Green?

Vice President Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio just came out to announce that for the first time in Oscar history, the show has gone green, meaning whenever possible, choices favored those that were ecologically sound.
Of course, it probably was much closer to green back in the early 30s when it was just a dinner get-together of Hollywood insiders. You wanna be really green? Dont force the closure Hollywood Boulevard for about a week, leaving cars trucks and buses belching fumes while they idle in the traffic.
And dont anybody remind Al about all the chemical waste involved in metal plating on those statuettes.

Backstage notes….

Gosh, people keep calling me. Friends. A buddy Scott calls and says, “Hey, we’re on the road. Do you know what radio station is playing the Oscars?” I whispered: “DUDE, I’m BACKSTAGE right now, I can’t talk!” Then my friend Evan texts me to tell me he grew up with one of the winners and to ask him something but I don;t read the text until the guy was already out of the interview room.
Anyway, both Richard Roeper and I lament that fact that our predictions of major categories will not be perfect since we both picked Eddie Murphy to win. Richard and I are likethis now. I wouldn’t be surprised if we went out and grabbed a few beers after this is over….

First upset! Arkin wins…

Alan Arkin took the supporting actor trophy over tough competition, including front-runner Eddie Murphy. I can only think this helps “Little Miss Sunshine” in the best picture race. Ellen Degeneres is now roaming around the audience, she doesn’t head toward Murphy, who can’t be happy, but did chat with Mark Wallberg, who was clearly just happy to be nominated. I think Murphy is probably planning “Norbit 2” right now, and I don’t blame him! But Arkin is a worthy winner.

Art-direction winners backstage…

Those Oscars sure look COOL!! The night’s first winners are backstage — they won for art direction for “Pan’s Labyrinth.” I wonder if they would let me hold it just for a minute. C’mon. which of you hasn’t wanted to hold up an Oscar and give a fake speech? I have a friend whose husband won an Emmy, and I was at their house for brunch one Sunday and did the whole stand-in-front-of-the-miirror-with-the-Emmy thing. They just laughed because apparently about a dozen people had done it before me that very day.

All these answers are in Spanish from the “Pan’s Labyrinth” peeps. How do you say, “Can I borrow your Oscar for a minute in Spanish?”

Ellen’s on

Great opening sequence with absolutely no frills. Short, sweet and endearing straight-on interviews with the nominees, cut just quickly enough. Thank you, Errol Morris. Then came Ellen DeGeneres. She’s known for her apolitical comedy, and she likes it that way. But she did get in one impartial comment. It came after acknowledging Jennifer Hudson, noting the irony that Americans did not vote for her to win “American Idol,” and yet here she is with an Oscar nomination for “Dreamgirls.” “And Al Gore is here tonight, (for the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’),” DeGeneres said. “Americans did vote for him, and…. It’s very complicated.”

Touche. Al and Tipper had a good laugh, and Ellen got big applause.

Only minutes to go…

The show starts in a few minutes! So I’m sitting across from Stacy Jenel Smith, who does Marilyn Beck’s column with her, and I told her about how 3 or 4 years ago, I was seated next to Beck at a screening of “The Four Feathers” on the lot of Paramount Pictures and midway through…I FELL ASLEEP! (I wasn’t reviewing it!) so Stacy calls Marilyn up and asks her if she remembers. She does and puts her on the phone with me! We had a good laugh.

Road to the Oscars pre-show …

It’s so much more fun watching stuff going on on the red carpet backstage than actually on the red carpet. When I was out there, it was cold and blustery, and now I’m inside here sitting next to Richard Roeper sipping hot tea. Which would you rather be doing? Cameron Diaz is on the screen right now blabbering on and on. But she looks a lot better than she did at the Globes. Now Eddie Murphy is on and he insists that he likes ALL his movies: “I even like ‘Pluto Nash.’ ”

They are doing a spot on Ryan Gosling right now. I ask you, is it really necessary to keep bringing up that he was on “The Mickey Mouse Club” with Justin, Britney and Christina Agulera? I mean, do all roads lead to Britney? I wonder if Britney is watching the Oscars from her rehab facility, and if so, if she is watching them with a wig on …

Ricky’s cool

I love Ricky Gervais! If you didn’t catch his video message to Kate Winslet on E!’s red carpet coverage, then it’s going to lose something in this translation. The creative genius behind “The Office” and star of “Extras” was polite and suportive of his old friend, but his Siamese cat apparently couldn’t hold back, expressing her preference for Helen Mirren’s performance and her snide opinion of Winslet’s gown. Kate thoroughly enjoyed it, and that was the idea. Every nervous nominee should have a friend like him to help them relax on their way in to the big event.

Red Carpet happenings….

I’m back in the press room waiting for Roeper to get here. I’ve disagreed with many of his reviews this year so I hope things don’t get ugly back here between us. But, some more red carpet sightings. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is here and said something about how cool it is to be mayor of LA where you can go from a baseball game in Encino to the Oscars. That’s all fine, but he really should not have shown up at the Oscars wearing baseball gear.
KIDDING!
The queen Helen Mirren has arrived with hubby Taylor Hackford and said she was feeling “a combination of nerves and feeling unbelievably excited..it’s always the most amazing afternoon and evening of one’s life.” She says her nominated role in “The Queen,” allowed viewers to “look behind the curtain a bit behind the mystery of the monarchy.”
And finally, Celine Dion shows up (not wearing the ridiculous backward white suit from years back…remember THAT?) and she said, “It’s our fifth time at the Oscars and it’s an amazing honor.”
I’m just grateful she is not going to be singing “My Heart Will Go On.” I can go another 25 years before hearing that song again.
Leonardo DiCaprio whisked by looking super-sharp with his hair slicked back and only stopping to sign an autograph for some little kid. I don’t think Leo will win for “Blood Diamond” but, I believe he deserves to win.
Also, Jennifer Hudson whisked by. She looks like a winner already!