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We Are All In This Thing Together: Liveblogging The Oscars

defamer-oscars.jpgWelcome to our second annual Oscars liveblog. If you feel a little dirty about being here while the show's on (seriously, who watches TV while on the computer?), think about the guy who's sitting in the middle of a party and ignoring everyone while tapping away at a laptop in between swigs of champagne punch. (Sorry, no keg beer this year. We're fancy-like now, y'all.)

Sorry we haven't been paying much attention to the pre-show. We've been spending the last couple of hours making the place look nice for whoever actually shows up to the party.

In established blog tradition, new stuff will be up top. Here goes nothing:

8:23pm: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! God help us all. The sky has opened, Beezlebub has dumped his infernal payload of obvious evil on an unsuspecting Earth. Life as we know it is over. Drive to the desert and start a new civilization, hoping that our horrible, horrible mistakes will not be repeated. This is the end, friends. See you in Hell.

WORST. OSCARS. EVER.

8:19pm: Ang Lee wins the Best Director award. Not even a shaky command of English can excuse his "I wish I knew how to quit you" joke. If there's anything the last few months have taught us, it's how hacky Brokeback jokes are.

8:13pm: Despite our well-documented hate of Crash, we picked it in our Oscar pool. Yet we take absolutely no joy in its win for Best Original Screenplay. Can we all get in our cars right now, seeking the connection only possible through fender-benders, and smash into each other? Then maybe have some heart-to-hearts about race relations? A huge increase in our insurance bill is about the only thing that will make us feel better about winning our pool.

7:58pm: Jamie Foxx suppreses his "Uhhhh...UUHHHH" response long enough to announce Reese Witherspoon as Best Actress. The music underneath Reese's speech makes the whole thing seem especially rushed and breathless. Househusband Ryan Phillipppe fails to tackle anyone in joy, perhaps prolonging his career a few more years. The seatbelt securing him to his chair suddenly seems like a great idea.

7:45pm: In perhaps the biggest mortal lock of the evening, Philip Seymour Hoffman takes Best Actor. Sadly, he renegs on his promise to David Letterman to bark like a dog for the entirety of his speech. Thanks his mother, which is touching, but still...dare we say, completely boring. Presenter Hilary Swank chases him off the stage, hoping to perhaps absorb some of his humility. Hoffman, we suspect, will not be conspiculously scarfing Astro Burgers to celebrate his much-anticipated win.

7:30pm: Clooney presents! Clooney, your Best Supporting Actor winner, introduces the shortest Dead People Montage in recent memory. Mr. Miyagi, the guy from Fast Times, Sandra Dee, Chris Penn, Shelley Winters, Anne Bancroft, Ismail Merchant, and Richard Pryor, all dead.

7:24pm: Pimp song wins! Difficulty of pimping recognized by Academy!

7:21pm: The Academy proves that there is no song they can't ruin with an overchoreographed dance number with "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp." The performance's one saving grace: no appearance by Don "Magic" Juan and his gilded pimp-cup.

7:17pm: Remember when we said there was no keg beer this year? We were misinformed. There's a keg, and we've been mainlining it for the last hour or so. So much for classy.

7:10pm: Honorary Oscar winner Robert Altman compares his films to sand castles, but never specifically mentions the particularly misshapen beach sculpture Pret-a-Porter among his precarious structures. The Academy proves it can tame anyone for the cost of a little statuette.

6:53pm: Regular Defamer readers know that Jessica Alba earned her presenter slot on talent alone, but we still can't help but feel like she might have slept with clockwatching producer Gil Cates to land her podium slot. Hey, we're just sayin'. Into the Blue wasn't exactly a contender.

6:49pm: Gustavo! Brokeback Mountain wins for the score that helped launch roughly one million parodies. Will any of us ever forget those delicate guitar chords that made Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd, or Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-san, or Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, suddenly seem gay? No, we will not.

6:33pm: Speed co-stars Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves reunite to present Best Art Direction, reminding tens of millions of viewers of the last time people really cared about them.

6:27pm: The presentation of Crash's Best Original Song nominee, complete with burning cars and multiculti couples dancing among the flames (of racism, we assume), is roughly 300% more subtle than the movie itself.

6:22pm: Charlize, almost on cue, shows up to announce documentary feature in what one of our party operatives refers to as a "Project Runway" dress. Are they kidding us? Santino would never put a bow that staggeringly huge on a frock.

