Kathryn Bigelow Makes History by Winning the Academy Award for Best Director; "Hurt Locker" Emerges with the Best Picture Oscar

"The Hurt Locker" captured some of the night's biggest prizes - Best Picture and Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow) - while beating out fellow favorite, James Cameron's "Avatar." Other highlights: a charismatic Jeff Bridges finally winning a Best Actor Oscar for his "Crazy Heart" work, Christoph Waltz winning for his role in "Inglourious Basterds," Sandra Bullock's victory in the "Blind Side," and Mo'Nique's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in "Precious."

All four winners were first-time winners.

Below are my moment-by-moment recaps.

"The Hurt Locker" takes home the final -- and biggest -- prize of the night: Best Picture.

11:52 PM: Barbra Streisand is giving the Academy Award for Best Director. And the winner is... Kathryn Bigelow!!! "I wouldn't be standing here if not for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the page," Bigelow said during her acceptance speech.

11:40 PM: More personal introductions, this time for the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. And the winner is... Sandra Bullock. No real surprise there. "Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?" Bullock asked.

11:23 PM: Nice personal introductions for the 5 Best Actor nominees. And the winner is... Jeff Bridges! On his fifth nomination, he finally gets the Academy Award.

11:14 PM: Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film goes to "El Secreto de Sus Ojos."

11:07 PM: "The Hurt Locker" makes the score 4-3 with a win for "Best Film Editing." Things look good for Kathryn Bigelow going into the home stretch.

11:03 PM: Oscar for "Best Documentary Feature" goes to "The Cove." Good to see Fisher Stevens bringing home an Academy Award.

10:55 PM: "Avatar" evens the score with an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

10:53 PM: Michael Giacchino wins the Oscar for Best Original Score for "Up."

10:37 PM: Demi Moore introduces the montage of those members of the Hollywood Community who passed away in the last year. James Taylor's beautiful rendition of "In My Life" highlighted the the montage of photos. Surprisingly, there was just moderate applause for Michael Jackson.

10:35 PM: "Avatar" on the comeback trail with the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

10:30 PM: At the two-hour mark, "The Hurt Locker" putting the hurt on "Avatar." Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin might as well go home (why didn't Tina Fey write their material?). Ben Stiller and Neil Patrick Harris should take over hosting duties. And I need more Diet Coke.

10:22 PM: Academy Award for Best Sound Editing: "The Hurt Locker" (Paul N.J. Ottoson).
Best Sound Mixing: "Hurt Locker" again. That makes the tally 3-2 for "Hurt Locker" and "Precious"

10:15 PM: For those keeping score at home, "Precious" leads the winners with two Oscars:Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. "Avatar" has earned one Oscar thus far.

10:10 PM: Oscar for Costume Design goes to Sandy Powell for "The Young Victoria." "I already have two of these, so I feel greedy," Powell said.

10:06 PM: Academy Award for Best Art Direction goes to "Avatar"

9:55 PM: Mo'Nique Wins!

9:47 PM: Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher for "Precious": "This is for everybody who works on the dream every day, the precious boys and girls."

9:44 PM: Can Mo'Nique go for the Trifecta? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress up next.

9:37 PM: Ben Stiller appears as a Na'vi from "Avatar." He has the Na'vi language down cold. "It was between this and the Nazi uniform, but the show seemed a little Hitler heavy."Stiller giving the award for Best Makeup, but "Avatar" isn't even nominated. He was going to bring his autographed "Spock" ears, but he thought his "Avatar" makeup was much cooler. Oscar for "Best Makeup": "Star Trek"

9:31: Best Animated Short: "Logorama" director Nicolas Schmerkin: "I'd like to thank the 3,000 sponsors who appeared in this film. No logos were harmed in the making of this film."

Best Documentary Short: Academy Award goes to "Music By Prudence."9:28 : Hmmm...after all that hype, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin seem like absentee hosts this year. That opening monologue wasn't that great. They need to start earning their paychecks.

Best Live Action Short: "The New Tenants"

9:18 : Nice memorial to John Hughes, the king of 1980's teen comedies. Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick introduced a great montage of Hughes' work. "The Breakfast Club," "Planes Trains and Automobiles" "Sixteen Candles"--what a great body of work. Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer and other Hughes alumni came on stage to honor him.

9:16 : Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal for "The Hurt Locker"-could mean good things for Kathryn Bigelow. Close-up of a confused looking Quentin Tarantino.

9:06 : This is a pretty tightly run Academy Awards presentation. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin haven't been given much screen time yet. I want to see more Neil Patrick Harris--that opening song was quite good, definitely a "You Tube" moment.

To Wendy Dawn: You are correct-this Oscar show has been by the numbers.

9:01 : Best Original Song: The Academy Award goes to "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart." Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett shared the honors.

