Back when I was in community college, my father persuaded me to take night courses about (I believe) counseling in hopes that I'd follow in his footsteps (thankfully, that hasn't come to pass).

This was back in the 'taking the bus' days, so I walked up the street to wait by the bus stop in front of the library. Near that stop was a van that routinely provided meals for the homeless. I don't know if the people running the van knew, cared, or could tell that I wasn't homeless, but I managed to score a free meal 'most every time.

Maybe, they made more than enough food to meet demand, but, only recently (while visiting that same library) did I feel some remorse about what I did. Was I stealing a meal from someone who needed it far more? Most likely. This, in a nutshell, is my life: trying to be a good person and yet doing things that seem harmless on the surface, but can be downright hurtful in the long run.

8:32 "Tonight, we honor Hollywood's best and whitest-- brightest!"

8:33 Anna Kendrick joins NPH in honoring Hollywood.

8:34 Okay, I'm nominating Jack Black for next year's Oscar host.

8:36 Neat song. It was written by the Lopezes (Frozen).

8:38 Lupita Nyong'o presents Best Supporting Actor. The Oscar goes to...J.K. Simmons (1/24). Gave a very nice speech. I should listen to my parents more.

8:45 NPH's Oscar predictions are under guard by Octavia Spencer. Hey, it's not a pizza party, right?

8:46 Liam Neeson introduces Best Picture nominees The Grand Budapest Hotel and American Sniper.

8:49 Dakota Johnson (let's focus on the third-generation thing, not the 50 Shades thing) introduces Adam Levine performing "Lost Stars" from Begin Again.

8:52 Okay, seriously, is that Lady Gaga?

8:56 Jennifer Lopez and Chris Pine present Best Costume Design. The Oscar goes to...Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2/24). Almost had a win in each decade; shame about the 90s.

9:00 "So delicious, you could eat her up with her spoon." I think it's worse that I got it than if I hadn't. Reese Witherspoon presents Best Make-Up. The Oscar goes to...The Grand Budapest Hotel. Okay, was the Guardians of the Galaxy make-up not impressive enough? Look at what they did to Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan and Michael Rooker. Unbelievable.

9:03 Channing Tatum tells us of budding filmmakers who will get to present Oscars tonight.

9:08 Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor...okay, how tall is she? Oh, yeah. Presenting Best Foreign Language Film. The Oscar goes to...Ida (3/24). Huh. Go figure. Man, he's really going. He might only get the one shot. Can't blame him for taking advantage.

9:13 Shirley MacLaine with Best Picture nominees Boyhood, The Theory of Everything and Birdman.

9:17 Marion Cotillard introduces Tegan and Sara and the Lonely Island performing "Everything is Awesome" from The Lego Movie...and, hey, "Darkness (Untitled Self-Portrait)" made it to the Oscars, after all.

9:24 Kerry Washington and Jason Bateman present Best Live Action Short Subject. The Oscar goes to..."The Phone Call".

9:28 Continuing with Best Documentary Short Subject. The Oscar goes to..."Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1" (4/24).

9:31 Just think: if Viola Davis had won for The Help, she likely wouldn't be on "How to Get Away with Murder". Anyway, she's telling of the many Lifetime Achievement Awards.

9:33 According to Twitter, that really was Will Arnett in the Lego Batman suit. Holy crapballs.

9:35 Gwyneth Paltrow introduces Tim McGraw singing "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me.

9:42 Okay, where's Neil? Locked out of his dressing room? Come on. Nothing suits him like a suit...oh, I get it. Birdman reference...crossed with some Whiplash.

9:43 Harley Quinn and Mr. Fantastic regale us with the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony.

9:45 Sienna Miller and Chris Evans present the Sound Mixing award. The Oscar goes to...Whiplash.

9:48 Sound Editing award next. The Oscar goes to...American Sniper.

9:51 Jared Leto presenting Best Supporting Actress. The Oscar goes to...Patricia Arquette for Boyhood (5/24). Nice of her to give Emma Stone a hug. Fun fact: at the beginning of her career, Stone shared a scene with Arquette on "Medium". Blew my mind when I found out the other day...and now, she's going full-on Sarandon. It's her moment. Let the rest of the net rip on her.

9:59 Gotta love Robert Duvall wanting no part of NPH's security nonsense.

