I Won't Bore You With My Predictions...

Because they're the same as everyone else's. I know by the time the Oscars roll around, everything feels pretty sewn up. Obviously that's not REALLY the case (I'm still curious about the outcome of the screenplay categories, cinematography, foreign language film, and editing, but I guess all that's not as sexy as finding out whether Sandra Bullock will win an Academy Award OMG), but it just sort of contributes to the sort of ho-hum a lot of hardcore cinephiles approach the Oscars with.

But I love the Oscars, I really do. Every year I convince myself it's all a bunch of show and it's too political and in a year I won't really care. And that's true. But come the actual day, I still get excited, because there are always a group of people who I really, really would like to see win. As Ron Swanson said this week, awards are stupid, but it's nice when they go to the right people.

So without making a big thing of it, I'll be rooting this evening for...

The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and A Serious Man for Best Picture
Jeff Bridges, Colin Firth, and Jeremy Renner for Best Actor.
Carey Mulligan for Best Actress
Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor
Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick for Best Supporting Actress
Kathryn Bigelow and Quentin Tarantino for Director
Quentin Tarantino and the Coens for Original Screenplay
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Nick Hornby, and the In the Loop crowd for Adapted Screenplay
Christian Berger, Bruno Delbonnel, and Robert Richardson for Cinematography (although truthfully, as long as Avatar doesn't win this, I'll be fine)
Bob Kurawski and Chris Innis (The Hurt Locker) and Sally Menke (Inglourious Basterds) for Best Editing
Fantastic Mr. Fox for Animated Film
The White Ribbon for Foreign Film, but only because I haven't seen the others (but I do really love The White Ribbon)
Avatar for visual effects and both sound categories