Sometimes it can be hard to talk to celebrities –- even when it’s your job.

Thursday night I attended the “Australians in Film” event at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. The red carpet was rolled out and I had my questions ready for the “confirmed” celebrity guests, which were to include Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Abbie Cornish and several others. I stood there for a good three hours with my photographer … and talked to THREE people. The biggest celebrity of the night was Jesse Spencer from the show “House.”

But no worries. There was a highlight to my night - I literally saw more celebrities walking and driving in behind us than on the red carpet. Josh Hartnett walked by, and then Topher Grace, and the producer next to me thinks she saw Robert Downey Jr. drive off in his car. At one point, I asked my cameraman to just turn around and shoot the hotel guests behind us. After all, that’s where the action was.

– Carolyn Sung, CNN Entertainment

Every year it's the same thing: You get together with friends, throw in a few bucks, look over the Oscar nominees list and make your picks.

The person with the most correct answers - or the most points (the Oscar pools I've been in give more points for picking best picture than, say, best animated short) - wins the pool. The tiebreaker, of course, is getting the closest to the ceremony's late-night ending time.

But a clever quartet of bloggers at PoopReading have come up with a twist on the old-fashioned Oscar pool. Call it Fantasy Oscars.

The four listed the 20 acting nominees, drafted each one fantasy-sports style, then cast their performers in movies based on titles provided by the party game Balderdash, making up all the plots.

The results are creative and hilarious. I hope some studio heads are reading - I'd actually pay to see some of these.

– Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer

P.S. And what are your Oscar picks? Send us an iReport.

The rumors are everywhere: ABC allegedly wants to bring back the prime-time “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

Maybe.

EW reports, drawing on The New York Times, that the popularity of the film “Slumdog Millionaire” has prompted the network to ponder giving the show another summer run, perhaps in honor of its 10th anniversary. For those who don’t recall, “Millionaire” was a huge hit that August of 1999, one of the last network TV has produced. (It was followed by two other reality sensations, “Survivor” in 2000 and “American Idol” in 2002.)

I’d love to see the show come back, but I’m biased -– I was on the original prime-time show eight years ago. (And you can mock all you want - my friends all do.) The “Millionaire” scenes in “Slumdog” brought back all the excitement I remember, when nobody had any idea when the quiz show's juggernaut would end.

It did, of course, killed off by overexposure, too many stunt shows (those all-star broadcasts were dull) and -– as I know one friend of mine would argue - the deletion of the phone qualifying game in favor of contestant coordinators.

“Millionaire” remains a success around the world, though a lesser one here in the U.S., with the syndicated version slightly down in the ratings.

What do you think? Would a return of the prime-time version be a good idea? (EW's Margaret Lyons would rather see "Beat the Geeks.") Should Regis Philbin come back to host? And should it be a limited run, to maintain its novelty -– regardless of how well it does in the ratings?

– Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer

Joaquin Phoenix was on “The Late Show with David Letterman” last night, and Letterman’s interview with him brought back memories of the legendarily uncomfortable Letterman interviews of the ‘80s - as in, Crispin Glover or Farrah Fawcett uncomfortable.

Phoenix, who has been described as “mercurial” by director James Gray, appeared to still be asleep. As Dave peppered him with questions -– at one point asking the heavily bearded Phoenix, “Can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?” - Phoenix gave monosyllabic answers and acted genuinely perplexed by the audience’s tittering.

Now, of course, it could all be an act. But it’s still surprising to see, in this age of polished, “tell me about your movie” interviews, interactions that go so obviously wrong.

Anyway, take a look for yourself.

– Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer

In recent years, the decade of the 1980s has become a pop culture whipping boy, reduced to parachute pants, hair bands and John Hughes movies. Which is a shame, because the ‘80s featured a terrific indie music scene, then lumped under the name of “college radio.”

There were several record labels that helped drive the scene. Minneapolis’ Twin/Tone had the Replacements; SST had Husker Du and the Meat Puppets. A number of L.A. punk bands were on Slash.

And then there was International Record Syndicate, better known as I.R.S. The label was created by Police drummer Stewart Copeland’s brother Miles (who was also the group’s manager) and had a roster that was both more mainstream - the Go-Go’s had early pop success - and just as obscure (Nuclear Assault, Suburban Lawns) as the others.

In general, you could trust the label’s G-Man logo to deliver quality: among other acts on I.R.S. were R.E.M., Wall of Voodoo, the Fleshtones, Camper Van Beethoven and the Cramps.

The label was also the sponsor of MTV’s “The Cutting Edge,” a shrewd marketing vehicle for many of its bands.

I.R.S. released its last record more than a decade ago, but now its classic era is making a comeback. EMI, which owns most of the label’s output, is finally releasing the material digitally. Over the next six weeks, beginning today, more than 100 albums will finally be available on iTunes and other services.

So dig out that old I.R.S. T-shirt and prepare for the dB’s, Let’s Active and Dread Zeppelin. You’ll be glad you did.

– Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer

Multiple winners Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the last musical act to come backstage and they told us how this remarkable partnership came together.

"Well, I got lost in Nashville on my way to London," Plant began.

