By my watch, the Oscars ended at 11:57 p.m., or just a hair under 3.5 hours. I'm not including the previews of 2009 films they stuck at the end; that was essentially one log commercial.
In my predictions, I got 15 out of 21 right, about an average showing for me. (I don't make predictions in the three short film categories, since basically only Academy members get to see those films.) Among those I got wrong were Cinematography, Editing, Sound Editing, Art Direction and Foreign Language Film. In the 11 "major" awards (all the feature film, acting and screenwriting categories) I got nine right, which I feel pretty good about. I knew I was on shaky ground with Viola Davis over Penelope Cruz in supporting actress, but correctly foresaw the Academy picking one of their own in Sean Penn over Mickey Rourke.
I made a total of 57 posts from the start of the Barbara Walters special and the final fade-out, or about one every 4.7 minutes. I declare myself king of the Oscar bloggers (assuming there were any others).
Altogether, I thought it one of the better Oscar telecasts, no matter what the ratings say. Hugh Jackman was an able and charming host. My main complaint was with a couple of montage sequences I felt were pretty useless.
The two high points for me were Ben Stiller coming out in the sunglasses and fright bears to rip on Joaquin Phoenix -- who, no matter what his intentions are, desperately deserves to be made fun of -- and Philippe Petit balancing the Oscar on his chin.
I also loved the guy from "Man on Wire" balancing the Oscar!
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