The only thing moderately surprising about today's WGA nominations is the inclusion of "Zodiac" in the field of adapted scripts.  Sure, the James Vanderbuilt adaptation of the Robert Graysmith novel received a nomination for the USC Scripter prize, but I felt that might have been more attributed to Graysmith than the actual script itself, which really has no structure to speak of and wouldn't seem the "typical" choice for this guild.  But, in any case, this reveals that industry support is indeed there.

The presence of "Knocked Up" in the original ranks should come as a shock to no one.  Judd Apatow was cited for his work two years ago on "The 40 Year Old Virgin" by the guild.  I don't expect this to translate to Oscar, however, given the WGA's penchant for recognizing comedies that AMPAS is fine with ignoring ("Stranger Than Fiction," "Thank You for Smoking," "Garden State," "Mean Girls,""Bend It Like Beckham," "The Station Agent," "Best in Show," "High Fidelity," the list goes on and on).

Otherwise, it was buisness as usual.  "Into the Wild" and "No Country for Old Men" remain the standouts during the precursor season that matters, as "There Will Be Blood" continues to make a case for itself as a Best Picture contender.  That, frankly, is shocking to me.  And the potential is all too possible for Scott Rudin to be his own worst enemy this season, because if both "No Country" and "Blood" make Oscar's final five, I could tell you a day-long story about how they will cancel each other out in the voting process.  Which means things ought to be looking even better for "Wild" -- but that's a whole other conversation.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is also still in the thick of the year's competition, grabbing two makjor guild mentions this week, while "Atonement" has officially sunk like the heaviest stone one could have imagined.  At this point, the only hope for Joe Wright's film is the entire BAFTA/AMPAS crossover contingent to stick it in the #1 spot on their ballots.  Then, and only then, does it seem to have a prayer of finding a Best Picture nomination.

Ah, the malleability of an Oscar season.

•  Warner Bros. unleashes the high def tailer for "The Dark Knight" onto a salivating web-geek community. [A Taste for the Theatrical]

•  Pete Hammond keeps those speculative wheels spinning on Will Smith's "I Am Legend" turn. [The Envelope]

•  That's probably because the film shattered box office records this weekend. [Variety]

•  Tom O'Neil calls the Lond critics noms "curious."  Why, because they strayed from the herd? [Gold Derby]

•  The American Film Institute sticks with the herd. [Variety]

•  Jeffrey Wells responds... [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  ...and gets into the ins and outs of Daniel Day-Lewis' wardrobe choices. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  David Poland gets into the specifics of the year's top ten lists. [The Hot Blog]

•  Speaking of top tens, yours truly adds his opinion to the collective. [In Contention]

•  Jesse Green gets into Stephen Sondheim and "Sweeney Todd" at the Gray Lady. [New York Times]

•  Richard Berke, meanwhile, reports on screenplay alterations that led to something of a white-washed "Charlie Wilson's War," among other things. [New York Times]

•  Glenn Kenny also does "Wilson," with director Mike Nichols. [Los Angeles Times]

•  Sasha Stone points us to a massive collection of FYC ads (though hers is still fabulous). [Awards Daily]

•  "Juno" seems to have a new fan site on the web. [And the Winner Is...]

•  Speaking of which, star Ellen Page fields unnecessary "Knocked Up" comparisons at New York Magazine. [Vulture]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz......

"Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Into the Wild"
"Juno"
"Knocked Up"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"The Savages"
"There Will Be Blood" 

Variety has the story.

Variety has a couple of stories up in anticipation of next month's Golden Globes cermony.  (Already?  Seriously?  It's December???)

First, Ted Johnson ponders the possibility of acceptance speeches leaning the way of politics in an election year.

Carole Horst, meanwhile, talks up the rejuvenation of the musical genre, in its many new and unique forms.

And in a really interesting article (when it comes to trend pieces), Jon Weisman points out pregnancy as a mainstay in awards contenders this year, citing "Juno," "Knocked Up," "A Mighty Heart" and "Waitress."

Weisman's piece, for the most part, leans toward the comedic examples, but there is also the Romanian abortion film "4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days" and Tony Kaye's documentary on the same subject, "Lake of Fire."  Weird how these things happen.

Anne Thompson has a glimpse of Entertainment Weekly's "Smart List" up.  Judd Apatow leads the charge in what has to be construed as typical flavor of the month list-mania.

I laughed at "Knocked Up."  I thought "The 40 Year Old Virgin" was a high mark for comedy.  Going way back, I thought "The Cable Guy" was dark comedy hilarity.  But with "Superbad" and the upcoming "Walk Hard," it seems like he's willing to tread similar creative territory rather than "push the industry forward" as the list apparently proclaims to advocate.

I get it, of course.  Right now, this moment in time, Apatow makes sense as a #1 choice.  But these lists really irritate me when they fail to see the big picture.  Tell me why Ben Stiller deserves a slot in the top 20 when a producer as creatively diverse as Kathleen Kennedy is down at #31.  Call me crazy, but to go from "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "Persepolis" this year to "Indiana Jones" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" next year, seemingly without missing a beat, speaks more to "smart" than does "Night at the Museum."

The Smart List is supposed to "rejuvenate" the "tired old EW Power 100," according to Anne Thompson, but it reads like old hat to me.