10:00 Josh Hutcherson introduces Rita Ora performing "Grateful" from Beyond the Lights, apparently one of the best movies of last year that no one saw.

10:03 Ansel Elgort and Chloe Grace Moretz (Tommy and Carrie in the Carrie remake!) present Best Visual Effects. The Oscar goes to...Interstellar. Oh, bullshit.

10:06 Kevin Hart and Anna Kendrick present Best Animated Short Film. The Oscar goes to..."Feast" (6/24).

10:09 Zoe Saldana and Dwayne Johnson present best Animated Feature. The Oscar goes to...Big Hero 6. Loved the film, but was so hoping for a Laika triumph.

10:17 "Presenting the President...of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences." Ha.

10:20 Chris Pratt and Felicity Jones present Best Production Design. The Oscar goes to...The Grand Budapest Hotel (7/24).

10:23 Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain present Best Cinematography. The Oscar goes to...Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman (8/24).

10:30 Meryl Streep introduces the Obituary montage.

10:35 Jennifer Hudson sings a tribute.

10:42 Naomi Watts and Benedict Cumberbatch present Best Editing. The Oscar goes to...Tom Cross for Whiplash.

10:46 Terrence Howard with the last three Best Picture nominees: Whiplash, The Imitation Game and Selma.

10:49 Jennifer Aniston and David Oyelowo present Best Documentary Feature. The Oscar goes to...CitizenFour.

10:58 Octavia Spencer's not watching NPH's nominations. Oh, wait. She's introducing Common and John Legend performing Selma's "Glory".

11:04 Idina Menzel getting some payback on John Travolta and presenting Best Original Song. The Oscar goes to..."Glory" from Selma. Didn't see that coming.

11:12 Scarlett Johansson introducing a tribute to The Sound of Music...and Lady Gaga (seriously?!) performing a medley of its songs.

11:20 OMG. It's Julie Andrews...and she's here to present Best Original Score (about damn time!). The Oscar goes to...Alexandre Desplat's The Grand Budapest Hotel (9/24). Fuck yeah!

11:29 Eddie Murphy presents Best Original Screenplay. The Oscar goes to...Birdman. Hmmm.

11:33 Oprah Winfrey presents Best Adapted Screenplay. The Oscar goes to...The Imitation Game. Hmmm, again. I'm totally taken aback here...and Graham Moore's an American?! Whosa-jigga-what? Okay, got a little heavy just then. (I'm presuming he's gay. Speaking of gay Oscar-winning scribes, whatever became of Dustin Lance Black? After a marvelous script for Milk, he did J. Edgar, then nothing. So weird.)

11:41 "Benedict Cumberbatch" takes the stage, presenting Best Director. The Oscar goes to...Alejandro Gonzales Innarritu for Birdman.

11:48 Oh, boy. Cate Blanchett with Best Actor. The Oscar goes to...Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything. Fucking bullshit!

11:53 I'll bring myself to care about the rest of the show, but don't hold your breath. Matthew McConaughey presents Best Actress. The Oscar goes to...Julianne Moore. (10/24). Freaking finally.

12:00 NPH's Oscar predictions are unleashed. Pretty dead-on.

12:03 Presenting Best Picture is Sean Penn. (For the record, I thought his joke was funny.) The Oscar goes to...Birdman. Whoa.

Well, another Oscar ceremony down. Feeling a little chilly, so I'm hitting the sack. I'll fix any mistakes in the morning. Night, y'all.

Oscar. Oscar who? Oscar who's gonna win.

Let's just do this.

