My Oscar Night post - how I did

ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION
The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
Who else?

MAKEUP
The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
Yeah! Pan’s is on its way.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Winner: The Danish Poet
My Predicted Winner: The Little Matchgirl
My Alternate: The Danish Poet
Well this is my first miss.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The Winner: West Bank Story
My Predicted Winner: West Bank Story

SOUND EDITING/EFFECTS
The Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima
My Predicted Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima

SOUND MIXING/DESIGN
The Winner: Dreamgirls
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
The Winner: Alan Arkin
My Predicted Winner: Murphy
My Alternate: Alan Arkin
The first and biggest surprise of the evening.

ANIMATED FEATURE
The Winner: Happy Feet
My Predicted Winner: Cars
My Alternate: Happy Feet
This was a very, very happy surprise.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Winner: The Departed
My Predicted Winner: The Departed

COSTUME DESIGN
The Winner: Marie Antoinette
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls
My Alternate: The Curse of the Golden Flower
The Dark Horse: Marie Antoinette
Again, I missed another one here; I should have stuck with Marie Antoinette, which was my favorite choice.
Yeah, Dreamgirls didn’t get it!

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
My Predicted Winner: Children of Men
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The third big surprise of the night, only a disappointment because I missed it. I started figuring out here that Pan’s could walk away tonight with the most awards.

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
My Predicted Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Winner: The Lives of Others
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: The Lives of Others
I feel so bad now; did I jinx it and spoke too soon? Now I really have to see The Lives of Others.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The Winner: Jennifer Hudson
My Predicted Winner: Hudson

SHORT SUBJECT
The Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District
My Predicted Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
My Predicted Winner: An Inconvenient Truth

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Winner: Babel
My Predicted Winner: The Queen
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The Dark Horse: Babel
Again, only my second big miss of the night. And I’m not happy about it. Sadly I think this will be the only win for Babel.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine

ORIGINAL SONG
The Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
My Predicted Winner: “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
My Alternate: An Inconvenient Truth
I can't tell you how happy I was that Dreamgirls lost. I was screaming.

FILM EDITING
The Winner: The Departed
My Predicted Winner: Babel
My Alternate: The Departed
Again, I should stick to my origianl picks sometimes.

BEST ACTRESS
The Winner: Helen Mirren
My Predicted Winner: Mirren
But of course.

BEST ACTOR
The Winner: Forest Whitaker
My Predicted Winner: Whitaker
The only performance of the five I've seen. He was scary.

BEST DIRECTOR
The Winner: Martin Scorsese
My Predicted Winner: Scorsese
I don’t remember a more nerve racking moment in all my years of watching this show. I was so afraid he wouldn’t win.

BEST PICTURE
The Winner: The Departed
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Alternate: The Departed
I took a chance this year and went with a hunch. I underestimated the Hollywood affection for Marty.
What I learned? Forget hunches, go with the consensus and your gut, and remember the curse of the Spirit Awards and THE FORMULA.

I didn’t do so great this year with my predictions only 14/24 (56%), but counting my alternates I got 22/24 (if only).

Maybe next year will remember this year’s lessons …. NOT!

Join in the competition

Hey wanna see if you can beat me? Check out these contests.

Offical Oscar.com Contest
PredictTheOscars.com
Oscar Pick 'Em, efilmcritic
The Road to Gold, The Envelope
Daily Press
FilmGuru.net
Oscarwatch's 8th Annual Predict the Oscar Contest
Box Office Mojo
Beat the Crowd
Film Fluff
movies.com
Oscar World Open - this is my favorite, I finished among the top ten last year, and I finished third the year before that.

