Tralee 7:11 p.m.: Ah...happy Oscars, Leah! I'm writing from snowy Fernie, B.C., where it's more about snowpants and balaclavas than evening gowns. Actually, I just came from the lounge where we were watching Casablanca. Sigh. Ingrid Bergman on the big screen...
Anyway, to the matter at hand. For starters, have you noticed how hot Helen Mirren's looking on the red carpet? She's in a shimmery silvery-nude dress by Christian LaCroix and she just told Ben Mulroney that it was the most beautiful dress she's ever worn. I have to admit I like it when starts admit that all the free clothes are a killer perk.
Tralee 7:15 p.m.: Newsflash: Celine Dion looks fantastic. No weird backward white tux and freaky hat. She's got flowy hair and a great old-school Hollywood-style green gown....how is it that Las Vegas has upped her chic quotient?
Leah 7:20 p.m.: Hi Tralee, Yes, I agree Helen Mirren looks gorgeous but if one more commentator gushes about how lovely she is "for her age" I'm going to chew my arm off. Spike Lee looks like a black Woody Allen. In fact he IS the black Woody Allen.
Tralee 7:22 p.m.: I hate that, too. Can we all please agree to stop being astonished when a women of any age looks fab.
Mark Walberg just tried to duck Ben M. on the rep carpet by saying he had to use the men's room. Tip: go before you leave the house. Really.
Liam 7:25 p.m.: You always wonder how all the stars seem to know the hosts of these television programs. Much of the time, they don't.
It's interesting to see the actual red carpet. The TV people have big signs indicating their television station and the name of the host in big letters so as the stars make the walk, they go from station to station and say a big, "Hello so-and-so" as if they're long-lost friends.
Once again, I'm afraid, it's all show-business.
Liam 7:28 p.m.: Celine leads the vanguard for the new "green theme" for this year. Can Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth not win?
Leah 7:36 p.m.: Yikes, Beyonce in green looking suitably envious of her costar Jennifer Hudson.
Kristen Dunst is a school marmish in that weird 20s number with the feathers at the bottom.
JLo looking like Mary Tyler Moore meets Ben Hur.
Any consensus on best dressed? My vote's for Gwyneth in delectable red.
Liam 7:40: Beyonce definitely looks good for her age. And greenish as well. Back to my environmental theme.
Tralee 7:42: Funny, the two guys I'm watching with really like Beyonce's figure-hugging number and, predictably, her long loose hair. I'd love to see a guy-girl poll on the Oscars....
I love the Dunst nerdy-chic thing. If I was a skinny minny I'd try for that aesthetic, too.
Haven't had a good gander at Gwynnie yet - but the top looks pretty and delicate. Reminicent of Michelle Williams' yellow number last year.
Leah 7:44: I can't believe I'm about to say this but I HATE the colour of Kate Winslet's dress. Hospital tray green. And she's lost a depressing amount of weight. They all do in the end.
Liam 7:46: Is there a cat on Nicole Kidman's shoulder?
Tralee 7:47: I thought it was a lizard. But it's Balenciaga (pronounced tres Francais, of course), dahling.
Leah 7:48: Gwyneth's in Zac Posen. What about Nicole Kidman's big red pussy bow? I think it's sort of daring.
Tralee 7:49: And yet, the CTV commentators mentioned Winslet's pretty fierce anti-skinny-minny (sorry to be a phrase repeater) gal....and yes, not sure exactly how she's curvy anymore.
Just saw a ghost - I mean, Peter O'Toole. A friend here called it: he's dressed like a lounge singer. Hi countryman Daniel Craig is faring better in his classic tux.
Leah 7:55: Meryl Streep just joked to Ryan Seacrest that not only is it her 14th nomination, she's also a size fourteen to match. A rare moment of charming self deprecation at the festival of smuggery and seriousness that is the Academy Awards.
Liam 7:56: I think Anne Hathaway's bow-tie slipped.
