: 8:33

This year the Academy allowed in a lot of younger voters and I think they will vote for the favorites.

*Forest Whitaker

Fair 'nuf, Jon, thanks!

Okay, it's 9:20am PST and I'm changing one pick - sorry to be a pain.

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker

I'm rooting too hard for him not to pick him, and he is the favorite. I won't tear my hair out if O'Toole does win though. (Well, only a little.)

Best Picture: The Departed
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker
Best Actress: Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson
Best Director: Marty Scorsese
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
Animated Feature: Cars
Documentary: An Inconvienent Truth
Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth
Art direction: Dreamgirls
Cinematography: Children of Men
Costume design: Marie Antoinette
film editing: The Departed
Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Original score: The Queen
Original song: "Listen" Dreamgirls
sound editing: Letters From Iowa Jima
sound mixing: Dreamgirls
visual effects: Pirates
Documentary short: Two Hands
animated short: The Little Matchgirl
live-action short: Eramos Pocos

Root against the evil Babel and for the righteous Children of Men.

Tiebreaker: They end at 9:07.

I am watching "Babel" on DVD as I type this.

This was considered to be really good?

Why?

You should read Dennis Cozzalio's scathing review of it. There is something misanthropic about these movies that destroy their characters not as a consequence of their actions but in the name of the "statement" of the movie. The misery in that movie becomes the misery of watching it, and even the really good scenes (I loved the way club scene in Tokyo was shot) can't make up for the terrible ones.

http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2007/02/movie-of-moment-babel.html

Jon's predictions:

Lead Actor: Forest Whitaker
Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (upset over Eddie Murphy)
Lead Actress: Helen Mirren
Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson
Animated Feature: Cars
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Children of Men
Costume Design: Marie Antoinette
Directing: The Departed
Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
Documentary Short: Two Hands
Film Editing: The Departed
Foreign Language FIlm: The Lives of Others
Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Original Score: The Queen
Original Song: Listen
Best Picture: Babel (just sensing that as many people as have hated it, more people loved it than loved the others)
Animated Short Film: The Little Matchgirl
Live Action Short Film - Eramos Pocos
Sound Editing: Letters from Iwo Jima
Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls
Visual Effects: Pirates: Dead Man's Chest
Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine

9:14 p.m.

My entry:

Lead Actor: Forest Whitaker
Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (upset over Eddie Murphy)
Lead Actress: Helen Mirren
Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson
Animated Feature: Cars
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Children of Men
Costume Design: Marie Antoinette
Directing: The Departed
Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
Documentary Short: Two Hands
Film Editing: The Departed
Foreign Language FIlm: The Lives of Others
Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Original Score: The Queen
Original Song: Listen
Best Picture: Babel (just sensing that as many people as have hated it, more people loved it than loved the others)
Animated Short Film: The Little Matchgirl
Live Action Short Film - Eramos Pocos
Sound Editing: Letters from Iwo Jima
Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls
Visual Effects: Pirates: Dead Man's Chest
Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine

9:13 p.m.

(Yes, I'm familiar with The Price is Right. Why do you ask?)

Gosh, my time of finish prediction sure is looking retarded, but I'm not going to be further annoying by changing that one, too. Maybe I'll benefit from other people's predictions being too similar.

Um, Andrew, couldn't you have just said, "Ditto, Jon" to save space? or is that one of those "which is different from the above" brain teasing puzzles?

Shimmin!

Okay, I thought the Oscars started at 5, not 5:30 (the ceremony itself), so I AM going to be annoying and change my time (sorry Jon) to make it less obviously wrong.

TIME of end: 8:55pm.

To break a tie for last ;-)

Shutting up for the evening now.

Ha ha. Hilarious Andrew. Hopefully you both lose, because if Babel wins I am going to be very very disappointed.

Babel, you mean, "Crash '07"?

I'm watching Casblanca on TMC as part of their best picture marathon and keep thinking whatever wins tonight won't be remembered in the same way as this one.

