Oscar nomination update

so how did I do on my predictions?  I did a pretty decent job on the number of awards the front-runners would be up for, starting with being right on the money with The King's Speech leading with 12 nominations.  Seems I didn't give enough credit to True Grit, which came in second with 10 (I didn't even have them in my top five), and too much credit to Inception and Black Swan, which I had pegged for 11 nominations each (they landed 8 and 5 respectively).  I had 9 predicted for The Social Network (it ended up with 8), and 8 for The Fighter (which ended up with 7), so overall not too bad.  I really expected Black Swan to score more technical nominations like costume design and art direction (Harry Potter? really?), and how did it not grab a screenplay nomination?

As for the category breakdowns, I have to give myself props for calling it 100% right for both Best Picture and Best Actress. (That's the first time I've called every Best Pic nomination correctly, even from when there were only five nominees.)  I think the biggest surprise overall is Javier Bardem getting a Best Actor nomination (no one was talking about Biutiful before today, but they will be now).  Jacki Weaver did manage to get in there for Animal Kingdom over Mila Kunis (another reason I was so off with Black Swan).  And it seems Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake did cancel each other out, but I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by the appearance of both Jeremy Renner and John Hawkes.  Renner was the best part of The Town (which, like I said yesterday, could easily be the 11th nominee for Best Picture) and even though I haven't seen Winter's Bone yet, John Hawkes is a fantastic actor - Deadwood, The Perfect Storm, Eastbound & Down, Me and You and Everyone We Know... he's been doing great stuff for awhile now.

And no Waiting for Superman for Best Documentary?  That's just shocking to me, though the list is full of great choices (I haven't seen Waste Land, but the others are all excellent.)

I'll do another list of my predicted winners right before the awards are handed out February 27th.  We'll see if I can outguess Roger Ebert.  Free junior Western bacon chee for everyone if I win.