If it's good enough for the Bagger, it's good enough for me.  Let's put a bow on this puppy and wander off into the spring (if only the weather would get here, already).

If you're a lunatic, then you're already thinking about next year's Academy Awards ceremony.  But it's probably safe to say most clear-thinking individuals would like to move away from this crazy thing called Oscar for the next several months.  And so we shall.

It's been fun making a home at Variety.com.  I'm glad to see the trade take a stab at making sense of that wacky, ubiquitous Oscarweb, and I humbly appreciate the chance to bring a different shade of coverage when I could.  Hopefully you all enjoyed it, and perhaps we'll be right back here hitting the same stride again in, oh, eight or nine months.

For now, I seem to have found the only copy Guitar Hero III for the Wii in Los Angeles, and I have to go figure out how to land that blue fret on "Welcome to the Jungle."  Some things take precedence in one's life, film awards be damned.

Enjoy the leap day, and the year.  You know where to find me.


###

This post-mortem Oscar week has been refreshingly low key, I have to say.  But then, maybe that's because I went and hid under a rock for a few days.  In any case, I'm back today because we're going out of business and it's time to wrap things up around these parts properly.  Let's start, naturally, with the year's final Oscarweb round-up:

•  Oscar nominated screenwriter Ronald Harwood ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") writes up his Oscar experience for the Times of London. [Times Online]

•  David Carr addresses the crystal clear disconnect between movie-going audiences and the annual Academy Awards ceremony in one of his final entries of the season. [The Carpetbagger]

•  Jeffrey Wells poo-poos the lack of prognosticating prowess of Movie City News' David Poland on the way to tooting his own horn (17 correct guesses, Wells made). [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Modest Millie over here seems to have had the better showing across the net, but who's counting? [In Contention]

•  Stu VanAirsdale continues his snooty perspective on the ceremony, this time going so far as to dryly mock Brad Renfro's death and exclusion from the In Memoriam montage. [Little Gold Men]

•  Accordingly, he's lept out of the (web) pages of Vanity Fair and into the arms of Defamer. [The Reeler]

•  New York Magazine wonders why Amy Adams got the original song performance shaft while Kristin Chenoweth was blessed with a lavish spectacle for her number. [Vulture]

•  Erik Davis asks the good people to suggest a new category to spice things up at the Oscars.  I still say Best Ensemble isn't asking too much. [Cinematical]

•  Lou Lumenick briefly tries his hand at reading the 2008 Oscar crystal ball. [New York Post]

•  And thanks to Ryan Adams, ou can give your own vote on the upcoming year's most likely candidates. [Awards Daily]

•  Reed Johnson digs into the heavy nature of the Coen brothers' Oscar winning work this year. [The Envelope]

•  Pete Hammond, meanwhile, closes down the season with a hint of perspective on the ratings of the Oscars.  He says the show pulls in viewers "that would be the envy of any other awards show."  Touché. [The Envelope]

•  Patrick Goldstein writes the easy column, that being a "let's give the Oscars a face lift because they're showing their age" spin on things that could have been applicable to any of the last dozen or so ceremonies. [Los Angeles Times]

•  Tom O'Neil writes up a response. [Gold Derby]

•  Anthony Breznican cranked out a delicious backstage account of the ceremony's goings-on that, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't see until today. [USA Today]

•  And in case you missed it, our own Brian Lowery writes up a review of the 3 hour, 21 minute ceremony here at home base. [Variety]

I have to say, a lot of this morning's poo-pooing of the Oscar ceremony last night is a bit hyperbolic for my taste.  The mixed critical reactions, that is.  I found the night to be rather swift and host Jon Stewart to be at the top of his game.  Sure, there were a number of montages that should have been nixed.  The Best Picture bit that Jack Nicholson presented comes to mind as considerably unnecessary.  But by my watch, the thing was over in less than four hours, something around three and a half...and that's ALWAYS a good thing.  Right?

But let's get into it.  The season has come to a close and the Coen brothers, Scott Rudin and "No Country for Old Men" had their day to shine.  Good for all involved.  It's the most un-Academy win since "The Silence of the Lambs," but that's the way things go sometimes.

