Daily Loaf

Welcome to Creative Loafing’s live blog of the 2009 Academy Awards. Make yourself at home and please, sound off in the comments section. Also, we’ll be keeping you up to speed on the progress of our Oscar contest throughout the evening.

12:00 p.m.: Four entrants in our Oscar contest managed to guess all six categories correctly and get within 10 minutes of the ending of the show. Congrats to Jimmy O. (11:52 p.m.), Kevin M. (12.04 a.m.) and Steven (12:02 a.m.). You guys came up just short. The winner of dinner and a movie is Debbie, who not only got all six films right, but also picked 11:59 p.m. as the end of show. Pretty amazing Debbie. Congratulations! Thus ends our live blogging of the Oscars. Hope you had as much fun as we did. Until next year, the balcony is closed …

11:56 p.m.: Show officially over! Final tabulations in the Oscar contest ongoing. The answer will be in shortly.

11:53 p.m.: And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to … Slumdog Millionaire.

11:52 p.m.: Closing in on midnight. Will the show end tomorrow?

11:47 p.m.: The Sean Penn upset really thinned the herd in our Oscar contest. Only 15 people remain perfect. It looks like the winner will be determined by the tie-breaker.

11:43 p.m.: And the Oscar for Best Actor goes to … Sean Penn in Milk. The first big-time upset of the night!

Read the rest of this entry »

In celebration of this year’s Academy Awards, we’re going to be live blogging the ABC telecast and giving away a free dinner and movie in the process.

First things first: That free dinner and movie. Here’s how you win it:

1. Pick a winner in each of the following categories (for a full rundown of the categories, click here):

• Best Picture
• Best Actor
• Best Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Director

2. Add your picks to the comments section of this post, along with an answer to the following tie-breaker question: At what time will the Oscar telecast end?

3. Come back to The Daily Loaf on Sunday night at 7 p.m. and follow along as we chronicle Oscar night with our usual helping of CL snark. We’ll crown a winner at the end of the evening. (Don’t worry. If you win but pass out before the show ends, we’ll send you an e-mail.)

Join us as we live blog the Oscars telecast tonight!

10:15 Stay tuned as we live blog The Office. Just kidding. Goodnight, everybody!

10:12 After many years of snoozefests, we’ve had two great games in two years. This probably doesn’t top the Giants/Patriots, or does it?

10:10 Pittsburgh 27 – Arizona 23 – FINAL

Valiant comeback by Arizona, but in the end their defense could not hold.

10:08 Hail Mary, full of grace…

Omar Epps or Mike Tomlin. Can you tell the difference? Read the rest of this entry »

Going to the game? Watching it (or ignoring it) at a party or a bar? Settling in with some nacho chips and a six-pack to watch it from your couch?

All good, and we can help.

First off, you can join us here to live-blog the big event. Root for the Steelers and trash-talk the Cardinals, or vice versa. Rate the commercials, review the half-time show, tell us what you’re doing instead of the Super Bowl. We want to hear from you, whether you’re in RayJay or your living room.

If you’re looking for a great game-watching spot, try one of the sports-bar alternatives described in this story by Brian Ries. And look for a Creative Loafing crew while you’re out; we’ll be roaming from L’Olivier in Ybor to Wine Exchange in Hyde Park Village to Partners in St. Pete — and…? Got any other recommendations for places to watch the game?