If "Babel" wins, I'm going to get a rifle and go up on a mountain in Morocco and start randomly shooting at people and then have sex with a deaf and lonely young Japanese woman. I will leave my cat with an illegal immigrant catsitter who will lose him at the border when she can't find the cat's passport.

If she was an illegal alien why did she think she could get into the country anyway? I thought that illegal aliens in this country could not return to their home countries for fear of not getting in, but apparently that isn't a problem unless you are drunk driving when you try to cross the border.

My brother and sister-in-law, who have two adopted children from Guatemala, have enough hassles trying to get in and out of Canada with them, that they don't bother.

Instead, the woman is illegal, is transporting two children who aren't hers and she has no proof that she is entrusted with their care, and she just thinks she can go back and forth across the border?

I'm running a contest for my staff, so I'm opting not to participate in order to create a conflict of interest. But I'm just scoring the contest with just one point each.

I'm really hoping there isn't a tie.

If you're of a mind to total up your own scores during the show, please do.

I made a spreadsheet with my staff's entries.

My staff really, really, really like Pan's Labyrinth.

20 That would make a swell movie! Get right on that.

23 Will do.

Except you should keep track of Andrew's picks for him.

After one award, Benaiah is almost out of it!

I'm glad Jon and others picked Alan Arkin over Eddie Murphy...I really hope that happens.

Huzzah!

First upset of the night! Wow, Jon is looking good right now.

This is an interesting followup to the comic song. Evidently even going serious won't save the comedian. Maybe I am just bitter that I got it wrong.

I am so happy for Alan Arkin...

Gestapo tactics!

James Taylor to perform! Alert Andrew!

Could the clips be any shorter?

I'll never get the "Oscars run over" - "Oscars are too long" fretting.

For one thing, they don't really "run over" do they? Everyone knows the things going longer than 3 hours.

And sure it's long, but is that really a problem? It's oly once a year, and it's a pretty unique show. And it gets pretty good ratings.

That Dance was wierdly short too.

I only have one thing left that is different from Jon and so I think I am already out.

Actually, I don't think Andrew likes James Taylor very much.

I'm the JT obsessive.

Andrew and I are currently 4 for 6 for 9 points.

Sorry: 5 for 7 for 11 points.

Go long speeches!

Ahh, the beginning of the song presentations! Time to switch over to doings in Tempe.

I too thought it started at 5:00. Does not really matter though.

I am hoping this song from Cars wins. None of these Dreamgirls songs are particularly memorable.

PS I love James Taylor.

Well, James Taylor should win the Academy Award for most awesome human being ever.

It's kind of startling. I am realizing that this entire year went by and I saw exactly one movie (an unnominated one at that).

Not a banner year for movie music, it seems.

Melissa Etheridge vying for "Best Musical Accompaniment to a PowerPoint Presentation."

The previous winner was Gary Shaw of Metronic Systems of Waukesha, WI, who used a medley of Beatles tunes to show off the 2004 sales projections for his division.

I saw that presentation once and it brought me to tears.

Maybe this betrays my own politcal leanings, but I like the little messages behind Melissa Etheridge.

42
I saw the fifth BP nominee this morning. See comment #11.

I am happy taking an animation class got me the animated short one correct.

47 - I've taken an animation class and it didn't help me one iota. Then I guess you need to watch the nominees to use what you learned.

42 - I watched a ton this year. 17 of the nominees, and it would have been 19 but United 93 and The Prestige were lost in the mail this weekend. Still, I watched all the BP noms and I think Children of Men was better than any of them. Root for The Departed!

Wow, my Oscar Pool is dead in the water.

I should have known those liberal penguins would have won.

I vote funny on Gore's thing.

Having not seen one nominated movie all year, I'm wondering if these three hours are better spent watching the Oscars or going to see one of the movies.

If you go see "Babel" right now, comment 20 goes into effect.