There were surprises in store for some.  Such as Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton taking the leading and supporting actress trophies, swooping in at the last minute to steal away the thunder of the night's frontrunners.  Personally, I saw this coming, but no one could deny the possibility was there and the situations were ripe for upsets.  Both speeches, by the way, were quite good.  Cotillard was appropriately emotional (as was Diablo Cody, who even choked me up with her teary acceptance).  Swinton, meanwhile, offered that Tilda charm and sass that has become something of a staple this season for the "Michael Clayton" star.

The biggest shocks of the night for me came in the craft races, where "The Bourne Ultimatum" snuck in and grabbed the sound editing and sound mixing statuettes.  The latter category had been primed as a race between "Transformers" and "No Country for Old Men," a considerable media concentration given the nominations tally of Kevin O'Connell and Greg P. Russell.  Sadly, they missed yet again and this was their last shot at getting it together.  They'll go off and, obviously, churn out great work separately, so this isn't the end of days.  But it would have been a nice bow on their partnership, to be sure.

I think the best moments of the evening both involved the film "Once."  The first was Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's performance of "Falling Slowy," which elicited a huge cheer from the crowd.  The second was Jon Stewart's insistence that Irglova come back out and be given her moment to offer what ultimately was, let's face it, the bes speech of the evening.  Trigger happy bands really piss me off and someone needs to key them into the fact that some people you just don't scoot away like that.  This was a songwriting DUO, the two STARs of the film, for Pete's sake.  Give them both their moment, please.

The "Enchanted" numbers became a bit tedious after a while, and I couldn't help but wish Eddie Vedder had been there to mix things up.  There are no two ways about it.  The music branch embarassed itself this year.  That's my opinion, in any case.

Apparently the ratings were the lowest ever, which it is foolish to attribute (as some have) to the actual show.  I would say one need only look at the slate of rather unpopular Best Picture nominees to find out why the public at large wasn't very interested.  Personally, I thought it was the best year for movies in a long while.  But just look at the box office rankings to see what people preferred.  It's not in line with Oscar.

Anyway, now we look ahead to next year, right?  RIGHT?  Well, those of us who are nuts, in any case.  Scott Rudin and the Coens will be back, for different projects.  Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Angelina Jolie, Frank Langella, Russell Crowe, George Clooney -- all heading back to the race.  Returning filmmakers include Ridley Scott, Joe Wright and David Fincher, while Paramount Pictures once again has the glut of product to consider.  And there'll be a "titanic" reunion in store for the nostalgic romantics in the crowd.

But we'll get there.  For now, let's just all enjoy the release of another Oscar year in the rear view mirror.  It's been a blast contributing here at variety this season,a nd I hope you've all enjoyed reading.  We'll weather the fallout in the coming days and call it quits at the end of the week.

Happy Monday.

•  Anne Thompson was at the Governor's Ball, and she has a thing or two to say about it. (Lucky!) [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Jeffrey Wells has 11 observations on the night's festivities, including some stage coaching for the Coens, a cheers to Colin Farrell for supposedly urging producers to let Marekta Irglova speak, and some fashion criticism for Jon Stewart. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Even though it was a tight, swift show, apparently no one watched.  Maybe it has something to do with the vast unpopularity of the nominees? [The Hollywood Reporter]

•  Sasha Stone sticks it to the jerks who can't help themselves but continue to give Diablo Cody hell. [Awards Daily]

•  David Carr rounds up the show and the Ball. [The Carpetbagger]

•  Tom O'Neil rounds up the critics' reactions to the show, which was apparently "a bore and a sporadic thrill."  Uh, ok. [Gold Derby]

•  David Poland spoitballs reactions to the festivities. [The Hot Blog]

•  New York Magazine wraps up its coverage with some Jon Stewart talk. [Vulture]

•  David Edelstein, meanwhile, has some reactions as well (he dug the decision to bring Irglova back as well). [The Projectionist]

•  Pete Hammond writes up what is becoming the most over-done talking point of the past 12 hours: the international love fest that was the Oscars. [The Envelope]

•  David Halbfinger files for the Gray Lady. [New York Times]

•  And Erik Davis thinks the performance of "Falling Slowly" was the night's best moment. [Cinematical]

The night's two biggest awards are handed out as "No Country for Old Men" takes Best Picture and Best Director(s).  The Coens become the only duo to ever win Best Director and Scott Rudin finally gets his Oscar.  So that's a wrap, and a rather unsurprising one at that (despite Rudin's attempt at modesty).  Here's how we wrapped things up at The Movie Blog.

