"Birdman" flies away with Oscar Gold!

Hello, everybody. "Boyhood" was coming into the 87th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday as the odds-on favorite; but in the end, Best Picture of 2014 belonged to "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" which, along with "The Grand Budapest Hotel", walked out of the Dolby Theatre with four Oscars apiece. "Birdman's" other wins were for Cinematography, Original Screenplay, and Director (Alejandro G. Innaritu); while "Budapest Hotel" collected Original Score, Production Design, Makeup, and Costume Design.

"Boyhood" did get a rightfully deserved Supporting Actress win in Patricia Arquette (its only award of the night), while J.K. Simmons easily earned Supporting Actor for "Whiplash". Best Actor was awarded to Eddie Redmayne, and after four previous tries...Julianne Moore finally claims her first Oscar: Best Actress for "Still Alice." Other winners include: "Big Hero 6" (Animated Feature), "Ida" (Foreign Language Film), and "Selma" (Original Song, and how about the performance that left everybody in tears?)

Neil Patrick Harris left us entertained all throughout in his first stint as host, shedding light to the lack of diversity as far as the acting nominees were concerned calling the Oscars "Hollywood's brightest and whitest night." There were a lot of standout moments during the show such as Lady Gaga paying tribute to "The Sound of Music", Arquette standing up for women's equality, Graham Moore's "Stay weird, stay different" speech, Joan Rivers omitted from the In Memoriam montage, and Oprah Winfrey being given a Lego Oscar during the "Everything Is Awesome" performance. Oh yeah, and Harris in his tighty whities.

Not even a downpour prevented the stars from displaying their ultimate Sunday best on the red carpet. Dakota Johnson, still riding high from the success of the uber-steamy "Fifty Shades of Grey", was in a shade of Yves Saint Laurent red; we also had Scarlett Johansson in Versace; last year's Supporting Actress Lupita Nyong'o in Calvin Klein; Lady Gaga (designer unknown); and Margot Robbie in Van Cleef & Arpels.

Overall, I thought Julianne Moore outshone them all in Chanel couture; as for Reese Witherspoon? One of the sexiest Oscar winners ever was unsexy in her Tom Ford.

Now the ubiquitous suck-up: Once upon a time, we started seeing her not once, but twice as Frannie and Sabrina Hughes on "As The World Turns", earning her an Emmy. The late Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" would put her on the map, followed by "Nine Months", "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", "Boogie Nights", "The Big Lebowski", and channeling Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling in "Hannibal." 

She really made a name for herself with "The Forgotten" followed by her turn as Sarah Palin in "Game Change" and recently, alongside Jennifer Lawrence in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay". But in the end, it was her performance as a college professor stricken with early Alzheimer's Disease that would earn her the praise she's been waiting for. At long last, after 30 years with four previous attempts along the way, Julianne Moore finally got the ultimate reward: Oscar gold!

Everything was truly awesome at the 87th Academy Awards...except that we never got to Best Original Sauce. But whatever; it was legen -- wait for it -- dary. So long, stay strong, and God bless.

Hello, everybody. Well...Punxsutawney Phil is right again: Winter is halfway over, and there's still proof in many parts of the country, especially here in the South.

For the last few weeks in a row, we've been pelted with a deep freeze that made us wish we were in Hawaii by now; wind chills even went to as low as -20 in the Midwest areas. One Minnesota town even hit a temperature that I was always accustomed to in Alaska: -41F!!! The Siberian Express, which is responsible for all those record-breakers, have claimed 15 lives so far; and we're not done as heavy snow is expected in the Great Lakes and Northeast and yet another snowstorm about to hammer Boston sometime next week.

Of course, we all need a break from that, and that will be on Sunday with one of the biggest events in auto racing: the Daytona 500. But as soon as the checkered flag is raised and the winner makes his (or her, if you're Danica Patrick) way to the winners' circle, it's over to Hollywood for the biggest event in entertainment: the 87th Academy Awards!

Last year's show with host Ellen DeGeneres and the selfie that originally broke the Internet drew the highest ratings in four years. That was when Neil Patrick Harris opened the show with a rousing musical number before handing things over to Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin; this time, he's handling the festivities. 

In addition to producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, director Hamish Hamilton is back for his third show; in the last few years, veteran TV directors like Louis J. Horvitz (who himself did the Oscars for a dozen of years) and Glenn Weiss have been learning from him, especially Weiss. The video of him working the 2013 Tony Awards like a boss is probably why he beat Hamilton for the Emmy last year, while Horvitz for the Golden Globes got the close-ups of the winners during their speeches -- another Hamilton technique -- down pat.

