This just proves that no matter what I'm watching, I'm always thinking about Five-0.

And the Winner Is …

One advantage of living at the far west of the country is you can watch the Academy Awards and then go outside to watch a beautiful sunset. The Five-0 team and friends had gathered at Steve McGarrett's home for an afternoon of pupus and snacks, fashion jeers, winner cheers and prediction competition.

"So who won the contest?" Steve asked. Standing on his deck with his friends, he took a swallow of beer while watching the setting sun turn the ocean into fire.

"Max is the clear winner," Kono Kalakaua reported.

Reading over her shoulder, Danny Williams said, "You even got the short films? I'm impressed." He bowed to Assistant ME Max Bergman, who bowed back with a flourish that almost sent his coconut shrimp sliding onto the floor.

It was no surprise that the movie loving ME won the contest, but second place surprised Steve.

"Danny and Gabby tied for second," Kono continued. "They got all the big awards right, but not as many of the technical awards."

"We consulted," Gabrielle Asano admitted.

"No rule against that," Chin Ho Kelly confirmed.

Steve snatched Danny's paper out of Kono's hand. "Did you even see any of these movies? I mean, besides 'Moneyball'." That was a baseball movie, after all, and Danny loved baseball.

"Gabby and I saw 'Descendants.'"

"I wanted to see it because it was filmed here," the woman said.

"And Grace and I saw 'Hugo,' but I think it confused her. I know it confused me," Danny continued.

"And I saw 'The Help' with my girlfriends, so between us we'd seen four of the nominated movies," Gabby contributed.

"But you didn't pick any of them. You picked 'The Artist'," Chin said, because he knew which film won Best Picture.

Gabby looked a little sheepish. The museum scientist admitted to watching gossip shows.

"Gabby said the smart money was on Octavia Spencer for Supporting Actress and 'The Artist" for Best Picture, Best Actor and Director," Danny said, rescuing his date. "Ever since Ocean's 11, I'm torn between Clooney and Pitt, so I figured the voters would be, too. And so we went with Desjardin."

"We argued over Supporting Actor," Gabby said, with a sweet smile showing the "argument" hadn't been any such thing. "I couldn't decide, but Danny thought they'd give it to Plummer as a lifetime achievement award, since he'd never won."

"And, of course, Meryl Streep was a given," Danny finished.

"That's the only one you and I agreed on," Steve laughed. "Meryl Streep is the finest actress of her generation."

Danny clapped his hands once, with a sharp crack of sound the caught everyone's attention. "You all heard it."

Kono, Max and Gabby all grinned. "We're your witnesses, brah," Kono affirmed.

Laughing, Danny escorted Gabby back inside to get dessert.

"What? What did I say?" Steve demanded.

Max shook his head. "You provided Detective Williams with further ammunition in your continuing debate about the relative merits of your home states."

"Huh?" Steve looked at Kono for clarification. She had pity on him.

"Meryl Streep's from New Jersey, boss."