Alright, I'm going to head out for now and do some socializing.  I'll be back either late this evening or in the morning to wrap the night up.

The final acting honor of the evening is handed out and, well -- no major surprise (except maybe for Tom O'Neil!).  Daneil Day-Lewis takes the win for "There Will Be Blood" in what had to be a cake walk.  Here's what we had to say.

After a short segment, the boys and I get into Diablo Cody's win for Best Original Screenplay and her near wardrobe malfunction.  I might have gone with last night's get-up for this evening's festivities, darlin'.  Take a listen.

Wow, this marathon of podcasts is getting out of hand!  Another tight race is answered as Robert Elswit takes the Best Cinematography statuette for "There Will Be Blood" and the annual In Memoriam sequence lands.  I thought Heath Ledger's passing demanded something separate, but the boys had some good points to make to the contrary.  Here's what we had to say.

The guys are tired of the "Enchanted" tunes, and our resitant "Jewban" points out that Holocaust movies continue to dominate the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars.  Meanwhile, "Once" wins Best Original Song but the band makes the stupid decision to play poor Marketa Irglova off the stage.  (We notice now they made the right decision to bring her back out and say a few words.  Classy move.  Thank you.)  Take a listen.

Jack Nicholson presents a Best Picture package that couldn't have been more pointless, as Christophe Rouse reigns victorious in the Film Editing category in a sweep for "The Bourne Ultimatum."  Meanwhile, Jon Stewart cracks what I think is the best joke of the night and Nicole Kidman presents art director Robert Boyle with this year's Honorary Oscar.  Here's our take on the last few minutes.

The boys are livid as "Transformers" misses out on Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and lets face it, that Kevin O'Connell and Greg P. Russell remain Oscarless is a total crock.  And now, they'll have to aim for thg old separately as "Transformers" was their final collaboration.  Also handed out was Best Actress, a three-way race and a big question finally answered.  Check it out.

Alright, a slight surprise for me in the adapted screenplay race (though not for plenty of the net's prognosticators), as well as another musical performance (the guys are NOT impressed).  I also add a shout out to Al Pacino in "Heat" toward the end because, let's face it, we were running out of stuff to talk about.  Give it a listen.

The short film awards have been handed out as well as yet another acting award, something of a surprise for many: Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton." (Which begs the question -- is this a harbinger of Best Picture?)  Oh, and we finally got to the art direction category.  Check out our commentary here.

Well, the first two surprises of the night (one of them a true shocker) have landed.  The guys are PISSED about "Transformers" missing Best Visual Effects (told you -- net geeks).  "Sweeney Todd" also upset "There Will Be Blood" for Best Art Direction (though we ran out of time to discuss it), while the night's first acting honor was also handed out.  Here's what we had to say.

By the way, according to Robert, what Javier Bardem basically said in Spanish was, to his mother, "this is for my parents, this is for my grandparents, your parents, this is for Spain," etc.

Alright, the first no brainer of the night has come down the pike (Best Animated Feature) as well as the award for Best Makeup.  The boys and I talk the unacceptable (UNACCEPTABLE) "Nortbit" loss (kidding), John's favorite film of the year, "Ratatouille" snagging a win for Best Toon and Amy Adams' "Happy Woking Song" performance.  I was caught in the middle, defending the poor girl and the ages old tradition of performing the tracks on the show.  Check it out.

Also, I'm keeping track of the winners and predictions fallout over at In Contention, for those who care (I.e., me).

Alright, during the first commercial break, the testosterone section here at Poinsettia and Sunset talked Jon Stewart's on-the-mark opening monologue and costume design, of all things.  The guys thought "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" deserved the win, though I might be a little torn.  The threads in "Sweeney Todd" were quite amazing, I thought.  But the first award of the night is out of the way, and here's what we had to say about it.

