TUESDAY 27 JANUARY, 2004 - Oscar Nomination Morning
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By Rex A. Okpodu
Contributing Editor - Out.com

London,United kingdom

Watched the Golden Globes on "UK Living" last night at Sandra's(Sange)
Was going to stay over but decided to rush back home and prepare for this morning since the Globes finished before midnight. I caught the last but one train from Turnpike lane to Baron's Court...In bed by 1am

Up by 9am this morning.

Got this email from BL(editor,out.com) saying we have to lead the story with something out-related...Charlize Theron(she is due the Oscar nomination for playing a gay(albeit none-sympathetic role)
I guess he is right,afterall out.com is no Entertainment Weekly

Went online to set and wait for the live broadcast from abc.com. The announcement comes up at 05.30(PST) i.e 1.30pm(GMT)

Dominic rings to ask me how excited I am?..I am not amused! He seems to be more excited than I am...he thinks I am bottling it all up.... I guess he knows me too well

Michael rings..I ignore his call...
I think people are starting to irritate me by all these phonecalls...don't they realise I will like to enjoy the moments before alone?

1.00pm - Nothing seems to be coming up by way of a url for ABC.com
Decided to switch to BBC - It looks like the announcement will be live on News 24

Lots going on as the Preamble to the Hutton Enquiry on the David Kelly suicide is also being expected

Anna Ford mentions the imminent Oscar nomination on BBC News ... I have my live link up ready...the tv and computer are set to go......

1.28pm - News 24 starts a broadcast - with a link up ready on one of their screens

1.30pm - We are live to Los Angeles as Sigourney Weaver and Frank Pierson start the announcements

I am scribbling frantically even though I know the entire lists will be online in a few minutes.

I am also on the phone to Sange and giving her a live relay

Lots of surprises/shocks/etc
1.45pm - the announcement is over and I go back online for the full list
I am amazed at such diversity...City of God for Best Director/Screenplay?
Keisha-White for best actress? how come?We all thought the Focus Pictures was campaigning for her in the supporting category...obviously,the Academy thought otherwise since she did play the title/lead role

Later in the Afternoon... I share the news with Michael and then Dominic...a part of me feels anti-climatic now the announcement is over

I start on my blog edits as I have to get the write up to Brendan Lemon(out.com) for publication later today/tomorrow

Evening - started reading all the post nomination debate on the web. The general consensus is that it is the best set of nominations for a long time.
While some of the races are more or less sewn up (Rotk for best picture and director) others have opened...supporting actress,the screenplays,etc


WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY,2004
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My article(with a bit of editing) is now live on out.com albeit in the editor's column...I would have preferred it on my own page but technical difficulties exist preclude from giving that.

More to read online
Have to start on updates for feb...post DGA, BAFTA and SAG
Came up with this statistic from the web..resulting from this year's acting nominees list....

Europe: Ben Kingsley (UK),
Jude Law (UK), Samantha Morton (UK)
Asia: Shohreh Aghdashloo (Iran), Ken Watanabe (Japan)
Africa: Djimon Hounsou (Benin), Charlize Theron (South Africa)
Oceania: Keisha Castle-Hughes (New Zealand), Naomi Watts (Australia)
America: Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, Sean Penn, Diane Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Patricia Clarkson, Marcia Gay Harden, Holy Hunter, Renee Zellweger (all from the U.S.A.), Benicio Del Toro (Puerto Rico)

And Races -

Ben Kingsley (half-Indian)
Benicio del Toro (Puerto Rican)
Djimon Hounson (black West African)
Ken Watanabe (Japanese)
Keisha Castle-Hughes (half-Maori)
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Iranian)


THURSDAY 29 JANUARY,2004
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More post nomination online reading


FRIDAY 30 JANUARY,2004
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Still catching up with the post nominations online debate...am getting a bit irritated by all the talk about the none nomination of Cold Mountain for best pic or director...we all expected Minghella to be excluded from best director(having not been nominated by the DGA)..so what?
Miramax still has the most nominations..still got the multiple nominations for City of God....talk about knocking one down when you have slipped down a bit!
Too much is being read into it all...am sure Miramax will be back next year...am also sure the release date affected things a bit more than is being considered?

