Hello, world. Would you like a gift? Well, good, because Mariah Carey just gave you one with her crazy (in a good way) interview with Ryan Seacrest on E!'s Live from the Red Carpet. Inside, Mimi at her finest.

The most important day in the gay calendar, Oscar Sunday is important not only for the glorious shining awards handed out to a lucky few. There's also the dresses! Here are some red carpet low/highlights.

So, there was an election in Iraq today. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became a 9/11 truther. And Al Qaeda's spokesman, Azzam the American, may have been captured! Here's all the stuff you missed while ogling the red carpet.

Bookies favor The Hurt Locker for a Best Picture win (gaining traction: an Up in the Air upset), but if BitTorrent downloads were votes, District 9 would squeak past Avatar for the win. Biggest losers: An Education, Blind Side. [TorrentFreak]

Cablevision and ABC are still negotiating Oscars coverage, but have yet to come to an agreement. Update: The two sides reached a "tentative" deal about 15 minutes after the show started, and the signal has been restored.

The Oscars are a lot of things, but seldom are they unpredictable, at least when it comes to the types of films that win big. Here, the phenomenon is explained brilliantly with a literal "trailer" for the Academy's requisite darlings.

Pitcher of cellphones Naomi Campbell will accompany British First Lady Sarah Brown's charity group to quake-ravaged Haiti. "I am not a humanitarian leader, but someone who wishes to improve the world." The first part we can confirm. [NYDN]

[The red carpet outside the Kodak Theater in LA got one last cleaning this afternoon in advance of tonight's Academy Awards. Photo via Zadi Diaz]

Quentin Tarantino has resurrected many careers. His next personal project, according to conversations we overheard between the two men, involves Chris Tucker.

"For the first time in 22 years, presenters at the Oscars won't be using the traditional, non-competitive phrase 'and the Oscar goes to...'" Producers have scrapped the "gentler approach" to go with the more direct "and the winner is..." [Wrap]

Life on the D-List visited Alaska last night, and Kathy Griffin spent five straight minutes laying into Sarah Palin, whom she says she invited to the show. In town for the Iditarod, Kathy said she ice-fished with Levi, too.

The New York Times has a lengthy, front-page story about Scientology today and while it doesn't break much new ground—many of the more salacious tales first appeared in The St. Petersburg Times over the past year—it's worth reading.

Which Oscar nominee actor has gone completely off reservation? He's not returning his publicist, agent or manager's calls. He's refusing to do media appearances. There are fears he may bail on the ceremony tonight. "Last I heard," said one friend, "he was holed up in his room with some model."

There will be blubbering and blathering and blabbering at the Oscar podium tonight. Then, after 45 seconds, the music shall swell and, like nursing home attendants, elegant women will lead the winners to their backstage pasture.

When "model" photos of the victim of a sexually-charged crime emerge, it's usually to blame the victim. A decade-old photo session with Sherr-una Booker has emerged, but the pictures are tame and the story is sweet. Does that excuse it?

We snuck into the Weinstein Oscars party by entering through the service entrance and hiding in the bathroom. It ended with us eavesdropping on Harvey—who introduced his kids with "these are my fucking children"— and getting banned.

Network execs hate Jerry Seinfeld's new show as much as we do. It's their own fault for the Leno fiasco, and now they're using Yiddish words and shaking in their "deep doo-doo." Real-life Costanza says it's all about ego.

This is the original 1975 documentary tracing the eccentric lives Edith and Little Edie Beale, relatives of Jackie O, as their decaying East Hampton mansion is taken over by filth, cats, and their delusions.

Indie musician Mark Linkous—psych-folk pioneer of acclaimed band Sparklehorse—committed suicide last night, his second known attempt and the second time he has been legally dead. He was in his forties.

Cablevision's long-suffering subscribers will not be watching the Academy Awards at home tonight.