Actress in a Leading Role  Julie Christie
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)  Written by Sarah Polley

•  Place your bets! [Hollywood Stock Exchange]

•  Sasha Stone previews the DGA race, warns against getting caught up in last minute predictions chaos, and mixes in some other considerations for good measure. [Awards Daily]

•  The DGA Awards, by the way, will be hosted by Carl Reiner. [Variety]

•  We've also got a massive preview of the awards, with looks at peripheral nominees (assistant directors, anyone?), the newbie nature of the group and some huzzahs for DGA attorney Jay Roth. [Variety]

•  An old post, but Jeffrey Wells considers nominations for art direction, cinematography, costume design and score to be "soft" tips of the hat for "Atonement." [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Tom O'Neil says to bank on Julie Christie at Sunday's SAG Awards.  Lionsgate flooded the screener market again. [Gold Derby]

•  David Carr makes some final observations on the nominations, taking note of the newbies and diversity in the line-up and pointing out that "Into the Wild" deserved "better treatment." [The Carpetbagger]

•  New York Magazine draws humorous parallls between the year's Best Picture nominees and the current political climate. [Vulture]

•  In analyzing this year's nominees, Kyle Smith makes us wonder why he's even in this business. [New York Post]

•  In case you haven't heard, things are looking up for the Oscar telecast. [Variety]

•  Scott Bowles follows it up and digs up some industry chit-chat on alternatives. [USA Today]

•  Finally, A.O. Scott writes up the legacy of Heath Ledger for The Paper of Record. [New York Times]

I was all set to tap out an Oscarweb Round-up, but the usual suspects (linked in the right sidebar) have reactions up all over the place.  Suffice it to say, the mood out there is one of..."eh."  But there's plenty to read at The Envelope, Awards Daily, The Carpetbagger and, as always, Award Central.

But scouring the net this morning for anything not Globe-related, I came across this little item at The Film Experience.  The consensus for some time in the Best Actress category has been that either Ellen Page ("Juno"), Julie Christie ("Away from Her") or Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose") is going to win the Oscar.  The latter two ladies took down wins last night, adding wind to their sails.  But whichever of these dames takes the win, according to Nathaniel Rogers, it'll be a historic moment for the category.

Rogers writes:

Julie Christie enchanted Oscar voters at that dazzling sunshine girl in 1965's Darling and should "Away From Her" bring her second win, it'll mark the longest time between acting wins for anyone. The current record holder is Helen Hayes who won Best Actress for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931) and then again in the supporting category for "Airport" (1970). Most dual winners actually win their second within a decade of their first.

If Marion Cotillard wins [for "La Vie en Rose"] it'll mark only the second time a foreign language performance has won Best Actress. And that happened even longer ago then Julie Christie's first triumph. The one and only recipient: Sophia Loren for "Two Women" (1961).

If Ellen Page wins for "Juno," she'll become the youngest Best Actress winner ever. She turns 21 three days before the Oscars which will be held (we think [gulp]) on February 24th. That makes her the youngest. Marlee Matlin ("Children of a Lesser God," 1986) currently holds the record for youngest lead actress win. She was also 21 but 2/3rds of the way to her 22nd birthday.

Very interesting indeed.  With Page missing last night, and with "Juno" not exactly tearing up the guild circuit (though a PGA nod is likely today), most are thinking the contest is between Christie and Cotillard, with the former getting the benefit of the prognostication doubt given that she is a screen icon.  We'll see how it pans out, but it's nice to know -- barring any out of the blue revelations in the Best Actress category -- that history will probably be made on Oscar night this year.