The 2018 Quizbowl Oscar Pool

[nycaqb1999]

Hej!

In previous years, I've run an Oscar pool among friends and family, but now I've decided to make one for the Greater Quizbowl Community.

How it works:

Enter your predictions in the Google Form below. Each category has a point value that is loosely related to its importance as an award. This is possibly somewhat arbitrary but also very fun, and the way I've been doing this for like 5 years. The form will be open until the first awards are given on March 4th. Note: Vote for who you think will win, not who you think should win.

What's at stake:

A bottle of water.

How do I participate?

Voila: https://goo.gl/forms/zIH1Z9AzGg1Lmx6T2

Happy Hunting,

Max

[UlyssesInvictus]

Using this thread to pontificate loosely about the Oscars and distract myself from the Pats losing (yes, I know I'm in the tiny minority here.)

- This has got to be one of my favorite Oscars candidate slates ever. Maybe it's just because I got a MoviePass and was finally able to actually see all the Best Pic noms, but I feel like a lot of the top films this year would have been very strong candidates in other years.
- I'm honestly kind of surprised by how much del Toro has been winning in the pre-Oscars awards. I thought Shape of Water was great--and it's my pick for Best Picture, both in terms of what I think will win and what I want to win--but I would have thought that Gerwig would have won at least some of those awards. Similar sentiments about McDonagh. I thought that the film really fizzled in the spotlight when it came out in the fall, but a bunch of awards for McDormand (deserved), Rockwell (eh, I guess), and McDonagh (maybe for screenplay, not director) has really pushed it back into the lead.
- On the note of Gerwig, I loved Lady Bird, and, again, I'm really surprised that Gerwig didn't win some of del Toro's awards. (She's def. my pick for who should win Best Director, and less earnestly my pick for who will win.) Del Toro has won before, for a movie that's way too similar to Shape of Water, whereas Lady Bird felt incredibly novel, and would seemingly relate to a lot of the Academy base. (I loved the editing, in particular.) Not to mention that, you know, a female director finally. (Though, on that note: thank god Wonder Woman wasn't nominated, like some people were throwing out there.)
- I know exactly why Gary Oldman is going to win, and good for him, but it always kind of sucks when this sort of Oscar-bait "career award" (see also: Scorsese, Dicaprio) beats out what's probably a better performance. (Chalemet or Kaluuya. Personally I wasn't that wowed by Kaluuya, but I could see why it was well done. Plus, way to go on getting nommed from a horror film.) I kind of wanted to see DDL go out swinging on yet another award, but I think Commissioner Gordon has this locked up.
- And yet, in spite of all these reliable picks, I feel like it's totally anyone's game. Del Toro could truly sweep, or McDonagh could, or we could get the classic "horse trading" votes, with everyone getting something to take home. Really excited for this one! It'll be hard to top the ending to last year's Oscars.
- Interested to see how Oscars will address MeToo and Time'sUp. I'm happy the issues are being addressed, but the Oscars has a disappointing pattern of blandly trying to avoid making waves rather than making a statement. Just remember how long it took for Weinstein to actually be expelled from the Academy.
- Pretty sad about 2049 not getting more love, but I sort of expected it given the genre and the poor box office. I'm preaching to the choir in the QB community (I think?), but as long as Deakins wins at last, I think that's about as good as can be hoped for.
- Excited for Kobe to get an Oscar! Can he get the prestigious M[VP]EGOT ?

[Charm Bison]

Minor nitpick: del Toro hasn't actually won an Oscar. He was nominated twice for Pan's Labyrinth (Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film), but didn't win either award.

[UlyssesInvictus]

Minor nitpick: del Toro hasn't actually won an Oscar. He was nominated twice for Pan's Labyrinth (Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film), but didn't win either award.

Wow, that's actually really surprising: I don't know why I thought Pan's Labyrinth won both Best Pic and Best Director. This makes a little more sense as to why he's doing well this year.

[Charm Bison]

Wow, that's actually really surprising: I don't know why I thought Pan's Labyrinth won both Best Pic and Best Director. This makes a little more sense as to why he's doing well this year.

