Vicki Lopez wins Oscar Pool at last! – The Living Room Times

[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]

Vicki Lopez, who has famously suffered numerous close calls, near-wins and heartbreaking defeats during the 11-year history of the Living Room Times Oscar Pool, finally triumphed Sunday, winning “Eternal Glory” thanks to Birdman’s big night.

Lopez established her reputation as “always the bridesmaid” in Oscar Pools when she fell just short of winning both the 1st and 2nd annual Oscar Pools because of plausible, but incorrect, Best Picture predictions: in 2005, she picked The Aviator, but Million Dollar Baby won; in 2006, she picked Brokeback Mountain, but Crash won. The same thing happened in 2011, when she picked The Social Network, but The King’s Speech won. In addition, she finished second in 2010, narrowly losing out because of incorrect screenplay picks. And in 2013, she lost because of a Best Director upset.

This year, Lopez spent much of the night in second or third place – a point or two behind David Kreutz, who was perfect for the first 14 awards, until Whiplash won Best Film Editing – but when a Best Original Screenplay upset dropped her to sixth place, it looked like Lopez might be doomed. She wrote in the live chat, “I am starting to think that maybe I’m not cut out for Eternal Glory.”

As it turned out, though, Lopez was perfect for the rest of the night. She climbed to fifth place when The Imitation Game won Best Adapted Screenplay – and because everyone in the top four had predicted Boyhood and its director, Richard Linklater, would win Best Picture and Best Director, that meant Lopez, who had picked Birdman and its director Alejandro González Iñárritu, was still alive.

When Iñárritu won Best Director, Lopez vaulted into the lead, and the participants in the live chat realized that LRT Oscar Pool history could be imminent: either Vicki finally winning, or suffering perhaps her most heartbreaking defeat yet.

“It might be the most epic Vicki moment ever if Boyhood now wins Best Picture and the picture/director split kills you,” I wrote to Lopez, once I realized that an upset in the lead acting categories couldn’t hurt Vicki; only Birdman losing Best Picture to Boyhood could.

“I’m pretty sure Vicki winning would rip the space time continuum and we’d all die,” wrote Becky Loy – who, as it turns out, became Vicki’s final obstacle to victory. (If Boyhood had won Best Picture, Becky would have won the pool.)

“If the world ends and Vicki wins, I love you all and this has been awesome,” wrote Kristin Farleigh moments before the Best Picture Oscar was announced.

When Birdman won, clinching victory for Lopez, the live chat erupted in amazed celebration. “OMGGGGGG,” wrote Farleigh. “OMGOMGOMGOMG … Vicki!! At last!” Numerous others offered their shocked congratulations. Even Becky Loy, who would have won the pool if Lopez had lost again at the wire, wrote, “Vicki, you should totally go buy a lotto ticket! WOOOO!” (But not before joking: “I just can’t even believe this happened. How? What? How? … I just still can’t believe Vicki didn’t lose by a point. Are you sure the spreadsheet is correct?”)

For her part, Lopez wrote: “OMG! I actually cannot believe this! … I’m going to Disneyland! WOOOOHOOOOOOO! … THANKS FOR THE BEST NIGHT…EVER!!!”

Here are the final standings:

Max. possible points: 80

1. Vicki Lopez 72

2. Lisa Kosek 71

2. Joe Hiegel (@Jahiegel) 71

2. Kablooeyquest 71

5. Kevin Curran 70

6. @devyanks90 68

6. Tom S. (@obiwankobe) 68

8. Matt Cale 67

9. Brendan Loy 63