And the winners are . . .

I made my annual Oscars predictions again. For the second year, I am opening myself up and showing exactly how horribly I do on these predictions. Last year, I went 13 of 24. This year, I improved my record by one: 14 of 24!

I missed many of the odd categories, as do most people. I also missed the huge upsets that many, many others missed. I missed on my upset predictions, too, which didn't help much.

1. Best Picture
   Winner: Crash
   My Pick: Brokeback Mountain
2. Best Actor
   Winner: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
3. Best Actress
   My Pick: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
4. Best Supporting Actor
   Winner: George Clooney, Syriana
   My Pick: Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
5. Best Supporting Actress
   My Pick: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
6. Best Director
   Winner: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
7. Best Original Screenplay
   My Pick: Crash
8. Best Adapted Screenplay
   My Pick: Brokeback Mountain
9. Animated Feature
   My Pick: Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
10. Art Direction
    My Pick: Memoirs of a Geisha
11. Cinematography
    Winner: Memoirs of a Geisha
    My Pick: Brokeback Mountain
12. Costume
    My Pick: Memoirs of a Geisha
13. Documentary Feature
    My Pick: March of the Penguins
14. Documentary Short Subject
    Winner: A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin
    My Pick: God Sleeps in Rwanda
15. Film Editing
    My Pick: Crash
16. Foreign Language Film
    My Pick: Tsotsi
17. Makeup
    My Pick: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
18. Original Score
    Winner: Brokeback Mountain
    My Pick: Memoirs of a Geisha
19. Original Song
    Winner: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," Hustle & Flow
    My Pick: "Travelin' Thru," Transamerica
20. Short Film, Animated
    Winner: The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation
    My Pick: The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
21. Short Film, Live Action
    Winner: Six Shooter
    My Pick: Ausreisser
22. Sound Editing
    My Pick: King Kong
23. Sound Mixing
    Winner: King Kong
    My Pick: Walk the Line
24. Visual Effects
    Winner: King Kong
    My Pick: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I would also like to report that I was able to (intentionally) incorrectly guess 22 of the 24 categories. I accidentally picked the winners for Original Song and Animated Short Film.

This post discusses Oscars contests for the Academy Awards that took place on Sunday, March 5, 2006. 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.

Oscar's no grouch

Here is my annual list of Oscars prediction contests. For those of you who enjoy predicting the winners each year (and also for those of you who hate it, but predict it anyway), here's a way to take up an hour or two and possibly win some cool swag if you're lucky. Enter away, and good luck!

I included some hints and suggestions at the end of this post. Also, I have some guidelines that determine which contests are displayed and which are not. Contests must be:

1. Skill-based. You pick the winners. No "enter your name and cross your fingers" lottery-style games here. If you've got knowledge and skill, get them all right. Then, you'll have a better chance.
2. English only. Sorry, no hablo francais.
3. National. No regional contest prizes. Most people reading this won't care about winning a dinner for two in Vancouver. If regional prizes are open to people in any location with non-regional prizes, they will be included. If there is a regional prize included but the grand prize also includes a generic prize, I will probably include the contest.
4. Open to Americans. Americans must be eligible to enter. If you are under 18 (and maybe even if you're under 21), you'll want to double-check the rules to see if you're eligible.
5. Free. Must be free. Registration might be a requirement, but
6. Up to you. I will do my best to skim rules and regulations to confirm what I've mentioned above. No promises that I didn’t miss something. It’s up to you to read the rules yourself. I'm not responsible. I am also not responsible for any spam you might receive as a result of entering these contests. The guidelines above do not check for privacy or anything of the sort. I myself have created a special e-mail just for contests to catch all the spam (and congratulatory winners' e-mails, of course).

Listings will be of the following format:

• Site name (links directly to contest page) — Description or details, if necessary.
  Grand Prize(s) offered. You can read the details for any lesser prizes.

And now, without (even further) ado . . .

