And the Winner is....

Mariana of Chicago

Congrats Mariana, as the winner of the first annual TMMC Oscars Sweepstakes you just received a $50 gift card to Fandango.com!  Thanks to everyone who voted and remember, it's an honor just to be nominated.  Oh wait, you weren't nominated for anything.  Well, as I like to say, don't go away mad, just go away.  Thanks to our resident Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants representative for overseeing the grand prize drawing, assuring its validity.

At the House of TMMC, I can honestly say the most exciting parts of this evening's festivities were the grand prize drawing and the Thai takeout smorgasbord.  Other than that, this was one of the most boring and tedious Oscar telecasts I've ever seen.  I mean seriously, it was painful.  James Cameron has directed trips to the bathroom more interesting.  What the hell happened with the dynamic duo Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin?  What...was...that?  That was worse than David Letterman's Uma/Oprah Oscar moment.  And then they just disappeared for half the show.  Honestly, I think they got so bored they left the Kodak Theater, went across the street to the nearest bar and chilled for two hours before realizing they had to finish the damn thing up.  Even Roger Ebert, of whom I'm a devoted Twitter follower, said, "I don't remember when I've seen a less exciting Oscarcast."  And we knew we were in real trouble when the interpretive dancing began.  I'm sure the U.S. Army appreciated the 60 gay men dancing to the score of The Hurt Locker.

When the biggest surprise is Best Foreign Language Film, you know you might as well flip on the Simpsons and Family Guy.  Quentin Tarantino is hitting the bar in desperation and anger; Kathryn Bigelow is renting a gigolo to celebrate her big win; Sandra Bullock is sobbing in relief of never having to do Miss Congeniality 3 and James Cameron is putting together a pre-nup stating that all future ex-wives are forbidden to make competing movies.  Ever.  Even Barbara Walter's last Oscar special was a predictable snoozefest.  Except for the close up of Mo'Nique's unshaved legs - that was just....odd.  Not to mention unnecessary.  And the damn thing went over a half hour!  I want that time of my life back ABC, and I'm holding you accountable.  I could've been doing my taxes or cleaning the refrigerator. 

And one quick question - when did we suddenly go back to "and the winner is..."?  I thought it was always "and the Oscar goes to...", you know, to make the losers feel better about themselves.  Well I guess we don't care about that anymore.  I say next year they say, "and the LOSERS are..." - and then read the names of everyone who didn't win. 

Apparently TMMC readers also found this year's Oscars to be utterly predictable, as 77% of you voted in last week's poll that The Hurt Locker would take the big prize.  Only 22% thought Avatar might nab it.  I must say, it is pretty fascinating that the most expensive and highest grossing movie of all time walks away a big Oscar loser.  But, let's not feel too bad for anyone - they may not be going home with a golden ken doll, but they're all headed back to skinny dip in their pools of money.

Personally, I didn't do too bad with my predictions, correctly guessing 17 of the overall 24 categories.  Ok, it's not Oscar gold, but it's not too bad either.  In the likely event you fell asleep during the show, or just couldn't handle the 20 minute intros for Best Actor and Actress and changed the channel, here's a full list of  Oscar winners.

Thanks again to all those who voted in both the Oscars Sweepstakes and last week's poll - I really do appreciate it!  Don't forget to vote in this week's poll and come back tomorrow for my much anticipated review of Alice in Wonderland!  Until then, check out the trailer....as if you haven't seen it already.