Sean Penn is now going to the Ceremony on Feb 29th....good for him.
It was a bad decision not to sure up for the Golden Globes...giving some lame excuse. Lets hope he has not destroyed his chances already
He had better attend,Bafta,or DGA or SAG or even all three and lighten up ..if and when he wins
Have to start compiling up the list of films to be seen before the ceremony
Viewership...how many have I seen in the major categories?
I have seen all Best pic nominees

LOTR
Seabiscuit
M and C
LIT and
Mystic River

Best Actor nominated films
MR,HOSAF,CM,LIT and Pirates

Best supp/ Actress - 4 out of 5..not seen Pieces of April(opens Feb in the UK)

None in Best Actress
1/4 in best supp/actor...only seen MR

Seen all in director category...ROTK,LIT,M and C,MR and City of God(own dvd)

Adapted s/play..seen all but American Splendor
Original s/play...all but Babarian Invasions
Emailed Sandra with this list...such a short time before d-day

SATURDAY 31 JANUARY,2004
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More reading - post Oscar nominations
Sent off some good reads to BL and DK for their perusal
Sandra and I have decided to leave out The Last Samurai and Something's gotta give till she gets back from Skiing the week after next

Leave out Pieces of April and A Mighty Wind for DK and I

SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY,2004
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Decided to postpone seeing A Mighty Wind with DK until next week
due to scheduling of a business/social meeting today
Planning a afternoon dvd screening of Whale Rider with Michael possibly - Monday

MONDAY 2ND FEBRUARY,2004
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Screening of Whale Rider dvd for lunch with Michael as planned
Quite nice - could see how the nomination came about..Could also see why it would have been a travesty for KCW to be nominated in the supporting category as pushed for by NewMarket(studio)

TUESDAY 3RD FEBRUARY,2004
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New Bedroom dvd player arrived...very good
Will now screen City of God and LIT/HOSAF
Screening 21 Grams for thursday

WEDNESDAY 4TH FEBRUARY, 2004
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Good write-up in Time Mag about this year's race...more on oscarwatch.com

Fallout from the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake episode at the Super Bowl means that the Oscar ceremony might have a time-delay to prevent any embarassements (this is a death to spontaneity - which the Academy awards are famous for)

Deciding on what form of updates to do on the race, post- DGA next week... best actress race has one American(Keaton) and the rest none American...etc....still mulling over it all..should include something in my blog tomorrow

Started viewing series 1 of 6ftunder on dvd...lots of special features,etc
Reminder - screening 21 Grams with Michael for lunch

THURSDAY 5TH FEBRUARY, 2004
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Michael did not show so I continued with the first series of 6ftunder started last night.....
Really enjoying it all. Double pleasure as series 2 started again on C4 last thursday
Massage at 8pm,then more 6ftunder till bed

FRIDAY 6TH FEBRUARY, 2004
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Vanity Fair Hollywood edition came out on newsstands today.... looks good but why no Halle Berry on cover with other Oscar winning/nominated/up and coming actresses...why not?
Jennifer Connelly(oscar winner on the same night as Berry is there
as was Salma Hayek(nominee 2003) and Diane Lane (also nominee 2003)
Even Gwyneth Paltrow (best actress 1998) was in the lineup

Furthermore,everyone knew Ampas was moving up the nominations by a month...why did VF not add the information about this year's GG and Oscar nominees before going to print?...shameful!!!!
I will be writing to them and to various online sites about this

Screening 21 Grams alone this evening...in between making dinner and doing this diary

DGA - tomorrow..saturday

Preview email/update to BL
stats - DGA matches Oscar from 1949 -1967 and 1969 - 1999
Note 1948 (Joseph L. Mankiewicz won DGA - A Letter to three wives
John Huston(Treasure of Sierra Madre) won oscar
1968 Anthony Harvey(Lion in Winter) won DGA, Carol Reed(Oliver) won oscar
1995 - Ron Howard(Apollo 13) won DGA, Mel Gibson(Braveheart) won Oscar
2000 - Ang Lee(Crouching Tiger....) won DGA,Steven Soderbergh(Traffic) - oscar
2002 - Rob Marshall(Chicago) - DGA, Roman Polanski(The Pianist) - oscar
i.e - 56 years of DGA less 6 years no match = 90% of the total time

