Well, that's it folks! I'll be back in a little bit with a little post-mortem of this long, long, longggg show (update: here it is!), but all these really important observations will remain here in perpetuity. Thanks for watching with us! (Oh, and here are the winners.)

12:01 - It's all about who lost. Nice snide way of ending a really grating hosting gig, Seth!

12:00 - IT'S NOT OVER FOLKS, THERE'S A SONG. 

11:59 - Ben Affleck all choked up is, gulp, a little affecting. 

11:55 - Argo wins Best Picture, announced by Michelle Obama. Sorta makes up for the directing snub. 

11:54 - Nice speech about the arts from FLOTUS. 

11:53 - SURPRISE MICHELLE OBAMA APPEARANCE VIA SATELLITE

11:52 - Jack Nicholson comes out on stage doing calisthenics. 

11:50 - When you're winning your third Oscar, you can just joke around on stage. 

11:48 - Biggest duh of the night, Daniel Day-Lewis wins for Best Actor. First actor to win three Oscars in the lead category. 

11:46 - Meryl Streep gets raucous applause everywhere she goes.

11:44 - Short and sweet speech from Jennifer Lawrence. 

11:43 - Jennifer Lawrence wins Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook, falls down on the way to the stage. Oh well! 

11:42 - Come on, Emmanuelle Riva! 

11:38 - One way to make a show shorter? Cut down on the jokes about it being long.

11:34 - Ang Lee wins Best Director for the visually stunning Life of Pi. That seems half fair. He made a very pretty and complicated thing, but its message ultimately didn't really connect. Benh Zeitlin did both. So did Michael Haneke.  

11:32 - Now Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas will present us with Best Director. Fonda's dress is weirdly my favorite? She looks like one of She-Ra's friends.

11:26 - And Quentin Tarantino wins for Best Original Screenplay. In my opinion, a mistake. If he was going to win for a second movie, it should have been Kill Bill Volume 2. At least we got to find out that he and Charlize Theron are neighbors! 

11:24 - Chris Terrio wins Best Adapted Screenplay for Argo. And for being handsome and looking vaguely like Johnny Lee Miller. 

11:23 - Charlize Theron and Dustin Hoffman looking silly while presenting the screenplay awards. 

11:21 - While we wait for that to happen, here's Anne Hathaway with her new best friend.

11:20 - OK, we're rounding the bend. Just the big awards left, right? How many more opportunities will Seth MacFarlane have to derail the show? 

11:19 - Anne Hathaway should take sincere modesty lessons from Adele.

11:16 - 'oly 'ell, Adele just won a sodding Oscar.

11:14 - But first, Norah Jones singing a song from goddamned Ted. 

11:12 - Will Adele win an Oscar???

11:10 - Life of Pi's beautiful score wins Best Score. Mychael Danna is a genius.

11:08 - Seth MacFarlane brings us back down to earth with back-to-back jokes about Adele's weight (couched in a criticism of Rex Reed's review of Identity Thief) and about the Oscars being gay. Well done as always, dude.

11:03 - This is pure, perfect Oscars. Unabashed schmaltz. This should be the Oscars always. Corny and golden. 

11:01 - Oh my! Here is Barbra Streisand, come to sing "Memories" and make everyone's gay uncles pass out with joy. 

10:57 - George Clooney's soothing voice eases us into the In Memoriam reel. 

10:57 - Pan of the theater shows that it's pretty f-cking enormous. 

10:53 - The humanitarians get the worst seats in the house. 

10:51 - Humanitarian awards?? Booooring. Who cares about helping people. 

10:50 - Salma Hayek married a billionaire and she is thrilled about it. 

10:49 - Lincoln wins for Production Design. Surprising! Maybe this guy can help fix Kristen Stewart's look?

10:47 - Was Kristen Stewart just having sex backstage? 

10:45 - Have we ever figured out that Amber Tamblyn in the window in Django thing? 

10:45 - Haha, Christoph Waltz with his Oscar on his lap. They don't even give you a little velvet bag to carry it in?

10:44 -  Nicole Kidman will not accept clapping!

10:41 - Gawker movie guy and all-around talent Rich Juzwiak has made this important GIF.

10:37 - Adele dances like a backup singer. You're the main act, lady! 

10:36 - Adele here to sing "Skyfall." It would be funny if she sang "All That Jazz" instead and said "There, now it's actually been sung." 

10:35 - Jennifer Lawrence's dress looks a little bit like heavy hotel curtains, I'm afraid.

10:33 - Argo wins Best Editing, an important category that few people really understand. What we do know is that Editing and Best Picture usually go hand in hand...

10:31 - Seth MacFarlane just made a "coeds" joke. In 2013.

10:30 - The sad thing is, Academy, no one actually cares about the Academy. It's your show, but still. 

