No, Craig. You’re getting old when you start liking Larry King’s interview style.

Congrats to all the winners and everyone who participated. Thanks also to Craig for doing the number crunching. Look forward to next year’s contest!

It’s real gold. Gold isn’t soft, you know. Put that down.

You”re gonna break somebody’s neck…

Thank you, one & all…

Where’ s my scepter? LOL

*places the crown on Serena’s head as compensation for now offering congratulations earlier on her 5-for-5 Best Picture selection…* As Helen Mirren so unaccountably uttered last year, “…The Queen!…”

My failing in years past was to go on heart and gut and I always get burned. This year I went with my head…and got burned.

I had Atonement as my #1 pick for months, until it was roundly snubbed by all of the guilds.

Ah well. c’est la vie.

As for getting Best Picture right…

Well, y’all brought it up. Otherwise I wouldn’t have said a word…LMAO

I guess the little bird that told you, Craig, is the one that I got the call from this morning. I think his name begins with an R? LOL

The absolute truth is: I’m very passionate & emotional about my choices every year. So I’ve never predicted. NEVER.

But then Ryan asked me to join you guys & I was enormously flattered. I couldn’t say no – & I really couldn’t be associated with a nicer, more cool group of people.

Even though I’ve never done this before in a serious way, I do have some knowledge of film & acting. But
I’ve been following the Oscars since I was around 10. So that’s nearly 20 years. But, in the end, it really came down to instinct.

I knew MC & NCFOM were pretty much locked up. I thought TWBB would be next on the list. Vying for the last two slots were TDB&TB, Juno, Atonement & ITW.

Atonement has unconventional elements but it LOOKS
like a BP nominee. It’s British, has star crossed love elements, attractive young actors & is based on a prestigious novel. DB is foreign. Just seemed too esoteric for their tastes. Which generally run to the middle brow. I was just talking here the other day about how I didn’t think Juno was going to make it. But
I ended up choosing Juno instead of ITW.. Almost everybody seems to love this picture – & it cuts across all demographics. It’s warm & heartfelt. Plus, even though Sean Penn has been nominated four times & has an Oscar, I didn’t know if ITW could truly go the distance.

Juno just seemed to fit. Plus it was a comedy & that particular slate of films was going to be pretty damn dark. So I totally went with my gut…& sometimes you have to.

Thank you so much for your hearty congrats, Craig, sartre & jennybee. jennybee, you can have that quote. It’s my gift to you. It’s one of Blanchett’s. LOL (Though I still worship the ground you walk on, sartre – & you know it, too.)

How bout I take one of Ellen’s? I’m kind of partial to, “Thundercats are GO!!!!!”

Y’all are so generous & sweet. I really appreciate it.

Anyone wants to borrow my crown, I’ll lend it out 24/7. jennybee’s a girl so she gets special privileges, you guys.

But I’m very happy to be a Sultan. You all make it worthwhile. Truly. Utterly. Completely.

Today is a very good day…

Congrats, joel, Andy H, Alison and Nick! Play hard, win hard! :-)

This Oscar guessing stuff is difficult. It seems like the last two years, for starters, would have been far easier to estimate but this year was something of a train wreck (though sort of a beautiful one, ahaha).

My only real gripe is Juno. I think its chances were helped enormously when so much of the field (Blood and No Country for starters) seemed so bleak. Atonement and Clayton are the most “conventional” Best Picture nominees, on paper, and I suppose we may have to think of the Best Picture category as routinely having one of those quirky little comedies among the final five–Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno, three out of four years where there was at least one film to lighten things up.

I am scratching my head over Blanchett for Elizabeth II, but she is quite loved.

Oh, and Craig–sorry for pointing out that Norbit had one nomination over Zodiac’s zero in the other thread. Hadn’t seen you point it out here. I suspect there are many online grumbling about that, though, as I saw it originally at H-E. Poor Zodiac, screwed over by its own studio.