SATURDAY 7 FEBRUARY, 2004
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Read this write-up in The Guardian by Cherry Potter about Sofia Coppola (the first American woman nominated in the best director category)
Emailed Ms Potter with a couple of factual corrections to her article

D and I went to the ICA to see a 6.15 showing of The Innocents(1961)
lo and behold....it was sold out...damn!...and the very way the ticket took great pleasure in saying said those words.....so annoying!

Each time I read my VF..am still annoyed at the lack of updated texts
Recording Angels in America(the award winning HBO film) for Sange who is away skiing in Switzerland

Before bedtime...having a glimpse at what we are to expect for Oscar 77(2005)
Watching The Hours(2002) - winner of 1 Oscar - Best Actress at the 75th Academy Awards

SUNDAY 8 FEBRUARY, 2004
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Post DGA - as expected peter Jackson(ROTK) won...
Penn did attend...as well as sevaral others
Sent in updates to BL at out.com
Watched Smallville with DK at brunch
Had drinks with a friend ...who happens to be the designer Julian Macdonald..he tells me confidentially, Liv Tyler will be wearing one of his(Givenchy) dresses and doing a major presentation at the Oscars(29th Feb) - I guess - introducing the clip for ROTK?
Recording the last part of Angels in America
More - The Hours..before bed tonight

MONDAY 9th
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Started viewing the weekend recording of Angels in America
BL accepted updates but we will only be having one for out.com post-SAG on the 22nd(one week before d-day)

TUESDAY 10th
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Yet to finish AIA....really enjoyable.

Oscar.org released the pics from Monday's luncheon...Sean Penn attended with his mother(good for him and his campaign)

BL tells me he(Sean Penn) has been sounding off about Iraq again..story was not widely reported, so he is might still be safe from a backlash!


10.30pm
Just got back from a screening of a Brazillian film at the BCA in London with Dom and Carlos - Deus e Brasileiro(God is Brazillian)..Nice to look at,had it's moments but did not quite take off

Finished the last part of AIA finally..thn watched live from the red carpet at the Golden Globes with Joan Rivers(the mop) and her daughter,Melissa...Nicole Kidman looked and sounded awful..she is beginning to take herself too seriously(in my opinion)

WEDNESDAY 11TH
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11pm

Saw "Something's Gotta Give"(Best Actress Nominee - 76th Academy Awards) with Sange...was witty,well styled and enjoyable but why do hollywood movies have to tie up everything with a bow right to the very end..leaving nothing to the imagination?
Is it for the aaah! factor?..fairy tale endings and all that...it would have been a much better and more realistic movie had it ended with Jack walking down alone on the Seine and regretting what might have been...sort of like real life...... And did we really have to see them all living happily ever after with their grandchild and all that?

More - The Hours...tonight

THURSDAY 12TH
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Catching up with reading matter from the web about Oscar 76
Sent out various emails updating fellow enthusiasts with word on - the above
A rant-email sent about the current VF issue which Nathaniel(the film experience) says is "adoring" Did he get the same issue as me?

Having Robert for lunch..must be off -to make lunch now

Lunch was great!

Still watching The Hours..before bed,managed a miserable 20 minutes before turning it off to sleep

FRIDAY 13TH
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Pre BAFTA email to BL...I am sensing a build up of momentum for Master and Commander at BAFTA(like 2003 - when The Pianist picked up Picture and Director...somehow the frontrunner status of ROTK is being threatened?
On further analysis BAFTA is not as obliged as AMPAS to give Best pic to ROTK afterall they already gave best pic to the first part of the trilogy for 2001.... we'll see how it falls out for Sunday
Managed another 10 minutes of The Hours...when will it end?

