Oscar Ballots

It's Academy Awards time here in Hollywood. I live right near the Kodak and can barely get in an out of my apartment with all the street closings and extra people. I'll be watching the awards, but not from the street by the theater even though I could easily get there. I'm going to a friend's Oscar party out in Venice, far far away from all the ridiculousness. Either way I'm sure it'll be a bitch for me to leave my apartment at all this weekend, and even harder to get back home when I do leave.

Everyone is filling out their Oscar ballots in the office. It's a fun thing to do, and it's always interesting to tally them up on Monday and see who got the most right. It always comes down to some bullshit over who got lucky with best live action short or best sound mixing.

This year there seems to be a lot of consensus about how things are going to turn out this year, with a lot going for Slumdog Millionaire for example, and Heath Ledger being a lock for Best Supporting for The Dark Knight.

Either way, here are my predictions:

BEST PICTURE:
Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR, LEADING:
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

ACTOR, SUPPORTING:
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

ACTRESS, LEADING:
Kate Winslet, The Reader

ACTRESS, SUPPORTING:
Penelope Cruz, Vick Cristina Barcelona

ANIMATED FEATURE:
WALL-E

ART DIRECTION:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Slumdog Millionaire

COSTUME DESIGN:
The Duchess

DIRECTING:
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Werner Herzog, Encounters at the End of the World

DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

FILM EDITING:
Slumdog Millionaire

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Waltz with Bashir

MAKEUP:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

ORIGINAL SCORE:
WALL-E

ORIGINAL SONG:
Peter Gabriel, "Down to Earth" from WALL-E

SHORT FILM, ANIMATED:
Presto!

SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION:
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

SOUND EDITING:
WALL-E

SOUND MIXING:
WALL-E

VISUAL EFFECTS:
The Dark Knight

SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED:
Slumdog Millionaire

SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL:
Milk

I'll tally up my score Monday morning and let you know how accurate I was.