E.K. NATION

SUPPORTING ACTOR: What we got right: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed. What we missed: Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children; Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond.

Now that Eddie Murphy has been nominated, it must be said, with a sigh, we have to see Dreamgirls now. And we're really not sure how we feel about this. We have to go out in public to do so. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, but we really enjoy being heterosexual...Are we going to be gay afterwards? Speaking of the Bad News Bears (which we weren't), Kelly Leak got nominated.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: What we got right: Adrianna Barazza, Babel; Cate Blanchett, Notes On A Scandal; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel. What we missed: Nothing.

Good for little Abigail Breslin, who is all of, like, three years old. We haven't checked yet but she might be the youngest nominee ever. We'll get back to you on this one.

ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz, Volver; Judi Dench, Notes On A Scandal; Helen Mirren, The Queen, Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet, Little Children. What we missed: Nothing.

Wow. Ten-for-ten on the women acting nominations. Maybe we are good at this after all.

ACTOR: What we got right: Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole, Venus; Will Smith, The Pursuit Of Happyness; Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland. What we missed: Leonardo diCaprio, Blood Diamond.

We understand that it is a bit of a surprise that diCaprio was nominated for Blood Diamond and not The Departed, and that Gosling was nominated at all; we heard there was a lot of good stuff being said about his performance but that he would be a long shot to get in.

DIRECTOR: What we got right: Stephen Frears, The Queen; Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu, Babel; Martin Scorsese, The Departed. What we missed: Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima; Paul Greengrass, United 93.

From our vantage point, it looks like it is finally the year Martin Scorsese wins an Oscar. Congratulations in advance, Marty. Honorable mention (if a nominated film can get such a designation): Completing a masterful telling of one of the September 11 flights is the final shot in Paul Greengrass' United 93; it's one of the most chilling closings we've ever seen, although we suppose this would have as much or more to do with cinematographer Barry Ackroyd. And we're not in the habit of predicting that category, so we thought we'd mention it here.

PICTURE: What we got right: Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen. What we missed: Letters From Iwo Jima.

We figured, just like everyone else, that Dreamgirls would at least be nominated here. So, we got one wrong. We don't feel bad; everyone else got it wrong too.

Our early picks to win are Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren for lead acting (these are locks), Alan Arkin and Jennifer Hudson for supporting acting (these are guesses), Scorsese for directing, and The Departed for Best Picture (the last two are locks as well). And as for our claim that this year would be the worst in E.K. Nation history for predicting the nominations? Well, we got 24 of 30 right, second-best in this blog's four-year history. This doesn't make up for our losing up sports predictions year after year.