The Rest of the Races

Cinematography:

My guess is that Black Swan and Inception will split the trippy vote, paving the way for nine-time nominee Roger Deakins to finally win; this category loves sweeping outdoor vistas, and so this will be the only award for True Grit.

Editing:

The chronology shifts and snappy pace make for an easy win for The Social Network.

Art Direction and Costume Design:

Why, the royal period trappings of The King's Speech, of course!

Score:

The cool choice is Trent Reznor for The Social Network, but the Academy is not being cool this year, so I'm betting on the heart-tugging strings from The King's Speech to give Alexandre Desplat his first win in four nominations.

Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects:

Here is where Inception will shine.

Makeup:

The Wolfman seems to have the most (and the most transformative) makeup, so bet on a whopping seventh Oscar for the maestro Rick Baker.

Song:

The options are pretty lame: You've got Randy Newman and Alan Menkin with the same damn song they've been writing for the last 20 years, and a bland ballad from the critically-panned Country Strong. By process of elimination, the winner is "If I Rise" from 127 Hours, a delicate tune from A.R. Rachman (winner two years ago for "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire) and pop singer Dido.

Animated Feature:

Toy Story 3 will not just win, it might actually get 100% of the vote.

Documentary Feature:

Exit Through the Gift Shop is the conversation piece of this year's telecast, directed by street artist Banksy who keeps his identity secret by only appearing in a mask in public. The Academy has said they will not allow anyone in disguise accept an Oscar (because if five different people in masks come up to accept the award, who do you give it to?) That scenario may scare off as many voters as it may intrigue, so I predict the financial meltdown expose, Inside Job.

Foreign Language Film:

I have no idea, so I looked up what most Oscar experts are predicting, and it's In a Better World from Denmark.