I like montages that make use of the fine work of Leroy Anderson.

Well, that's a pretty compelling reason to get moving in its own right.

Mostly, I'm just here waiting for the In Memoriam thing.

Well, I now know why my writing career is fizzling. I'm neither neurotic, nor Jewish, nor angry, nor am I willing to throw any writing instruments out a window.

Also, I don't like yelling at inanimate objects.

From the very beginning Sam has had it in for Bob's cat; nobody knows why.

Good sign for the Departed.

Did they just say Japanese film Infernal Affairs?

I think that would be a fine first sentence of your next novel, Andrew.

Infernal Affairs is a Hong Kong film!

Hooray for the orchestra. They know what's what. Now we just need this guy to shut up.

I'm just waiting to see Peter Boyle in the "In Memoriam" montage.

Puttin' on the Ritz!

Oprah Winfrey presents an Oprah Winfrey Special on the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy.

Well they can't give an award to people from their own film. Can they?

Yah! I didn't get one wrong.

Congrats to Annie Lennox for winning Costume Design.

The expert from FIDM who spoke at the library was wrong with his pick for Best Costume. He thought that "Curse of the Golden Flower" would win.

Meh, call me when Bob Evans hops onstage.

Preferably talking about Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen...

I wasn't all that enthused about Ellen hosting the Oscars, but I have to admit she has been great. That last sequence was hilarious.

What a rip! I am seriously stunned that Children of Men didn't win. You can go home early people involved with foreign films besides Pan's Labyrinth.

The "playing off the stage" music almost sounds lullaby-ish.

71 The "Get off the stage" music is much more tasteful this year. They're not bullying people off the stage with overwhelming music.

I think it's much better.

With the exception of Al Gore.

72 I think they should use the Michigan J. Frog "Everybody do the Michigan raaaaag" song to play the winners off stage.

I should have known those liberal penguins would have won.

That's all right. The conservative ones dominate Penguin drive-time radio.

I'm on the fence on the Robert Downey Jr joke. Cool that he did the joke, but the joke itself seemed too easy.

Halfway point in the awards. I'm only 5 of 12 for 10 pts thus far.

Was that a blind joke?

Edgy.

A case study in why you write your speech down from some guy involved with Pirates.

"La Strada". Yeah, like that was a good movie...

Catherine Deneuve is tied within Helen Mirren in the most important category...

Well...you can figure it out.

Upset! It's like Tyson Buster Douglas all over again.

Congratulations to "Germany". No individual nominees here? Just countries, really?

Oh my god. I am wiped out. Nothing is going my way. Three upsets? Every award is an upset.

It wasn't that much of an upset. Underdog and Jon (and Andrew) picked "The Lives of Others."

I'll pick my favorites...The Bicycle Thief, Rashomon, and 8 1/2.

When I win this pool, there'll be a lot of people who lash out in jealousy at me. But, it should be noted: I could have copy and pasted anybody's predictions.

The foreign film award has nominees described by country.

It's not a popular rule.

84 - Then again, they didn't pick Pan's Labyrinth to have already won 3 awards going into Best Foreign Film. For it to pick up some major hardware (Cinematography) and then lose is amazing.

Holy crap, is that Rene Russo in the front row?

A World Premiere Performance by Celine Dion!

Please, can't we have a reprise of James Taylor, Melissa Etheridge, and the Annie Lenox lady can sing too.

Rulon Gardner amazes once again:

Authorities are uncertain of the exact location of the crash, but the three men swam for more than an hour in 44 degree water before reaching shore and then spent the night without shelter, according to the release.

http://tinyurl.com/2m5dxu

I hope the documentary guy knows that the Kodak Theater isn't in Beverly Hills.

I hope my next Power Point presentation earns me an Oscar.

Did Gore win? I changed the channel to watch something else.

If so, I should win multiple Oscars. I create about three PowerPoint presentations a week.

