Follow along with arts writer Anya Goodman as she live blogs the 85th Academy Awards ceremony.

Adele arrives at the Oscars. This British singer won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP.

12:02 p.m.: For its 85th time, the Oscars didn’t fail to present hilarious jokes (thank you Seth!), beautiful, epic musical acts and a night full of suspense. Until next year!

11:57 p.m.: “I know what you’re thinking. The three sexiest producers alive,” jokes Ben Affleck, the director of “Argo.”

11:56 p.m.: Obama announces three-time Oscar winner “Argo” as Best Picture.

11:55 p.m.: After an inspiring speech, the First Lady hands it back to Nicholson to introduce the nominees. This is gonna be a big one.

11:53 p.m.: As a very special surprise, Jack Nicholson introduces First Lady Michelle Obama. Her bangs are beautiful. ‘Nuff said.

11:51 p.m.: “For my mother,” he adds. Daniel, stop being so adorable!

11:50 p.m.: “I committed to playing Margaret Thatcher,” Lewis joked.

11:49 p.m.: Wow — Meryl Streep on an Oscars stage not accepting an award. Weird.

11:48 p.m.: Three-time Oscar award winner Meryl Streep, elegant as always, walks on stage to announce the award for Best Actor. The Oscar goes to Daniel Day Lewis in “Lincoln.”

11:44 p.m.: J-Law wins the Oscar for Best Actress. You go, girl.

11:43 p.m.: Though it looks beautiful, maybe that long dress wasn’t the best idea.

11:43 p.m.: Hugh Jackman gallantly rushes to help her.

11:43 p.m.: Jennifer Lawrence falls on her way up to the stage.

11:40 p.m.: Last year’s Oscar winner Jean Dujardin charms the audience with his heavy French accent.

11:34 p.m.: Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas announce Ang Lee as Best Director for “Life of Pi.”

“Thank you, movie gods,” he said.

11:27 p.m.: Quentin Tarantino wins best Original Screenplay for “Django Unchained.” It almost seems like he can’t get off the stage. I guess he’s just excited.

11:24 p.m.: The award for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to Chris Terrio, who wrote “Argo.” This is his first Oscar, and you can tell — he seems almost speechless.

11:16 p.m.: “Skyfall” — the Adele song, not the movie — won the Oscar for best Original Song. Not surprised at all. Well done, Adele. Her cowriter is Paul Epworth.

11:11 p.m.: The Oscar for Best Original Score goes to “Life of Pi.” This is the movie’s third win of the night.

11:09 p.m.: Where did Renée Zellweger’s eyes go?

11:03 p.m.: Barbra Streisand follows up the montage with a song. Either she’s lying about being 72, or she’s had amazing plastic surgery.

10:58 p.m.: George Clooney somberly introduces a montage of the actors and movie makers that passed away this year. There’s nothing like a black and white montage set to sad music to break your heart.

10:56 p.m.: Okay, let’s be honest. Seth MacFarlane’s joes are hilarious, but they’re also nonstop. Let’s see if we can predict any.

10:49 p.m.: I’m still in shock that “Les Miz” actually lost something.

10:49 p.m.: Radcliffe and Stewart announce that “Lincoln” wins the award for Best Production Design. Kristen — fix your hair!

10:47 p.m.: The classic Harry Potter theme song plays as Daniel Radcliffe and Kristen Stewart walk on stage. But would the boy wizard really be hanging out with the wannabe vampire? I doubt it.

10:38 p.m.: But her shoes and her dress are different shades of sparkle. Hmm… Regardless, that was an impressive live performance.

10:36 p.m.: Adele’s performance is staggering — and sparkly. She’s rocking the sparkly dress against the stage’s sparkly background. But it’s her incredible voice that’s really life-changing.

10:35 p.m.: Is Jennifer Lawrence wearing a dress or a cupcake? She’d never be able to outrun District 2 in that outfit!

10:33 p.m.: Sandra Bullock announces that “Argo” wins its first Oscar of the night for Achievement in Film Editing.

10:30 p.m.: MacFarlane introduces “a man so respected, it doesn’t matter that his name sounds like a Russian guy sneezing” to introduce selected college students who will be handing out trophies.

10:23 p.m.: “It came true!” Hathaway said. Of course, she’s referring to the dream she dreamed. Nice one, Anne.

10:22 p.m.: Of course — the Oscar goes to “Ms. Anne Hathaway” from “Les Miserables.” Poor Sally Fields!

10:21 p.m.: Well, this is intense: Anne Hathaway against Sally Fields. It could easily be either one.

10:20 p.m.: MacFarlane acts out a scene from “The Sound of Music” before he introduces legend Christopher Plummer to introduce Best Supporting Actress.

10:18 p.m.: Ah, now we know why it’s a tie — both are blondes with long hair, no matter their gender.

