TV Junkie: Oscar Picks - Cocktails & Winners

Our Oscars picks - both classic cocktails and winners

Our Oscars picks - both classic cocktails and winners
Tomorrow's predictably stuffy 83rd Annual Academy Awards might be an experience that starts for you at 11am if you decide to tune into the pre-pre-pre red carpet programming available on E!, and the TV Guide network, among others. Even if you watch just the tail end of the actual red carpet and the awards show itself, you are looking at 4+ hours of TV and the need to liven it up is paramount.

We're not about to provide you with a full list of recipe for homemade canapes because this is an event that the prepared foods counter at your local gourmet supermarket is for. Before we proceed to our misinformed list of (projected) Oscar winners, we'll give you a list of some of the cocktails we'll be relying on to get us through the evening. [If you do have friends coming over, please be sure they have a designated driver or plans to take a taxi home - be aware that taxi services might be slow on a night as busy as tomorrow.]

If there's one thing about cocktail recipes that annoy us, it's the requirement to have a complete collection of obscure unguents that go bad before you have the chance to use more than an ounce from them. All that's needed in the following drinks are champagne, American rye whiskey, gin, bourbon, Angostura bitters, vermouth, lemons/limes, mint, sugar.

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The Oscars are a great time to have a bottle of champagne/sparkling wine. Most people have a bottle rolling around somewhere in their house that they got as a gift or stole from the office. Champagne cocktails can be tasty but there's no way to resurrect a rancid and cheap bottle of champagne into a great cocktail. The wine is the bones of the drink and if it's crap, the cocktail will be crap. You probably want a bottle in the $15-30 range, like a Moet & Chandon or a non-vintage Roederer Estate Brut. We'll be going with Veuve Clicquot because we got one bottle for Christmas and we stole another from some office party we were invited to. Drink it straight or do one of the following 2 cocktails.

Champagne Cocktail - Put a lump of sugar and several dashes of Angostura bitters in the bottom of the glass, fill with champagne, garnish with lemon twists.

Champagne Julep - Lump of sugar in the bottom of the glass, twist/crush a couple sprigs of mint in the bottom of the glass, fill with champagne, throw some slices of fruit in there if you're feeling up to it.

Rickey - This is an old standby that works with bourbon, rum, and gin. We'll be making ours with Bulleit bourbon ($19 at TJ's!) or Bombay Sapphire Gin depending upon what our guests request. In a tall glass squeeze 1/4 of a lemon or 1/2 a lime, then throw in the squeezed fruit, fill with ice, then pour 1 1/2 shots of gin or bourbon, then fill to the top of the glass with seltzer and stir. You can sweeten it up a bit with a tablespoon of simple syrup or a lump of sugar, if you wish.

We'll finish with a couple classy classics made with American rye whiskey. A huge number of classic cocktails come from New York City where the prevalent liquor was rye as bourbon wasn't accepted much above the Mason-Dixon line. You don't have to go with Wild Turkey or Jim Beam yellow-label rye as there are some tasty alternatives, our favorite being Redemption Rye.

The Manhattan (Dry) - Put several ice cubes in a shaker, pour 2 shots of American rye whiskey, 1 shot of dry vermouth, and several shakes of Angostura bitters. Shake or stir and strain into a chilled Martini glass, garnish with a lemon twist.

Old Fashioned - In a rocks/tumbler glass drop in a lump of sugar, douse with several shakes of Angostura bitters, muddle (mash) an orange or lemon peel, throw in some ice and pour 1 1/2 shots of American rye whiskey (or bourbon!), stir, garnish with lemon peel.

Drink plenty of water while you celebrate, eat something, have fun, but have aspirins or whatever you use to combat hangovers handy for your Monday - or go whole hog and finish the night with some single malt Scotches, we'll be drinking the Macallan 18 and the Lagavulin 16 (like Ron Swanson on "Parks and Recreation") paired with some chocolate (65% cocoa maximum).

Sunday's Oscars will be a very long show - a true "Death March With Cocktails." Review our picks for the winners below, make your own list and see how we compare, drop us a note here. Follow us on Twitter as we live tweet the show and mix drinks. As a warm up for tomorrow, watch the Film Independent Spirit Awards tonight at 10pm on IFC and be sure to check outour interview with the host, the incredible Joel McHale. As a host, we're convinced McHale will be far more entertaining at the Spirit Awards than James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be at the Oscars.

Our Picks for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in Biutiful
Jeff Bridges in True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
Colin Firth in The King's Speech - FTW
James Franco in 127 Hours

We liked Jeff Bridges' performance in True Grit and thought he masterfully played the character instead of himself, unlike John Wayne's earlier turn at the role. That being said, the hype around Colin Firth seems insurmountable.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in The Fighter - FTW
John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner in The Town
Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech

It's inconceivable that Christian Bale won't win this.