10:27 - The most dreaded moment of the night has passed. So now we wait for what? I guess an answer to the mysterious Best Actress race and a nice speech from Daniel Day-Lewis. Oh and more musical performances. :(

10:25 - Well that could have been a lot worse! The thing about "the misfortunes of Fantine" was a silly attempt to make Les Miz a message movie, but whatever. It was short and mostly just a list of names, so thank god for that. She probably got coached, right?

10:23 - "It came true," she squeaks.

10:22 - Anne Hathaway wins Best Supporting Actress. And here comes the much dreaded speech.

10:20 - Sound of Music bit is over, now it's time for the real deal. Make it quick, Plummer. 

10:19 - But of course there has to be a bit first.

10:18 - OH GOD HERE COMES BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

10:17 - Both the winner for Zero Dark Thirty and one of the winners for Skyfall are men with long, wild hair. Is this is a sound editing thing? 

10:15 - A TIE!! they found a way to make Sound Editing exciting! 

10:14 - Some really fresh "Hollywood is full of Jewish people" jokes from the talking teddy bear. 

10:12 - Les Miz wins Best Sound Mixing. We can all go to bed now! 

10:11 - And now a bit. Great. We love bits! Especially Seth MacFarlane bits. 

10:11 - Ew. Gross faux humility about Ted from our esteemed host. 

10:10 - Kristin Chenoweth LOVED the Les Miz performance.

10:08 - Whoa Chris Pine! Little hard on the tanning, eh buddy.

10:06 - We're getting close to the big Anne Hathaway-wins-an-Oscar thing, guys. Are you nervous? I might pour myself a glass of wine.

10:04 - This actually sounds terrible? 

10:02 - Eddie Redmayne should be the host of everything. 

10:02 - Jennifer Aniston not digging Travolta's musicals introduction. 

10:00 - And here comes Les Miserables. Speaking of misery, it's already ten o'clock. 

9:58 - It does seem a little strange to be saluting a movie that came out only six and a half years ago. But, y'know, they have to make the show four hours for the advertisers, so here's J.Hud. 

9:57 - Oh lord, here's Jennifer Hudson to sing Jennifer Holiday's song. 

9:55 - Can't tell if Zeta-Jones is singing live. Probably not? 

9:54 - I'm actually weirdly excited about this salute to movie musicals? 

9:54 - Actors saying Les Miserables is absolutely the highlight of the night. John Travolta wins so far. 

9:53  Here comes John Travolta to weird things up!

9:52 - He sounds like Austrian Alan Rickman. 

9:50 - Jennifer Garner and Jessica Chastain presenting Best Foreign Language film. Ohhh Michaele Haneke is gonna have to say stuff guys!! 

9:45 - Boy the Jaws play-off music is really obnoxious isn't it?

9:44 - As expected, Searching for Sugar Man wins Best Documentary. Where is Rodriguez?? 

9:43 - No, Seth, it's not too soon, it's just a very bad joke. 

9:41 - Seth MacFarlane's Lincoln joke goes down hard. Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one? 

9:38 - The guy who was originally supposed to play Lincoln introduces Lincoln.

9:35 - Inocente wins Best Documentary Short. One woman can't get up the stairs in her dress. When will the hardship end??

9:33 - Curfew wins Best Live Action Short. And look how young and handsome the filmmaker is! That's probably why it won, right? 

9:32  - Man are actors terrible at reading teleprompters. 

9:28 - While it's a commercial, why not take a look at a detailed compendium of all the night's fashion? 

9:27 - Glad we got that important shot of Reese Witherspoon reacting to Shirley Bassey. 

9:25 - DAME SHIRLEY BASSEY is Maya Rudolph's best character yet. 

9:24 - This is already too long.

9:22 - Here comes the dreaded salute to James Bond. I know that Skyfall was big and that it's been a nice, even 50 years, but doesn't this feel a bit arbitrary? "Let's make the show even longer by adding in some random tribute to a bunch of movies!'

9:21 - Aniston gets to say it as Les Misérables wins Hair & Makeup. Deservedly so, for Eddie Redmayne's coif alone.

9:19 - Channing Tatum should say "les miserables" more often. 

9:17 - As predicted, Anna Karenina takes the costume prize. That's really all the movie was, after all. Pretty costume after pretty costume. 

9:16 - Jennifer Aniston and Channing Tatum showing a little chemistry as they present Costume Design. 

9:13 - Tommy Lee Jones's reaction so far.

9:11 -  Hahaha, great Jaws playoff music gag during that guy's big moment. 

9:10 - Life of Pi continues its sure-to-be strong technical night in the Visual Effects category. 

9:09 - This whole Avengers dudes banter thing is from the Ocean's 12 school of thinking that rich celebrities goofing off together is America's favorite thing. 

9:08 - The Life of Pi cinematographer clearly had the best hair of the evening. 

9:07 - NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Life of Pi gets the prize. Deakins robbed again. 