Now, seriously: "Bill Flanagan from VH1, he's a buccaneer, suggested we might consider some sort of adventure together ... and we were lucky to have a little window of opportunity to have one or two."

They decided to give it three days - three days to see if there was any magic there. "Commandeered" and "steered" by producer T Bone Burnett, who "conjured up a whole world," the duo gave it a shot and by day two knew they had something special. Then three days was extended to ten days, and so on and so forth, and the rest is history.

Later, Recording Academy head Neil Portnow came out and told us about the quick planning they had to do to compensate for the absence of Chris Brown and Rihanna. They were notified by their respective management teams in the afternoon, which forced the show's producers to be "nimble" and work around it.

Portnow thought the solution for Brown's absence worked well: "Years from now, this will be one of those great Grammy moments, Justin, Al Green and Keith Urban doing a great song [Green's 'Let's Stay Together'] that is relevant to the moment culturally." He also said it was his hope that tonight won't be overshadowed by the Brown story. That remains to be seen.

I'll leave you with one last Grammy snapshot. Several hours ago I was eating lunch in our one-on-one interview room, which is a converted corporate suite overlooking the floor of the Staples Center. And I hear this beautiful voice ringing out through the arena. It was one of those transcendent moments that stops you cold. It was Adele (who would later win the best new artist and best female pop vocal performance) and the song was "Chasing Pavements." I put down the sandwich I was eating and just had to stick my nose through a crack in the curtain and listen to her perform.

A stolen moment among the chaos. Pure bliss.

– Douglas Hyde, CNN Entertainment Producer

We're all marveling backstage at how an absolutely about to burst pregnant M.I.A. can do her thing on stage - and do it so well!

Meanwhile, a couple of her fellow female singers, Estelle and Carrie Underwood, find themselves very impressed with Jennifer Hudson's performance on the show, calling it "brave." There is a palpable sense of empathy here in the backstage area for Hudson and how she's coping with the tragic deaths of three of her family members. (Ed. note: Entry originally said "two." We regret the error.) When she concluded her song this sometimes sleepy press area burst out into applause.

We also trying to process the Chris Brown news, which has developed considerably since we've all been back here filing stories for our various media outlets. Will any of the winners yet to come back stage have any news or insight into the situation? I would think not, given that they've been in the show for the past couple of hours, but we'll see.

– Douglas Hyde, CNN Entertainment Producer

Our first big star of the night entered the backstage area and it was a big one: Paul McCartney.

Sir Paul, "Macca," call him what you will, strolls in sporting a jacket over a white Beatles T-shirt. It's a photo of the Fab Four - taken by his late wife Linda, he tells us - with red clown noses on their faces. The shirt was designed by his daughter Stella and will be sold to raise money for Britain's Comic Relief charity campaign, which kicks off March 13.

McCartney, who will perform himself tonight, says he's most looking forward to seeing Radiohead play on the big stage with the University of Southern California marching band. Paul's a big fan of the critically acclaimed band and they were the only group he mentioned off the top of his head when asked who his favorite musical acts were these days.

Someone asked him about the Beatles famed "White Album," which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. He says after all these years he can look at it dispassionately. And the verdict?

"I think it's fine. It's good. I'm amazed we did it. We were just kids."

Speaking of big accomplishments, he says his biggest was his children. "It's easy achieving them," he jokes.

As for professional victories, he points to his song, "Yesterday." "I was just talking to B.B. King about this and people in our line of work believe in magic and mystery." After noting how many people covered the famed tune - Ray Charles, Elvis, Frank Sinatra - he recalled how he dreamed it up in his sleep and woke up and wrote it down.

"I believe in magic," he says.

– Douglas Hyde, CNN Entertainment Producer

Happy Grammy Day, folks! I'll be blogging from L.A.'s Staples Center and passing along any funny and colorful quotes from the winners as they come backstage.

The Grammys are unique in the awards show world because of the staggering number of categories involved. This year, there are, count 'em, a whopping 108 - far too many to include in the prime-time broadcast. So, as they do every year, they have a 2 1/2-hour pre-telecast ceremony where they hand out everything from best polka album to best surround sound album.

There are a few less obscure trophies handed out though, including comedy album. The late George Carlin won for "It's Bad for Ya." His daughter Kelly Carlin accepted for him.

So what would he say upon winning, Kelly was asked. In a deadpan that would have done dad proud, she replies, "F- you!"

Kidding aside, she said it was a great honor, but very bittersweet. "The world really misses him," she notes sadly, and his blend of goofy and intelligent humor.

– Douglas Hyde, CNN Entertainment Producer

Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times have reported Dewey Martin, best known as drummer for Buffalo Springfield, has died at 68.

According to the RS obituary, Martin was praised by Neil Young as “a sensitive drummer. ... He can feel the music - you don’t have to tell him.” He sang lead on "Good Time Boy" (from Springfield's terrific second album, "Buffalo Springfield Again") and background vocals on the group's only Top 10 hit, "For What It's Worth."

According to the L.A. Times, he died Saturday. Cause of death is believed to be natural causes.

– From news reports