The Contests:

Confirmed Contests:

I have entered these and confirmed that they abide by my guidelines above. Unless noted, you can enter these until at least midnight (or 11:59PM) before the Oscars ceremony. Some will let you enter right up until the ceremony begins.

• Oscars.com & Entertainment Weekly — ABC.com membership required
  Prize: All-expense paid weekend in Hollywood to watch your favorite stars arrive at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007
• CNN.com
  Prize: Home Theater System including a 32" LCD HDTV
• Minnesota Post-Bulletin
  Deadline: Thursday, March 2, 2006, 12:00 Midnight CST
  Prize: $100
• Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com
  Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006, 12:00 Noon. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: $50 in movie tickets; $50 gift certificate to the Lexington restaurant Oscars
• CentreDaily.com
  Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006, 5:00 PM. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: Movie theater gift certificate
• Louisville Courier-Journal
  Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006, 5:00 PM. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: $200 plus an official Oscar program and 78th annual Academy Awards poster
• oregonlive.com
  Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006, 8:59 PM PST
  Prize: 40 Regal Cinema Movie Passes
• WoKJ's Ultimate Oscar Contest
  Deadline: Saturday, March 4, 2006, 12:00 Noon EST
  Prize: DVDS of 72 of the 77 Best Picture Oscar winners.
• Scuba.com
  Deadline: Saturday, March 4, 2006, 12:00 Noon PST
  Prize: $100 gift certificate for scuba.com
• Fort Worth Public Library — Enter once per day!
  Prize: Million Dollar Baby DVD; Two (2) free passes to AMC Theatres; 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola Classic; A box of Orville Redenbacher's Microwave Gourmet Popping Corn
• Movieline's Hollywood Life
  Prize: JVC TH-C5 Digital Theater System; over a dozen Oscar-nominated films
• FilmGuru.Net
  Prize: $25 gift certificate to the FilmGuru.Net store; FilmGuru.Net t-shirt
• the-numbers.com
  Prize: Three Best Picture winners of your choice on DVD or video
• n:zone Movies
  Prize: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on DVD; Corpse Bride on DVD; Mrs. & Mrs. Smith on DVD; Robots on DVD; Harry Potter t-shirt; Harry Potter hat; North Country hat; North Country t-shirt; North Country thermal shirt
• Box Office Mojo (Registration required, but not only do you get to predict who you think will win, you get to also vote for who you think should win!)
  Prize: Last year, it was a one-year Premier Pass on Box Office Mojo. As I cannot find official rules this year (yet), I am not sure that it's the same prize, or even if there is a prize at all.
• The Daily Camera
  Prize: $500 Gift Certificate from McGuckin Hardware
• AroundCinci
  Prize: 17" SpongeBob SquarePants TV/DVD; Premium items from your favorite movies
• TV Oracle
  Prize: $25 gift certificate to Best Buy
• web-goddess
  Prize: one-of-a-kind, never-before-produced gay sock monkey cowboys with hats, boots, and lots of love.
• OscarWatch
  Prize: Unknown (possibly none)
• DE Concierge
  Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006, 12:00 Noon. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: Three Oscar winning films on DVD; a relaxing massage at the day spa of your choice; dinner for two at the hot restaurant of your choice; six AMC Gold movie tickets
• Raven's Cry Theatre
  Prize: Unknown. Possibly movie passes
• Practicalmadness — This one's a bit different. Read carefully. Registration required but only uses Name/e-mail/password.
  Prize: TBA
• The Augusta Chronicle
  Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006, 5:00 PM. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: an entertainment prize pack featuring a selection of CDs, DVDs and other surprises
• Drew's "Predict The Oscars…Poorly" Contest — With Drew's contest, be sure to pick losers for every category.
  Prize: Fifty movie goodies (posters, promos, keychains, magnets, hats, postcards, buttons, soundtracks, bumper stickers, bookmarks, yadda yadda)
• Norwich Bulletin — No online form. You must e-mail your picks. (See page for further details.)
  Deadline: Monday, February 27, 2006, 3:00 PM. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: $50
• Lansing State Journal
  Deadline: Monday, February 27, 2006, 5:00 PM. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: $100 (You may have to travel to Lansing to pick the prize up within 60 days.)
• The News Tribune — Enter once per day! Registration required.
  Deadline: Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 5:00 PM. Time zone unknown.
  Prize: Take nine of your closest friends to the movies

