As last year, I’ll liveblog the Oscar ceremony here, so you might want to check back/refresh as the winners are announced.

Movies I’ve seen are red.

German Red Carpet

German reporter wants to talk to George Clooney on the red carpet and “the Twilight stars”, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner… *headdesk*

Change to Austrian TV. They have in depth looks at the Foreign Movie Nominees. Interesting. The Milk of Sorrow looks pretty good, albeit emotionally wrangling.

Change back to German TV, where they have actual Red Carpet stuff.

Charlize Theron’s dress is more meh, Vera Farmiga’s is really nice.

Carey Mulligan is forced to speak German but is super-cute about it.

Jake Gyllenhaal cut his Prince of Persia hair. YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Tom Ford looks dashing. And *gasp* nice. He’s in fashion? Waaaay to destroy stereotypes here. Oh, and Tom Ford wears Tom Ford. Of course.

Everything becomes a German movie in the head of the German reporter: Inglorious Basterds, The Last Station, …

Reporter talks to Maggie Gyllenhaal, practically ignores Peter Sarsgaard and asks MG about being a mother and how that changed her life… *headdesk*

Reporter finally talks to Peter Sarsgaard, who says perfectly nice and flattering things about Carey Mulligan.

Samuel L. Jackson walks past in the distance.

Christoph Waltz might (or might not) play Sigmund Freud, which would be completely awesome.
“In Hollywood, films are made like art and sold like merchandise. In Germany, it’s the other way round.” lol

Quentin Tarantino, Diane Kruger and Eli Roth get their say. Diane Kruger wears a dress which would be awesome if it didn’t maker her wear feathers around her neck.

Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren talk about shooting in German. Helen Mirren looks absolutely stunning and wears the most beautiful dress so far.

James Cameron: “Everybody dreams. I just make it a point as an artist to remember mine.”

Colin Firth talks only good stuff about Tom Ford, but unfortunately is in a real hurry. And he somehow manages to look younger than the last couple of years.

Sandra Bullock is “a German nominee” now? *shakes head*
Anyway, she wears something pretty awful.

Michael Haneke and his wife who wears fugly earrings. But both seem really nice.

Kate Winslet looks astonishing. If I was a man, I probably would have come in my pants right about now. Unfortunately, technical difficulties prevent me from actually hearing what she says.

Views from afar from Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Gerard Butler. Aaaand change to ABC.

ABC Red Carpet

They’ve rounded up the supporting actresses… I have to retract my earlier statement: Vera Farmiga’s dress has much too much going on. But Penelope Cruz’ dress is awesome. Mo”Nique is afraid that her feet aren’t touching the ground.

Jake Gyllenhaal about Prince of Persia: “huge, epic, fun”. That’s probably a fair summary.

George Clooney is practically slobbered on by the abc reporter. Poor guy. But he takes it with a sense of humour.

Sandra Bullock… blahblah.

Zac Efron… is really small.

Matt Damon worked 6 months on his accent for Invictus.

Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer defend the right of older people to have fun. [YOU GOTTA FIGHT… FOR YOUR RIGHT… TO PAAAAAAAAAARTYY!]

Morgan Freeman gets to introduce the producer of his film and his daughter and then talks about the jewellery they’re wearing which will be auctioned off for the benefit of the Mandela Foundation.

Jennifer Lopez wears a nightmare in pink and is totally complimented on it by the reporter who slobbered on George Clooney earlier.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. She looks really good, though there’s something on her dress… It might be supposed to be there.

Cameron Diaz looks wonderful and though her dress isn’t something I’d want to wear, it works for her.

Tina Fey and Steve Carell promote Date Night.

Miley Cyrus.

Jeff Bridges and his wife.

Kate Winslet (still beautiful) will be presenting Best Actor.

Gabourey Sidibe looks great. Awesome dress. She sounds really nervous.

Taylor Lautner, for some reason without any muscels.

Meryl Streep looks stunning.

And now it’s starting! YAY!

Ceremony

Show opens with all the nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress on stage.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!!!! NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!!! (“Yes, I know: What am I doing here?”) He gets to sing. What a start! Totally won the geek vote just now.

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin… what an entrance. They are let down from the heavens in a “cage” surrounded by angels.

