A fortune told.

I walked through a misty dark alley far from the well walked pavement of the city. Here the sounds of the city were distant and muffled. No cars or the murmur of the crowd in this part of town, just the whisper of cats, and the scent of memories.

I reached my destination, an old red wooden door. The once bright paint was faded and peeling, but the wood still looked stout and strong.

I knocked fervently three times and waited.  After what seemed like an hour in that dank mysterious alleyway before I heard the shuffle of feet  and the door opened to reveal a wrinkled gnome like woman, in a bright blue and golden head scarf. It has tiny bells o it, so she tinkled musically she bobbed her head in recognition.

She let me into that dark and shadowy place and led me to a seat.  She left me there, in a comfortable if ancient seeming red velvet chair.  Soon a young khol eyed woman approached me.  We stared at each other before the ritual began.

"Do you want the usual hun?"

"Yes please. I responded."

"One cubana coffee and a belgioan biscuit coming right up!"


Ok so enough of that whimsy here are my oscar picks. lets see if I am right tonight?

My picks for the  84th Annual Academy Awards:

ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE
George Clooney in "The Descendants"

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Rango" Gore Verbinski

ART DIRECTION
"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

CINEMATOGRAPHY
"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

DIRECTING
"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"A Separation" Iran

MAKEUP
"Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

BEST PICTURE
"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer

VISUAL EFFECTS
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY) 
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen

I have not picked all the categories as I am not familar with them all. But I think based on previous awards and the film these are my picks, for better or worse.

Ok I'll cover what happened tonight.