SATURDAY 14TH - Valentines Day
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Got a new Oscar book -The Complete Book of Oscar Fashion by Reeve Chace from DK

Catching up reading from the web

Ordered some of the now-available best picture dvds from amazon.co.uk - Grand Hotel,Mutiny on the Bounty and Mrs Miniver....also awaiting - The Great Ziegfeld...all expected by tuesday,17th

Also expecting Dvd player for Nigerian trip (gift for cousins)

After The Hours - Might start viewing best picture,actor and actress(winner or nominees films - I own) stretching years back for my " Eye on the Oscars" - 14 days to Oscar Night, viewing series
They will be -
The Hours(best actress winner 2002),Monster's Ball(best actress winner 2002) and then....
Best pictures winners :
1998 Shakespeare in Love ( best actress, best supporting actress and best supporting actor nominee)
1999 - American Beauty(actor and nominated actress)
2000 - Gladiator (best actor winner and supporting actor nominee)
2001 A Beautiful Mind (best supporting actress winner and actor nominee)
2002 Chicago (supporting actress winner + another BS actress nominee,nominated actress and supporting actor nominee)

Note -Might add others (from the entire 1929 -2002 dvd collection) if viewing completes before Oscar night

Saw a bit of Les enfants du paradis (1945) with DK whilst having dinner (to be completed later)

The Oscar bug is in the air...TV is swamped with Oscar films just now...The End of the Affair(1999) is also on C4
It's main nomination that year was for Julianne Moore - best actress

Sixth Sense (1999) is on ITV...seeing a bit of it and since it had nominations for picture,director supp actor and actress,etc...will add to my 14 days to Oscar night series

Finally finished with The Hours before bed time.....great!!

SUNDAY, 15TH FEBRUARY
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Starting on a Bollywood film - Qurbani (1980) one of my Valentines day presents from D - directed by Feroz Khan - a gangster flick from the late 70s

BAFTA at 9pm on BBC 1(live)

So BAFTA came on at 9pm..looked good but the show was zzzzzzzzzz until the in Memoriam segment...and Sandra(on the phone) and I were almost in tears - especially when Katherine Hepburn came on the screen
Scarlett J(LIT).......took best actress and looked so young and sweet! - wish she had gotten an Oscar nomination
ROTK unexpectedly took Adapted Screenplay

Then an upset occurred when Peter Weir(M and C) took best director confirming what I had been saying for the past couple of days...that M and C might pick up some momentum from the BAFTAs (just like Polanski did for The Pianist last year)
ROTK took best picture though...(Last year - The Pianist took director and picture)

Watching The American President - 1995 - nominated for best Original Musical or Comedy Score at Oscar 68 (with Michael Douglas and Annete Benning) tonight

MONDAY,16TH FEBRUARY
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Received the new dvd Machine ordered for my Nigerian cousins from Amazon.co.uk

Post BAFTA reading/emails to BL and Sange

Roger Ebert in the Chicago Times predictions,etc

Starting to watch Oscar 74 ceremony on recorded Vcr (hosted by Whoopie Goldberg) to remind me of the last very "big" ceremony - in marked constrast to Oscar 75 (last year) which was quite muted due to the start of the Iraqi war some days before

Big awards seen so far - Best supporting actress(Jennifer Connelly for ABM and supporting actor (Jim Broadbent for Iris)... plus other technical categories including The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award given that year to Arthur Hiller - Presented by Ali Macgraw(she was 63 and still looked valentines day present from D so gorgeous) and Ryan O'Neal (previous best actor/actress nominees for Love Story(1970)


TUESDAY,17TH FEBRUARY
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Continuing with the Oscar 74 Ceremony
...Since march 2002, I have never been able to stop the emotion playing whenever I have watched that Halle Berry moment..... it is a mixture of tears of suppport + embarassement at her lack of control and restraint
It was not just an acceptance speech, it was an operatic "aria"
After Berry and Washington,I decided to listen to the rest and only go into the tv room when something interesting happened..it did not...I still cannot believe the Academy gave best director to Ron Howard(ABM) over the illustrious companies of Robert Altman(Godford Park) and David Lynch(Mulholland Drive)

Finished with Oscar 74.... Might start with Oscar 75 later and afterwards start working my way back from my first Oscar ceremony on video - Academy Awards, the 63rd - 1991 ceremony