Oh, and the March of the Penguins crew wins, making them look a little less ridiculous for bringing three-foot stuffed penguins to the ceremony. Cocky? Sure. But they won, bitches, so deal with it.

6:20pm: Finally, someone calls out Charlize Theron for "Hagging It Up," and decries Keira Knightley's bold attempts at "Acting While Beautiful." Both will later be appropriately punished by mortal Best Actress lock Reese Witherspoon.


6:12pm: An eagle-eyed operative noticed that Will Ferrell's name was mispelled on the jillion-dollar Oscar marquee, whose technology obviously doesn't include an automatic spellchecker. Oops! Someone's getting fired tomorrow!

6:06pm: Rachel Weisz fights off darkhorse Amy Adams and runner-up Catherine Keener to take Best Supporting Actress, keeping her acceptance speech down to about 15 seconds. She'll be handed a thick stack of hundred dollar bills backstage by producer Gil Cates for not wasting any more of his valuable airtime than necessary.

6:00pm: Narnia wins for best makeup, but more importantly, this new playing music stuff underneath the entire speech makes it very easy to slowly swell the orchestra and make sure small categories like this one don't get more than 15 or so seconds to thank their loved ones. Thank you, Academy, for saving us from the expressed gratitude of below-the-line personnel!

5:52pm: Technical difficulties robbed us of a Butterscotch Stallion joke, and one about how Disney strongarmed ABC into using its second-rate Chicken Little characters (think Zach Braff with a head cold) to present an award. Consider yourselves lucky.

Somehow, Jennifer Aniston and Russell Crowe step up to the podium (separately) without having a nervous breakdown or punching someone, respectively. They've both come so far! Geisha wins for best costumes (we think, it's loud in here, and alcohol makes us bad lip-readers), perhaps saving at least one job at Sony.

5:35pm: (The incandescent? smoking hott?) Naomi Watts announces Dolly Parton's performance of her song from Transamerica, which Parton performs in a rather garish, rhinestone-studded strap-on. It doesn't look at all realistic, and while Parton is obviously trying to show solidarity with the tranny community, we fear she will be pilloried on she-male message boards everywhere tomorrow.

5:27pm: Ben Stiller bravely appears onstage without longtime straight-man Owen Wilson, clad in a green-screen gimp suit meant to represent achievement in visual effects. We are aroused, a little, though we are loathe to admit it.

King Kong wins! It shall not be shut out!

5:17pm: Nicole Kidman looks great, if a little facially immobilized, presenting the Best Supporting Actor award. Even enough Botox to kill three B-list actresses can't can't stop her from announcing that Fat Clooney wins the award, and Fat Clooney immediately recognizes that Black and White Clooney will probably not take the directing award. But each pound added and every drip of lost spinal fluid subtracted was worth it. Clooney will not go home empty-handed.

Also, are they going to play cheesy music underneath every speech? WTF?

Clooney mentions race, cue immediate cut to a nodding Jamie Foxx. Apparently, Morgan Freeman was in the bathroom.

5:13pm: Stewart and his gang attempt the Greatest Brokeback Joke Ever Told, a montage of totally gay-seeming moments from cherished Westerns. Gay cowboy overload achieved less than fifteen minutes into the ceremony.

5:10pm: First joke about Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face. Jon Stewart quickly retreats to his comfort zone.

5:08pm: A Defamer operative has sharper eyes than we do: "Someone behind phillip seymour hoffman was blackberrying..." God bless the Blackberry, His little gift to Hollywood people who can't be bothered to interact with other human beings.

5:02pm: Wow, Billy Crystal and Chris Rock perpetrate the evening's first Brokeback Mountain joke. And with the race taboos thrown in! We're ready for three hours of edgy explorations of homosexuality!

4:12 PM on Sun Mar 5 2006
By Mark
2,312 views
101 comments

Comments

  • King of All Hacks at 02:25 PM on 03/05/06

    Crap! I had Dillon at +760 to win! Oh, this is not a good start for this degenerate gambler. I need: Best Actress: Huffman +450 Best Supporting Actress: Adams +508 Best Picture: Crash +396 (the movie blew, but I think the Academy will take the bait)

  • I am three steps closer to winning TiVo's Video Ipod giveaway. Thank you Academy. Thank you movies I have not seen.

  • Way to go, George Clooney! I was afraid he'd get shut out.

  • The music is threatening to ruin the entire shindig. Notice how Nick Park merely patted Tim Burton on the back? Go us Brits!