10:16 p.m.: The Oscar for Best Sound Editing is a tie! “Zero Dark Thirty” wins the first award, and “Skyfall” wins the second. A tie like this is incredibly rare.

10:14 p.m.: How is an animated bear on the Oscars?

10:12 p.m.: In a SHOCKING twist of events, “Les Miserables” wins an Oscar! The movie’s first award goes to Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes for Best Sound Mixing.

10:11 p.m.: Mark Wahlberg and Ted, his animated bear co-star, come on stage to make scandalous jokes and present the nominees for Best Sound Mixing.

10:08 p.m.: Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana introduce more nominees. What an attractive group.

10:03 p.m.: Co-stars Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried and Samantha Barks join them on stage to sing the end of the song. The entire main cast is now emotionally singing together.

10:01 p.m.: Hugh Jackman walks on stage to sing “Suddenly.” His “Les Miserables” co-star Anne Hathaway then joined him to sing “One Day More.” Ladies and gentleman, the Oscars has just reached a whole new emotional level.

9:58 p.m.: Jennifer Hudson soulfully performs “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from “Dream Girls.” Her sparkly silver dress shows off her diva status.

9:54 p.m.: Travolta introduces Catherine Zeta-Jones, who makes a surprise live performance of “All That Jazz.” Though it seems like Zeta-Jones is lip-syncing, the act is still classy and saucy.

9:53 p.m.: John Travolta strolls out to the sound of “You Can’t Stop The Beat.”

9:50 p.m.: The Oscar for Foreign Language Film goes to the Austrian “Amour,” directed by Michael Haneke. This is the second time that Austria has won this award. Haneke graciously makes his “sank you’s” on stage.

9:49 p.m.: “We are back. It’s Sunday, everybody’s dressed up. This is like church, except more people are praying,” MacFarlane jokes.

9:44 p.m.: Ben Affleck announces that the award for Best Documentary Feature goes to “Searching For Sugar Man.”

9:41 p.m.: MacFarlane’s jokes about Lincoln seem to be a little too much.

“150 years and it’s still too soon?” he said.

9:39 p.m.: “Taken” star Liam Neeson introduces an intense montage for the award for the second batch of Best Picture nominees.

9:35 p.m.: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine win the Documentary Short Subject award for “Inocente,” a moving documentary about a homeless immigrant.

“We’re artists, and all of you are artists,” Sean Fine said.

9:34 p.m.: Shawn Christensen wins his first Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for “Curfew.”

9:22 p.m.: Halle Berry, in a striking black and silver dress, presents a dramatic montage of the Bond girls and the music from the movies over time in recognition of the first James Bond movie’s 50th anniversary.

9:19 p.m.: The most recent Oscar goes to “Les Miserables.” This film’s makeup transformed the actors into starving, poverty-stricken French citizens.

9:19 p.m.: The lovely and comical Channing Tatum and Jennifer Aniston announce the Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar, as well as the previous Costume Design award.

9:17 p.m.: The Oscar for Best Costume Design goes to Jacqueline Durran for “Anna Karenina.” The film’s exquisite and intricate period costumes boosted the film to a higher level.

9:10 p.m.: “Life of Pi” wins its second Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

9:07 p.m.: The Best Cinematography Oscar goes to Claudio Miranda for “Life of Pi.”

9:03 p.m.: An epic montage of clips from Best Picture nominees leaves the audience in awe of this year’s most acclaimed films.

8:59 p.m.: Disney’s “Brave” wins the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

8:57 p.m.: “Paperman,” by John Kahrs, wins the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.The touching story focuses on two people who are led to each other by a paper airplane.

8:50 p.m.: The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to Christopher Waltz, who plays a bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino’s ruthlessly bloody “Django Unchained.” Waltz, much like his fans, is pleasantly surprised.

8:46 p.m.: To end his psuedo-musical, MacFarlane sings “Be Our Guest” with several other stars as a final welcome to the Oscars.

Host Seth MacFarlane and actress Kristin Chenoweth perform a song dedicated to the "losers" of the night. MacFarlane was a hilarious and gracious host. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP.

8:43 p.m.: Perhaps tonight the Oscars serve the purpose of a comical musical as well as an awards show. Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt just came out to sing along with MacFarlane.

8:40 p.m.: Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron dance along to “The Way You Look Tonight,” another of MacFarlane’s classy musical acts.

8:38 p.m.: MacFarlane surprises the audience with a rather scandalous musical act.

8:31 p.m.: The Dolby Theatre graciously welcomes host Seth MacFarlane. He never fails to crack up his audience.

“It’s an honor that everyone else said no to,” he said about hosting.

8:28 p.m.: Kristen Chenoweth, bubbly as always, isn’t ashamed to embrace her petiteness. The answer is yes, Kristen — everyone will always be taller than you, even when you’re in heels.

8:21 p.m.: Jennifer Lawrence is best dressed in an elegant White Dior Coutoure gown.