And I use animation and stuff!

Five bucks and I'll tell you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, does anybody else think Al Gore is beginning to look more and more like Stewie Griffin?

Al Gore is beginning to look more and more like Stewie Griffin?

Or is it the other way around?

I made a totally ridiculous PowerPoint presentation on the Industrial Revolution. It had everything...The Spinning Jenny, the Water Frame, poor people, the Irish, the Cotton Gin, pictures of Liverpool, and tremendous maps. I'm talking about maps that would make a grown man cry.

Can I at least get a Dundee?

IMDB puts Ennio Morricone as the composer for at least parts of 506 films or TV programs.

Well, I love Morricone, but not for this crap. I would kill myself before I spent money on a Celine Dion concert or cd. Ugh.

98
Do you have the whitest sneakers?

98 - Maybe for Do Not Go In There., but not for best Powerpoint.

So, who won the score Oscar when The Good the Bad and the Ugly was up.

Or did people not realize how iconic that would become at the time.

102 -- I hate getting beaten to a joke.

Now a translator! Is there anything Clint Eastwood can't do?

I'm currently doing a monster PowerPoint on John Brown.

Look for me at Oscars 2008.

103
"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" wasn't nominated for best score.

The film that won the year it came out was "Born Free".

Out of curiosity: do you folks generally have favorable opinions of "actors" and "actresses"...?

106 Incorporate the last scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and you're guaranteed a little statue.

This just in: The Simpsons is still bad.

109 I'm actually using John Ottman's score from The Usual Suspects. I haven't decided on a final scene.

I take my PowerPoint presentations very seriously.

No mention of the repeated screenshots of Rashida Jones?

I wonder what percentage of a score has to be originally written for the film. The clip they played for "Babel" is called "Iguazu" and it originally appeared on the HBO series "Deadwood."

So sayeth the info on my iTunes copy of it.

I actually liked the score to "Babel", so I'm not checking airfares to Casablanca yet.

110 -- The Utah one two weeks ago would at least have been environmentally sound if comedy was the source of global warming.

What was Borat adapted from?

115
The character from the TV show.

To amplify, the title of the award:

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

So "Borat" was already known from "Da Ali G Show" and that's good enough. The "Borat" character wasn't created directly for the screen.

Fair enough.

This is quite a breasty performance.

If those were the best songs from Dreamgirls, I'm really glad I didn't see Dreamgirls.

Breastacular? Yes. Good? Not really.

Those were just the ones they added to the movie from the Broadway production. The songs would also be better worked into the framework of the film.

I thought "Dreamgirls" was a very good movie FWIW.

I'm betting that Melissa Etheridge won her Oscar with about 20.2% of the vote.

Al Gore: Great man, or the greatest man ever?

The Academy does not concur with Bob's assessment.

And it's a very good night for alternative lifestyles.

I'd never noticed the Superbowl to Oscar ad pipeline before.

"Dreamgirls" has won two Oscars tonight.

Its song nominees were its weakest part.

So how many of the Please Explain subjects are we going to get onstage tonight?

Drew Barrymore'd be a reach, I suppose.

With Michael Mann, I was fully expecting to love the montage on America.

I hated it. Hated it with the fire of a thousand suns. I almost turned the channel.

I'm as lefty as it gets, but good God, that was terrible.

I missed the beginning of the montage, so what was the point of that?

Andrew watches the Oscars? And to think: he tried to make me feel bad about using PayPal...

Another opportunity to send Bob to the hills of Granada.

Once again A-Rod doesn't come through in the clutch.

(Seriously, I love A-Rod though)

128 At least it had the Dr. Strangelove part. That was great.

Every Oscar show has a montage that is put together for no apparent reason.

So, we got that one out of the way.

The Right Stuff, Malcolm X, Glory, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, Mississippi Burning...

That was the laziest montage I've ever seen. I've crapped better work.

You're such an Oscar montage partisan.