The boys and I tackle fashion, potential upsets and a category no one seems to care about.  Check it out.  Meanwhile, we're watching Regis Philbin, of all people, bring some class to what has been some rather terrible red carpet coverage.

I'm suffering through Richard Roeper and What's-His-Name's red carpet coverage and thought I'd check in with the Oscarweb to see what's what.

Tom O'Neil is hard at work live blogging everything from timed supporting performances to his bowel movements (kidding), while David Carr is down in the lion's den, chatting it up with the likes of Robert Osborne and Rick Rosas and Brad Oltmanns, the two accounts from PricewaterhouseCoopers, knowers of all things golden.

For the moment, Sasha Stone's Awards Daily website is up and down, but she's got that annual No Guts No Glory predictions contest going strong, as usual.  Meanwhile, David Poland never misses an opportunity to smack the media, new OR old, but at least he's offering some space for his readers to comment.

We're about to get started with the introductory podcast with The Movie Blog crew.  I'll be joined by John Campea and Doug Nagy from the site, as well as Robert Sanchez, head cheese at IESB.com.  I'm kicking it with the net geeks tonight.

I don't plan on breaking my back live blogging the Oscars tonight because, let's face it, you will all be watching the same thing as I.  I tossed around a couple of ideas: writing sporadic posts to some up my thoughts throughout the show; going down to the Kodak and killing myself to get the on-the-scene scoop; packing it in and watching the show with a bowl of rocky road; sleeping through the whole thing and checking out the winners tomorrow (as if).

I settled on something a little more...fun.  A buddy, John Campea, webmaster of TheMovieBlog.com, invited me to participate in a friendly (read: drinking) gathering and to participate in podcasts throughout the show.  It seems like a great way to blow off the steam of the season and kind of relax here on the big day (plus, I can be a little more...shall we say...provocative).  So, that's where I'm going to be.

We'll be doing a pre-show podcast before the ceremony begins and then plug in some thoughts during the commercial breaks.  You can check it all out here in due time.

I'll also be updating here from time to time with links and such.

So there we are.  Whatever you do, wherever you go, be safe and have a good time watching the 80th annual Academy Awards.  Good luck with your predictions, if you do that sort of thing.  I have to say, the toughest categories to guess seem to be Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design.  Everything else is a little less up in the air.  And, let's face it, the easiest calls of the night might just be Diablo Cody and Daniel Day-Lewis.  If "Michael Clayton" reigns in either of those arenas, watch out.  Watch...out.

Reading through David Carr's coverage of last night's Independent Spirit Awards, I was taken by his closing sentiments, which ring true here at the end of things.  I thought I'd point them out to you because, let's face it, it's been a tough road:

“The Savages” had a big night too, with writer/director Tamara Jenkins winning best screenplay and Philip Seymour Hoffman going home as best male lead – and the reigning belt wearer of the first annual Indie Spirit cage match.

He and Wilson had been mock-taunting each other from the podium all day and then Wilson got up to thank the crowd and then said he was coming down to settle things with Seymour Hoffman. He made good on his promise, but Seymour Hoffman, a former wrestler, was not about to be put down by a TV guy, and he ended up on top, butt slapping Wilson. It wasn’t pretty – let’s just say that both boys were selling a little crack – but it was pretty damn funny. After a season of pickets, a death in the family in the form of Heath Ledger’s passing, and just plain crabbiness, no one could say it wasn’t about time.