9:06 - They're actually announcing Cinematography. Will Roger Deakins finally prevail????

9:05 - And now a salute to how much money The Avengers made!

9:03 - OK, I guess she was just introducing three? Fair enough. Actually moving things along!

9:01 - Wait, did Reese Witherspoon just introduce all the Best Picture nominees?

8:59 - Oddly enough considering it's a Pixar movie, Brave is something of an upset in Best Animated Feature. Lots of people, including me, had Wreck-It Ralph taking the prize. 

8:57 - Everyone's favorite category, Best Animated Short, goes to Paperman, which was actually something of a viral hit. If my Facebook feed is any indication, at least.

8:56 - Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy both looking a little crazy in the hair department. 

8:55 - And Sally Field and Seth MacFarlane kissing.

8:54 - Here's Charlize Theron accidentally mimicking everyone's reaction to the neverending opening.

8:52 - Annnd we're already at a commercial break. Can't wait to hear more vague things about Red Widow!  

8:50 - And Christoph Waltz wins for the second time in three years. OK, sure, that's fine. 

8:47 - Octavia Spencer is here to present Best Supporting Actor. Probably the least cared-about major category of the year? All old dudes who've won before. 

8:46 - MacFarlane seems to think that joking about the show being long is better than trying to make the show short. 

8:43 - Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome two actors who can't really sing that well. 

8:42 - This is very long and unwieldy. Why are we watching so many videos? Samuel L. Jackson does not look pleased. 

8:40 - Whoa Charlize Theron can actually dance sort of? 

8:39 - The biggest joke of the night is that Seth MacFarlane is gay. Audience goes crazy. Hahah, gay.

8:36 - William Shatner is in a Star Trek costume on the Oscars in 2013. 

8:34 - Chris Brown and Mel Gibson jokes! Terrific!

8:32 - Seth MacFarlane is way more subdued than expected. He hasn't done Peter Griffin once yet! 

8:31 - Robert Downey Jr. did not clap for MacFarlane. 

8:30 - Here we go, jerks!

8:26 - Thank god this red carpet special is over. What a nightmare. Queen Latifah practically ran away from them. 

8:23 - Renee Zellweger!!! Where has she been for the better part of a decade? 

8:18 - The big loser tonight is Kristin Chenoweth's management team. 

8:14 - Of course Anne Hathaway won the box guessing game. This whole thing is rigged, it's all a sham. 

8:09 - It's been fun watching celebrities pretend that they're excited about Seth MacFarlane's opening bit. Or about Seth MacFarlane in general. 

8:07 - Ack!! Crazy sound problems on ABC. Echoing Sandra Bullock, the disembodied voice of Kristin Chenoweth! 

8:05 - It is so strange that people sit in bleachers for hours to watch celebrities walk into a building. 

8:01 - Jennifer Aniston always seems so bored to be wherever she is. 

7:56 - I must say, I'm not particularly blown away by anyone's Oscars outfit. Maybe Bradley Cooper's mom. But that's it. Everyone else is a snooze. Where's Cate Blanchett when you need her?

7:53 - I think Jonathan Lipnicki is in the box. 

7:50 - Hugh Jackman's wife does not seem amused by Chenoweth's heavy flirting. 

7:43 - Ugh, ABC's red carpet coverage is so boringggg. Come on, let E! back on, guys. 

7:38 - Meanwhile on ABC, Bradley Cooper just helped Kristin Chenoweth put her shoes back on. 

7:36 - Giuliana Rancic just said "mama" in a creepy baby voice. What a surreal network E! is. 

7:34 - Just FYI. 

Starting now, ABC has exclusive TV rights to the #Oscars red carpet. That's why E! and CNN have cut away from it.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 25, 2013

7:30 - The worst thing about E!'s red carpet coverage used to be how awkward Giuliana Rancic is, but now it's definitely Kelly Osbourne's hammy gasping over everyone's dresses. 

7:23 - Channing Tatum's face says it all.

7:20 - I love that they keep mentioning Reese Witherspoon's super embarrassing letter to Naomi Watts.

7:16 - It takes Christoph Waltz forty-five minutes to order at restaurants. 

7:13 - Catherine Zeta-Jones is dressed as a Golden Globe.

7:11 - Ryan Seacrest is interviewing Jennifer Hudson right now. Somewhere Paula Abdul eats another piece of pizza.

7:07 - Although ABC does have Kelly Rowland and Kristin Chenoweth... 

7:04 - The show doesn't start until 8:30, folks. Meaning we've got miles of red carpet to go. I'm watching E! right now. ABC is also doing a special, but ABC doesn't have the strange ghouls that are E! correspondents. 

7:00 PM EST - Hello and welcome! I'll be here all night giving you moment-by-moment coverage of the world's most important evening. Settle in and stay a while!

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Richard Lawson