Will be finishing Qurbani (on the Dvd machine) today and start on my Eye of the Oscar .....14 - day series - commencing tonight with - Monster's Ball (Best Actress winner 2001)

Received the following dvds preordered from Amazon.co.uk (part of my best pic winners - dvd collection)

Mutiny of the Bounty(1935)
Mrs Miniver(1942)
Grand Hotel(1932)

Expecting tomorrow - The Great Ziegfeld (1936)


WEDNESDAY, 18TH FEBRUARY
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Online reading.....some compilation prediction lists are being done by different critics/pundits Stateside

Compiling list of nominated films scheduled for my viewing before Oscar night


PIECES OF APRIL - Friday 20 Feb

IN AMERICA - No longer showing in London - to be viewed on dvd

THE LAST SAMURAI - Seeing between tuesday, 24th feb (with Sange)

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS - Seeing between 23 - 29 Feb

21 GRAMS - Viewing on a screener before the big night

A MIGHTY WIND - Maybe

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE - Maybe

MONSTER - Post Oscar if CT wins

AMERICAN SPLENDOR - NGS

BIG FISH - NGS

BROTHER BEAR - NGS

NGS - Not going to see



Not yet released in the UK:

THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI

TWIN SISTERS

TWO SOLDIERS

THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND

SQUASH

(A) TORZIJA ([A] Torsion)

ZELARY

ASYLUM

BALSEROS

GONE NUTTY

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS

CHERNOBYL HEART

THE COOLER

DESTINO

DIE ROTE JACKE (The Red Jacket)

EVIL

FERRY TALES

HARVIE KRUMPET

THE FOG OF WAR


Back to the start of Oscar 75,ceremony...

Saw "Girl with the Pearl Earring"( 4 nominations including best costume - Oscar's 76th) was very impressed with the way the storywas told...the art direction,acting,etc was very restrained - one could tell it was not a European production

Watched a bit more of Oscar's 75th - always moving to Chris Cooper (best supp. actor) and Catherine Z. Jones(best supporting actress winner)...the former..all humble,tearful and heartfelt. CZJ's..completely caught off-guard revealing suprise at her far she has come in her career/life
Chicago is doing well ..so far with wins for most of the technical categories as well as supp actress.
LOTR- TT have two tech ones too.......

Watched the documentaries on my new best picture dvds - Grand Hotel,Mrs Miniver and Mutiny on the Bounty.
There is even a remastered footage from the Grand Hotel premiere....all with actual voices of some of the attendees like Norma Shearer,Clark Gable, Jena Hersholt, Irvin B. Thalberg and Louis B. Meyer

Started viewing Monster's Ball (2001 winner of 1 Oscar - best actress - 74th Academy Awards) after completing my bollywood film - Qurbani (which ended with a suprising bang,in the english countryside no less!)


THURSDAY,19TH FEBRUARY
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Lots of reading material from variety.com...Eye on the Oscar...the wrap
Had to send a factual correction on the best actress category...Remember when?
Variety had said inter alia - Katharine Hepburn was the first woman consecutive winner in the best actress category...when in fact Luise Rainer won best actress in 1936 and 1937 for The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth respectively.

Emails on most of the Variety stuff to BL,Sange and Dominic.

Started working on the compilation list for 2005 - The Academy Awards - 77th
Converted most writing,diary entries,etc into blogs

More on Oscar,the 75th.... best moments - Michael Moore's speech / the reaction,Adrien Brody's surprise win
the set,the music,the host...all excellent and thoroughly enjoyable!

