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First, let me get this out of the way: I think The Dark Knight was the best picture I saw last year. For such a high-budget film with an extraordinary amount of hype to not only deliver the action, but actually add depth to the Batman mythos, was a remarkable accomplishment. Why wasn’t it nominated for Best Picture? IMHO, much like the Heisman Trophy will never go to an offensive lineman, Oscar simply does not seem willing to hand over their little golden man over to a “comic book” movie, regardless of its quality (though they don’t seem to mind the cash flow these comic book movies bring in every summer).

That said, it’s time to focus on the films that are nominated, with my fearless predictions for who will walk away with Oscar come next Sunday, Feb 22:

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1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

   
2. Frost/Nixon

   
3. Milk

   
4. The Reader

   
5. Slumdog Millionaire

The nominations for Milk and Slumdog Millionaire are generally considered expected and deserved, as well as, to a lesser extent, Frost/Nixon. The two most “questionable” nominations (as well as the ones most viewed as “stealing” The Dark Knight’s spot) are The Reader and Benjamin Button. I think The Reader can be ruled out of winning because it has received some mixed reviews, as well as a bit of a backlash against its nomination (with some pointing out that it is becoming known more for Kate Winslet’s nude scenes than its Holocaust theme). Furthermore, there has also been a bit of a surprising backlash against Benjamin Button as well, with some critics dismissing it as “Forrest Gump 2.0” (from the director and star of Se7en of all things!).

London Critics' Circle Film awards honored Slumdog Millionaire, Kate Winslet, and the Wrestler. Darren Aronofsky's the Wrestler surprised some by taking home Best Film. Slumdog Millionaire took home British film, British director and screenwriter of the year and Kate Winslet won for Best Actress of the year.

Netflix posted a 45% spike in fourth-quarter profit Monday, attesting to the appeal of its mail-delivered DVD service during the onset of the recession.

“Consumers embraced the Netflix experience in near record numbers last quarter” said Reed Hastings,Netflix co-founder and chief executive officer, “with growth in our core DVD offering and growing momentum with internet streaming.”

The company's subscriber base grew 27% during 2008 to reach 9.4 million. About 718,000 subscriptions have been added since the September quarter.

Netflix now predicts its subscriber base will crack the 10 million mark by the end of the first quarter.

Andy Baio over at Waxy.org has been keeping track of the illegal online distribution of Oscar nominated films since 2003.

Here's what he found:

" Out of 26 nominated films, an incredible 23 films are already available in DVD quality on nomination day, ripped either from the screeners or the retail DVDs. This is the highest percentage since I started tracking.

Only three films are unavailable — Rachel Getting Married wasn't leaked online in any form, while Changeling is only available as a low-quality telecine transfer and Australia as a terrible quality camcorder recording. (Update: A DVD screener of Australia was just leaked today.)

Other findings:

• Academy members received screeners for at least 20 of the 26 films.


• 25 out of 26 films leaked in some form online, if you include camcorder recordings.


• The average time from the time screeners are received by Academy members to its leak online is 6 days."

The Academy has released their short list for Best Foreign-Language Film. The two top contenders are Lauren Cantet's urban high school drama , which received the Palme D'or at Cannes, and Ari Folman's animated anti-war autobiography Waltz With Bashir, which just won a Golden Globe this past weekend.

Nine films were chosen from a field of 65 eligible titles. The remaining films are:

Austria's Revanche
Canada's The Necessities of Life
Germany's The Baader Meinhof Complex (pictured: Moritz Bleibtreu and Martina Gedeck)
Japan's Departures
Mexico's Tear This Heart Out
Sweden's Everlasting Moments
Turkey, 3 Monkeys

The final five nominated films will be announced on January 22.

It's surprising that the inventor of firewire will be the end of firewire. Said person is Steve Jobs.

I was ecstatic for the Macbook but the excitement quickly faded when I learned there would be no firewire outlet. Even worse is there doesn't seem to be an alternative solution or fix other than buying the Macbook Pro for 600 dollars more.

When searching for a solution I just find more upset people with the same problem I'm having, not being able to export from my current HD video camera to my Macbook.

So I ask, is Steve Jobs an extortionist?