Oscar Predix

I'll keep this brief. I'll list the nominees and asterisk the predicted winners. A caveat: Of the major category nominees, I have yet to see The Last Station and Nine. But, they aren't expected to win much (if anything) so I'm not worried about it. Here we go:

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker*
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges*
George Clooney
Colin Firth
Morgan Freeman
Jeremy Renner

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock*
Helen Mirren
Carey Mulligan
Gabourey Sidibe
Meryl Streep

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon
Woody Harrelson
Christopher Plummer
Stanley Tucci
Cristoph Waltz*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penélope Cruz
Vera Farmiga
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Anna Kendrick
Mo'Nique*

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow*
James Cameron
Lee Daniels
Jason Reitman
Quentin Tarantino

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker - Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino*
The Messenger - Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman
A Serious Man - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up - Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Thomas McCarthy

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9 - Nel Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
An Education - Nick Hornby
In the Loop - Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Precious - Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner*

Note: For the non-major categories, I'm just going to list the winner:

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar - Mauro Fiore*

BEST EDITING
The Hurt Locker - Bob Murawski, Chris Innis*

BEST ART DIRECTION
The Young Victoria - Patrice Vermette, Maggie Grey*

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star - Janet Patterson*

BEST MAKEUP
Star Trek - Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow*

BEST SCORE
Up - Michael Giacchino*

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Crazy Heart - "The Weary Kind" - T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham*

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Hurt Locker - Paul N.J. Ottosson, Ray Beckett*

BEST SOUND EDITING
Avatar - Christopher Boyes, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle*

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar - Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andy Jones*

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Up - Pete Docter*

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Un prophète (France)*

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Cove (nominees TBD)*

BEST DOCUMENTARY, SHORT SUBJECTS
Music by Prudence - Roger Ross Williams, Elinor Burkett*

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Logorama - Nicolas Schmerkin*

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Kavi - Gregg Helvey*
 
I'm really pulling for Kavi... nah, I haven't seen it. That and doc short were total guesses. Everything else I feel confident about. I'll tell you what though: I'll take a drink of wine for each wrong pick. Sound good? Good. I'll probably post a short reactions piece after the ceremony. T-minus 45 minutes! Better suit up. Thanks for reading!