Tiebreakers:

Here are the tiebreaker and/or nontraditional questions you will encounter in some of these contests:

• Which film will win the most awards?
• How many awards will the most decorated film win?
• How many awards will Brokeback Mountain win on Oscar night?
• Who will win the Best Live Action Short Film award?
• Who will win the Best Song award?
• Who will design Reese Witherspoon's dress?
• Pick a number between 1 and 100.
• Choose A Number between 1 and 1,000.
• How many films did my mom see in the theater in the calendar year 2005?
• How long will the Oscar ceremony last?
• How many dead people will be featured in the annual Hollywood obituary tribute reel?

Before you start entering, be sure you already know what has been nominated in which categories! Print the official Oscars printable ballot or the Yahoo's printable Oscars ballot and make your picks first. Based on years of contest entry experience, I guarantee that this will make your life easier. You might also want to decide on your tiebreaker answers ahead of time, too. See the end of this post for the current list. Also, it's up to you, but I suggest entering the same picks in every contest you enter. First, this makes it much, much easier to keep track of how well you do in the contests. Second, you might think that "If I enter in multiple contests and try various selections, I'm more likely to win something," but the problem is that, even if you get all the selections correct, you're (usually) still in a drawing among all the other winners. If you nail the picks, then you've got a dozen or so chances to win. If you only get the correct picks in one or two different contests, you might not win anything at all.

Feel free to bookmark the Academy Awards page. There, you will find this information, as well as predictions and results.

This post has been re-posted at Random Fodder, Novac's personal blog.

I'm embarassed to say that I haven't seen any of the Oscar-nominated films in any of the major categories this year. Such is life with two small children and few babysitters.

The most major category that I have seen a nominated film in is for original screenplay: Match Point. If it hadn't been Woody Allen, I wouldn't have seen that, either.

The other categories in which I have seen films? Art direction, costume design, makeup, sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects. I have seen every movie in the visual effects category, and two of the three were a couple of my least favorite movies of 2005.

King Kong was simply unbearable. If I find out that one of my friends is going to rent King Kong, I'm going to schedule a dentist appointment instead. Horrendous. And then there's War of the Worlds . . . popcorn movie from start to finish. This is a great movie for radio and also for movie special effects teams, but it just doesn't make for an exciting movie.

The nominated movies I have seen are Match Point, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, King Kong, War of the Worlds, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Star Wars: Episode III. I know, I know . . . not the highest quality selection of 2005, but when half your movies are intended for children under 8, what are you to do? Still, I was quite pleased with Charlie and the Chocoalte Factory and The Chronicles of Narnia. Match Point was good, except that we've already seen this Woody Allen story as just a portion of the superior Crimes and Misdemeanors. Star Wars III was my favorite SW prequel. Harry Potter, King Kong, and Tom Cruise can all just go away.

The 78th Academy Awards Nominees were announced this morning. Academy President Sid Ganis and Mira Sorvino announced the nominations.

By popular demand, here is a full, printable list of the 78th Academy Awards nominations.

And the nominees are . . .

Best Picture

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• Crash
• Good Night and Good Luck
• Munich

Best Director

• Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain
• Bennett Miller – Capote
• George Clooney – Good Night and Good Luck
• Paul Haggis – Crash
• Steven Spielberg – Munich

Best Actor

• David Strathairn – Good Night and Good Luck
• Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain
• Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Capote
• Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow

Best Actress

• Charlize Theron – North Country
• Felicity Huffman – Transamerica
• Judi Dench – Mrs. Henderson Presents
• Keira Knightley – Pride & Prejudice
• Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor

• George Clooney – Syriana
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Brokeback Mountain
• Matt Dillon – Crash
• Paul Giamatti – Cinderella Man
• William Hurt – A History of Violence

