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The more I think about yesterday, the more it seems like an episode of Peyton Place, or perhaps like one of the Inarritu-Arriaga films with three bizarrely inter-connected stories. If only...

First, I was shocked to learn that a guy from a privileged background with whom I grew up had been arrested over the weekend for breaking into a woman's residence and sexually assaulting her. Then, I was delighted to celebrate the 100th birthday of one of my grandmother's dearest friends. And, finally, I accompanied my mother to the hospital where she works, and was deeply saddened to encounter in the lobby one of our oldest and dearest friends, who tearfully told us that his wife was upstairs and had only days—perhaps only hours—left to live.

Life: a perfectly good one is thrown away; another goes on longer than most of us can even fathom; and a third nears its end far, far too soon.

This, direct from MSNBC.com, is quite possibly the funniest "news" headline/article that I have ever come across... if you're not laughing, you must be dead inside.

As I prepare to finalize my own predictions, I thought I'd make a few more calls to friends who are also Academy members to see who/what they ended up voting for on their ballots. I will add to this list as I hear back from them...

ACTRESS
A legendary star of the stage and screen who accumulated several Oscar nominations and one win during the Golden Age...

• Best Picture: Atonement
• Best Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men)
• Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
• Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
• Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War)
• Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee (American Gangster)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton (Atonement)
• Best Original Screenplay: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava (Ratatouille)

Other sentiments: "Really liked Atonement"; "loved Ratatouille"; had no reservations about watching La Vie En Rose due to subtitles; was not bothered by the ending of No Country; is supporting Dee "because of the performance," not any sense of debt

WRITER
A screenwriter who won an Oscar during the seventies...

• Best Picture: Juno
• Best Director: Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
• Best Actor: Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah)
• Best Actress: Ellen Page (Juno)
• Best Supporting Actor: Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)
• Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
• Best Original Screenplay: Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl)

Other sentiments: Thought Juno was "a wonderful film"; hated There Will Be Blood and "turned it off" before the end; found No Country to be glorification of violence; went into Diving Bell hating Schnabel and came out respecting his unique vision and Harwood's screenplay; was "thrilled" Tommy Lee Jones got nominated; "very tempted" to vote for Cody, but feels Oliver's screenplay was the toughest to make work, and that she succeeded

ACTOR
One of the greatest character actors ever who, ironically, won an Oscar for a leading role

• Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
• Best Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men)
• Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
• Best Actress: Julie Christie (Away from Her)
• Best Supporting Actor: Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild)
• Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men)
• Best Original Screenplay: Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)

Other sentiments: "They don't make 'em like we used to make 'em," but No Country was "not too shabby"; "the young guy who played the oilman" did "a pretty terrific job"; Juno was "alright, but left you wanting more"; voting for Holbrook "because of his longevity, and he's done some mighty, mighty fine work... not for his performance or anything, although that wasn't bad either"

For whatever reason, a couple of videos destined for viral greatness hit the net this weekend. The first features Will Ferrell, who was at CNBC to record an interview with John McEnroe, bursting onto the set of another show as it was airing live. The female co-host seems to be in on the joke, but the male co-host is obviously bewildered and unaware of the identity of his guest...

The second clip comes (via Hollywood-Elsewhere) from Jimmy Kimmel Live in which the eponymous host's wife is a guest and surprises him with the news that she has been having an affair with Matt Damon, who gamely participates in the joke...

• I got a call this morning from the Associated Press seeking comment about this morning's strong showing by Juno, the awards prospects of which I have championed since Toronto. The piece has since posted, and you can check it out here. (I also spoke with USA Today for a broader piece on the nominations, and that will appear in tomorrow's print edition.)
  
• Speaking of Juno, tomorrow afternoon I'll be chatting with the film's director, the newly-minted Oscar nominee Jason Reitman, a great guy and unexpected but very worthy contender.
• Also just confirmed that I'll be speaking with celebutante-turned-actress Paris Hilton early next month when she will be in town to promote her latest film, The Hottie and the Nottie, and to be roasted by Harvard University. I imagine the whole thing will be somewhat surreal...

There are several Oscar-related videos that hit the web over the past week or so and are worth a look...

To begin with, Tom O'Neil of the Los Angeles Times' Oscar site The Envelope has posted a humorous and smart video in which he reviews the prospects of the seven major Best Picture contenders—No Country for Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, There Will Be Blood, Juno, Into the Wild, Michael Clayton, and Atonement—and struggles to let go of his personal favorite, Sweeney Todd, which he laid to rest on his site earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, David Ansen of Newsweek gathered six of the major acting contenders—Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Ellen Page (Juno), George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), and James McAvoy (Atonement)—for the magazine's annual Oscar roundtable... only now they record the chat, which we used to only see in transcript form. The video is well worth a look, if only to see these great talents question and interact with each other. (Everyone fawns over an uncomfortable Day-Lewis, Page looks stunned to be sandwiched between Day-Lewis and Clooney, and Clooney and McAvoy hit it off with a running joke about Clive Owen... the biggest surprise, actually, might be how fun a guy McAvoy seems to be, at one point challenging Clooney, "You want to fight to me?")

Also, if anyone had any doubts that Ellen Page is here and here to stay, they evaporated when she (joined by Diablo Cody and Jennifer Garner) got a ringing endorsement from Oprah Winfrey (the Queen of the World) on her show this week. Check it out. David Poland gets sloppy seconds—actually, in fairness, he spoke with Ellen before the Big O—in this longer form chat.

Even more interesting was Poland's chat with Saoirse Ronan, the precocious thirteen year scene-stealer of Atonement who is vastly less creepy and more likable in real life than in the film. (One side thought, though: Dave, she's Irish, not Jewish... she doesn't know what "mishagas" means! Haha.)

I recently emailed a friend, who is an Academy member and Oscar-winning screenwriter, seeking his current views on the awards race. Here, in its entirety, is what he volunteered:

Remind me again after the nominations. I've only seen a few of the films so far.

From the few I've seen, I'd be q. content if Juno got the prize for Original Script. But maybe something's better.

More & more, they are playing for that first big weekend... which can only be due to anticipation, not exactly merit... Will Smith as the last guy on Earth just broke the record. That doesn't mean the movie was a bad one, however... just mildly prejudices me against it.

I came to this hilarious, profanity-laced positive review of Enchanted (Disney) via RedCarpetDistrict. Odd as it may seem, there is something about a grown man cheerfully discussing a G-rated Disney princess and then suddenly flipping out that is utterly hilarious...