I'm sick as all hell, grumpy, and my mind ain't much good for nothing but thinking about the Oscars.  So here are my choices (at least, whom I think will win in terms of my model Academy voter).  And, in case you're wondering, here's how the nominees are chosen and then voted for.  My selections are in red, with my reasoning in italics.

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah" (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

There's no competition here: the juiciest part being played by the juiciest actor and in a film that's anti-capitalist and anti-fundamentalist.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War" (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)

While I have been unpacking my boxes and organizing my life again, I have also been spending my time thinking about the Oscars. I was all ready to wake up at 5 am to watch Kathy Bates announce the nominees. But I was seriously so busy unpacking boxes and hanging up pictures that I completely forgot about them. I didn't really remember until my very good pal from the Haight street store called me to remind me. In case you missed them, here they are... It is a bit weird that the year I decide to move back to Hollywood is the year of the writers strike. I am of course on the side of the writers still. But it is getting a bit harder to still be on their side after all this time. I know it is selfish. But I am still growing my beard out for them at least. I have not shaved it yet.  I just really want to watch the Oscars. But I also feel really bad for the nominees. They already missed out on the trashier version of the Oscars that is the golden globes. It was really embarrassing to just have a press conference. They of course picked the most annoying people in entertainment news to host the conference. I almost cried while watching them but was too busy laughing at the hosts trying to make jokes while discussing films that they had obviously not even seen. I saw Viggo Mortensen walk into Amoeba a couple days ago as I was leaving the store. I really wanted to congratulate him on his Oscar nomination. I also wanted to apologize to him for not picking him in my nomination predictions for best actor. I at least listed his name as an alternate. He really can't be that mad at me. I also wanted to know if he was sad that he might have to watch the Oscars as a press conference from his couch instead of actually being at a real show. I do have some faith that they will work it all out. They can't really do this to me on my first year back in Hollywood. And in case you were wondering, I am almost caught up on watching all the Oscar nominated films. I think of it as homework every year. My goal is to always see the 5 best picture nominations before they are announced. I had planned on seeing Michael Clayton and Juno before then. But I am going to use that moving excuse again. I was just too busy packing up my life to go see every movie.

In the midst of all the holiday craziness it is also time for the Oscar season to begin. It should be an interesting time with the writers strike going on. Without Bruce Vilanch writing the jokes it might not be as funny. But it also might be more interesting with actors and presenters having to make up their own lines. The season already began with the announcement of the Independent Spirit Award nominees a couple of weeks ago. The Golden Globe nominations come out tomorrow. The actual date of the Golden Globes is January 13th. Ashley Judd was going to be the presenter of the nominees tomorrow. But for some reason the horribly unfunny Dane Cook will be copresenting the nominees. But at least Quentin Tarantino will be there to balance him out. I'm hoping both Planet Terror and Death Proof get nominated but I am sure they will not. Maybe Quentin will just skip over Enchanted and Hairspray and add the grindhouse genre to the comedy/musical section. So I wanted to give my own little favorites and predictions for the Oscars before tomorrow. It just becomes a bit easier to predict the Oscars after the Globe Nominations come out. I have seen every movie on this list with the exception of Juno and There Will Be Blood. I'm basing my love of these movies just based on the actors in them and the trailers. My list is pretty much what I think will be nominated for Oscars. But it is also pretty much who I would pick if I ever become a member of the Academy. They will probably let bloggers into the Academy at some point, right? The official Oscar nominations do not come out until January 22 at 5:30 AM. But here are my very own official nominations. Just in case you didn't know yet. John Stewart will be hosting again and they will be on February 24th.