The Academy Awards have always been something I have enjoyed. No, I don’t care about the red carpet stuff. I treat the ceremony as a sporting event of sorts. I do have films and nominees that I hope will win, and I’m always here for the unplanned chaos. So what you will find in the following are my ramblings as the evening commenced. I’ve done this each of the past two years, so keeping with tradition, here we go.

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3:54 pm – Last year’s ceremony was 3 hours and 50 minutes long. ABC has tonight at 7:00-10:32 pm on Hulu. I will take the over on that.

6:51 pm – Total possible points I can get if I get everything right since I went with confidence points this year is 300 points. This year will set the new bar for my predictions going forward. At least until Best Stunt Design is added in 2028 and I have to add 25 points to the maximum score. Not that I’m mad about that. Stunt work should have had an award already.

6:56 pm – Golden has to open the Ceremony this year. It would create a fun atmosphere to open the festivities, kind of like Defying Gravity did last year.

7:04 pm – If you hated Weapons, I’m sorry. This opening is awesome. It does make me miss Billy Crystal just a little bit

7:13 pm – Solid monologue from Coco tonight.

7:19 pm – Supporting Actress up first. The Madigan Bandwagon has reached the final station.

7:23 pm – MADIGAN WINS!!!! Weapons was so awesome, and it was largely due to her. This speech is just great too, like I was hoping it would be. Between the only award given out and Conan’s opening montage, it has been an Aunt Gladys heavy open to the Oscars so far. (1-0, 7 pts (7 total))

7:32 pm – Animation is up next and this is an easy one to predict. K-Pop Demon Hunters swept the Annies, so it seems right that it wins the Oscar. There was a little bit of me hoping for the upset, but this was inevitable. (2-0, 18 pts (25))

7:34 pm – Let all the winners speak!

7:35 pm – Animated Short is next, and only 2 points are up for grabs. So I’m not too sad I got it wrong with The Girl Who Cried Pearls winning. This was in the Crap Shoot section for a reason. (2-1, 0 pts (25))

7:38 pm – Didn’t think I Lied to You would be this early in the ceremony, as I was sure they would want Golden to be the energy moment. Golden will most likely be the post In Memoriam energy shot.

7:40 pm – When I saw Sinners months ago, I didn’t have recreating the different genres part of I Lied to You at the Oscars on my bingo card. That was I’m Just Ken levels of awesome.

7:51 pm – Costume Design next and it makes sense Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway are the presenters. Disney has to get people hyped for Prada 2 after all. Unsurprisingly, Frankenstein takes the win, like it has here all season. (3-1, 12 pts (37))

7:54 pm – Same pair up there for Makeup design. Frankenstein has also won this all season, so easy pick here. (4-1, 14 pts (51))

7:55 pm – Matt Berry was meant to be the Oscar announcer. He is such a calm voice guiding the evening without standing out to much.

7:57 pm – First hour in the books, and we had 5 awards, one of the two musical numbers, and only two Conan gags. Takeout the opening and monologue, we are close to on pace for a 3 and a half hour night. The next hour will tell the story on that front.

8:05 pm – It’s time for the maiden voyage of the Best Casting award. They have really made this first time giving the award a big deal, like it should have been. It was pretty great. There are some that think this is really the consolation prize for whoever doesn’t win Best Picture. With One Battle After Another winning here kind of surprisingly, it will either mean an OVAA avalanche or a Sinners shocker is coming further on. (4-2, 0 pts (51))

8:14 pm – Live Action Short is up, and was the pick I was least sure of. There was a reason for that. In a shock, there was a tie. This is the 7th tie in Oscars history. The Singers won, and so did Two People Exchanging Saliva. I picked neither, so I don’t get the 1 point. Such is life. (4-3, 0 pts (51))

8:18 pm – Once again, let all the winner speak

8:20 pm – Supporting Actor next, and Sean Penn (who isn’t attending) wins number #3. I also get my 4th in a row wrong. On the bright side, all my misses are in the single digit area so far. (4-4, 0 pts (51))

8:30 pm – Screenplay is up now. One Battle After Another wins Adapted, and Original goes to Sinners. PTA finally wins an Oscar, and he should win a couple more too by the end of night. Coogler wins his first Oscar also. (6-4, 17 & 16 pts, (83))

8:44 pm – It’s a little early it seems for the In Memoriam section of the evening.

8:57 pm – This has been really nice. Having Billy Crystal honoring Rob Reiner just feels right.