  • Lauren Bacall is going in my dead pool tomorrow.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 03:15 PM on 03/05/06

    First Jake Gyllenhaal, then Michelle Williams. Is there a Brokeback shut out brewing?

  • yeah what is with the psuedo-elevator-rocky theme music going on? in any case, good for fat george. looks like the academy has no soft spot for paul giamatti.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 03:21 PM on 03/05/06

    I'm sorry. I was hitting the bong for a moment. Did that chick just hit on Clooney during her acceptance speech?

  • Is it just me or does the Oscars suck major ass this year? Maybe it's the quality of films or playing the fucking music during the acceptance speeches... it's just overly annoying.

  • I just Adore that Oscar-Speech-Background-Music! It makes Everyone's Speech sound so Over The Top and Dramatic, even when they are just thanking their "Producing Partners!" I need to get that orchestra to play behind me the next time My Mom Calls And Asks Me To Explain Why I Am 36 And Still Single. Or I Break Up With A Boyfriend/ "Producing Partner."

  • Ok the figurative dancing in the smoke surrounding the faux burning car just demolished (oh yes, I went there) that otherwise beautiful song.

  • Not since Rob Lowe sang a duet with Snow White...

  • Miss Anne Thrope at 03:32 PM on 03/05/06

    Totally boring. And what was up with Lauren Bacall? I thought she was having a stroke.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 03:32 PM on 03/05/06

    It is sucking just a wee bit. Nope. It sucks all the way. E! Online's pre-show sucked, too. Let's see what happens when Three 6 Mafia hits the stage. I wanna see how many Academy members will throw up gang signs from their seats. How many in da house representin' "Da 'Bu" tonight?

  • RobotsonCasiotones at 03:39 PM on 03/05/06

    those penguin guys were so fucking adorable. jennifer lopez's hair was a little too tight there, she looked like joan rivers. wtf. also, what in hell does charlize have on her shoulder and why does she always show up to the oscars rockin the george hamilton?

  • What is up with these random, unexplained montages? Seriously, it is so annoying. At least, Jon Stewart is mildly amusing.

  • "6:27pm: The presentation of Crash's Best Original Song nominee, complete with burning cars and multiculti couples dancing among the flames (of racism, we assume), is roughly 300% more subtle than the movie itself." Will you marry me?

  • King of All Hacks at 03:47 PM on 03/05/06

    Wow, the president of the Academy just posited some salient facts about the movie-going experience! Now, I'm definitely going to visit my local Los Feliz 3 more often!

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 03:48 PM on 03/05/06

    a guy on a fucking violin? c'mon! bad enough they had a cash bar...

  • Fairytale of Los Angeles at 03:48 PM on 03/05/06

    Is that the laser cannon from Predator on Charlize's shoulder? WTF.

  • New drinking game: one shot everytime someone is on-stage wearing a one-strap dress. Two if it cuts off a boob. I am so fucking drunk already.

  • BTW, nice new site design boys.. And E!'s LRC pre-shows have become unbearable. You would think that scripting the banter between the plastic talking heads would allow for some amusing transitions and possibly even a few followup jokes that actually land... but, you would be wrong. Instead, we get space cadets on autopilot caughing up adolescent level quips they truly believe are inspired... *sigh*

  • Enough with the fucking montages.

  • Could Selma Hayek possibly say one sentence without rearranging her hair? Someone tie her arms back next time.

  • Why is Jessica Alba here? It's not like we need the extra boobage.

  • I'm ODing on No-Doz. Jon Stewart is putting me to sleep. Where's Billy Crystal when we need him?

  • I picture Gil Cates pacing the hall backstage, wiping his brow, and muttering, "I told them NO LISTS! NO LISTS!"

  • Fairytale of Los Angeles at 04:07 PM on 03/05/06

    Eric Bana *and* Jessica Alba? It's the Marvel Comics Movie Actors' Hall of Shame.

  • King of All Hacks at 04:08 PM on 03/05/06

    I'll never forgive Lily Tomlin for nixing Devo's appearance on her 80s variety show because she was so offended by the "Whip It" video

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 04:13 PM on 03/05/06

    Anybody rolling tape or "Tivo"ing on the show? There's a rumor starting about the "flaming car" musical number. A "graphic" exchange between two of the dancers located to the left of the stage. It was described as a simulated rape. Anyone see anything?

  • I thought Robert Altamn was going to thank his heart donor for a moment! What a needless worry! THIS IS HOLLYWOOD, KIDS!

