One Category at a Time: Original Score

Best Original Score feels kinda wide open this year. Sure, you could essentially eliminate the two nominees that aren't also up for Best Picture, but of the other three, any of them could win.

IFMCA nominees

Composers in Hollywood don't have a guild or trade group to give us hints as to Oscar potential like other craft sectors, but each year we get to see what the International Film Music Critics Association thinks represents the best of the year, and it's always a treat! The organization drops their nominees well after Oscar nominations, and with a plethora of categories, they often spotlight artists that the Academy's insular branch overlooks, like TRON Legacy's Daft Punk two years ago or Drive's Cliff Martinez last year.

This year's nominees include wonderful but sadly Oscar-snubbed scores like Cloud Atlas, Rise of the Guardians, The Dark Knight Rises, and others. The biggest presence on this slate is enjoyed by Alexandre Desplat, with four nominations including Composer of the Year (he's gotta win that one, right?).

Film Score of the Year
Cloud Atlas (Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Howard Shore)
The Impossible (Fernando Velázquez)
Life of Pi (Mychael Danna)
Lincoln (John Williams)

I'm guessing this comes down to the two Oscar nominees, Lincoln and Life of Pi. They gave it to Williams last year, and it looks like Mychael Danna is on route to Oscar, so it might be his to lose.

One Category at a Time: Original Song

After several years of embarrassment culminated in last year's laughable pair of Best Original Song nominees, the music branch finally got a clue and decided to abolish their asinine grading system, instead just letting the five songs with the most votes be the nominees. They also went the route of screener DVDs, allowing music branch members to evaluate clips of all eligible songs from the comfort of their own home.

The rule changes have instantly paid off with a respectable slate of tunes which we'll probably hear performed on Oscar night. That basically is what this category is for.

Golden Globes live blog

So yeah, like everyone else on the net, I'll be live-blogging the Golden Globes when they begin in about three and a half hours time. Check back for updates throughout the evening.

7:33 - Usual banter on the red carpet. The women look cold. Apparently it's chilly out on the West coast tonight.

7:53 - Got my laptop. Got my port. Let's get this party started.

7:55 - Shameless Quartet plug by Dustin Hoffman. Supose I shouldn't prejudge (but I heard it's awful).

8:04 - "When it comes to torture, I trust the women who spent three years married to James Cameron" ZING! Fey and Poeller were great. Laughed at almost every joke.

8:09 - Supporting Actor: Goes to... Christoph Waltz in  Django Unchained. Weinstein at work, as always.