•  Anne Thompson reports on last night's Miramax shindig before offering up her last minute guesses for tonight's awards. [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  David Carr was there, too, adding his unique spin on things. [The Carpetbagger]

•  Jeffrey Wells isn't too keen on "Juno" winning big at last night's IndieSpirits, but he sure did get low and close for a nice Ellen Page shot. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Sasha Stone writes up her final "State of the Race" column, with predictions to boot. [Awards Daily]

•  Regarding predictions, by the way, yours truly is on the record. [In Contention]

•  Mary McNamara writes a "Dear JON" letter to Oscar host Jon Stewart. [The Envelope]

•  Tom O'Neil speculates about what this "special award" might be that Nicole Kidman is set to present this evening. [Gold Derby]

•  David Poland iphones it in fromthe Indie Spirits. [The Hot Blog]

•  Last minute snarkiness from The Reeler.  But at least it's a shade of different. [Little Gold Men]

•  Nathaniel Rogers writes up the Best Actress race one last time. [The Film Experience]

•  A.O. Scott finalizes the year by poo-pooing the Oscars, admits he wishies the strike had shut down the show.  No rhyme or reason, just Gray Lady distaste and snobbery. [New York Times]

There's been plenty of discussion throughout the years of the Independent Spirit Awards as something of a "death kiss" for Oscar hopefuls.  Bill Murray's triump for Best Actor in "Lost in Translation" led to a Sean Penn/"Mystic River" victory lap the next night.  The "Sideways" crew dominated at the Spirits, but only took down the Best Adapted Screenplay trophy at the Oscars.

Just last year, "Litle Miss Sunshine" was the evening's victor and was still on plenty of prediction lists for Oscar's big prize.  Nope.

Another example might be Julianne Moore's victory for for Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven."  And speaking of Haynes, Cate Blanchett is nominated this year for the director's "I'm Not There."  She is likely to take home the bacon tonight, yet she is heavily favored to win the Oscar as well.  Hm.

Perhaps the biggest indication that there may be something to all of this is 2005's race, which saw a win for Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" at the Spirits.  We all know how that one turned out.  And the only exception to all of this seems to be Charlize Theron's win of both Best Actress statuettes in 2003 for her performance in "Monster."

Anyway, to commemorate this -- um -- "rule," for lack of a better word, Mark Olsen has tossed together a photo gallery of the most apparent examples.  Take a look.

The film in the stickiest situation here is obviously Jason Reitman's "Juno," which is likely to sweep through the show tonight like wildfire.  And yet, just like last year, the film is on a number of prognosticators' lists to take the big prize at the Kodak.

Will the rule hold true?  Time will tell.

USA Today's Scott Bowles has cooked up my absolute favorite pre-Oscar piece this week.  The angle is Jack Nicholson, the guy's guy lightener of rooms, and his 38 year history with the Super Bowl of Hollywood's film industry.

Any interview with Nicholson is a treat, since you don't come across one every day or anything, but Bowles gets some great quotes about the actor's first trip to the red carpet (way back in 1970), friendly wagers with colleagues, a backstage cordiality that impresses even the most seasoned of acting veterans and, of course, that devilish propensity for observing -- and chatting up -- the ladies.

Check it out:

In many ways, says Nicholson, 70, the Oscars have helped shape his career, create friendships and change his view of a business he joined "just to see some movie stars."

And there's little he hasn't done at the Academy Awards. It was at an Oscar ceremony that he decided it would be fashionable to wear sunglasses indoors. He has met his heroes, his fans and hit on more starlets than he'd care to admit.

"What can I say?" he says. "I'm an Oscar man. What are you going to do, not enjoy the beauties in the room?"

When he does hand out a statuette, it has been for best picture, which allows him to wander backstage whenever he wants for the duration of the show, "and no one asks what the hell I'm doing there."

Here's the bit about a bet Nicholson placed with Warren Beatty.  I can't get enough of this stuff:

He has made wagers there. He once bet friend and neighbor Warren Beatty he could slip in and out of a ceremony without being photographed by the media. Nicholson won the bet, though he won't say how much.

"I know back doors," he says, with his eyebrows breaking into that madman arch. "It's handy when you don't want all of your business hanging out there."

Still, he wouldn't mind taking home another statuette for himself.

"I wouldn't mind winning another," he says. "Even one of those sentimental ones for being a pain in the (butt) for so long."

It just wouldn't be an Oscar ceremony without Jack.  He's presented Best Picture two years in a row now, so I highly doubt that'll be his task yet again.  Perhaps Best Director?  Screenplays?  I don't know, seems a little below the Jack bar, no?