“They send out the ballots, …, get tabulated by PWC and then Meryl Streep gets nominated no matter what. (…) Meryl Streep is the actress with the most nominations ever. Or as I like to think about it, most losses.”

“Oh look, there’s that Dam Helen Mirren.”
“Steven, that’s Dame Helen Mirren.”

“Is that the director of Avatar, James Cameron?” *pull out 3D glasses*

Steve Martin bug sprays the seeds of Pandora’s tree of wisdom.

George Clooney looks like he’s anticipating their comments in pain. But their are none.

“Look, here’s the Inglorious Basterds section, … and there are the people who made the movie. (…) In Inglorious Basterds Christoph Waltz played a Nazi obsessed with finding Jews. Well, Christoph…*spreads arms to indicate auditorium* the motherload.”

Penelope Cruz presents
Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

[YAY! Saw all movies in a category!]

My wish: Loads of excellent choices. Matt Damon might deserve it least, though he was good as well.
My tip: Christoph Waltz. I don’t think there’s a way around that.

THE WINNER: Christoph Waltz. (Surprise!)

Christoph Waltz: “Wow, Oscar and Penelope, it’s like a double bingo!”
His speech is a little convoluted…

Ryan Reynolds presents The Blind Side. And looks like his about to burst out laughing.

Austrian TV commentator (Director of the Film Museum here) says that there’s something specifically Viennese about Waltz performance as Landa. That is not a compliment for Viennese people.

Steve Carell and Cameron Diaz (“When you are as beautiful as Cameron and me… the teleprompter wasn’t fixed. It was actually written for Jude Law, I stepped in at the last minute.”) present
Animated feature film

• Up
• The Princess and the Frog
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr Fox
• Secret of Kells

My wish: My heart goes out to Coraline and Fantastic Mr Fox, though I fear that both their chances are pretty slim. Up was nice, but it would be great to see another studio win for a change.
My tip: Up.

THE WINNER: Up. [Bang on, again! So far, the show is damn hard to predict. ;)]

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin introduce Amanda Seyfried and Miley Cyrus (“Two young actresses who have no idea who we are…”).

They present
Original Song

• Almost There by Randy Newman (The Princess and the Frog)
• Down in New Orleans by Randy Newman (The Princess and the Frog)
• Loin de Paname by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas (Paris 36)
• Take It All by Maury Yeston (Nine)
• The Weary Kind by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart)

My wish: Honestly don’t know. None of the songs I’ve heard so far really captured me.
My tip: The Weary Kind.

THE WINNER: The Weary Kind. [3 out of 3… Either I’m getting really good with my predictions or these are the most boring awards yet…]

Chris Pine presents District 9.

Austrian TV shows blunders and laughs in the Oscars. And acceptance speeches, loads of acceptance speeches.

Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. who compare what writers want from actors and actors from writers (“It’s a collaboration between handsome, talented people and sickly mole-people.”) present [if you find the whole bit they did here, check it out, it’s worth it]
Writing (original screenplay)

• The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
• A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
• Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
• The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

My wish: Love for The Messenger would be great. Up, Inglorious Basterds, The Hurt Locker would be fine, too. Only A Serious Man didn’t convince me.
My tip: The Hurt Locker.

THE WINNER: The Hurt Locker [4 out of 4]

Mark Boal dedicates the award to the soldiers and to his dad.

Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick present a “in memoriam” to John Hughes.

Samuel L. Jackson presents Up.

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Saldana (who wears a beautiful dress) present
Best animated short film

• French Roast
• Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
• The Lady and the Reaper
• Logorama
• A Matter of Loaf and Death

I’ll refrain from tipping and wishing since I’ve neither seen any of those movies, nor have much idea about them.

THE WINNER: Logorama. [Okay, I guess.]

Then
Best Documentary (Short Subject)

• China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
• The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
• The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
• Music by Prudence
• Rabbit à la Berlin

I’ll refrain from tipping and wishing since I’ve neither seen any of those movies, nor have much idea about them.

THE WINNER: Music by Prudence.

Then
Best live action short film

• The Door
• Instead of Abracadabra
• Kavi
• Miracle Fish
• The New Tenants

I’ll refrain from tipping and wishing since I’ve neither seen any of those movies, nor have much idea about them.