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams – Junebug
• Catherine Keener – Capote
• Frances McDormand – North Country
• Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain
• Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener

Best Original Screenplay

• Crash
• Good Night and Good Luck
• Match Point
• Syriana
• The Squid and the Whale

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• The Constant Gardener
• A History of Violence
• Munich

Most Nominations

• 8: Brokeback Mountain
• 6: Crash
  Good Night, and Good Luck
• 5: Capote
  Memoirs of a Geisha
  Munich
  Walk the Line
• 4: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
  The Constant Gardner
  King Kong
  Pride & Prejudice
• 3: Cinderella Man
  War of the Worlds

Now the wait is finally over . . . for the nominees. Now we wait for the winners on Sunday, March 5, 2006!

For all the latest information on The Academy Awards, check back on the Oscars/Academy Awards category page. Bookmark it if you don't want to miss anything!

The Smarmy Carny is the place to get information on The Academy Awards!

To see the actual nominees, take a look at the 2006 Nominations post or view the the Oscars/Academy Awards category page. Bookmark it if you don't want to miss anything!

As with last year, it is my intention to quickly post the nominations and some thoughts, along with as many Oscars contests as I can find.

The nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 8:30am EST. If you're reading this after this time, you can read the nomination results here. In the meantime, here's a list of the most likely contenders for Oscar nods, taken from the Hollywood Stock Exchange's NominOptions list:

Best Picture

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• Cinderella Man
• The Constant Gardener
• Crash
• Good Night and Good Luck
• A History of Violence
• King Kong
• Match Point
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Munich
• The New World
• Pride & Prejudice
• Syriana
• Walk the Line

Best Director

• Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain
• Bennett Miller – Capote
• David Cronenberg – A History of Violence
• Fernando Meirelles – The Constant Gardener
• George Clooney – Good Night and Good Luck
• James Mangold – Walk the Line
• Paul Haggis – Crash
• Peter Jackson – King Kong
• Rob Marshall – Memoirs of a Geisha
• Ron Howard – Cinderella Man
• Stephen Frears – Mrs. Henderson Presents
• Stephen Gaghan – Syriana
• Steven Spielberg – Munich
• Terrence Malick – The New World
• Woody Allen – Match Point

Best Actor

• Anthony Hopkins – The World's Fastest Indian
• Cillian Murphy – Breakfast on Pluto
• David Strathairn – Good Night and Good Luck
• Eric Bana – Munich
• Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain
• Jeff Daniels – The Squid and the Whale
• Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers – Match Point
• Nathan Lane – The Producers
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Capote
• Ralph Fiennes – The Constant Gardener
• Russell Crowe – Cinderella Man
• Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow
• Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• Viggo Mortensen – A History of Violence

Best Actress

• Charlize Theron – North Country
• Claire Danes – Shopgirl
• Felicity Huffman – Transamerica
• Gwyneth Paltrow – Proof
• Joan Allen – The Upside of Anger
• Judi Dench – Mrs. Henderson Presents
• Keira Knightley – Pride & Prejudice
• Naomi Watts – King Kong
• Natasha Richardson – The White Countess
• Q'orianka Kilcher – The New World
• Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line
• Renee Zellweger – Cinderella Man
• Sarah Jessica Parker – The Family Stone
• Toni Collette – In Her Shoes
• Ziyi Zhang – Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Supporting Actor

• Barry Pepper – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• Bob Hoskins – Mrs. Henderson Presents
• Clifton Collins Jr. – Capote
• Craig T. Nelson – The Family Stone
• Don Cheadle – Crash
• Donald Sutherland – Pride & Prejudice
• Frank Langella – Good Night and Good Luck
• George Clooney – Syriana
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Brokeback Mountain
• Matt Dillon – Crash
• Matthew Broderick – The Producers
• Paul Giamatti – Cinderella Man
• Richard Jenkins – North Country
• Terrence Howard – Crash
• William Hurt – A History of Violence