Anyway, give Scott's piece a look when you get a chance.  It's a hoot.  I only wish it were longer.

You can get your predictions fix in a thousad different quarters this weeekend.  There's David Carr, David Poland, the Gurus o' Gold, Gurus 2.0, the Buzzmeter, hell, even George Clooney has taken a stab.  And don't forget Sasha Ston'e mega-compilation chart, which rounds up a ton of voices for your perusing delight.

In all of that prognosticative commotion, you're bound to see this eyebrow-raising declartion or that, but nothing -- and I mean nothing compares to Tom O'Neil's out-on-a-limb prediction that Clooney will upset a steam-rolling Daniel Day-Lewis in the Best Actor category.  Whaaa?

Yeah, he's going there.  But he isn't doing so sans explanation.  According to O'Neil, who recently posted his reasoning at Gold Derby, Hollywood's man-crush on Clooney might just win out in the end.  He also focuses on the Reel Geezers, who were somewhat dismissive of Day-Lewis and "There Will Be Blood," but made sweet, sweet voting love to Clooney and "Michael Clayton."

Take a look:

The reason that the shockeroos occur is because Hollywooders are a bull-headed, contrary-minded lot and often they don't tip their cards. They also don't like to admit that they're going against the pack — everybody's got to be a team player, after all — but, alone at home where no one is looking and with sly smirks on their faces, they fool Oscarwatchers now and then by checking off their ballots for Marcia Gay Harden or Juliette Binoche.

And read the rest!

By the way, there's at least one more random prediction in the major categories out there: Liz Smith of the New York Post, who declares Best Actress contender Laura Linney the ultimate victor.  Woah.

There are a couple of stories up this week detailing the correlation between box office and film awards success, starting here at home base with Pamela McClintock's Thursday piece.  The story is a pure numbers crunch, no quoted sources, but it gives the clear indication that, this year specially, the golden guys matter.

Here's how she kicks things off:

There's been an unusually strong awards box office bump this year, with the five best picture contenders combining to gross $97 million domestically since Academy Award nominations were announced Jan. 22.

That's more than double the $44 million pulled in by last year's class during the same frame.

No one expected the uptick to come in at record levels, considering the five noms are specialty films that, outside of Fox Searchlight's runaway hit "Juno," offer gloom-and-doom storylines. Also, two of the films -- Warner Bros.' "Michael Clayton" and Miramax's "No Country for Old Men" -- were well into their runs.

Heading into Oscar weekend, the total combined domestic cume for five best picture noms, which all began as limited releases, through Tuesday was $314.4 million, according to Rentrak. That compares to a combined cume of $287.8 million last year.

Last year, the best picture contenders grossed an average of $8.8 million between the time of the Oscar announcements and the week before the ceremony. In each of the two years prior to that, the top noms grossed an average of $13 million during the same time period.

This year, the average is $19.4 million.

Check out the rest.


Meanwhile, over at USA Today, I spoke with Anthony Breznican for a story concerning the Oscars as a cog in the marketing scheme rather than the victory lap they used to be.  Also quoted are Lionsgate prexy Tom Ortenberg, Awards Daily's Sasha Stone and Box Office Mojo's Brandon Gray.

Here's a look:

Today, every major film studio has specialty departments designed to create offbeat, smart contenders for the awards. They typically are films with modest budgets (usually less than $50 million) and limited promotion — at least initially.

In essence, such films are orchestrated to start off as word-of-mouth favorites among devoted moviegoers. As a result, they can wind up as Academy Award nominees with relatively few people having seen them.

Three films that fit that model are among the five contenders for best picture at the Academy Awards, which air live on Sunday (ABC, 8 p.m. ET/5 PT). They involve a bloodthirsty pioneer oilman (There Will Be Blood), an air-gun-toting killer (No Country for Old Men) and a pregnant teenager (Juno).

The films — up against Michael Clayton and Atonement for best picture — have generated increasing buzz for months. But only Juno is a bona fide blockbuster so far, with a surprising $125.5 million in box-office receipts. The Oscar nominations are likely to spread the windfall.

The rest.

