Oscar picks

The sheer volume of things I want to write about now is a touch overwhelming. I have to comment on the Nunies results (but I'm waiting a bit until I talk to Kate), there's two or three things happening back in Newfoundland I want to comment on, I have some comic books I want to review....

And on top of all that, I'm fighting a bugger of a cold and, yes, I'm going to be exactly that stupid and go to curling this evening feeling the way I do.

However, right now, I'm offering my Oscar predictions. I try to do this every year and the finalists will be announced tomorrow.

Keep in mind my guesses are based purely on speculation from reading entirely too many entertainment websites and seeing which ones are getting the most buzz. My guesses are for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.

I'm normally not bad at this. I miss a few, but I normally have an 80% plus success rate. So let's see how I do this year.

Best Picture
1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Frost/Nixon
5. The Wrestler

The last one is the one I'm not sure about. There's a couple that might sneak in ahead of it, including Milk, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and Doubt. And I'd love to see WALL-E get in instead. But those are my five.

Best Director
1. David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
3. Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
4. Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
5. Darren Aronofsky - The Wrestler

Not sure about Nolan and Aronofsky. Gus Van Zant or Sam Mendes could beat one of these two out.

Best Actor
1. Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino
2. Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
3. Sean Penn - Milk
4. Frank Lagella - Frost/Nixon
5. Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road

DiCaprio is the one I'm taking a chance on. Brad Pitt could beat him out.

Best Actress
1. Meryl Streep - Doubt
2. Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
3. Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road
4. Angelina Jolie - Changeling
5. Kristin Scott-Thomas - I've Loved You So Long

I'm sure about the top three. Not certain about the bottom two so much.

Best Supporting Actor
1. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
2. Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
3. Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
4. Josh Brolin - Milk
5. Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder

Fairly confident about the top three again. And I think Downey gets rewarded for an awfully good year. Not sure about Brolin, but we'll see.

Best Supporting Actress
1. Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
2. Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
3. Kate Winslet - The Reader
4. Amy Adams - Doubt
5. Viola Davis - Doubt

This category is always deeply weird, with stuff coming out of left field all the time. But I think I'm pretty solid with these five.

Anyway, we'll see how I do. Looking back, I'm not tremendously confident of these pics. Shockingly, I've only seen one of these movies - The Dark Knight. Although outside of Tropic Thunder, Changeling and Rachel Getting Married, I don't think any of the others have played in Iqaluit.

Last Five
1. Poor Paddy - The Pogues
2. Breakout - Foo Fighters
3. Swordfishtrombone - Tom Waits
4. Take a ride - The Replacements
5. Tusk - Fleetwood Mac*