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams – Junebug
• Brenda Blethyn – Pride & Prejudice
• Catherine Keener – Capote
• Diane Keaton – The Family Stone
• Frances McDormand – North Country
• Gong Li – Memoirs of a Geisha
• Laura Linney – The Squid and the Whale
• Maria Bello – A History of Violence
• Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain
• Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener
• Scarlet Johansson – Match Point
• Shirley MacLaine – In Her Shoes
• Taraji Henson – Hustle & Flow
• Thandie Newton – Crash
• Uma Thurman – The Producers

Best Original Screenplay

• Broken Flowers
• Cinderella Man
• Crash
• The Family Stone
• Good Night and Good Luck
• Hustle & Flow
• Match Point
• Me and You and Everyone We Know
• Mrs. Henderson Presents
• The New World
• Syriana
• The Squid and the Whale
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• The Upside of Anger
• Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
• The White Countess

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• The Constant Gardener
• A History of Violence
• In Her Shoes
• Jarhead
• King Kong
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Munich
• North Country
• Pride & Prejudice
• The Producers
• Shopgirl
• Syriana
• Walk the Line

Oscar and his friends

Every year, I make my Oscars predictions, and this year is no exception.

Every year, I also make a fool out of myself with how terribly I do. At any large parties I have attended, I am invariably beaten out by the person in the room who has seen only Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2. Nonetheless, I have decided to open myself up and show you all exactly how horribly I do. Perhaps this courage is what will allow me to go 24 for 24 this year . . . but I'm not counting on it.

ETV Results

While the Oscars ceremony was ongoing, I participated in the Enhanced TV games, trivia, polls, info, etc. It's generally annoying, as you're trying to watch the TV and your computer at the same time. As you can see in the screenshot to the right, I was able to get into the top 3%. I won't tell you how high the scores for the top ten people were, though, because the top 3% sounds impressive.

As usual, I started out spectacularly with 3 of 3, but quickly slipped to 4 of 8. This is precisely what I tried to describe above. Luckily, I ended up with a winning percentage . . . by one. Nonetheless, I'm taking it.

And now, for my results: 13 of 24

• Best Picture
  Winner: Million Dollar Baby
  My pick: The Aviator
• Best Actor
  Winner: Jamie Foxx, Ray
• Best Actress
  Winner: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
• Best Supporting Actor
  Winner: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
• Best Supporting Actress
  Winner: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
• Best Director
  Winner: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
  My pick: Martin Scorsese, The Aviator
• Best Original Screenplay
  Winner: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Best Adapted Screenplay
  Winner: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Sideways
• Animated Feature
  Winner: The Incredibles
• Art Direction
  Winner: The Aviator
• Cinematography
  Winner: The Aviator
• Costume
  Winner: The Aviator
  My pick: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Documentary Feature
  Winner: Born into Brothels
  My pick: Super Size Me
• Documentary Short Subject
  Winner: Mighty Times: The Children's March
  My pick: Autism Is a World
• Film Editing
  Winner: The Aviator
  My pick: Million Dollar Baby
• Foreign Language Film
  Winner: Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside), Spain
• Makeup
  Winner: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
  My pick: The Passion of the Christ
• Original Score
  Winner: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Finding Neverland
• Original Song
  Winner: "Al Otro Lado del Rio", The Motorcycle Diaries
  My pick: "Believe", The Polar Express
• Short Film, Animated
  Winner: Ryan
  My pick: Guard Dog
• Short Film, Live Action
  Winner: Wasp
  My pick: Little Terrorist
• Sound Editing
  Winner: The Incredibles
  My pick: Spider-Man 2
• Sound Mixing
  Winner: Ray
• Visual Effects
  Winner: Spider-Man 2

Oscar and his friends

This post discusses Oscars contests for the Academy Awards that took place on , 2005. For the most recent Oscars posts, be sure to check out the Oscars/Academy Awards category page. There, you should find prediction posts, present and past, and perhaps some other Oscars-related thoughts.

Update: The contest entry windows have all closed! For crying out loud, if you're waiting until now, you've procrastinated longer than I have. Congratulations. You lose.

