This is actually quite hilarious.  When the cameraman busts his arse in fear, I spit out my protein shake in laughter:

•  Tom O'Neil has a little inside scoop from yesterday's National Society of Film Critics awards voting. [Gold Derby]

•  Sasha Stone, meanwhile, perhaps jumps the gun by insisting "There Will Be Blood" is the Best Picture frontrunner (with nothing to go on but critical awards and one nomination in the guild arena thus far). [Awards Daily]

•  Speaking of which, Ed Pilkington sits down with "Blood" helmer Paul Thomas Anderson. [Guardian]

•  Jeffrey Wells talks "Sweeney Todd" with the "affable" Tim Burton. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  The Oscar season gets a hard look from the Gray Lady's critics, starting with a love letter to "Zodiac" from Manohla Dargis. [New York Times]
    
     Dargis' original review of the film dated Mar. 2, 2007. [New York Times]

•  A.O. Scott, meanwhile, digs back into Alexander Supertramp and "Into the Wild." [New York Times]
    
     Scott's original review of the film, dated Sept. 27, 2007. [New York Times]

•  And Stephen Holden goes "Across the Universe" one more time for good measure (thinking a little more outside the Oscar box than his colleagues). [New York Times]
    
     Holden's original review, dated Sept. 14, 2007. [New York Times]

•  David Carr, meanwhile, takes a look at the WGA strike's implications on Oscar. [New York Times]

•  And finally, Caryn James digs into the career of Best Actor hopeful George Clooney. [New York Times]

•  Some photos from thee Palm Springs International Film Festival, well underway. [The Envelope]

•  First looks at Demian Bichir in next year's Oscar hopefuls "The Argentine" and "Guerilla" (both from Steven Soderbergh). [Ain't It Cool News]

•  Globe reactions all over the place, starting with Anne Thompson. [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  David Carr chimes in with ruminations per category. [The Carpetbagger]

•  Brian Kinsley gives some knee-jerk thoughts. [In Contention]

•  Sasha Stone throws in her two cents. [Awards Daily]

•  Scott Feinberg tosses down the gauntlet, seems to take it all quite personally. [And the Winner Is...]

•  T.L. Stanley says the HFPA went with their typical M.O., sticking with "safe star power" and shunned risky efforts for the most part. [Gold Rush]

•  Lou Lumenick live-blogged the proceedings. [New York Post]

•  Stephen Galloway talks foreign contenders. [The Hollywood Reporter]

•  Nathaniel Rogers bemoans the snubbed. [The Film Experience]

•  Anthony Breznican talks to "Atonement" director Joe Wright and "Ratatouille" writer/director Brad Bird in a nice summary piece. [USA Today]

•  And David Poland would like to take credit for a number of the nominations due to his "Lunch with David" interview segments, thank you very much. [The Hot Blog]

•  Casey Affleck, Marion Cotillard, James McAvoy and Ellen Page to receive Santa Barbara's Virtuoso Award. [Variety]

•  The Features department turns its "Eye" toward the animation contenders. [Variety]

•  Colleen Atwood's march to an Oscar nod begins with the specifics of Pirelli's package. [E!]

•  Jeffrey Wells gets into why "Charlie Wilson's War" might have seemed a bit...neutered. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  John Horn and Chris Lee talk "I Am Legend" with Best Actor hopeful Will Smith. [Los Angeles Times]

•  Finally, Poland writes over 1,500 words on Scott Foundas' Oscar blogger meltdown earlier in the week, with nary a thesis in sight. [The Hot Blog]

•  The Envelope ponders the red carpet stretching across picket lines at this year's Golden Globes ceremony. [The Envelope]

•  Speaking of strikes, Gregg Kilday recalls a bit of Oscar history -- going way back to 1967. [The Hollywood Reporter]

•  Gerard Kennedy talks to composers Dario Marianelli ("Atonement") and Mark Isham ("In the Valley of Elah," "Lions for Lambs," "Reservation Road"). [In Contention]

•  With the actress racking up precursor awards, Jeffrey Wells says uncle to the prospects of Amy Ryan as a frontrunner in the Best Supporting Actress race. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  David Poland gives his reactions to yesterday's events. [The Hot Blog]

•  Scott Feinberg does the same. [And the Winner Is...]

•  Ryan C. Adams does some number crunching regarding the top 250 at IMDb and a correlation with Oscar. [Awards Daily]

•  With all these critics' winner announcements, the Tibilisi festival winners flew under the radar (the what??). [Variety]

•  Ditto the Cairo fest winners. [Variety]

•  T.L. Stanley summons her inner Rosie the Riveter, sicks the LA Times for doubling up on the "stripper" moniker when discussing Diablo Cody. [Gold Rush]

•  Anne Thompson offers some thoughts on "I Am Legend." [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Perhaps previewing a contender for next year's awards, Anthony Breznican gets the scoop on the upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."  I still think they should kick it old school and simply title the film "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."  Imagine that in the Indy adventure font!  Okay, I geeked out a little there. [USA Today]


(The New York Film Critics Circle will announce later this afternoon.  Stay tuned.)

•  Anne Thompson has "Beowulf" reactions.  [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Jeffrey Wells finall unleashes his "There Will Be Blood" review, smartly acknowledges that it takes a few moments of gathering oneself before fully appreciating the value of the film.  Calls it "diseased greatness." [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Elizabeth Snead talks to Paul LeBlanc about Bardem's do in "No Country." [The Envelope]

•  The Buzzmeter gets a fresh update. [The Envelope]

•  As do the Gurus, this time taking a stab at the screenplay races.  Good showing for Tony Gilroy. [Movie City News]

•  Noah Forrest makes an awards case for subtle performers. [Movie City News]

•  Scott Feinberg talks to Tabu from "The Namesake," getting an agressive push from Fox Searchlight. [And the Winner Is...]

•  Yet ANOTHER award...this time, Tommy Lee Jones is tapped to win the Santa Barbara Fest's American Riviera Award. [Variety]

Paramount Vantage showed Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" to a mere four -- count 'em -- four members of the Los Angeles entertainment press corps last night...but don't expect any reviews yet.

That's right, we're all expected to be nice enough to hold our thoughts until the Nov. 5 unveiling of the film in San Francisco, at which point the flood gates will certainly go down in a hurry.

All of this despite the fact that the film was kinda, sorta reviewed here at Variety by a stringer out of the Fantastic Fest in Austin, mind you.  Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle had some thoughts in print at that outlet as well as on Variety's festival blog "The Circuit."  John DeFore, meanwhile, ran a full review out of the fest at The Hollywood Reporter.  So the sanctioned cat, if you will, is somewhat out of the bag.

But like I said...we're being nice.

More to come...