My Final Predictions

BEST PICTURE
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Alternate: The Departed
The Dark Horse: Babel

BEST DIRECTOR
My Predicted Winner: Scorsese
My Alternate: Eastwood
The Dark Horse: Frears

BEST ACTOR
My Predicted Winner: Whitaker
The Dark Horse: O’Toole

BEST ACTRESS
My Predicted Winner: Mirren
My Alternate: Streep
The Dark Horse: Dench

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
My Predicted Winner: Murphy
My Alternate: Alan Arkin
The Dark Horse: Walhberg

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
My Predicted Winner: Hudson
My Alternate: Breslin
The Dark Horse:Kikuchi

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
My Predicted Winner: The Departed
My Alternate: Notes on a Scandal
The Dark Horse: Children of Men

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Alternate: The Queen
The Dark Horse: Babel

ANIMATED FEATURE
My Predicted Winner: Cars
My Alternate: Happy Feet
The Dark Horse: Monster House

BEST FOREIGN FILM
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: The Lives of Others
The Dark Horse: Days of Glory

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
My Predicted Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
My Alternate: Deliver Us from Evili
The Dark Horse: Jesus Camp

CINEMATOGRAPHY
My Predicted Winner: Children of Men
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The Dark Horse: The Illusionist

FILM EDITING
My Predicted Winner: Babel
My Alternate: The Departed
The Dark Horse: Children of Men

ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: Dreamgirls
The Dark Horse: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

COSTUME DESIGN
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls
My Alternate: The Curse of the Golden Flower
The Dark Horse: Marie Antoinette

MAKEUP
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: Apocalypto

VISUAL EFFECTS
My Predicted Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean 2
My Alternate:

SOUND MIXING/DESIGN
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

SOUND EDITING/EFFECTS
My Predicted Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

ORIGINAL SONG
My Predicted Winner: “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
My Alternate: An Inconvenient Truth

ORIGINAL SCORE
My Predicted Winner: The Queen
My Alternate: Babel
The Dark Horse: Pan’s Labyrinth

SHORT SUBJECT
My Predicted Winner: “The Blood of Yingzhou District”
My Alternate: “Recycled Life”

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
My Predicted Winner: The Little Matchgirl
My Alternate: The Danish Poet

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
My Predicted Winner: West Bank Story
My Alternate: Binta and the Great Idea
The Dark Horse: The Savior

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I can't help it

As much as I hate Oprah, I will watch her Oscar Special tonight, because she is not in it. I gave up Barbara Walters Oscar Speicals a long time ago.

"Get used to disapointment"

Could we be in for some suprises on Sunday night? What about upsets? Or, will we once again be scratching our heads and vowing never to watch this show again or care. Come on I know there were those of you out there who were heartbroken (escuse the pun) about the best picture result last year. What if Scorsese looses this year?

I kind of like that the best picture race is so open this year. I do hate being wrong about what I think will win, but trying to guess what will win is fun! Especially when your good at it.

Well, we could be quite disappointed come sunday night, or at least mildly surprised.
Here are some nice suprises I would gladly welcome

Alan Arkin beating Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor
Curse of the Golden Flower winning for Best Costume
"I need to Wake Up" winning for Best Song
Notes on a Scandal winning for Best Original Score
Children of Men beating the Departed for Adapted Screenplay
Happy Feet beating Cars for Animation

Film Independent’s 2007 Spirit Awards (My Picks)

This is simply for fun. I have only seen maybe five of the films that are nominated, but I love to watch the show.

BEST PICTURE
Half Nelson

BEST DIRECTOR
Johnathan Dayton & Valerie Faris “Little Miss Sunshine”

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Man Push Cart

BEST ACTOR
Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson”

BEST ACTRESS
Catherin O’Hara in “For Your Consideration”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin “Little Miss Sunshine”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary Beth Hurt in “The Dead Girl”

BEST SCREENPLAY
Thank You for Smoking

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Little Miss Sunshine

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Pan’s Labyrinth

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Lives of Others

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Road to Guantanamo

The Good and the Bad

I do love to make lists, and I was board so here are my personal favorites for the best and worst Oscar winners.