THE WINNER: The New Tenants

Ben Stiller in Na’vi costume (“This seemed like a better idea in rehearsal (…) I should have just worn my Spock ears (…) but that would have been too nerdy. That’s much better. Which is ironic since Avatar wasn’t even nominated, but Star Trek was.”) presents
Make-Up

• Il Divo
• Star Trek
• The Young Victoria

My wish: Star Trek. Because it should get something.
My tip: No honest idea, just a guess that it’s actually going to be Star Trek.

THE WINNER: Star Trek [5 out of 5]

Jeff Bridges presents A Serious Man.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams (great dress!) present
Writing (adapted screenplay)

• District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
• An Education (Nick Hornby)
• Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
• In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin and Tony Roche)

My wish: District 9 wasn’t that great in my opinion, but Up in the Air had a great screenplay. But I don’t know if it would deserve the win.
My tip: An Education.

THE WINNER: Precious. [5 out of 6, dammit. :) but very cool]

Geoffrey Fletcher’s speech is a little breathless and with a lot of blanks. Steve Martin: “I wrote that speech for him.”

Queen Latifah presents the Governor’s Awards (which were already given) to Lauren Bacall, Gordon Willis, John Calley and Roger Corman.

Robin Williams presents
Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

My wish: Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick were both very good and I love that Maggie Gyllenhaal got nominated for something at all, but it’s Mo’Nique’s year.
My tip: Mo’Nique.

THE WINNER: Mo’Nique [6 out of 7]

Colin Firth presents An Education.

Sigourney Weaver (cool dress) presents
Art Direction

• Avatar
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Nine
• Sherlock Holmes
• The Young Victoria

My wish: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus or Sherlock Holmes.
My tip: Avatar, most probably.

THE WINNER: Avater [7 out of 8. I rock this year. Also, this is an award they’re allowed to get.]

Tom Ford and Sarah Jessica Parker present
Costume Design

• Bright Star
• Coco Before Chanel
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Nine
• The Young Victoria

My wish: Bright Star had pretty cool costumes and I’d love to see that movie win something. But compared to Chéri… [Yes, I’m still mourning that Chéri didn’t make it on the list…]
My tip: Could go either way. Probably The Young Victoria or Coco Before Chanel.

THE WINNER: The Young Victoria [8 out of 9]

Sandy Powell dedicates the award to all the costume designers of contemporary films who work as hard but don’t get as much recognition.

Charlize Theron presents Precious.

Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner present a special tribute to Horror movies. [Yay for genre recognition and such. But wouldn’t if just have been easier if they’d just nominated a Horror movie?]

Wait, was that just a Twilight clip in the Horror movie tribute? ROFL

Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick (and the voice of Morgan Freeman) present
Sound Editing

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglorious Basterds
• Star Trek
• Up

My wish: Oh goodness, I don’t know my way around when it comes to Sound Editing (or Sound Mixing). So, I’ll just say “Anything Except Avatar” and leave it at that.
My tip: Pure guesswork, again. The Hurt Locker.

THE WINNER: The Hurt Locker [9 of 10]

Sound Mixing

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglorious Basterds
• Star Trek
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

My wish: As I said, I don’t know anything about Sound Mixing. Anything Except Avatar still goes.
My tip: Transformers.

THE WINNER: The Hurt Locker [9 out of 11… wouldn’t have thought that The Hurt Locker will get them both. But as long as that means that Transformers goes Oscar-less, I don’t mind at all…]

[I don’t know who] presents the SciTec Awards.

John Travolta presents Inglorious Basterds. [And denies the whole genre of alternate history in one single sentence… “Only Quentin Tarantino could get away with that…”]

Sandra Bullock presents
Cinematography

• Avatar
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglorious Basterds
• The White Ribbon

[Yay! Another category I’ve seen all the movies in!]

My wish: The White Ribbon definitely deserves it most.
My tip: The Hurt Locker. [Which would be fine by me, too.]

THE WINNER: Avatar [9 out of 12. And NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The cool stuff in Avatar was not the Cinematography but the Special Effects…]

Demi Moore introduces James Taylor who pays tribute to the film people who died this year. [Seems like this year, we’ve lost especially many good people…]

Jennifer Lopez and Sam Worthington present
Original Score

[There’s a choreography for every score. Pretty cool. Streetdance/HipHop and very well done.]

