Additional thoughts...

Now that I've had a chance to digest this morning proceedings, here are some of my thoughts:

• I really am surprised that The Dark Knight didn't get in for Best Picture and even MORE surprised that Christopher Nolan didn't get a Best Director nod. The Academy has been concerned about the ratings and critics have been bemoaning how out of touch the Academy is with the general public. There was a sense that this year could buck that trend with two critical and fan favorites that could wind up with a Best Picture nomination, The Dark Knight and Wall-e. Swing and a miss.
  
  
• Surprised that Dev Patel didn't pick up a supporting actor nomination for Slumdog Millionaire. He certainly had enough precursor support, including a SAG nomination. If Slumdog wins Best Picture, which, currently it's certainly the early favorite, it will be the 11th time a film has won Best Picture without a single acting nomination. The last film to do so? The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2003.
  
  
• I don't get the lovefest for The Reader. I guess it just goes to show that the Academy loves their Holocaust-themed films. But props to Stephen Daldry, he's directed 3 feature films, and has scored a Best Director nomination for each of them; Billy Elliot, The Hours and now Also somewhat upset that THIS is the performance that Kate Winslet was nominated for, her performance in Revolutionary Road was nothing short of exquisite.
  
  
• Pumped for Brad Pitt's nomination in Benjamin Button, but this seems to be a case of the Academy making up for past mistakes- he should have been nominated (and won) for Babel in 2006.
  
  
• Bummed that Bruce Springsteen didn't get a nomination for Best Original Song for "The Wrestler"...in fact, Slumdog Millionaire picked up double noms in Best Original Song for "Jai Ho" and "O Saya"...don't really think "O Saya" needed to be there. BUT! VERY excited that "I Thought I Lost You" was NOT nominated, I wouldn't be able to handle "Academy Award Nominee Miley Cyrus".
  
  
• Speaking of Bolt -it's nominated for Best Animated Feature over Waltz with Bashir....SERIOUSLY?!
  

Other than that, I'm pretty content with the nominations, although I do think that the ceremony is going to be a snooze fest, there are definite front-runners in each category. So here are the big winners this morning

13 Nominations
including Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher),
Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Best Supporting Actress (Taraji P. Henson)
Best Adapted Screenplay

10 Nominations
including Best Picture, Best Director (Danny Boyle),
Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score (A.R. Rahman),
Best Cinematography, Best Editing

8 Nominations
including Best Picture, Best Director (Gus Van Sant),
Best Actor (Sean Penn), Best Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin),
Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score (Danny Elfman)

8 Nominations
including Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger),
Best Cinematography, Best Editing,
Best Visual Effects

6 Nominations
including Best Animated Feature, Best Original Screenplay,
Best Original Score (Thomas Newman), Best Original Song "Down To Earth"

5 Nominations
including Best Picture, Best Director (Ron Howard),
Best Actor (Frank Langella), Best Adapted Screenplay

5 Nominations
including Best Picture, Best Director (Stephen Daldry),
Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Adapted Screenplay

5 Nominations
including Best Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Supporting Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman),
Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis)

Check out oscar.com for the full list of nominations.

For early predictions, I'm gonna go with Slumdog Millionaire taking Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Song, Kate Winslet for Best Actress, Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actor, Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor, In Bruges for Best Original Screenplay (a longshot), Wall-e for Best Animated Feature and Waltz with Bashir for Best Foreign Language Film.

As for my nominees predictions? I was 29/48 (60%) and 34/48 (70%) with alternates...not terrible, but not great either.....

ok, enough for now, I have to get some work done today