9:00 : Best Animated Feature Film: "Up" Wins: Pixar continues to dominate the Best Animated Picture. "Never did I think making a flip book in Third Grade would lead to this," Director Pete Doctor said while accepting his award.

8:44 Best Supporting Actor Award: No surprise: Christoph Waltz is the winner. "I always wanted to discover a new continent and I thought I had to go this way. But then I was introduced to Quentin Tarantino," Waltz said during his acceptance speech. Classy actor and a classy guy---deserves to win his first time out.

8:30 PM: Okay..here we go. That's a nice touch-all the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees are on stage. Neil Patrick Harris is opening the show with a song "No One Wants to Do It Alone," an homage to teamwork.

Steve Martin on his "It's Complicated" co-star Meryl Streep: Can that woman act and what's up with all that Hitler memorabilia?"

8:24 PM: Just about 5 minutes to go and the accountants from Price Waterhouse walked the Red Carpet. ABC 7 out of Los Angeles showed a shot of the thousands of ballots that had to be tallied.

I'm getting anxious to see how Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin do as co-hosts, the first time that more than one host has anchored the Academy Awards

Another Oscar factoid: Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Academy Award 16 times.

8:13 PM: Interesting factoids: The last time the Academy Awards had 10 Best Picture nominees was 1943, the year that "Casablanca" took home the gold. Most of the 1943 nominees were war-themed pictures, but the 2010 crop of Best Picture nominees is a melting pot of every genre.

8:01 PM: All five Best Supporting Actress nominees are chatting on the Red Carpet. I am totally in love with Vera Farmiga from "Up in the Air."

The brother/sister Oscar goes to Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Jake has been talking about "Prince of Persia" and Maggie is trying to keep her nerves under control.

7:55 PM: Quentin Tarantino said that Colonel Hans Landa in "Inglorious Basterds" was one of the best characters he has ever written, but he wasn't sure if he could get anyone to play it. But Christoph Waltz took the role and ran with it---looks like Waltz has the Best Supporting Actor statuette locked up.

7:50 PM: Best Actress Nominee Gabourey Sidibe looked pretty and relaxed on the Red Carpet, but Meryl Streep looks like she's stressing out about the whole Oscar experience.

Best Actress Nominees:

Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan in "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based
on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"

7:40 PM: I'm watching the Oscar Red Carpet from my apartment in Irvine, 40 miles from Academy Award Ground Zero. I think ABC 7 has blacked out the "Barbara Walters" special to give more time to Red Carpet Coverage.

The pundits now are saying that "Hurt Locker" may take home two big awards: Best Picture and Best Director.

7:24 PM: Kathryn Bigelow just walked the red carpet, stunning in her evening gown. Let's hope she makes history tonight by taking home the Oscar for Best Director for "The Hurt Locker"

Best Director Nominees:

James Cameron for "Avatar"
Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino for "Inglourious Basterds"
Lee Daniels for "Precious: Based on the Novel
'Push' by Sapphire"
Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air"

7:10 PM - According to Marc Brown, one of the Academy Awards Commentators, 5, 777 ballots went out to Academy Members on February 10. That's a LOT of paper and postage-isn't Hollywood supposed to be green? What about electronic ballots?

Brown also explained the new and complicated ranking system for the Best Picture Award. It sounds suspiciously like the Electoral College, which makes the Best Picture race more wide open than ever.

7:00 PM: Traditionally, the first big award of the night is the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Anna Kendrick, Mo'Nique and Maggie Gyllenhaal already crossed the red carpet already, but the smart money is betting on Mo'Nique to take home the Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress Nominees:

Penélope Cruz in "Nine"
Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the
Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

6:37 PM: Welcome to the Associated Content Live Blog for the 2010 Oscars. The weather in Southern California has been dry today with a little bit of sun. The ever-present dark storm clouds have prompted many celebrities to walk the red carpet earlier than normal this year, however.

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With a 12-pack of diet soda and a box of Pop-Tarts nearby, I will be blogging during the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, starting with what could be an emotional Barbara Walters Special and a soggy red carpet.

The festivities for the 2010 Oscar Ceremony are almost here, so join me for a live blog on Sunday, March 7, beginning at 6 p.m. for the final Barbara Walters Special. I'll be here at least until they announce which of the 10 nominees has earned the coveted Oscar for Best Picture in 2010.

During the broadcast of the 82nd Academy Awards, I also hope to report on some of the following hot topics:

--Will Kathryn Bigelow take home a well-deserved Best Director Oscar for "The Hurt Locker"?
--How well Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin work together as co-hosts of the 2010 Oscars.
--Can anyone keep Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique out of the Winner's Circle on March 7?
--Will Martin and Baldwin keep the festivities under 3 hours this year?

Feel free to email me with questions and comments during the festivities at steven.bryan53@gmail.com