Oscar Roundup

You keep hoping for something surprising, and they rarely deliver.

The Oscar nominees are the same names you were expecting. Here's an idea--how about not nominating Meryl Streep one year? That would have given room for the actual best female performance, Sally Hawkins. I guess the strain of nominating Melissa Leo was just so much we couldn't expect that.

My favorite nomination is best adapted screenplay for Benjamin Button, since that was like adapting a Bazooka Joe comic into a movie.

I guess the biggest slight was the snubbing of Gran Torino. Meanwhile, they sure gave a lot of love to The Reader.