The show may or may not get higher ratings than the American Idol finale, but the subject of who will host and produce the 82nd Academy Awards telecast remains Hollywood's perennial obsession.

Sick of trying to decide which of the five Best Picture nominees will win in your Oscar pool? Well, now you'll get to decide between ten! Yes, in a move to attract more ratings, the Academy is widening the race.

Penélope Cruz's Oscar victory may have been a great moment for Spain, but it was a terrible tragedy for America because it has forced statistician Nate Silver to break up with his greatest love: numbers.

Lady actors don't win Oscars based on film performances; it's all about giving the best acceptance speech. And the dirty, dirty Academy demands an orgasmic experience (or at least someone who can fake it well).

With Slumdog Millionaire sweeping the Academy Awards — eight Oscars including best picture — and Kate Winslet taking best actress for The Reader, only Sean Penn's best actor win for Milk managed to surprise.

Penelope Cruz busts Nate Silver's picks in just 18 minutes

Evening! The celebrities are stumbling down the red carpet into the Kodak Theater for the Academy Awards right now. Keep checking here for updates on all the fashionz. Also, someone please smack Ben Lyons.

All the major Oscar categories are pretty much locked up. Slumdog, Winslet, Ledger, etc. So where will Oscar pools be won and lost? In the tiny, shitty categories. Let's attempt a lesser categories betting guide.

• Hope you're sitting down for this one. Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa had a baby yesterday. It was a boy. And he will now bear a burden for the rest of his life: His parents named him Donald J. Trump III. [People]
• Lindsay Lohan is launching a self-tanning line called Stay Gold. Finally! [NYDN]
• "Real Housewife" Bethenny Frankel was spotted using coupons at a hair salon. [P6]
• After dating for about half a century, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart may finally be ready to get hitched. [Cindy Adams]
• Please note that Walter Cronkite is not related to social/art scenester Kipton Cronkite, despite his claims to the contrary. [P6]

Every year someone starts moaning about the Academy Award voting procedures, saying they're unfair. This year it's the Wall Street Journal. They imagine a terrible alternate past in which Ishtar wins Best Picture.

The producers of this year's Oscars would really like you to watch the awards ceremony. Especially you, easily-marketed-to young men. They've even convinced your God, Judd Apatow, to do a short film!

Oscar front-runner Slumdog Millionaire has received some criticism of late for cultural insensitivity. Are these legitimate complaints, or are they accusations trumped-by by rival films trying to chip away at the Slumdog's awards buzz?

Why was Kate Winslet—so likable usually—all wheezy and deeply humbled and annoying as she accepted her Screen Actors Guild award last night? Because that's how actresses and actors (especially black ones) audition for Academy Awards.

The Gay Superbowl nominations have been announced. Let's go category by category (well, only for the big ones) and take a look at the surprises and, if we can make such predictions, the likely winners.

The Oscar nominations are being announced! We expect Vantage Point and My Best Friends Girl to dominate in all categories. I'll give my reactions, live, after the jump.

You've read our other nomination prognostications; now, who will challenge Slumdog Millionaire for the Best Picture Oscar? No one—the real question is whether Wall-E can claim that final spot. So what do we think?

• Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helù has pumped $250 million into the beleaguered New York Times Co. [NYT]
• Newsday's editor-in-chief and managing editor have been absent from the office the past few days and it's still unclear what exactly happened. [NYP]
• Matt Cooper has joined Talking Points Memo as editor-at-large. [Politico]
• For the first time, movie ads will appear during this year's Oscars. [AdAge]
• NBC says 90 percent of its Super Bowl ads have been sold. [AP]
• Jennifer Aniston on the cover of Vogue in December and GQ in January provided a nice boost to both titles. [WWD]

The Best Actress category may be easy to penetrate, but the Best Actor slot is still a tight squeeze. Wait, what? You all have dirty minds. Here are the likely nominees, you pervs:

Enough of those supporting actors and actresses—let's get to some bigshots! The Best Actress category could go five for five with A-list female stars, but is the most famous contender the likeliest to get shafted?

Might the typically veteran-heavy Best Director category find itself filled with four men who've never been nominated here before? We say yes—if, that is, Oscar voters are over Ron Howard.