[OSCAR] Magic 8-Ball Predictions 2010
If you just want to predict who’s going to walk home with a statuette on Sunday night, check to see who won the guild awards. But if you want to win your Oscar pool, you need some guidance. You need an oracle with some perspective. You need the Magic 8-Ball.
Granted, the Magic 8-Ball has not seen every nominee in each category. Like any good pundit, this does not stop it from predicting. Each nominee has been presented to it, and the most positive response in each category is noted here. Though you use these at your own risk, isn’t it nice to go into the technical categories with some confidence, however misplaced it may be? (Of course, if you do take the risk and win the pot, remember who went through all this trouble for you.)
Full disclosure: With my old Magic 8-Ball descending into illegible bubbliness, I’ve been trying to procure a new Magic 8-Ball for weeks. This is proving to be weirdly difficult. This year’s picks are actually based on the reactions provided by the Quick ‘n’ Dirty Magic 8-Ball I scripted last year. I coded it under the guidance of an actual Magic 8-Ball (which is to say, I lovingly cribbed the answers from the thingies inside). The virtual 8-Ball did an admittedly mediocre job its first year out. However, I’m confident that after a year of being on the Internet, it has gleaned enough random information to make it at least as qualified to do the picks as its physical predecessor.
- Picture: “The Hurt Locker”
- Directing: “Avatar” (James Cameron)
- Lead Actor: George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
- Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
- Lead Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
- Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
- Adapted Screenplay: “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
- Original Screenplay: “The Messenger”
- Animated Feature: “Coraline”
- Art Direction: “The Young Victoria”
- Cinematography: “Avatar”
- Costume Design: “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
- Documentary Feature: “The Cove”
- Documentary Short: “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
- Film Editing: “Inglourious Basterds”
- Foreign Language Film: “The White Ribbon”
- Makeup: “Star Trek”
- Original Score: “Up”
- Original Song: “The Weary Kind (Theme from ‘Crazy Heart’)”
- Animated Short: “French Roast”
- Live Action Short: “Miracle Fish”
- Sound Editing: “Star Trek”
- Sound Mixing: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
- Visual Effects: “Star Trek”
