CLICK AND DOUBLE CLICK: IT'S TIME FOR FILM INDUSTRY TO SHINE WITH THE OSCARS

The envelope please ...

Sunday marks the 72nd annual Academy Awards the award show with the largest viewing audience. It's a night of surprises, glamour and sometimes goofiness. With Billy Crystal returning as host for a seventh year, anything's possible.

I read an interesting magazine article once on seat sitters: People who slide into seats of stars during these high-brow events as the rich and famous take a break from the festivities. That's why the auditorium always looks jammed. No pay, but great exposure to the stars. It's the only award show I never miss.

www.oscars.com

This is the official site. You can get the complete list of nominated films. With a simple click, you can read a synopsis of the nominated films or a biography of the nominees, complete with an Academy Awards history.

Also, if you haven't seen all the films, you can click on Movies and Sounds for short clips of the nominated films and performances. This is great. With young children, I don't always see all the nominated films before the ceremony. This year, I've seen three of the five.

They also offer a printable ballot if you want to make your own guess. Then you can stack it up against the outcomes.

How much do you know about Oscar? Try the Best Picture Trivia Challenge to test your cinematic I.Q. Only PC users can play. I had a choice of five quizzes. The best I could do was film buff. You can also play the Predict the Winners game or send an Oscar.com greeting to a friend. You have to register to do both, but it's free.

Under the history section, you can view the movie posters of all 72 "Best Picture" winners.

You've heard the expression that clothes make the man. That is never more true than on Oscar night when it's a contest of one-upmanship and outrageous. How long after the Grammys were people still debating whether Jennifer Lopez' dress used double stick tape to stay in place? The Oscar section called Style looks back at fashion style through the years.

If you want to learn anything about any movie, one of my favorite sites is the International Movie Database. It's amazing.

www.imdb.com

This site started in 1990 as a newsgroup. Today, it has information cataloged on more than 200,000 movies and TV titles and more than 400,000 actors and actresses. The search feature is easy and comprehensive.

More than 7,000 Internet Movie Database users have cast their ballots in the annual Academy Award poll, but it's not too late to cast yours. "American Beauty" is winning.

Make sure you check out the "IMDb Recommends" along the tab choices at the top of the page. Based on what the site calls a complex formula and ongoing feedback from movie fans around the world, it has sorted through hundreds of thousands of movies and TV shows to come up with this program. You enter the name of a favorite movie or show and it'll recommend some others you might like.

You can also play some games and contests, including a quiz and crossword. You can compare notes with other movie fans in the message boards. One fun part of the site was at the very top of the page: You can look at the famous and near-famous people born on your birthday.

www.razzies.com

If the Academy Awards honor the best in the film industry, the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation revels in the worst. I was amazed to see that the Razzies are celebrating their 20th year of dis-honoring the worst achievements in the film industry.

The Razzies are typically given the day before the Oscars. Among the nominees for worst picture of 1999 are: "Big Daddy," "Blair Witch Project," "The Haunting." "Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace" and "Wild Wild West." Hey, I liked "Star Wars" although I really, really didn't like "Wild Wild West."

The site also lists nominees for Worst Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. Here's something a little different: Worst Screen Couple of 1999.

In the low blow category, the site will also pick the Worst Actor and Actress of the Century and Worst Picture of the Decade. The nominees for the latter include: "Burn, Hollywood Burn," "Hudson Hawk," "The Postman," "Showgirls" and "Striptease."

www.mrshowbiz.com

This is one of the best overall entertainment sites. You can learn more about entertainment news, movies, TV, features, games, music and celebrities.

On the front page, click on Mr. Showbiz Goes to the Oscars to learn more about the contest, hosts and all the latest news. You can also make your prediction.

Mr. Showbiz says that because the Oscar nominations are so evenly distributed, there's no sure thing. The lack of easy-bet winners ought to make things interesting. The site predicts both who will win and who should win. You can also play the Oscar contest.

www.hollywood.com

This is another great entertainment site, especially for movies. But you can also read great entertainment news, such as the fact 10 unmarked cartons full of little, shiny, valuable gold men are missing. The Los Angeles Police Department and FBI were on the case, but the academy says the show will go on regardless.

It's a great site to find out what movies and videos are about without all the commentary. It lets you judge for yourself.

And of course if you want to learn more about the five nominated movies, you can jump off to their Web sites.

www.thegreenmile.com

www.americanbeauty-thefilm.com/main.html

video.go.com/thesixthsense

www.miramax1999.com/ciderhouse

studio.go.com/movies/insider

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the managing editor of the Southeast Missourian. You can reach her at click@semissourian.com.