As I told Anthony when we spoke, I have never dug into these sorts of numbers to glean any real pattern or consistency.  It makes my brain hurt.  But it is, regardless, difficult to discredit the role award play in a film's profit.  However, I'm of the mind that Oscar success plays into the home market more fiercely than in the box office run.

A sticker that says "Academy Award Winner" is an enticing addition to a DVD case, and as I told Anthony, all one need do is take a look at, say, the netflix list of most rented movies in the weeks following the race to see films like "Mystic River" and "Crash" dominating the top 10 most rented titles.

In any case, it's a circular conversation and a part of the equation parties much better versed (and indeed, much more affected) will coninute to pick at until the end of days.

In case you missed it, we closed out that two day look at the year's single greatest images yesterday.  Be sure to give it a look and offer up your own thoughts.  Whatever your stance on the shots selected, it's difficult to disagree with the idea that 2007 had some daring, vibrant and exciting work behind the camera.

As "Atonement" lenser Seamus Mcgarvey told me, "bravery and spirited independence is coming back into cinematography."  I agree wholeheartedly.

Check out part one here.  And part two here.  And the also rans.

•  David Carr camps out at the Four Seasons, chats it up with a veritable who's who of the Oscar strategist spectrum. [The Carpetbagger]

•  He also reports at length at the goings on in town this week: the parties, the prep, the pageantry. [New York Times]

•  Michael Cieply, meanwhile, digs into the matter of that Academy museum that can now see the light of day with the strike settlement. [New York Times]

•  Jeffrey Wells rattles off his perspective on the season to an eager podcaster. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Tom O'Neil responds to the final Buzzmeter...and he's still predicting George Clooney! [Gold Derby]

•  Gina Piccalo writes a big, juicy love letter to Oscar savior Gil Cates. [Los Angeles Times]

•  She also profiles Bill Conti, maestro of the musical cues and "45 second rule." [The Envelope]

•  Still hoofing it, Kevin O'Connell talks his plight with Vanity Fair's Cassandra Handley. [Little Gold Men]

•  Ramin Setoodeh rounds out the year with his final guesses.  The most intriguing: an Amy Ryan forecast in Best Supporting Actress. [The Gold Digger]

•  Favorite quotables from this year's nominees. [Cinematical]

•  Leslie Simmons takes note of Marcus Carl Franklin ("I'm Not There") at Friday night's Indie Spirit nominees reception.  So did everyone else, apparently. [Gold Rush]

Because it's lack of embrace kind of pisses me off:

In his annual pre-Oscar column, LA Times film critic Kenneth Turan has called a vote for "Michael Clayton" a vote for Hollywood itself, and "Thoughtful, adult studio films."  He says a vote for "No Country for Old Me," on the other hand, is a vote for the Hollywood art film, and in writing as much, he has me wondering if there might be an upset in the works after all.

Take a look:

A victory for this smart and suspenseful legal thriller would be more than a vote for the only one of the five to be distributed by an actual studio. It would be a vote for a beautifully remodeled classic studio picture, an impressively updated version of the kind of movie "they just don't make anymore."

All the elements of vintage Hollywood filmmaking are present and accounted for in "Michael Clayton," starting with writer-director Tony Gilroy's heightened and dramatic dialogue. Add to that the ability of a peerless cast, including George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton, to animate characters who are at once familiar archetypes and completely individual. Finally, there's Gilroy's instinct for the emotional jugular, a storytelling panache that is almost a lost art all by itself.

Is Turan predicting "Clayton" here?  I'm not sure.  However, I must say, I still don't understand this mentality that Tony Gilroy's film, though expert in its genre, is anything more than passable as a work of "great" cinema.  Perhaps I'm alone, and regardless, the industry has proven itself head over heels for the effort, so maybe...just maybe...Warner Bros. can catch the world off guard tomorrow night and steal one away from Miramax, the Coen brothers, Cynthia Swartz and Scott Rudin.

We'll see.

The truth is, this has been the race since day one following the nominations announcement.  All other comers are mere pretenders in the face of a battle between big studio and modest specialty division.  This is the race.  These are the players.

Check out the rest of Turan's column.