Ein minuten, Oscar!

This wasn't my best Oscar showing to date, but it was enough to win the pool: 17 of 24 correct. On my ballot, I selected Million Dollar Baby for every prize that should indicate a Best Picture but voted against it in that category because the Producers' Guild, which awarded The Aviator, is rarely wrong. So, I missed in that category and a few of the smaller ones, but hit in enough categories to win contests in both California and Tennessee. A small consolation for a night spent watching the show alone over a baked potato.

I'd only seen three of the films nominated: two of them computer-animated (Shrek 2 and The Incredibles) and the third (Harry Potter) benefited, I'm sure, by CGI . The only lead actors I saw on film this year were in their teens. I've got to get out more.

What was particularly interesting about the night, then, was not my 10th win in 11 years of betting on movies I hadn't seen, nor was it stellar snacking, chatting, or catching-up. It was TIME. It's an odd thing, coming from the Central time zone, to see an Oscar presentation end before 11:00; but in the Pacific time zone, it ended before 9:00. At 8:40 in Nashville, folks were checking their votes for Short Film; at the same time here, the awards were over.

Being in the same time zone as the Kodak Theatre puts a new perspective on the post-Oscar parties that are annual news. After the show in Nashville, viewers with day jobs are dragging their up-til-11 butts to bed. IF they bothered to watch the whole show. In San Diego, the evening has barely begun. Of course there's time for the celebs to party after the show! There's still time for a late date, time to catch a movie, time to watch CSI. Hell, there's time to drive to Los Angeles from here before 11 o'clock.

With all this post-Oscar free time how can I, so close to Hollywood, possibly resist updating my blog? Woo-hoo! I'm livin' life in the fast lane out here, buddy. Just try to stop me from making a pot of coffee!