Starting to get a little dusty in here...is somebody cutting onions?

I've been surfing around. Would have watched 60 minutes if it hadn't stunk. Would have watched the Simpsons, but couldn't take it. Plus, there's an "appropriate" prize in it, if I win! Though I think Jon's idea of an appropriate prize for me might not be as nice as one might hope.

Ahh, when did Shohei Iwamura die?

RIP.

163 I really care about the montages. That may be tremendously lame, but I really do. It's the opportunity to celebrate the history of great films, rather than whatever decent films my win this year.

I'm all about the montages. At least the "In Memoriam" was pretty good.

Shohei Imamura died on May 30, 2006.

163. D4P
Greg - Do you really care about the montages?

141
Yeah, apparently of liver cancer. I never even heard about that.

Maybe the Michael Mann montage came about when they realized they left James Brown out of the In Memoriam montage.

142 Yeah, I do. Sometimes my students come up to me and ask about the movies in the montage, Like (in past years) La Dolce Vita, The Bicycle Thief, Dr. Strangelove, Dog Day Afternoon, etc. It's a chance for neophytes to discover great movies and great performances.

Sometimes the montages are the most emotional parts of the Oscars.

Checking the pool I ran for my office, I could have a tie if a film other than "The Departed" or "Little Miss Sunshine" wins Best Picture.

Then I would have to buy another Coffee Bean gift card, since I forgot to put in a tiebreaker.

Greg Brock is right.

Both about the importance of montages and the unimpressiveness of the America montage this year.

144 - James Brown probably wasn't a member of the Academy and so they couldn't put him in.

I really dug the Screenwriter montage earlier, and I thought the American montage (which featured some off-the-wall bits like Ricky Bobby, as well as the appropriate things like Do the Right Thing ect) was better than Will Smith's intro. All American movies are different? Have you ever seen a romantic comedy?

148
Went to Grasshopper again last night. We were served by a young Indian? man named Anjum.

There're only two more awards, right? So, maybe it really could finish in eight minutes?

I weep for Peter O'Toole.

First ever mention of the City of Carson in an Oscar acceptance speech I believe.

Forest Whitaker, representing the Marine League!

Ahhh congratulations to the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves!

149 - Hmm... Don't know him. Obviously there has been some turnover.

151 - The look on his face was heartbreaking.

Here is the great moment. The big directors to give one to Marty.

That was a cool speech by Forest Whitaker. Good non-call on the play off music by the band.

My research has turned up that Forest Whitaker went to Palisades High, so he's representing the Western League.

It's like his tenth best movie, but God Bless.

The best of the 70's crowd finally wins.

Forest Whitaker, high school football teammate of Jay Schroeder.

This is already up at wikipedia:

Oscar Win
On February 25, 2007, Whitaker was awarded Best Actor for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. He gave an extreamly emotional speech, where he talked about his childhood in East Texas and how difficult it was for him to become an actor, to believe in himself.

Nicholson would look cool in just about any style, but I just wanted to point out Jack looks pretty cool bald.

Coming late to the party (well, I'd been following along the comments, but first time I jump in) - just had to say... Is anybody else terrified of George Lucas's continually-growing neck waddle?

One too many drinks...

161- One day, his waddle, and Charlie Steiner's are going to rent a motel room and film what will be the least popular celebrity pornographic movie ever.

Jack Nicholson just gave an award to his own movie.

9:16 ending time?

9:17:30 p.m., by time.gov. Rats.

Wow, February 25, 2007: Three minutes off!

Well, it's a bittersweet night for ole' Greg Brock. I'm happy that Scorsese won, even though The Departed isn't even top five in his portfolio. Helen Mirren won, which makes me happy, but Peter O'Toole lost, which really makes me sad (a lot).

It was a good night for PowerPoint, politics, and gestapo tactics, and a bad night for montages. Ellen did a great job...She deserves to keep the gig next year.

