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“Oscars”

If this poster isn't enough to get your heart pounding, read on. (image source: upandcomers.net)

If this poster isn't enough to get your heart pounding, read on. (image source: upandcomers.net)

For those of you who were dragged to Oscar-watching parties tonight, who are sitting in Frist, or your res college, or a friend’s room reading this on your phone and seriously contemplating either a.) the best way to make an inconspicuous escape or b.) how to prevent yourself from pulling out all of your hair, there may yet be a way to salvage the night.

While your friends are trying to second-guess what’s inside those award-announcing envelopes, show them how involved you can get by spicing up the Oscars with some of the following themed activities brought to you by Film.com.

Swan Search

At the beginning of the night, choose someone to “go Black Swan,” and have other viewers guess who the swan is as the night unfolds.

Test Your True Grit

Slap on an eye-patch and try such classics as “pin the tail on the outlaw” or “water pistol quick draw” (but beware of assassins among your ranks…).

Stuttering Ovation

Chug a few Red Bulls and compete to give King George VI’s war speech (see The King’s Speech for helpful hints). This one comes with the added benefit of making your post-Oscars night a lot more productive.

Trash-Talk Champ

Challenge a friend to a trash-talk-off, à la The Fighter.

So kick back, relax, and enjoy the show. And hey, you might even find yourself getting into it. Either way, make sure you stick it out to the end to find out which of these 10 statements the Academy wants to make.

(source: oscars.org)

(source: oscars.org)

The Oscars are upon us, Tigers! I know you all would like nothing better than to waste all your waking hours on the NYTimes Carpetbagger blog (for the uninitiated, it’s the Times’s Awards-Season blog, and is frankly the best thing since sliced bread. Despite the fact that sliced bread has never seemed particularly awesome, but there you go.). However, midterms are once again upon us…which is decidedly not conducive to wasting time. Obviously. Why on earth would we waste time when we have tremendous pressure to get approximately ten zillion things done before spring break hits? Silly question.

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fitzgeraldOn the occasion of tonight’s Oscars, here’s a December piece from Slate.com that looks at “how F. Scott Fitzgerald decided where to send his characters to college.”

The impetus for the article stems from the omission of Harvard references in the Best Picture nominated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is based off of Fitzgerald’s short story. In the story, Benjamin Button is a Harvard man, though in the film, he is Brad Pitt, so, like, whatever dude.

(image source: slate.com)