My Live Reaction to the Oscars (on DVR)

6:30 - Love starting the show with Morgan Freeman.

6:32 - I also love the opening segment where Billy Crystal appears in all the other movies.

6:34 - ... and the opening musical number about the nine nominees! I may be one of the last film-lovers on Earth who can honestly say that.

6:42 - Tom Hanks has a grey goatee going on. Hopefully it's not for a sequel to Ladykillers. Aaaand the first win goes to Hugo for Cinematography. And so does the second for Art Direction. Very interesting. I thought The Artist would get one of those. I liked the cinematographer that looked like Yanni's father. The Italian couple art directors were cute.

6:53 - Wow, Billy's jokes are falling flat now. Out come Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez, coincidentally starring in a movie coming this spring, to announce Best Costume Design. And The Artist gets a win.

6:55 - Best Makeup goes to The Iron Lady. Which makes me wonder if the race between Meryl Streep and Viola Davis is actually really close. And both managed to get out what they wanted before the music played them off. No one has been played off yet!

6:57 - Ben Stiller, Morgan Freeman, Adam Sandler, Reese WItherspoon, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Hilary Swank (where's she been?), Tom Cruise (has he had work done?), Helen Mirren, and Barbra Streisand all share their early movie memories. Okay.

7:05 - Sandra Bullock is presenting Best Foreign Language Film and speaks Mandarin Chinese with a German accent. (heh heh)

Of the nominees, In Darkness looks intriguing. I knew A Separation would win; can't wait to see it. The director, an Iranian, is probably getting texts for offers to be the next Hollywood villain right now. Very nice acceptance speech though.

7:08 - Christian Bale came out, and my wife and daughter both gasped at his attractiveness. And even though she was the heavy favorite, Octavia Spencer looks shocked. And she gets a standing ovation! Nice.

7:18 - I kinda liked seeing the Christopher Guest ensemble in the Wizard of Oz focus-group skit, but it wasn't "hilarious" as Crystal tried to hype.

7:24 - Hey, cool! Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won Film Editing. These guys were not prepared to win.

And Hugo wins a third one, for Sound Editing.

7:27 - Wow, Tina Fey and Bradley Cooper are presenting three awards. Sound Mixing goes to Hugo as well. Wow.

7:34 - The Kermit & Piggy bit was lame. Should have been Statler & Waldorf. And we get a Cirque de Soleil tribute to the movies. Kinda reminds me of when they did a Riverdance tribute to the movies about 12 years ago. Gotta admit, this would be really cool to watch in person.

7:39 - Billy Crystal's jokes may be lame, but imagine how painful they'd be if James Franco was delivering them. The Robert Downey Jr.-Gwyneth Paltrow bit... well, they tried.

7:43 - Wife's fashion comment: "I think white's the new black."

7:44 - ABC successfully bleeped whatever that one guy said.

7:45 - Chris Rock's rocking the D.L. Hughley haircut.

7:51 - Melissa McCarthy added some energy to the show with her bit.

7:52 - Holy crap, Emma Stone's tall.  Or Ben Stiller's short.  And their bit is funny.  Has Ben Stiller hosted this before?

7:54 - Hugo wins another one?  Is there a surprise Best Picture win in the works here?

8:00 - Christopher Plummer has the best acceptance speech so far.

8:04 - I liked Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis' music intro.  Nine Saturday Night Live members have been nominated?  Murray, Aykroyd, Murphy, Wiig... hm.

8:07 - Angelina Jolie is working it with the hand on the hip and the leg sticking out.

8:08 - But someone really needs to get her a sandwich.  Angie, I'm worried!

8:13 - Woody Allen should forfeit if he's not going to show up to pick up his award.

8:36 - The "Shorts" banter with the Bridesmaids didn't work.  At all.

8:45 - Who are those girls in turquoise passing out popcorn?  Is this a set-up for a joke later?

9:00 - In Memorium is usually one of my favorites.  I hope they don't screw this up.

9:06 - That was actually pretty nice. And now I'm wondering who they snubbed.

9:20 - The Artist winning Director and Actor tells me it's going to win Picture too.  Still haven't seen it.

9:25 - Colin Firth is able to do the praising of the actresses a little more fluidly than Natalie Portman did with the boys.

9:30 - "Her. Again. But, you know, whatever!" Exactly how to handle it. :)

9:32 - Meryl Streep gave the speech of the night.

9:35 - And The Artist wins.  Really need to see it, I guess.

It was an okay show.  Crystal was good in the opening, but I don't need him a tenth time as host.  I'm hoping for Ben Stiller or Steve Carell or Jim Carrey or Eddie Murphy next year.  How about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler?