Oscar Arrivals. *LiveBlog*

ARRIVALS (YOU ARE HERE) | HOUR 1 | HOUR 2 | HOUR 3

5:45 Inauspicious begins. Joan Rivers started my night off joking that she and Annette Bening should do a Thelma & Louise together as Oscar losers.

6:03 The "good" folks at E! (and the quotation marks are necessary) would like you to know that Jennifer Lawrence set the bar too high for those that follow. I imagine that some people will be wowed by the silhouette but if basic red is setting the bar too high this is going to be a dull fashion night.

poll by twiigs.com

6:15 Armie Hammer calls David Fincher "The Emperor of the Set". Hopefully he'll be emperor of the Oscars. On working with Clint Eastwood for J. Edgar "It's the polar opposite of working with David Fincher." 1 take versus 100. I'd think so.

6:21 Josh Hutcherson was talking to Ryan Seacrest earlier about how much he loves Christian Bale "He goes hard." was the phrase. Wait, did he use The King's Speech set too. sorry.

6:22 Ryan literally just said "Here we are peering in Michelle Williams car"  UM, PERV!

6:27 They're interviewing Mila Kunis like she's a nominee. I guess that's what you get when you're even hotter than bar-setting Jennifer Lawrence.

<--- 6:38 Reason #14 why Mandy Moore is never going to win an Oscar. They asked her how hard she prepared for her performance tonight and she's like totally casz, like,  'um. not much really. We just came and ran through it a few times.'

Oh Mandy. They have to see you sweat. EXERT. See also: Natalie Portman.

Zachary Levi -- her Tangled partner (I love that movie, don't you?) -- says "I Feel Great. I've been excited for months now." Are you supposed to see a doctor if it lasts longer than 4 hours?

blue live blogging apparently tonight. I blame those King's Speech sets.

6:42 Amy Adams just said that "feistiness" is not hard for her to act. What do we think of her look? It's so modest. But still it's sparkly. Feisty Mormon Housewife Going to a Glitzy Event?

 6:52 Seacrest just called Mark Ruffalo's wife "Summer". Um... her name is "Sunrise." To her credit she didn't flinch and just answered the question.

7:00 Cate Blanchett's dress

poll by twiigs.com

7:02 I'm so weirded out that Kevin Spacey is using THE SOCIAL NETWORK to talk about "finding your voice" I agree with the gist of what he's saying but you can't steal THE KING'S SPEECH narrative this late in the game. Votes are in.

7:11 Justin Timberlake is talking about the film speaking to his generation. Again. A bit late for this campaigning. But I hadn't really thought about the problems for a musician to be playing Sean Parker. Conflict of (financial) interest. This is way too deep for a Seacrest conversation.

7:14 The E! reporters on Marisa Tomei "You just never know what you're going to get from her."

I beg to differ: Great Performances. General Awesomeness. I Expect. She Delivers.

7:16 I have a headache. Who should I blame? Which star has been obnoxious? Who?

7:20 Helena Bonham Carter is wearing COLLEEN ATWOOD. Synergy! Oscar Nominees Dressing Oscar Nominees. Love it Love it Love it... the synergy at least. Haven't seen the whole dress yet. Though I like

Helena is the bomb. Lucy Honeychurch has come a long way. Although speaking of fashion. She promised "a catastrophe" and the bodice is not hideous enough to make worst dressed lists.

7:26 ohno. Celine Dion is doing the In Memoriam Popular Dead People segment.

7:30 Hugh Jackman says

"Protein me up. Whatever I can get... I'm on the Ryan Seacrest diet."

No Comment. (Too easy.)

That's really what he said.

7:35 Truth: I usually think Hilary Swank looks great (red carpet wise) but I hate the top of the dress. [Heidi Klum Voice]  "it looks cheap, non?"

7:41 Gwyneth is totally flat ironed. Confession: flat ironed hair makes me crazy hot.

7:48 I thought Mark Wahlberg's wife was actually Sarah Jessica Parker for a second. Oopsie. haha. FIGHTER & THE CITY. He just said he was hoping for an upset but not in the supporting categories! he quickly added.  DON'T JINX IT, MARK.

7:54 I asked my tweeps who ScarJo's date was? His name is apparently "Hot Yummy" Were his parents hippies or something? 

8:00 Okay I hadn't seen Natalie Portman until now. The masses are correct. She looks amazing. That color is so perfect for her brown eyes. Yummy. She just called Darren Aronofsky "The Bees Knees" 

8:06 Tim Gunn just called JustinTimberlake a "color theorist" They better not steal my COLOROGY. True Story: My first Fourth of July in New York I got drunk and discussed the colorogy of  fireworks with a lesbian I met at a friend's party. And then we made out.

8:14

TIM GUNN: If you could sing a duet with anyone in the world who would it be?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Jay-Z He is amazing. He's a genius. I am his biggest fan.

8:15 Something is beeping in our apartment and we CANNOT figure out what it is. The Boyfriend says "Is one of your Oscar screeners about to explode? You have 14 minutes left to watch this disc." LOL

8:20 Okay time to start a new post. But first one last poll. Natalie from the Critics Choice, Globes, SAG, Spirit and Oscar night.

 

poll by twiigs.com

 on to the actual show. It's Oscar Night! 

Best Picture Title Cards

♪ Tradition.... TRADITION.
This is beautiful even if 65% of the movies were undeserving of the Best Picture of the Year title. [via]

We'll undoubtedly be adding The King's Speech to this tonight, though we know which movie* is really deserving. You can vote for it at the Best Picture chart.

*whichever you want it 2 B -- opinions are magic that way!

Last Minute Oscar Linkage

Serious Film 3 wishes for the ceremony aside from wins
Wild Lines roots for a movie they weren't rooting for. "I take it all back" interesting post
<--- James Franco Oscar Morning footage. Adorable.
THR six things to watch for tonight.
Wesley Morris if you suffer for your art (Natalie Portman) you end up celebrated for it. In depth piece about the perceptions of screen acting changing. Liz Taylor, today's birthday girl, even gets a casaul shout out.
NPR good informative listen as Andy Trudeau runs down the nominees for Best Score. Did you know that How To Train Your Dragon uses a penny whistle and a dulcimer at the same time in its score? I did not.
Bohemea Best thing about the Spirit Awards? John Hawkes and Dale Dickey (Winter's Bone)
IndieWire Melissa Leo has a breast tattoo. #thingswedidntknow
Sunset Gun "Bette Davis Defines... Oscar" Love this.

And if you're just tuning in, YES, we will be live-blogging the Oscars tonight. See you at 6 PM EST. It's also the last couple hours to vote on the readers choice "should" wins so get clicking through the categories.

Kidman at the Spirits. Three Moments.

UPDATED POST. My friend Michael snapped this photo yesterday of Nicole Kidman & Naomi Watts holding hands outside the Spirit Awards tent yesterday. Fun! 

He tweeted:

just saw Nicole Kidman & Naomi Watts share a warm hug & walk off hand in hand like schoolgirls. Awesome. 

Awesome indeed. I suddenly realized an hour ago that there will be no 'Nicole Kidman caught lipsynching to Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream"' moment tonight at the Oscars and this truly saddens me. Nicole Kidman reaction shots for the win. Hope we get some.

THREE more after the jump!

Click to read more ...

Liz Taylor is 79. Here's Hoping For 80.

Liz Taylor is still the diva of the silver screen. I confess that every time I see her face on the news now I fear that she has passed away. Some people should never die. Normally on La Liz's birthday we'd do a huge post a la "78 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Liz Taylor's Birthday" so for this her 79th, let's add just one more to that old list.

79. Live to see another Oscar night.

Liz is such a diva that her birthday falls during Oscar season each year. This year it's actually ON Oscar day.

Liz famously won the statue twice and for her first win, BUtterfield 8 (1960) -- which I keep meaning to write about as I firmly believe that performance's bad rep is unjustified -- voting followed a very publicized sickness. She was  actually pronounced dead at one point. Needless to say she lived. Even after she dies, she'll live given the size of her on and offscreen legend.  On the YouTube video of her speech you can see that she was such a diva that she spends more time walking up to her coronation (1 minute and 10 seconds) than she does accepting the damn thing (17 seconds).

I don't really know how to express my gratitude for this and for everything. I guess all I can do is say thank you. Thank you with all my heart.

That's how you do!  Always leaving the audience wanting more.