I've been sick...with Oscar madness (plus, my predictions)

Edited 2/25/13 to include the actual winners. Headers in orange are my correctly guessed (one way or the other) picks!

Yes, yes, I know. I have an entire manuscript that needs serious revisions, another that is a few chapters shy of being finished, critiques I owe to friends, workshop assignments to complete, and...I don't even know what else. And (whispers shamefully) I've done hardly any of it for a couple of weeks. This is the point where you should yell, "For the love of Cheetos, Angie! What have you been doing?!? What is WRONG with you?!?"

Oscar madness. Plain and simple. Stupid Oscar madness.

My best friend and I always say we're going to watch every single movie that has been nominated, and every year, we watch maybe four or five, tops. Last year we made it halfway through the handy-dandy Oscar nominees list available on the official Oscars website. This year, we made a vow. We were gonna get serious about it. We were going to do our darnedest to watch Every. Single. One. Some how, some way, in between the pesky day job, sleep, eating, and editing and writing...I challenged myself to do it! And kudos to my best friend, who came down with a vision problem in December and watched these with impaired eyesight.

So did we succeed? of course not.

I'm now thoroughly convinced you can only watch all of the nominees if you are a member of the Academy. I am not a member of the Academy, and I don't think anyone who is actually a member watches every nominated project. I mean, we're talking hours and hours in front of a TV or movie screen. At some point, your eyes start to twitch and your mind wanders and questions, "Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah. Cause I'm going for my merit badge in weird. That's why." Plus, you know, I really love movies.

Out of the 53 films nominated, my friend and I have seen 41. That means we haven't seen 12 of the nominees. (I think. I'm horrible at math, so that could be off by a few numbers, but still). Gah! So close. If only we had another week!

However, I thought I'd put down my predictions here in case, by some miracle, I actually know what I'm talking about. In which case, it will be preserved for posterity's sake. And because I'm also procrastinating on the above list of to-do items...

Best Picture:
Who I think will win: Lincoln
Who I think SHOULD win: Silver Linings Playbook
(Both were great movies, but SLP truly was better, in my opinion)
WINNER: Argo

Best Actress:
Who I think will win: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Who I think SHOULD win: Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
(I'm a big JLaw fan, but Ms. Riva was amazing in this incredibly depressing foreign film. AMAZING.)
WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Actor:
Who I think will win: Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Who I think SHOULD win: Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
(No offense to Mr. Lewis, who was great, but I was never a Bradley Cooper fan until SLP. I actually did not like Bradley Cooper until SLP. He showed a range I've never seen from him before, so I think he honestly deserves it. Also, why wasn't John Hawkes nominated for The Sessions? Biggest oversight in all the categories, if you ask me).
WINNER: Daniel Day Lewis

Best Supporting Actress:
Who I think will win: Anne Hathaway, Les Mesirables
Who I think SHOULD win: Anne Hathaway, Les Mesirables
(Enough said)
WINNER: Anne Hathaway

Best Supporting Actor:
Who I think will win: Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Who I think SHOULD win: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
(This is a tough category, cause I like them all, but Mr. Waltz truly stole the screen in Django)
WINNER: Christoph Waltz

Best Director:
Who I think will win: Steven Spielburg, Lincoln
Who I think SHOULD win: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
(In case you can't tell, I really liked SLP)
WINNER: Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Best Original Screenplay:
Who I think will win: Zero Dark Thirty
Who I think SHOULD win: Zero Dark Thirty
WINNER: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Who I think will win: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Who I think SHOULD win: David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
WINNER: Argo

Best Animated Feature:
Who I think will win: Brave
Who I think SHOULD win: Wreck-It-Ralph 
(I loved Wreck-It-Ralph more than I should probably admit :)
WINNER: Brave

Best Foreign Film:
Who I think will win: Amour
Who I think SHOULD win: Amour - but only because I haven't seen the other nominees!
Winner: Amour

Best Cinematography:
Who I think will win: Lincoln
Who I think SHOULD win: Lincoln or Skyfall
Winner: Life of Pi

Best Costume Design:
Who I think will win: Les Miserables
Who I think SHOULD win: Lincoln
Winner: Anna Karenina

Best Production Design:
Who I think will win: Lincoln
Who I think SHOULD win: Anna Karenina
WINNER: Lincoln

Best Documentary Feature:
Who I think will win: 5 Broken Cameras
Who I think SHOULD win: The Invisible War
(Seriously, you should watch The Invisible War on Netflix. Wow. Just wow.)
WINNER: Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short:
Who I think will win: Open Heart
Who I think SHOULD win: Mondays at Racine or King's Point or Open Heart
(Oh my crackers, this was a tough category. All great entries)
WINNER: Inocente

Best Film Editing:
Who I think will win: Argo
Who I think SHOULD win: Zero Dark Thirty
WINNER: Argo

Best Makeup:
Who I think will win: The Hobbit
Who I think SHOULD win: Les Miserables
(In fairness, I didn't see Hitchcock or The Hobbit. I'm totally guessing on this one)
WINNER: Les Miserables

Best Original Score:
Who I think will win: Life of Pi
Who I think SHOULD win: Life of Pi
WINNER: Life of Pi

Best Original Song:
Who I think will win: Les Miserables
Who I think SHOULD win: Les Miserables
WINNER: Skyfall

Best Animated Short:
Who I think will win: Paperman
Who I think SHOULD win: Paperman or Adam and Dog
WINNER: Paperman

Best Live-Action Short:
Who I think will win: Assad
Who I think SHOULD win: Curfew or Henry or Death of a Shadow
(Oh my crackers, this was another tough category. Mostly great entries)
WINNER: Curfew

Best Sound Editing:
Who I think will win: Life of Pi
Who I think SHOULD win: Life of Pi
WINNER: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall

Best Sound Mixing:
Who I think will win: Life of Pi
Who I think SHOULD win: Skyfall
WINNER: Les Miserables

Best Visual Effects:
Who I think will win: Life of Pi
Who I think SHOULD win: The Avengers
WINNER: Life of Pi

That said, my favorite films nominated this year were Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Lincoln, and Wreck-It-Ralph, oh, and The Avengers, of course. But honestly, I can count on three fingers the number of nominees I saw and absolutely did not like. The rest were...pretty darn good!

See you on the red carpet in my living room!