Full Academy Award coverage here
Leah, 7:07 p.m.: Here are my opening red carpet comments, for what they're worth:
First off, the Ryan Seacrest hate-on needs to stop here. He is very talented at what he does, which is fill up empty air space with semi-amusing celebrity chatter. I think we all know the feeling.
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Does Jack Nicholson have a new girlfriend… oh wait, that's his daughter.
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Note: See our Red Carpet photo gallery here
Leah, 7:10 p.m.: Also: this is the year of sarcastic hair: see Jessica Alba and Helena Bonham Carter.
Tralee, 7:22 p.m.:
My favourite moments so far:
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I'm 50-50 on Keira, who admitted she can't walk in the thing to some mike-holder. Should be interesting if she takes a trip to the stage. One fellow in my crowd weighed in: "She'd look good covered in spiders."
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Tralee, 7:29 p.m.: Don't forget the pressing issue of whether Hilary Swank is wearing her wedding ring. Telephoto lenses are at the ready. I'm not kidding.
Tralee, 7:43 p.m.:
Did you spot the first man broach on Hustle & Flow's Terrance Howard?
In other gender-bending news, Felicity Huffman went for non-trangendered glam in a beyond plunging black Zac Posen gown you'd expect J.Lo to bust out. But it works. And as my resident fashion guru put it, she has about five seconds left to pull it off.
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Tralee, 7:53 p.m.: Wow - I thought we were being mean down here on Queen Street. I see where this night is going. Another postive comment: Jake Gyllenhaal looks like a dude in his slim-leg 60s tux. I even forgive him his scruff.
So, tell me about your Oscar party. We're dishing up chili. It is the Superbowl of celebrity after all.
8:01, p.m.: The Oscars are under way.
Leah, 8:01 p.m.: Things up here are good. My friend Meredith just brought over a giant hunk of home-steamed smoked meat. Chardonnay is aflowing. Can you deal with the Bush nephew? Yikes. We're having heated debate over Crash -- was it a balanced race issue movie or a smug affirmation of liberal values. Party is dividing into two camps.
Tralee, 8:05 p.m.: More of the smugs over here. So, the lame Brokeback Mountain jokes have started. Billy Crystal and Chris Rock in a tee-pee. We should keep a running tally, eh?
Leah, 8:10 p.m.: And Jon Stewart's "Ladies, Gentleman, Felicity..." ugh.
8:10: Monologue still under way. Stewart greeting just about every nominated actor/director.
Liam, 8:11 p.m.: Hi everyone. A fairly feeble start. Hmmm. A "return to glamour" theme that opens with Jon Stewart getting a woodie joke. Still waiting for a zinger. Another lame gay joke about Capote. (2). I liked his Spielberg Jewish joke and the Cheney lines though.
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Tralee, 8:15 p.m.:Welcome Liam, this Western montage is pretty funny. Can you name those films, Liam?
Liam, 8:15 p.m.: The Western clip was inspired, though I think the correct description of the Western is "homosocial." The clips included Howard Hawk's Red River, with Montgomery Clift was used a couple of times. And Big Country with Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston. They've both been cited a few times in the last year as subliminally gay-themed classic Westerns.
Leah, 8:16 p.m.: The Bjork-being-shot-by-Dick-Cheney joke went over well here. And c'mon, The gay innuendo Western montage was priceless. And Nicole Kidman looks better than any other human in the room -- possibly the planet. Can anyone deny?
Tralee, 8:17 p.m.: Anyone else think the wan, pale Nicole Kidman is wearing the wedding dress she should have saved for Keith Urban?
Tralee, 8:19 p.m.: (To Liam) I figure I should learn something tonight.
8:20 p.m.: Best supporting actor, winner: George Clooney
Liam, 8:22 p.m.: Well, I got that award wrong. I thought it might be Paul Giamatti, and as Clooney mentioned several times on the red carpet, he hasn't been taken home much at the various award shows so far. And while it sounds self-congratulatory, he's not wrong about Hollywood generally leading the way on social issues. There's a good book about it, An Empire of Their Own, about how the early founders of Hollywood, mostly Eastern European Jews fleeing persecution, imagined an idealized tolerant America. Hollywood showed the army as integrated, f or example, long before it actually was.