• James Horner (Avatar)
• Alexandre Desplat (Fantastic Mr Fox)
• Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders (The Hurt Locker)
• Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)
• Michael Giacchino (Up)

My wish: I haven’t seen Fantastic Mr Fox, but Alexandre Desplat delivers awesome soundtrack after awesome soundtrack, so I’d award him. :)
My tip: Michael Giacchino.

The Winner: Michael Giacchino [10 out of 13. Yay!]

Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper present
Visual Effects

• Avatar
• District 9
• Star Trek

My wish: In this case, I’d actually have to go for Avatar. The Visual Effects really were excellent there.
My tip: Avatar.

THE WINNER: Avatar [11 out of 14]

Jason Bateman presents Up in the Air.

Matt Damon presents
Best Documentary

• Burma VJ
• The Cove
• Food, Inc.
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
• Which Way Home

I’ll refrain from tipping and wishing since I’ve neither seen any of those movies, nor have much idea about them.

THE WINNER: The Cove

Tyler Perry presents
Editing

• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglorious Basterds
• Precious

My wish: Anything except Avatar (motto of the evening). I’d go for Inglorious Basterds here.
My tip: I honestly don’t know. But I think that Avatar will get this one.

THE WINNER: The Hurt Locker [11 out of 15, but great, great, great]

Keanu Reeves presents The Hurt Locker.

Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino present
Foreign language film

• Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
• A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
• The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
• The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)
• The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

My wish: Having seen only one of the films, I can only say whether or not The White Ribbon deserves it and it does.
My tip: The White Ribbon or A Prophet.

THE WINNER: The Secret of Her Eyes [11 out of 16. I’m honestly surprised. Though I probably shouldn’t be since it’s the least scandalous of the films.]

Kathy Bates presents Avatar. [deadra: “kathy bates…earning her Oscar all over again with all the earnestness of a child star” *lol*]

Michelle Pfeiffer (great dress), Julianne Moore (should not be wearing this dress. Nobody shold be wearing this dress if it makes look Julianne Moore like she had to squeeze herself into it), Vera Farmiga, Colin Farrell and Tim Robbins present [People, this is getting really long… (deadra: “It’s like eulogies.”)] the actors nominated. Kate Winslet presents
Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

My wish: From the movies I’ve seen, I’d definitely go for Jeremy Renner. Though it probably should be Colin Firth.
My tip: Jeff Bridges.

THE WINNER: Jeff Bridges [12 of 17]

Jeff Bridges talks for fucking ages… people, it’s 5.30 in the morning. GET A MOVE ON!

Forest Whitaker (I can hardly believe it’s him, he must have lost a whole lot of weight), Michael Sheen, Peter Sarsgaard, Oprah Winfrey and Stanley Tucci present the actresses nominated. Sean Penn (talks incomprehensible nonsense and) presents
Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

My wish: As much as I love Meryl Streep, I couldn’t give her this award for that movie. I’d like to see this award going to Gabourey Sidibe though I can’t speak for her acting qualities.
My tip: Sandra Bullock, I’m afraid. Or it’s really going to be Gabourey Sidibe.

THE WINNER: Sandra Bullock (13 of 18)

Sandra Bullock: “Did I really earn this or did I wear you all down?” [We all wonder.] [She comments on Meryl Streep’s kissing ability… how does she know?]

Barbara Streisand presents
Directing

• Avatar (James Cameron)
• The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
• Precious (Lee Daniels)

My wish: Well, anything except Avatar should do it, but in this case, I definitely have to root for Kathryn Bigelow. Not because she necessarily did the best job but because she’s a woman.
My tip: The Hurt Locker.

THE WINNER: The Hurt Locker. [YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! 14 of 19]

Kathryn Bigelow looks wonderful and gives a really nice speech.

Tom Hanks presents
Best picture

• Avatar
• District 9
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• A Serious Man
• Up in the Air
• The Blind Side
• Up

My wish: Precious or Inglorious Basterds.
My tip: The Hurt Locker or Avatar, though I’m leaning toward The Hurt Locker.

THE WINNER: The Hurt Locker [YAY! NOT AVATAR! Also, 15 out of  20.]

Steve Martin: “The show is so long that Avatar now takes place in the past.”

So, let’s summarise: Practically no suprises in the decisions, some unfairness and altogether, a rather predictable outcome. The Hurt Locker is the big winner, Avatar mostly got what it deserved.

It’s 6 am. Good Night.