Oscar’s Worst ‘Best Pictures’ Ever!
Broadway Melody (1928/29)
Cimarron (1931)
Cavalcade (1933)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Going My Way (1944)
Gentlemen’s Agreement (1947)
All the King’s Men (1949)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Gigi (1958)
Tom Jones (1963)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Oliver! (1968)
Patton (1970)
The Sting (1973)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Ordinary People (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Out of Africa (1985)
Rain Man (1988)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The English Patient (1996)
Titanic (1997)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Crash (2005)


The Very Best ‘Best Pictures’ Ever!
Casablanca (1942)
The Godfather (1972)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
On the Waterfront (1954)
All About Eve (1950)
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Annie Hall (1977)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
An American in Paris (1951)
Wings (1927)
Amadeus (1983)
The French Connection (1971)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1947)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Unforgiven (1992)
LORT: Return of the King (2003)
Rebecca (1940)
It Happened One Night 91934)
The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/30)
Sound of Music (1965)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Apartment (1960)
West Side Story (1961)

"The Suspence is terrible... I hope it lasts"

I'm bored out of my mind. Winter sucks. Being sick sucks! I couldn't get to the cinema this weekend to see "Letters from Iwo Jima," so I stayed home and watched all six Star Wars films in order. And still I'm bored, bored, bored.

Two weeks til' the big show and all I can do is keep changing my mind on who will win best pictrue. Is this as boring as I think or is it just me? Here's what I've got now.

BEST PICTURE
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Alternate: The Departed
The Dark Horse: Babel

BEST DIRECTOR
My Predicted Winner: Scorsese
My Alternate: Eastwood
The Dark Horse: Frears

BEST ACTOR
My Predicted Winner: Whitaker
My Alternate: O’Toole
Who Will Win: Whitaker
Who Should Win: O’Toole
The Dark Horse: O’Toole

BEST ACTRESS
My Predicted Winner: Mirren
My Alternate: Streep
Who Will Win: Mirren
The Dark Horse: Dench

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
My Predicted Winner: Murphy
My Alternate: Alan Arkin
Who Should Win: Jackie Earle Haley
The Dark Horse: Walhberg

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
My Predicted Winner: Hudson
My Alternate: Kikuchi
Who Should Win: Kikuchi
The Dark Horse: Breslin

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
My Predicted Winner: The Departed
My Alternate: Notes on a Scandal
Who Should Win: Children of Men
The Dark Horse: Children of Men

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Alternate: The Queen
Who Should Win: Babel
The Dark Horse: Babel

ANIMATED FEATURE
My Predicted Winner: Cars
My Alternate: Happy Feet
Who Should Win: Happy Feet
The Dark Horse: Happy Feet

BEST FOREIGN FILM
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: The Lives of Others
The Dark Horse: Days of Glory

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
My Predicted Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
My Alternate: Deliver Us from Evili
The Dark Horse: Jesus Camp

CINEMATOGRAPHY
My Predicted Winner: Children of Men
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The Dark Horse: The Illusionist

FILM EDITING
My Predicted Winner: The Departed
My Alternate: Babel
The Dark Horse: Children of Men

ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The Dark Horse: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

COSTUME DESIGN
My Predicted Winner: Marie Antoinette
My Alternate: Dreamgirls
The Dark Horse: The Devil Wears Prada

MAKEUP
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: Apocalypto

VISUAL EFFECTS
My Predicted Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean 2
My Alternate:

SOUND MIXING/DESIGN
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

SOUND EDITING/EFFECTS
My Predicted Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

ORIGINAL SONG
My Predicted Winner: “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
My Alternate: An Inconvenient Truth

ORIGINAL SCORE
My Predicted Winner: Notes on a Scandal
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The Dark Horse: Babel

SHORT SUBJECT
My Predicted Winner: “The Blood of Yingzhou District”
My Alternate: “Recycled Life”

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
My Predicted Winner: The Little Matchgirl
My Alternate: The Danish Poet

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
My Predicted Winner: West Bank Story
My Alternate: Binta and the Great Idea
The Dark Horse: The Savior