Oscar

For more details, hints, and tips on Oscars prediction contests, read the Academy Awards Prediction Contests page. For the most recent Oscars posts, be sure to check out the Oscars/Academy Awards category page. There, you should find contests, predictions, and results.

Make sure you know who's in the running for each category! Print the official Oscars printable ballot.

81st Academy Awards Prediction Contests:

• Oscars.com
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• eFilmCritic — Unique method of entry for this one, as you can vote for multiple films in each category
  Prize: 50 DVDs, Robert Osborne's 80 Years of Oscar book, 2 passes to your local IMAX theatre (Est. $1,315 ARV)
• DE Concierge
  Prize: a $100 gift certificate to Burke Williams Day Spa in CA, a $100 gift certificate, and a $100 gift certificate to the Arclight Cinema in LA ($300 ARV)
• The Golden Schmoes
  Prize: iPod Video ($250 ARV)
• the-numbers.com
  Prize: All five Best Picture Nominees on DVD. (Est. $100 ARV)
• web-goddess
  Prize: One pair of Batman and Joker sock monkeys (Est. $60 ARV)
• Scuba.com
  Prize: $50 scuba.com gift certificate ($50 ARV)
• Fort Worth Public Library
  Prize: No Country for Old Men DVD, Two AMC movie passes, 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola Classic, and a box of Orville Redenbacher's Microwave Gourmet Popping Corn (Est. $35 ARV)
• York Daily Record
  Prize: $25 gift certificate to Regal Cinemas ($25 ARV)
• The Augusta Chronicle
  Prize: An entertainment prize package ($? ARV)
• Practicalmadness
  Prize: Store credit or gift certificate ($? ARV)
• PredictTheOscars.com
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• The Daily Camera and The Video Station
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• The News Tribune
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• Box Office Mojo
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• Variety
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• Awards Daily
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)
• Rochester, MN Post-Bulletin
  Prize: Unknown ($? ARV)

Good luck to you, and have fun! (And if you win a prize, please feel free to share it with me!)

The High-Five Guys hit Hollywood and published a video featuring Robert Downey Jr., Tim Meadows, Mary Steenburgen, Ryan Seacrest, Milo Ventimiglia, Will Ferrell, and others.

Great job, guys. You really deserve a . . . pat on the back, or some other form of congratulations.

If I played the lottery, I'll bet you I'd have the same luck as Donald Peters of Danbury, Connecticut. Peters had purchased lotto tickets regularly for 20 years. According to the AP, on November 1, 2008 Peters purchased his lottery tickets as usual but died of a heart attack later that day while working in his yard.

As you can imagine, his wife did not have the tickets checked for a couple months. When she did, she discovered that the ticket was worth $10 million.

Of course, the article mentions how he "provided financial security for his wife of 59 years and their family" and that he "wins $10M for widow", but any lottery player will give you their true opinion on a topic like this. The man's son, Brian Peters, wasn't afraid to come out and say it: "He'd be very mad, he just passed away and she won a lot of money. He'd say, 'Figures!'"