9:00 pm – Second hour is done, and that hour had 5 awards given out here too. I think we’re falling behind, but that just means it is a normal Oscars night.

9:05 pm – Production is next, and I go 3 for 3 in my Frankenstein group on my picks. It has dominated the craft awards all season, so these weren’t hare to predict. That should be it for that film tonight. Also, Grogu makes everything better. I’m part of problem. I know. (7-4, 13 pts (96))

9:09 pm – Visual Effects goes to Avatar: Fire & Ash. Avatar has won this each for each of the three films in the series. This was another easy one to pick. In 4 years when Avatar 4 comes out, it will win this award then too. (8-4, 21 pts (117))

9:15 pm – Documentaries are next. Doc Short goes to All the Empty Rooms wins. This was one I actually watched and it was such a crushing film. Having one of the parents up on stage to accept the award was a great move to hammer the point of the short home. I also finally got a short correct one of these years. (9-4, 3 pts (120))

9:18 pm – Moving on to Documentary, and Mr Nobody against Putin wins. I don’t get it, but whatever. I just thought this doc really didn’t think of the possible issues it was creating by existing. Just because the filmmaker escaped Russia doesn’t mean everyone else in the doc, like the students, fellow teachers, and his mom, aren’t in possible danger by association now. (9-5, 0 pts, (120))

9:30 pm – Score goes to Sinners, Ludwig Goransson wins his 3rd Oscar. Eventually, he’s going to lose. It isn’t tonight. He is manning the score of The Odyssey this summer. Don’t be surprised when he shows up again a year from now to go for #4. (10-5, 15 pts (135))

9:34 pm – Look. I like Bridesmaids, and this has been funny, but this is going on forever on a night where we always go long, and the expense of these going long means the under the line winners get their speech time cut short.

9:37 pm – Best Sound goes to F1, and when you think about it, this seems like the logical pick. The best part of the film is the sound, so it makes sense that this is the only award F1 would get tonight. (11-5, 20 pts (155))

9:40 pm – 8 awards to go tonight, and if we are going to end on time, 50 minutes to do it. We are at 5 awards per hour at this point, so I just don’t see it.

9:46 pm – The Pullmans are kind of hard to get through here. I get what they are trying to do, but it is coming across so poorly, it’s as if they didn’t rehearse this. Editing goes to One Battle After Another, and happy I changed from Sinners a few days ago. (12-5, 9 pts (164))

9:50 pm – Cinematography was another I went back-and-forth on, and this time I should have went will Sinners, which gets the win tonight. That is now 3 awards for Sinners. Bigger note, with Autumn Durald Arkapaw winning here, she becomes the first woman to ever win the Oscar for Cinematography. Cool. (12-6, 0 pts (164))

9:53 pm – Golden time.

9:56 pm – Every year the musical acts should be like it has tonight. If you look back, I’m Just Ken is one of the only acts people talk about. I have a feeling I Lied to You might be that in the future, but Golden could have been a little more.

9:59 pm – I’m guessing that Song and International are in the next block. Then, Actor/Actress and Director/Picture to follow.

10:04 pm – International goes to Sentimental Value, because it couldn’t go to No Other Choice, which really was the best. I don’t care that it wasn’t actually nominated. (12-7, 0 pts, (164))

10:08 pm – Lionel Richie is here for Best Song. The lock of all locks, Golden, wins. Diane Warren still doesn’t. (13-7, 24 pts (188))

10:16 pm – Director goes to PTA, and he now has 2 Oscars tonight. (14-7, 19 pts (207))

10:19 pm – Actor goes to Jordan, and that is awesome. I was wrong, but it’s still awesome. (14-8, 0 pts (207))

10:24 pm – Actress is after the ads, but we all know who is winning that one.

10:30 pm – Buckley has won Best Actress all season. It was a runaway train. The season ends with one more win for her. (15-8, 23 pts (230))

10:33 pm – Down to just Picture now. It is either One Battle After Another or Sinners. After seeing how tonight has gone, I think I know what is coming.

10:36 pm – One Battle After Another wins Best Picture. I finish tonight 16-8 and 255 points.

10:39 pm – Conan should be the Host for Life.

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So that is what was running through my mind on Sunday night. The proceedings only went 4 minutes over and that was because of on last Conan skit, and I am not mad about it. It helped that Penn didn’t show up, especially when Live Action Short has twice as many winners this year. This was one of the better nights, and it didn’t hurt The US beat the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic not too long after I switch over to it after the Oscars was over.