Picture: It'll likely go to Boyhood. I just know it.
Actor: A lot of people have said that this will go to Eddie Redmayne, because who doesn't love a good 'challenged person overcoming adversity' performance? I said it at Uproxx and I'm saying it here: 'Fuck that noise. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!'.
Actress: Just give it to Julianne Moore, already. Seriously, what is so freaking hard about this?
Supporting Actor: Haven't seen Whiplash, but I hear that J.K. Simmons was phenomenal in it and I'm a fan of him in a lot of other stuff, so...yeah, why not? (Much as I loved Edward Norton in Birdman, there's no sense pissing in the wind.)
Supporting Actress: Though I greatly enjoyed the performances of Keira Knightley and Emma Stone, the smart choice would be Patricia Arquette.
Director: Richard Linklater. In the spaces of a decade of higher-profile movies, he shot Boyhood. Tell me that commitment like that doesn't deserve recognition.
Original Screenplay: Any one of the Best Picture nominees could walk away with this, but I'm thinking...The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Adapted Screenplay: American Sniper, because they're gonna want to give it something.
Cinematography: Much as I love Roger Deakins, the (impressive) trick-shot work of Emmanuel Lubezki on Birdman is far more likely to be recognized.
Art Direction: The Grand Budapest Hotel's sets looked fantastic.
Editing: Despite my desire to edit my own films, it's really anyone's category, here. Let's say Boyhood.
Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Original Score: I had issues with the film, but Alexandre Desplat's score for The Grand Budapest Hotel is unimpeachable. If a GBH sweep is what it takes to get Monsieur Desplat his first (!) Oscar, so be it.
Original Song: "I'll Get You Want You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)". "Poisonous Love". "For the Dancing and the Dreaming". "A Million Ways to Die". "The Boxtrolls Song". That would've made a kick-ass category. As for the real nominees..."Everything is Awesome". It's happening, folks. Nothing to do but lie back and wait for it to be over.
Sound: Interstellar.
Sound Effects Editing: See above.
Animated Feature: This category isn't going to be as cut and dried as it was last year. This could seriously go to anyone...but Laika is long past due for a reward. The Boxtrolls.
Animated Short Subject: Lamentably, the short films did not end up online like in the past. The only one I've seen was "Feast", so...yeah. "Feast".
Live-Action Short Subject: "Boogaloo and Graham". Just a hunch.
Documentary Short Subject: "Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1".
Documentary Feature: Finding Vivian Maier.
Make-Up: Guardians of the Galaxy. No question.
Visual Effects: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Again, no question.
Foreign Film: I dunno. Ida?

Just thinking about why networks choose to cock-tease their viewers with huge, month-sized chunks between new episodes of animated programs. Just idiotic.

Ah, Buzzfeed. You find the weirdest crap that somehow still appeals to me.

There's a tumblr called Hell Yeah Genderswap! that imagines several projects if their genders were flipped (and a few race re-castings for flavor; obvious though it may be, Morgan Freeman would make a damn good Dumbledore).

One thing I've noticed: in the "Hannibal" posts, how often Tilda Swinton comes up to play Hannibal Lecter. I totally see it, but still, it's weird.

Amityville 2: the Possession (Lalo Schifrin)

Before the Lutzes were driven from their home, there were the Montellis, where various family tensions ultimately result in a violent outburst...or so this movie would have you believe. The less savory aspects of the film may not be for every taste, but with such an enthusiastic directorial style, you can't really call the film boring.

Lalo Schifrin revisited his Oscar-nominated score for this follow-up and while it's a little heavy on shattered glass stingers, there are some good passages here, such as the creepy music for the drawn-out murder sequence.

Amityville 2: the Possession
composed & conducted
by
Lalo Schifrin
1. Main Titles 1.49
2. Lens Glare 0.14
3. Blood in the Water 0.12
4. Mover Stinger 0.13
5. Another Room 0.48
6. Another Visitor 1.35
7. The Mirror Crack'd/Up the Stairs 0.40
8. Following Sonny 1.10
9. Paint Job 0.21
10. The Exhibit 0.36
11. Sonny Grabs the Gun 0.42
12. Open Refrigerator 0.12
13. Desecrated Bible 0.56
14. Intruder 1.53
15. Buried Arm 1.25
16. Stalked by Spirits 1.58
17. The Beast Within 1.56
18. Flowers in the Attic 1.30
19. Suspicions 0.05
20. Blood of My Blood 0.48
21. Looking for Answers 0.24
22. One Big Happy Family 0.23
23. Trish Goes Inside 0.52
24. Does Your Mother Know? 0.45
25. Face of Evil 1.05
26. Sonny Cleans House 4.25
27. "I'm responsible." 0.41
28. Talk With a Demon/Back at the House 2.34
29. Late Phone Call 0.39
30. The Message 0.12
31. Fire, Escape 1.00
32. Home Again 0.49
33. Bleeding Walls 2.08
34. Sonny Attacks 2.00
35. Coming Apart 2.17
36. Forsaken/For Sale (End Credits) 3.25

Yeah, I'm a little ashamed of the glibness of some of the titles.