Every year, I go ahead and look for various Academy Awards predictions contests. Every year I sort through dozens of pages to find a bunch of contests. This year, I figured I would share my findings. Sorry that I'm putting this up so late, but I'm a procrastinator, so I'm just getting it done now. Perhaps next year I'll work on getting this out sooner. In fact, many contests have already ended.

Strategically, you're best off figuring out which picks you will make before you start. Print the official Oscars ballot or EW's pretty ballot and make your picks. That will save you time.

Well, I do have some guidelines I used in picking which sites to show here. I'm not too discriminatory about this, but I do have some limits.

1. You pick the winners. No "enter your name and cross your fingers" stuff here. If you've got knowledge and skill, get them all right and have a better chance than just a regular lottery-style game.
2. English only.
3. No regional contest prizes. I don't care if I win a dinner for two in Vancouver, and you probably don't either. Some regional sites will be used if they offer a generic prize.
4. No Canada. I didn't look at sites from .ca because most of those are restricted to Canadians.
5. Not expired. If the contest expires before some time on Sunday, I noted that fact.
6. I will do my best to skim rules and regulations to confirm what I've mentioned above. No promises that I didn't miss something. It's up to you to read the rules yourself if you care.
7. Of course, I make no claims about spamming resulting from these contests. I myself have created a special e-mail just for contests to catch all the spam (and congratulatory winners' e-mails, of course).

Listings will be of the following format:

• Site name (links directly to contest page) — Description of the page, along with any pertinent restrictions.
  Grand Prize(s) offered. You can read the details for any lesser prizes.

Confirmed contests: I have entered these and confirmed that they abide by my guidelines above. Unless noted, you can enter these until at least midnight before the Oscars ceremony. Some will let you enter right up until the ceremony begins.

• Oscars.com — The official site. Need I say more?
  Ultimate Home Theater System
• CNN.com — Skewed news, nice prize
  32" LCD HDTV; $1000 cash
• HardRock.com — Entry did not work when I tried it first, but worked later.
  Two Red Carpet bleacher seats to the 78th Academy Awards Red Carpet pre-show
• The New York Times — More skewed news, decent prize
  Dream vacation for 2. Destination options: London, England (Finding Neverland); Hollywood, CA (The Aviator); or California's Central Coast wine country (Sideways)
• Movieline
  JVC TH-M505 Home Theater System; 60 Oscar-nominated DVDs
• filmguru.net — Small prizes, but probably a better chance of winning
  $25 Amazon.com gift certificate; FilmGuru.Net t-shirt
• the-numbers.com
  DVDs of your choice
• Quad-Cities Online
  Trip for 4 to Universal Orlando Resort in Florida
• N:Zone
  A Million Dollar Baby "Hit Pit" Hoodie Sweatshirt; A Troy Candle set, t-shirt, hat and envelope opener; A Phantom of the Opera music box, t-shirt, magnets and bracelet; A Ray movie poster; A Sideways golf ball set and polo/golf shirt; The Motorcycle Diaries on DVD
• Miami Herald(click "Enter the Herald's Oscars Contest") — Contest closes Friday, February 25, 2005 at 3 p.m. EST
  Panasonic DIGA DVD Recorder with TV Guide On Screen(TM)
• oregonlive.com — Contest closes Friday, February 25, 2005 at 9 p.m. PST
  20 movie tickets
• scuba.com — Contest closes Saturday, February 26, 2005 at 12 noon PST
  $100 Gift Certificate for scuba.com
• Lexington Herald-Leader — Contest closes Friday, February 25, 2005 at 12 noon PST
  $50 gift certificate to the Lexington restaurant Oscar's; plus $50 in movie tickets; the official Oscars poster
• Box Office Mojo
  one-year Premier Pass on Box Office Mojo

After the Oscars are over, I'll probably post my picks and how they stacked up with the actual winners. I usually do fairly horribly, so it should be funny. Update: I did, in fact, decide to do this. Read my picks here.