Continuing with Monster's ball...quite harrowing scenes...when the Sean Combs character dies on the electric chair,when Leticia takes up her frustration on her fat son by beating him for secretly eating chocolate,the heath ledger character commits suicide after a row with his father.....more to come

FRIDAY,20TH FEBRUARY

Got a thankyou email from variety.com re - their mistake....they stand corrected

Finally finished Monster's Ball...an even better film on a second complete viewing....and to think the film makers could have gone all hollywood and had lots of reaction shots of Leticia seeing the new garage,telling Hank about her find(the portraits painted by Musgrove),etc.... It was such a better film for it's restraint


SATURDAY, 21ST FEBRUARY
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Continuing with Eye on the Oscar viewing series

Commenced Shakespeare in Love ( winner of 7 Oscars including best picture - The 71st Academy Awards

Pieces of April ( Best Supporting actress nomination) - I thoroughly enjoyed it... even cried at the end. D is a bit iffy about the conflict set up and resolution.... I loved it all


SUNDAY, 22ND FEBRUARY
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Finally saw The Last Samurai (nominated for 4 Oscars including Ken Watanabe for best supp actor - Oscar - 76th
Good Costumes,Art Direction,etc...not too hot about the hollywood finish...why can't Tom Cruise die onscreen?
Why do we have to have a happy ending where he gets the girl and so on....

Started Oscar - 63rd ceremony(first of the entire collection covering 13 years of Academy Award ceremonies 1990 - 2003)


SAG tonight in LA...results in by the morning(GMT)

Finished Shakespeare in Love + the special features

MONDAY, 23 FEBRUARY - 7 days to go
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SAG results in at dawn....no surprises with the exception of Depp for best actor(doubt if this will impact the oscars though where,Penn and Murray are still the front runners...but one cannot underestimate the popularity of Depp... a surprise could be in store on Sunday

Received final EW preview before Sunday's ceremony - from Stephen

Ordered a back collectors issue of EW - Coverage of the Oscars

Sent off updates to BL for Out.com

A good thought/statistic from Sasha at Oscarwatch.com

If Sean Penn and Tim Robbins win best actor and supporting actor (respectively) for Mystic River while ROTK wins best director and picture at Sunday's Ceremony - it will be only the fourth time in Oscar history that the top two male leads won from the same film and the first time without the same film winning for directing and picture

Eye on Oscar series continues with......American Beauty(1999) winner of 5 Academy Awards including best picture - Oscar 2000


TUESDAY,23 FEBRUARY - 6 DAYS TO GO
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Continuing with American Beauty whilst ironing for my post Oscar- African/Nigerian trip.
Completed AB + documentary on the making
Commenced from 1990 - Dances with Wolves(winner of 7 Oscars including best picture at Oscar,the 63rd year) - with commentary by Kevin Costner and Jim Wilson
Quite informative the amount of material,anecdotes,etc in the commentaries especially made 9 years after the film was released

Continuing with Oscar's 63rd ceremony...quite good to see a 14 year old show especially now some of the presenters are dead or are much older,etc.....Sofia Coppola(nominee/presenter - best director/screen writer for LIT) - featuring prominently on Sunday's ceremony

About to finish Dances with Wives then, The Silence of the Lambs/the 64th Academy Awards ceremony

WEDNESDAY,24 FEBRUARY - 5 DAYS TO GO
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A bit behind with my viewing as I am yet to complete DWW and Oscar's 63rd as planned
Finished Oscar 63 and DWW....starting with Silence of the Lambs(winner of the top five Academy Awards at Oscar's 64th year -1991

THURSDAY, 26 FEBRUARY - 4 DAYS TO GO
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With only 4 days to go,I am now on a marathon viewing with my "Eye on Oscar" series .
Completed SOL this morning - Still exciting to watch after all these years - cannot help but notice the feminist/ lesbian subtext existing in the film - the r/ship between Clarice and her roommate - the character played by Kasi Lemmons(that scene when they hear word of Lechter's escape(they had just finished from a shower or washing their hair and are examining the evidence as discussed by Lechter - the way the camera focusses on their faces when they use the words....."he covets,what does he covet?..he coverts what he sees everyday...."

