Oscars Results

POST-OSCARS UPDATE:
I have to give some love to my Fug Girls - they have outdone themselves this year by live-blogging the Academy Awards telecast. Part of me wishes I'd known about this ahead of time so I could have followed their antics last night. The more rational part of me - I call him Walter - realizes that seeing it after-the-fact is better because (1) it's a nice recap of the night's events and (2) laughing uncontrollably to the point of apnea is not something you want to do in a room full of people, many of whom you've only just met.

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Following an inauspicious start, I wound up placing third in the Oscars poll at the party last night! I correctly predicted winners in 13 categories. Here's a tally of my results:

CORRECT:
ACTOR - LEADING: Forest Whitaker
ACTRESS - LEADING: Helen Mirren
ACTRESS - SUPPORTING: Jennifer Hudson
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Pan's Labyrinth
COSTUME DESIGN: Marie Antoinette
DIRECTING: The Departed
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: An Inconvenient Truth
ORIGINAL SONG: "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth
BEST PICTURE: The Departed
SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION: West Bank Story
SOUND EDITING: Letters from Iwo Jima
VISUAL EFFECTS: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
SCREENPLAY - ORIGINAL: Little Miss Sunshine

INCORRECT (WINNERS IN PARENTHESES):
ACTOR - SUPPORTING: Eddie Murphy (Alan Arkin - fantasy pick)
ANIMATED FEATURE: Monster House (Happy Feet)
ART DIRECTION: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Pan's Labyrinth)
FILM EDITING: Blood Diamond (The Departed)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Pan's Labyrinth (The Lives of Others)
MAKEUP: Apocalypto (Pan's Labyrinth)
ORIGINAL SCORE: The Queen (Babel - fantasy pick)
SHORT FILM - ANIMATED: The Little Matchgirl (The Danish Poet)
SOUND MIXING: Flags of Our Fathers (Dreamgirls)
SCREENPLAY - ADAPTED: Notes on a Scandal (The Departed)

I think two that put me over the top (well, the top of the third tier, that is) are Original Song and Short Film - Live Action. I think only two of us predicted that Melissa would win Oscar, and I may have been the only one in our group to pick West Bank Story, which I did simply on a whim because of its similarity to the musical (and film) West Side Story. Ironically, it turns out this short film is exactly what I jokingly thought it would be, a spoof on the musical based in the West Bank of Israel, with Jews and Palestinians replacing the Greasers and the Puerto Ricans. I kinda think I wanna see it now . . .

I will be adding The Departed to my Netflix queue, as promised. In addition to being impressed by how many awards it won, most of the people in attendance last night had seen this film and were very complimentary towards it.

Best moment of the night? When Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas came on-stage to present the Best Director Oscar to Martin Scorsese. In case you missed it, Francis and Steven mused that they were asked to present this award because all three of them had won in this category previously. George Lucas protested that, indeed, he has never won this particular honor. I loudly stated to the television, "There's a reason you haven't won, George," a comment greeted widely with approval from others in the room with me. I felt very vindicated (I think George Lucas is wildly overrated.)

Worst moment of the night? When Celine Dion started singing Ennio Morricone. I detest the former and love the latter. I secretly - okay, openly - hoped that Maestro Morricone would slap Celine Dion squarely across the face when he walked past her. Can someone please explain the concept of phrasing to this woman? And for God's sake, can she buy some consonants to go with all those vowels??

That's it for this year! Now bring on the next slate of nominees!