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman in Black Swan - FTW
Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine

Lot's of strong performances in this category, but we think Portman will get it. She has a lot going for her with the transformative role and she's been doing all the right things this awards season.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech
Melissa Leo in The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit - FTW
Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom

I thought Melissa Leo had this one in the bag but her recent acts of self-promotion might have undermined her chances. With a history of rewarding young actors, we think the Academy will then give the award to Hailee Steinfed for a role that really was the lead.

Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich - FTW

We loved The Illusionist and thoroughly recommend you check it out, but there's no way Toy Story 3 won't win this.

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland - FTW
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

We have to confess we don't know enough about this category but thought that Alice In Wonderland was amazing but also appreciated the realism of True Grit.

Cinematography
Black Swan Matthew Libatique
Inception Wally Pfister - FTW
The King's Speech Danny Cohen
The Social Network Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit Roger Deakins

Another tough one: True Grit was gorgeous and Inception was mind-blowing.

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland Colleen Atwood - FTW
I Am Love Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech Jenny Beavan
The Tempest Sandy Powell
True Grit Mary Zophres

Directing
Black Swan Darren Aronofsky - FTW
The Fighter David O. Russell
The King's Speech Tom Hooper
The Social Network David Fincher
True Grit Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Probably the most competitive category this year, look at that list of directors! We'd love to see the Coen brothers win, but the 10 year process it took Aronofsky to bring his vision to completion will probably win out.

Documentary (Feature)
Exit through the Gift Shop Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
Gasland Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic - FTW
Inside Job Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

There were some great documentaries this year and while Restrepo was amazing, it would be brilliant if Banksy's movie won, but the smart and socially relevant choice would be Gasland. Everyone should see all the movies in this category, they are worth your time.

Documentary (Short Subject)
Killing in the Name Jed Rothstein
Poster Girl Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
Strangers No More Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

We haven't seen any of these and would love your feedback.

Film Editing
Black Swan Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Pamela Martin
The King's Speech Tariq Anwar
127 Hours Jon Harris
The Social Network Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter - FTW

We'd love to see The Social Network win for this, its editing was superb.

Foreign Language Film
Biutiful Mexico - FTW
Dogtooth Greece
In a Better World Denmark
Incendies Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) Algeria

Javier Bardem's performance seems to be powerful enough to bring Biutiful the win.

Makeup
Barney's Version Adrien Morot
The Way Back Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman Rick Baker and Dave Elsey - FTW

We think the old school makeup effects for The Wolfman will get the win.

Music (Original Score)
How to Train Your Dragon John Powell
Inception Hans Zimmer - FTW
The King's Speech Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours A.R. Rahman
The Social Network Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

To us the three contenders here are Inception, 127 Hours, and The Social Network. Of the three, the most conventional score, and it was a beautiful one, was Hans Zimmer's for Inception. We spoke to Zimmer at the Critics Choice Movie Awards in January.

Music (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from Country Strong Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from Tangled Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from 127 Hours Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman - FTW

Whatever happends, please oh please don't let it be the song from Country Strong.

Best Picture
Black Swan Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
The Fighter David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
Inception Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
The Kids Are All Right Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
The King's Speech Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers - FTW
127 Hours Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
The Social Network Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
Toy Story 3 Darla K. Anderson, Producer
True Grit Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
Winter's Bone Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

The hype and marketing of The King's Speech has been relentless and it has been very successful so far this awards season, we think it's strong enough to keep it ahead of Black Swan. Will the Academy will send the Coen brothers away empty-handed?

Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) Bastien Dubois

No idea what to pick here. We saw Day & Night which was both entertaining and technically innovative but we've heard good things about Let's Pollute as well. We just think more people have seen Day & Night.

Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession Tanel Toom
The Crush Michael Creagh
God of Love Luke Matheny
Na Wewe Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

No idea about these but we've heard good things about The Crush.

Sound Editing
Inception Richard King
Toy Story 3 Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague - FTW
True Grit Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable Mark P. Stoeckinger

We'd love to see Tron: Legacy get an award so we're picking it here even though we know it won't win.

Sound Mixing
Inception Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick - FTW
The King's Speech Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips - FTW
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
Inception Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
127 Hours Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin - FTW
Toy Story 3 Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Rapid-fire dialogue based on real events and interviews, classic Sorkin and exciting on film.

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Another Year Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception Written by Christopher Nolan - FTW
The Kids Are All Right Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech Screenplay by David Seidler

Writing a movie that takes one into a dreamworld is a pretty daunting task, and Nolan did a fantastic job - we'll go with the WGA pick on this one.

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Well there you have it - we did great with our SAG awards picks for TV, not so great for film but we're willing to voice our opinion and we welcome yours.