Some interesting factoids about this year’s race are here:
http://www.pe.com/entertainment/stories/PE_FEA_oscar_facts22.48f2d563.html

My two errors this year were: 1) too much reliance on guild voting and 2) a mental block against a very very popular movie.

One last thing, if Jonny Greenwood hadn’t been boned by AMPAS, we might be looking at 9 nominations for TWBB instead of 8.

I can see her saying in a commanding voice to the Atonement bashers ‘I have a hurricane in me that will strip naysayers bare when they dare to try me!’

Serena, A little bird told me you were the only Sultan of Bling to have matched the BP noms with your top 5. Is this true?

I’m particularly happy for Alison and Serena who never forsaked Atonement despite the absence of guild love.

I’m personally thrilled that TWbB, No Country, and Atonement made it. That’s about as good an Academy delivery to my own taste as I can ever hope for.

Congrats Alison Flynn, Andy H , Alexander and Joel :)

I am surprised by the lack of Into The Wild love, seriously! And the fact that Norbit was nominated, I mean it was probably the reason Eddie Murphy lost out on his Oscar and now it’s up for one! I am so glad I was wrong about Atonement, not snubbed at all. Juno for Best Director – Did not see that one coming!

Now the real fun can begin, predicting the winners.

So that I could make my Nicole Kidmanlike entrance.

*bows*

*clears throat*

Good morning, Mr. Kennedy. Ladies. Gentlemen.

Every year a ton of people that I love are invariably snubbed. There’s no getting around it. It’s inevitable. So it’s unfortunate for Russell Crowe (in two categories!!!!), Robert Downey Jr., Albert Finney, Terrence Howard, Steve Zahn, Vanessa Redgrave, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Jodie Foster, Michael Caine, Jude Law, Emile Hirsch, Sam Riley, Joe Wright, Sidney Lumet & Sean Penn. All of these people (aside from Mr. McAvoy & Mr. Riley) were in my personal Top 5 lists. Their train stops here.

But, despite all that, I really can’t complain. Chuck may well be on to something. It would’ve been difficult to screw up this year. But yeah, they could’ve done it. Easily. Knowing them. LOL

Actually, I’m absolutely delighted. Most of these categories are so strong that I don’t have an actual right to be upset. All of these people got VERY deserving nods: Ruby Dee, Saoirse Ronan, Javier Bardem, Hal Holbrook, Tom Wilkinson, Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, George Clooney, Daniel Day Lewis, Johnny Depp, Viggo Mortensen, Jason Reitman, Paul Thomas Anderson (twice!!!!), Christopher Hampton, Sarah Polley & Diablo Cody.

The Golden Compass got in for Visual Effects & Art Direction. La Vie En Rose got in for Costumes.

I just saw Atonement again (for the third time last night). I crossed my fingers & hoped passionately . I told myself that if Atonement & TWBB made the final five I would be satisfied. Into The Wild would have made that near perfect. As I would’ve had three selections from my personal top 5. But it’s just dandy the way it stands. I love Juno almost as much.

I held my breath when Kathy began to announce the BP nominees. There is only one big contender that begins with an A. When she said, “Atonement,” I started screaming. Though I thought NCFOM was far from flawless, it’s a fine multilayered film. MC is strong as well. These are the finest lineups we’ve had for many years in a lot of these categories.

I have yet to see The Savages, CWW or ITVOE. The latter comes out on DVD days before the (scheduled) ceremony. I’ll see the others before the week is out.

Actually, all in all, these nods were quite bloody awesome.

Oh, yeah…

ATONEMENT. ATONEMENT. ATONEMENT.ATONEMENT. ATONEMENT.ATONEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!

ATONEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, I’m still flabbergasted that Surf’s Up got nominated for anything. Maybe it’s the Citizen Kane of CGI-animated penguin surfing movies but I’ll never know because it just looked like a crass knock-off of Happy Feet intended to capitalize on the success of March of the Penguins. Oh, and look…IT WORKED.

Glad to see Sarah Polley in there. She deserves recognition for her excellent first film.