How you gonna dial without a finger?

I know we're incredibly behind on our blog posts, so we're going to do some major catch-up. And we would be terrible Film/TV students if we didn't tell you what we did for the Oscars (really, really belatedly).

First, I should mention that Dante was in town for the week (!), which made for happy excuses to go gallivanting around Los Angeles. Since he is not the biggest fan of award shows, I promised that we wouldn't dedicate the entire day to simply anticipating the event--however, in 844 Beacon's usual fashion, we did decide to throw our Oscar party (complete with $.25 bets).

To start out the day, I really wanted to revisit my favorite LA restaurant: Malbec, located in Toluca Lake. Since it had been a raging success the first time we went, and because I was excited to introduce Dante to Argentinean cuisine, his presence was the perfect excuse for a trip. Erin was busy in San Francisco, as seen in the previous entry, and apparently Nick was off somewhere else, not eating with us (damn my memory; I really thought you were there, Nick!). But Mapgar, Jenn, Dante, and I had an amazing lunch (which is my favorite Argentine meal of the day). Dante even chalks it up as his "best meal ever." (I would like to note that his "second-best meal ever" was for my birthday, at Strega in Boston's North End. Apparently, I know how to pick good food.)

Stuffed with milanesa and chorizo and sorrentinos, with around two hours left before the Oscars began (mind you, they start at 5 PM on this coast), we figured we'd have plenty of time for a trip to the grocery store for refreshments, an adventure to try to convert a few sets of $6 into quarters, and to run home to create our betting board/straighten up the apartment. Brainstorming our picks for the evening, what we did not bet on was the traffic.

Oh, right. We live in Los Angeles, and it's Red Carpet time. And we're trying to drive home, despite serious traffic resulting from two major roads being closed blocks away from the Kodak Theatre. If there was ever a time for us to feel dumb and say *facepalm*, this was probably it.

We did get a pretty amazing view of the hubbub, though--and we were stuck in traffic next to dozens of limosines, as well as all the men in suits driving their own Priuses to the ceremony. We were basically in the middle of everything, and we hadn't even realized it would be an issue.

Jenn took this picture the Friday before the awards aired, since the street would be closed on Oscar Sunday.

Since it took us something like an hour to get home, we had to split up. Jenn already had her quarters, so Dante and I were given the task of grocery shopping/quarter retrieval, while she made the Oscar board and straightened up. Unsurprisingly, the refreshments were an easy task, and the quarters were not. After being lost, searching for a laundromat, for about half an hour, we somehow managed to make it to the apartment five minutes before the Oscars started (I was very close to meltdown status). Justin and Mapgar had already arrived, quarters in hand, and we were expecting a few others at any moment.

There was a slight delay as Nick, Chris, and Jenn's friend Kevin (whom she knows through work, and who also joined us at the LOST PaleyFest) arrived. We paused the Oscars briefly, which created a new rule at the apartment: NO TWITTER. Time makes a huge difference when you're betting!

The betting board is now proudly displayed on the wall of our apartment.

In case you don't know our betting rules, they're very simple. When the category is announced, everyone throws a quarter onto their projected winner. As they announce the nominees, you are completely allowed to move your guess, up until the moment they say, "And the award goes to..." The only complications arise when more than one person win a round. If the pot is splittable between the winners, we divide the quarters up. If it's not, we push the total number of quarters into a large pot for the next round.

This year was tough, because most of the categories were extremely predictable. The same actors had been winning every award show, nominees like Up had no competition, and the only real showdowns were between Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Therefore, a lot of money kept being pushed into larger pots. My highlight of the night was when I put my quarter on the Argentine foreign film nominee, El Secreto de los Ojos, and it won. Not only did we have a truly successful Argentina-themed day, but Dante and I split the largest pile of quarters I have ever seen.

At the end of the evening, he and I both tied for winners, both making $4.50 off our mad skills/luck. All of us spent a lot of time laughing and critiquing, and I have to say, I love being around knowledgeable people. The debate got heated at times--Is Avatar a good movie? Did Kathryn Bigelow deserve both big awards? What on earth were the Oscar producers thinking, breakdancing to these scores?

And...there was no rigging of bets, so no one broke a finger. This year.

--Lauren