The Oscars - Live blog

Jenny Uechi

Posted: Feb 26th, 2012

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8:36 - Wow. A bittersweet evening for the team behind Hugo, which cleaned up in the first half, but watched the Best Picture win go to The Artist. An enormous feat for a black-and-white, silent movie based on old Hollywood interpreted by a French filmmaker.

8:30 - Meryl Streep winds Best Actress for The Iron Lady. Finally.

8:17 - Oh what the heck? A.R. Rahman is in the house!!! How could he not have appeared on screen until now? And why don't we get to hear more of the music?

8:15 - Best Actor is Jean Dujardin of The Artist. Natalie Portman looking stunning in vintage 1950s Dior...she gives the audience zero suspense as she announces the winner straight off the bat.

7:56 - A bit of an upset -- or not? Michel Hazanavicius of The Artist stuns with Best Director win, despite Hugo winning a lot of awards in the first hour. He thanks the dog actor, Uggie (adding that dog probably doesn't care), and thanks the "crazy" people who put money toward his silent, black and white movie.

7:45 - Too bad...Emily Carr's "Wild Life" got an Oscar nod, but the win goes to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Best Actor and Actress coming up.

7:40 - Best short documentary goes to...Saving Face, about surgeons helping burn victims (women in Pakistan who have had their faces burned with acid by mysoginist extremists).

7:38 - The Bridesmaids announce best live action short, making some uncomfortable but funny penis jokes....The Shore from Ireland wins.

Will the Emily Carr students win an Oscar? Best Animated Short coming up....read about Emily Carr's president, Ron Burnett here.

7:30 - Best original screenplay, as expected: Midnight in Paris. Woody Allen not there to accept it, though.

7:25 - Angelina Jolie, looking stunning in black, presents best adapted screenplay.The Descendents wins it.

7:16 - Best Original Song: The Muppets gets a nod, as does Rio -- but Bret McKenzie takes it for New Zealand with "Man or Muppet" (The Muppets). He thanks his wife and two kids, as well as his parents, who he says never pressured him to get a "real job" as he built up his musician/acting career.

7:11 - Best Original Score goes to...The Artist. Frenchman Ludovic Bource has no formal training in music, but managed to beat out some great competitors in this category. Owen Wilson and Penelope Cruz announce this one, and Cruz looks gorgeous in her purple dress.

7:00 - Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer in Beginners. He's 82, the oldest actor to win an Oscar, ever. CANADIAN!

6:53 - Emma Stone and Ben Stiller announcing noimnees for Achievement in Visual Effects...Hugo (again?). Too bad for the very last Harry Potter. It would have been kind of cool if Transformers won, though.

6:46 - Chris Rock announces the Best animated feature film. Rango wins, as VO film reviewer Volkmar Richter predicted. Chico and Rita looked stunning though.

6:43 - Undefeated wins Best documentary, millions of football fans rejoice. Apparently they were "depressed" one year ago, thinking no one was ever going to see the movie, and got mad when someone suggested it would win an Oscar. And here they are....

6:36 - Cirque du Soleil does old Hollywood glamour. Gorgeous costumes. Some incredible handbalancing and trapeze work.

6:34 - Oh, here are the Muppets. Miss Piggy's hair and dress look strangely mesmerizing. Very stylish.

6:26 - Sound editing, Hugo yet again. They're just cleaning up tonight.

6:13 - Oh, for real? Billy Crystal jokes that after he saw The Help, he wanted to "hug the first black woman he saw", then realized it would be 45 minutes away because he was in Beverley Hills or something. Huh? Maybe he's just channeling Hilly here, but the joke sounded pretty out of place after Spencer's emotional win.

Not surprisingly, social media is already abuzz: a few peple defending him, but few defenders are on the internet.

On twitter, @Carollani writes, "Ahh, racist, sexist & homophobic. Billy Crystal is now an old folk #fail"

On Tumblr, Kaliforniadreams writes:

"Billy Crystal, you are on my shit list for that joke. Just ignorant."

6:10: Best Supporting Actress goes to...wow, Octavia Spencer from The Help. She thanks her family in Alabama, the state of Alabama, and is generally overwhelmed by the win. "I'm freaking out," she says, in tears.

6:06: What the heck? Sandra Bullock says she's going to speak in Mandarin, then goes and speaks in fluent German. Best Foriegn Movie: no surprise, Iran's big entry, A Separation. Many great movies coming out of the country but this one is Iran's first Oscar.

5:57 - Make-up: The Iron Lady. Nice, but was it more of a feat to do Meryl Streep's make-up than all the crazy stuff that went into Harry Potter? Or making Glenn Close look like a man in Albert Nobbs?

5:55 - Costume design. Finally! The Artist gets its first win. Hopefully not the last.

5:51: Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords shows up briefly on screen. Miss that show -- Where's Jemaine?

5:44: Best production design: Hugo again. Big night for this movie: will it clean up?

For anyone wanting something to read during the commercials, check out (if you haven't already) "Brutally Honest 2012 Oscar nominated movie posters".

5:43 - Here's Tom Hanks, presenting for best cinematography. The Oscars goes to Hugo.

5:30 - and it's begun -- Billy Crystal spoofs The Artist, Moneyball, The Descendents and all the great nominated movies. Justin Bieber randomly shows up on screen, says, "I'm here to give you the 18-24 demographic".

Just a bit more time to go before the Oscars awards ceremony begins. Various Oscar nominee moms talking about their kids: George Clooney's mom recalls the days he was the best actor in L.A. no one ever heard about.

French movie star Jean Dujardin (The Artist) struggling to respond to reporters' questions in English, but his smile says it all: he's happy to be at the Oscars.

Amazing dress by Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) that has everyone talking: it's a Louis Vuitton dress that apparently took 300 hours to make.