What time do you use for the end? Is it when Ellen DeGeneres says "Good night!" or is it when the credits start to roll?

I went by the second the exit music started. I agree it wasn't really clear what we're supposed to be counting. So, I declare that the show ended at 9:12.

And so it begins.

If he starts talking about Jae Seo, I'm outta here.

Not sure if the tiebreaker came into play, but I had 9:21 as the end of telecast.

I had 10 of 24 awards for 25 pts. I'm sure everyone else had more.

The winner in my office got 15 of 24 right.

Good thing I didn't buy nonrefundable tickets to Morocco.

Should I feel sorry for the deaf and lonely young Japanese woman...?

I wonder if Marty's win precludes him from winning the Thalberg Award, which he so richly deserves. I always thought they'd give it to Scorsese before he died, and he certainly deserves it...But now that he's got the gold, will they shelve the trophy?

With all due respect to Coppola, Spielberg, DePalma, Lucas, and Altman, Martin Scorsese is a worthy Thalberg winner if ever there was one.

She's still probably standing naked on her balcony waiting for me.

Probably shouldn't have told her to wait for me in February.

Probably shouldn't have told her to wait for me in February

Well, let's hope she didn't hear you...Which seems likely...

And, just because it makes me happy, I'll mention that Martin Scorsese now has as many Academy Awards as Hal Ashby.

After a quick tally of the entries...

1) Weisman - 41 pts (16 of 24)
2) Shimmin - 41 pts (16/24); lost tiebreaker
3) Benaiah - 37 (14/24)
4) underdog - 33 (13/24)
5) Stephen - 25 (10/24)
6) trainwreck - 24 (10/24)
7) mintxcore - 23 (9/24)

Not sure if I missed any

Multiple winners:
Departed - 4
Pan's Labyrinth - 3
An Iconvenient Truth - 2
Dreamgirls - 2
Little Miss Sunshine - 2

Inconvenient Truth that is.

180 - oh goodness, that's embarassing!

i am most upset about this Lives of Others junk. Pan's totally should have won, and if not Pan's, how about Days of Glory? Lives of Others.. yawn.

No one could think of a better name for the movie Shooter?

I sure am glad I get to keep the $100,000 prize. What a Payday for me. I would have felt like quite the Goober had I lost those Mounds of dough.

The secret to picking Oscar winners is to look at the film editor society awards. Unfortunately, they tied this year between Babel and The Departed, leaving that element of doubt.

185 I thought you held a side job at Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

If I had won, I'd have donated the money to Afghanistanannies with AIDS. So, if you think about it, Forrest Whitaker, by taking so long with his speech, kind of stole a hundred large from the Afghanistanannies. If you think about it.

Shouldn't you have donated to Chinese families with AIDS, per the Best Documentary Short winner, or Ugandans, per Last King?

I enjoyed this Oscar broadcast more than most. The montages were good, except for the American one, which just wasn't cohesive. Ellen was good, though I thought Jon Stewart was underrated. It just had a nice feel. It ran long but as Andrew said, why not?

Sorry - it was Sam who said that. I've just got Andrew on the brain.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought Ellen was not very good for most of the night - though a couple of her bits towards the end were fairly clever. I laughed harder at the 3-make-that-2 best directors bit at the end than any of her jokes, though, and thought the interpretive dance numbers upstaged almost everything else. shrug

156 I thought Forest Whitaker went to Ridgemont High. Or did he transfer?

Well, it appears I did better on my work pool than in this one. I finished second with 16 right in that one, which is pretty darned good, but someone got 17.

188 I agree, and yeah, what was Michael Mann's America on film montage all about? Was the point of that to show all the other countries watching the show how amazingly diverse we are? Incoherent, but diverse.

Yeah, Ellen was okay but her material sometimes wasn't good. I thought the Will Farrell/Jack Black/John C Reilly bit was funnier than anything she did. But she was likable enough. I'd give this Oscar telecast a B+ overall tho.

