Pick the Oscars!

Less than 24 hours from now, Salma Hayek will sashay across the stage at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences headquarters in Beverly Hills - and, after the gathered masses pick their tongues off of the floor, she will help announce this years batch of Oscar nominations. At this point, only a very few humans know who those lucky few will be. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us can't guess. For the past several years, I've been sending my Oscar prediction to a select few friends so they can point and laugh at how far off I am. This year, I figure, why not share my ineptitude with the rest of the universe. Thus spake Dave.

5:30 a.m. L.A. time is when we will know for sure. I'll mix the bloody Marys - though I won't be having one myself.

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Wild Card: Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond; Michael Sheen, The Queen

Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Wild Card: Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration

Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Wild Card: Sasha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Wild Card: Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls

Director
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Wild Card: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel; Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Little Miss Sunshine

Picture
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Wild Card: Letters from Iwo Jima; United 93