Okay, enough with the technical stuff and on to what the Oscars are really all about: the films and nominees. Of the eight up for Best Picture, "Boyhood" stands a chance at being the favorite followed by "Birdman"; "American Sniper" (despite its box office success and an ongoing trial), "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "The Imitation Game", "Selma", "The Theory of Everything", and "Whiplash" all at least got a nomination certificate. For the first time ever this year, all of the categories were announced with J.J. Abrams and last year's Director Alfonso Cuaron reading the first half and Academy president Cheryl Davis and Chris Pine handling the second and most important half.

At first, Michael Keaton with his Golden Globe and Critics' Choice wins for Best Actor seemed to be the front-runner, but the momentum would immediately tip in Eddie Redmayne's favor. If I were Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper, or Benedict Cumberbatch (who got married just recently), I would just stay home. The same should go for 2007 winner Marion Cotillard, newcomers Felicity Jones and Rosamund Pike, and 2005 winner Reese Witherspoon, as Best Actress is all about Julianne Moore.

I'm leaving Supporting Actor/Actress alone since they will ultimately go to J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette respectively (despite the presences of returnees Edward Norton, Keira Knightley and Ethan Hawke, newcomer Emma Stone, and past winners Robert Duvall and three-timer Meryl Streep), so here's who else I think will be the happiest people on Earth the moment the words "And the Oscar goes to..." are read and the envelopes opened on Sunday:

Best Actor: Like I said, it's been the tightest race between Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne, but remember: Keaton was Batman and one of his successors, George Clooney, already owns two Oscars. Michael has two, Eddie has two himself (Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA); since the latter two really count, I'll have to go with Eddie Redmayne.

Best Actress: She has literally swept the board all during awards season with her performance as a college educator suffering with Alzheimer's, and...nah, who am I kidding; it's Julianne Moore all the way!

Director: Richard Linklater ("Boyhood")

Best Picture: "Boyhood"

We'll see how I fare with the rest of the world when the 87th Annual Academy Awards will be handed out this Sunday on ABC. So long, stay strong, and God bless.

Patriots deflate the Seahawks!

Hello, everybody. Not even the fallout of "Deflategate" couldn't stop the New England Patriots, as they put that controversy to bed as only they could: by doing their job and dethrone defending champions the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX Sunday. Seattle was on the verge of hoisting their second straight Vince Lombardi Trophy with a last-minute touchdown and 20 seconds left in the game, but an interception by New England's Malcolm Butler in the end zone sealed the deal for them, giving head coach Pete Carroll a shellacking. That dramatic ending -- and everything else -- was viewed by a record 114.4 million viewers, as for the sixth year in a row now, the Super Bowl remains the most-watched television event ever!

Social media erupted over the call that cost the Seahawks the game; Dwight Clark (who made "The Catch" that sent his San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XVI) said it was "The dumbest catch in the HISTORY of NFL football", while Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith called it the "Worst call I've ever seen in the history of football."

The festivities kicked off with John Legend performing "America the Beautiful" followed by Idina Menzel with the national anthem. But those two were only a warmup to the real non-game highlight: Katy Perry setting off fireworks at halftime! Accompanied by Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott (whom we've not seen in about 15 years), it had all the makings of a halftime extravaganza for ages, from Katy on top of a lion to her on a shooting star that screams out, "The More You Know."

As for the commercials? They had a touchy-feely vibe this time around, and here were my top five favorites:

5. Snickers' "The Brady Bunch" (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! This ain't "Sons of Anarchy"!)

4. Nationwide's "Invisible Mindy" (if Mindy Kaling really wanted to be invisible, she should've contacted Harry Potter)

3. Mercedes-Benz's "Fable" (Slow, steady, and yes, a new set of wheel does win you the race alright!)

2. Bud Light's "Real Life Pac-Man" (next up, "Real Life Donkey Kong", "Real Life Q*Bert", etc.)

And I already have my #1 favorite ad already locked in already in days before the game, which was also tops in "USA Today's" Ad Meter:

1. Budweiser's "Lost Dog"
(nothing to say about it; just let this ad speak for itself)

Most of us were rooting for Seattle to claim back-to-back Super Bowls, but let's face it: the last two times New England were in, they fell victim to the New York Giants--twice (especially in that quest for perfection). But sports in Boston is picking up the pace again after that Boston Marathon terrorist attack and the Red Sox's 2013 World Series win, and the Patriots' fourth championship should help the city in their ultimate quest: the 2024 Olympics, as they're now in contention to bring those games back to America. So long, stay strong, and God bless.