Ready to start this evening - Unforgiven(1992 winner of 4 academy Awards including best picture,director and supporting actor

Starting with Oscar's 64th ceremony as I get ready for lunch at Robert's and possibly seeing Babarian Invasions (on of Oscar 76th's foreign film nominees) with Johnny

Having spent most of the afternoon having lunch at Robert's and proof reading his child Abuse therapy thesis...did not feel like going to CG to see Babarian Invasions any longer...I might just give it a miss entirely and end up not seeing any of the foreign film nominees this year( I try to see at least one each year)
However,Sange might be persuaded to see it with me on Sunday - so there is still hope

Starting Oscar 64 tonight - after dinner
Unforgiven before bedtime

FRIDAY, 27 FEBRUARY - 3 DAYS TO GO
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Still on Oscar 64 - just getting to the last 5 oscars which SOL swept - making it the only the third film since 1934's It Happened One Night and 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to win picture,director,actor, actress and adapted screenplay

To think it is almost 15 years since that ceremony where the late Howard Ashman's Architect lover accepted the oscar on his behalf in front of on live TV - Only at the Academy Awards!!!
Just realise there was no In Memoriam slot - I think it was first started the following year

Concluded Oscar 64 ...will commence Oscar, the 65th year asap - to coincide with viewing Unforgiven on dvd at bedtime

Final Predictions on out.com...quite pleased with this year's countdown - Grateful to BL at out.com

SATURDAY, 28 FEBRUARY - 2 DAYS TO MIDNIGHT SUNDAY - OSCAR NIGHT
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08.45am - Catching up with last minute updates/predictions,etc from the web

One quote caught my attention

"In the UK, instead of celebrating something, there is a desire to knock it or find an angle that's salacious - I find it quite boring, but we have a society now that thrives on that." - Samantha Morton, Best Actress nominee for In America

From 10am....viewing Unforgiven and a bit on Oscar 65...to conclude both this afternoon/tonight

A minor diversion... Apocalypse Now is on Channel 4(never seen it) - will watch a bit or all of it tonight

SUNDAY, 29 FEBRUARY - D-DAY....THE 76TH ACADEMY AWARDS
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07.00...Changed deskstop on computer to Charlize Theron/Oscar - "she thinks of little else"

10.30...Finished off Oscar 65th

17.15 - Screening 21 Grams

Completed 21 Grams

Oscar night guests arrive - Sandra - she is off to bed for a couple of hours

Michael arrives and we watch Jonathan Ross's preview on film 2004

The actual show starts at 00.50

00.50 - The Show starts..... at last

05.15 - Finishes at last - Predictable Results

The Morning after... 1 March
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A complete sweep by Rotk - tied with Ben Hur and Titanic - 11(none sweep - wins)
and two other complete sweeps, Gigi (1958) and The Last Emperor (1987) - 9 wins/nominations

stats from the show are as follows:


FILMS WITH THE MOST OSCAR WINS

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ( 2004)11 awards (11 noms)

Ben Hur (1960 )11 (12)

Titanic (1998) 11 (14)

West Side Story (1962) 10 (11)

Gigi (1959) 9 (9)

The Last Emperor (1988) 9 (9)

The English Patient (1997) 9 (12)

SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY FILMS NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE

Dr Strangelove(1965) -Lost

A Clockwork Orange (1972) - Lost

Star Wars (1978) - Lost

ET (1983) - Lost

The Return of the King (2004) - Won


THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY OSCARS RECORD

The Fellowship of the Ring
13 nominations
4 wins

The Two Towers
6 nominations
2 wins

The Return of the King
11 nominations
11 wins

The Entire Result
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Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins, Mystic River
Best Supporting Actress: Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain
Art Direction: ROTK
Cinematography: Master and Commander
Costume Design: ROTK
Editing: ROTK
Sound: ROTK
Sound Editing: Master and Commander
Visual Effects: ROTK
Makeup: ROTK
Score: ROTK
Song: ROTK
Animated Feature: Finding Nemo
Animated Short: Harvey Krumpet
Documentary Feature: The Fog of War
Documentary Short: Chernobyl Heart
Live Action Short: Two Soldiers
Foreign Language Film: The Barbarian Invasions
Original Screenplay: Lost in Translation
Adapted Screenplay: ROTK
Actress: Charlize Theron, Monster
Actor: Sean Penn, Mystic River
Director: Peter Jackson, ROTK
Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

I am completely exhausted by the season and leave for a two - week holiday in Africa (Nigeria) from 4th - 17 March