190 It's not just you, as I agree with everything you said. I don't remember ever laughing at Ellen, and those interpretive dance numbers were easily the most entertaining part of the night, in my opinion.

Btw, not that it matters, but I actually got 14 right, not 13, for 36 points.
If you recall, I added this:
8 "Okay, it's 9:20am PST and I'm changing one pick - sorry to be a pain.

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker"

Do I win a coupon to Arby's?

I have never been to Arby's and I do not even know where an Arby's is. I guess I have never lived.

Stolen from a commenter to the site linked below:

" I hate to burst the bubble of all you Algore fans, but they are reporting on the TV right now that the other contenders are demanding a recount on Best Documentary and complaining that, because there were two Iraq movies and two anti-Christian movies, the ballot was too confusing. Check back in about a month to find out the real winner."

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/009263.php

I hate to burst the bubble of all Oscar conspiracy theorists, but I think that PriceWaterhouse has things covered.

This sounds just like a parody of Florida 2000.

I thought Ellen was great. Comfortable, friendly, willing to make any joke, not afraid to be a lesbian, completely in control.

She was certainly better than Letterman, Rock, or Stewart.

The LA Times has the broadcast ending at 9:17 pm.

My pick for next oscar host...

Stephen Colbert.

Forrest Whitaker becomes the 3rd actor from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to win the Best Actor Oscar.

Fast Times was Forrest's second feature and the first one that was released in the U.S..

Fast Times was also Sean Penn's second film, his first feature was "Taps", where he co-starred with Tom Cruise (Taps was his second film, his first was "Endless Love") and Timothy Hutton.

The third actor from Fast Times to win a best actor is Nicolas Cage, for Cage, Fast Times was his first film.

There have been other films to feature a number of actors who have won an Oscar but usually its not one where it is the first or second film for the actors.

200 I was wondering about The Outsiders, but I guess Leif Garrett never got that Oscar.

I thought Ellen was great. Her best bit was when she got Speilburg to take her picture with Eastwood, and then she told him she didn't like how the picture turned out. Stewart was better off the cuff last year, but replacing that unspeakably bad Ben Stiller gag from last year with the wonderful Comedian song overall makes this Oscar more entertaining.

Since Jon has insider connections and Andrew is a cheater (neener neener) I declare myself the winner! Long live me.

Oooh, a Colbert Oscars would be edgy, dangerous, funny... That would be great, but I think that the Academy would be too afraid.

FWIW, my 17-year old daughter won the picks pool at the viewing party we attended (no industry types present).

I thought the "backstage" guy who wasted 30 - 60 seconds going into each break was incredibly annoying. The first bit of Oscar's entertainment should have been to drag him out to the red carpet to be drawn and quartered in front of the bleachers.

I'm surprised less of you picked Randy Newman or Melissa Etheridge - everyone at our party assumed the Dreamgirls songs canceled each other out. I don't know what it means, if anything, but except for one lyricist, the Dreamgirls songwriters were all white, we noticed.

The biggest problem with Oscar telecasts is that it ends with the acceptance speech by the producer(s) of the Best Picture; producers are generally boring.

We all thought Ellen was generally fine and all laughed at her bits with Scorsese, and Eastwood / Spielberg.

Thought O'Toole looked shocked it wasn't him; do they give honoraries to actors?

Someone in the telecast made a statment about the overall meaning or message of "Babel"; we all looked at each other and said sarcastically, "oh, was that it?" (We agreed with Bob.)

200 That post is downright Timmermannesque - that is meant as a compliment.

Thank you.

Peter O'Toole has already been given an honorary Oscar.

204 Thank you, to quote Wayne and Garth, I am not worthy of such praise but I accept it.

205 Well fetch me a bishop. If I had remembered that, or bothered to research it, I wouldn't have changed from Whitaker to O'Toole on my prediction!