  • Congressman Bob Arnold at 04:21 PM on 03/05/06

    Nice "hooker" costumes. This is like the SNL skit where Chris Parnell and Chris Kattan do overtly literal dances to songs.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 04:22 PM on 03/05/06

    Oh god...Three 6 Mafia sucks! Don't clap for them!

  • Ohh! It is Hard Out There for A Pimp! Especially Pimp Dancers! !Pimp Dancers have it Rougest Of All. They have to wear Funny Wigs and Spandex!

  • RobotsonCasiotones at 04:23 PM on 03/05/06

    uhm...wtf? after all that talk about what they could and couldn't say...she's seriously saying "witches"?? haven't i been reading all week (and hearing on leno) that they could say bitches and hoes? last minute change of mind?

  • The performance of "Hard Out Here For A Pimp" has set the bar pretty high for cruise ship entertainment from now on.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 04:24 PM on 03/05/06

    Oh my god...they fucking won?

  • HollywoodSexandCandy: I think it's supposed to be a re-enactment of the Matt Dillon/Thandie Newton from the beginning of the movie. The woman is wearing a similar dress.

  • RobotsonCasiotones at 04:25 PM on 03/05/06

    ps 3-six mafia winning = best part of the entire night

  • Thank god for breast feeding. Jennifer Garner looks hot!!! Even with the classy stumble.

  • Clooney is doing the "Salute to the Dead"???

  • Congressman Bob Arnold at 04:31 PM on 03/05/06

    Clooney's laughing at the dead people list! Must have been thinking about Jennifer Garner almost biting it on the stage.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 04:33 PM on 03/05/06

    katedahl...thanks for the reply. I saw the movie and I know the scene but did they really do that on stage?

  • Too bad George Clooney couldn't have given that speech about "Honoring Dead People For A Job Well Done" at my Grandmother's Funeral. The entire Florida Condo Community would have turned out!

  • No barking from PSH? :sad:

  • I totally called it on PSH's tux earlier this week..it has a huge stain on the shoulder and it's hopelessly wrinkled, but kudos on the giant silver mylar tie.

  • God Philip Seymour Hoffman is an airhead. I mean, he was only the 99% favorite to win Best Actor and he couldn't have scribbled a little fucking self-deprecating paragraph of words about himself and his mother?! Instead, he chooses to waste valuable airtime listening to him stumble through his speech. Uhhh.. Ummm... Uhhh... Yeah.

  • Miss Anne Thrope at 04:56 PM on 03/05/06

    John Travolta looks like Dr. Spock. Is that a bathing cap?

  • "marmars of a geisha"? did travolta just say "marmars"?

  • i'm with Robotson. three six mafia winning was awesome. look for far the academy has come. first eminem, now the dudes from nashville.

  • I heard Malomars of a Geisha

  • Damn! What was The Mother of The Newly Crowned Oscar Winner For Cinematography getting up there?? He Never Said!! My Money is on Blow Job!

  • Uh oh, Reese won. Chad Lowe will be getting a new roommate.

  • Fairytale of Los Angeles at 05:04 PM on 03/05/06

    Someone back that camera up off Reese Witherspoon before she runs out of oxygen in the confined space of an Extreme Close-Up.

  • Miss Anne Thrope at 05:07 PM on 03/05/06

    Ryan Phillipppe looked pissed until she remembered to thank him too. Almost as an afterthought.

  • RobotsonCasiotones at 05:12 PM on 03/05/06

    is it just me or was reese speaking as if she was talking to a room of kindergarteners? she is so fake and obnoxious. and her left eyebrow is totally wonky. get her off my tv screen. ps hahahahaha...he totally did say marmars

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 05:13 PM on 03/05/06

    She mentioned him last on purpose. She's gonna kick him out of the bed tonight and sleep with her Oscar.

  • HollywoodSexandCandy at 05:21 PM on 03/05/06

    Ang Lee...he's been rehearsing that opening line for weeks now.

  • King of All Hacks at 05:25 PM on 03/05/06

    Uh, oh, someone place Mark on suicide watch.

  • Congressman Bob Arnold at 05:25 PM on 03/05/06

    Remember like six months ago when everyone would kind of snicker and say 'Heh, heh, did you see that trailer for the gay cowboy movie? heh heh...' and snicker like dismissive 10-year-old boys? Yeah, well apparently the Academy voters had the same reaction. Unbelievable.

  • RobotsonCasiotones at 05:25 PM on 03/05/06

    crash?? i'm going to bed. fuck this noise.