Yeah, he lost both to The Departed. Good year.

[Panayot Hitov]

I don't see how Lady Bird would relate especially well with the Academy, what's your reasoning?

[UlyssesInvictus]

It's a movie about a person who tries to ditch the suburbs for the glamor of city life. I guess that's just the Ur-Myth of "caveman leaves cave," but I think it's done in Lady Bird in a way that resonates with trying to make it big in LA. (Maybe La La Land is just still on my mind, and I'm painting with a wide brush.)

[Sam]

It's a movie about a person who tries to ditch the suburbs for the glamor of city life. I guess that's just the Ur-Myth of "caveman leaves cave," but I think it's done in Lady Bird in a way that resonates with trying to make it big in LA. (Maybe La La Land is just still on my mind, and I'm painting with a wide brush.)

The Sacramento insults extend even beyond the film itself, into commentary of it.

[A Lust-Fanned Dairy Tale]

It's a movie about a person who tries to ditch the suburbs for the glamor of city life. I guess that's just the Ur-Myth of "caveman leaves cave," but I think it's done in Lady Bird in a way that resonates with trying to make it big in LA. (Maybe La La Land is just still on my mind, and I'm painting with a wide brush.)

I've honestly got to agree with Nero, though. It's an excellent coming of age movie, but compared to what else is nominated this year, it feels a little too... slight. I think the Academy might just be biased against teen COA movies (this is me still being bitter over the complete and utter snubbing of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which I thought was brilliant, in 2012). The horrible cynic in me says that they might've just wanted to include a woman director for once, after all the Me Too/Time's Up stuff this year. I think Saoirse Ronan has a good shot at Best Actress and Gerwig has a decent (but less sure) shot at Best Director.

I'm also actually really (pleasantly!) surprised at all the love for Shape of Water this year. The Academy is usually so biased against any super-genre (sci-fi, fantasy, hardcore action) films outside of technicals, but who knows, after Mad Max won the most awards of the night two years ago maybe the tide is changing.

[nycaqb1999]

How do the BAFTAs change your predix for the Oscars?

[UlyssesInvictus]

Baftas definitely solidify at least one win for Del Toro. I still feel like Director and Picture will split, like they've been doing recently, but I honestly can't tell at all who Del Toro will split with. I guess I'll show favoritism and give him Best Director and Lady Bird best film.

[UlyssesInvictus]

Is it possible to get a publicly editable copy of the pool form? Was hoping to run this with some non-QB friends, and I like the format + that you already filled out it.

[nycaqb1999]

PM me your email and I can send along a template

[bradleykirksey]

Note: Vote for who you think will win, not who you think should win.

I'm really curious what would happen if we did it the other way. I'm mostly just wondering because it killed me to choose against Nolan for best director.

[nycaqb1999]

Note: Vote for who you think will win, not who you think should win.

I'm really curious what would happen if we did it the other way. I'm mostly just wondering because it killed me to choose against Nolan for best director.

I can't make any predictions, but I've yet to meet a human being in real life who is genuinely more excited about Three Billboards than any other movie this year. I saw it, I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I certainly won't be super excited if it wins.

[El Salvadoreno]

Note: Vote for who you think will win, not who you think should win.

I'm really curious what would happen if we did it the other way. I'm mostly just wondering because it killed me to choose against Nolan for best director.

I can't make any predictions, but I've yet to meet a human being in real life who is genuinely more excited about Three Billboards than any other movie this year. I saw it, I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I certainly won't be super excited if it wins.

Hello there, nice to meet you, I'm Ricky and I love Three Billboards.

To me, it was one of the few movies I left genuinely surprised by. McDonagh had the guts to go darker than a lot of films usually would, that's why I am voting for him. Get Out is up there but a) I'm not sure it can win pragmatically and b) I appreciated the rawness of Three Billboards more.

So, hey there.

[bradleykirksey]

So. how many members of the academy do you think got the irony of giving Kobe an Oscar on the night that they celebrated "Time's Up" and "Me Too"?

[34 + P.J. Dozier]

So. how many members of the academy do you think got the irony of giving Kobe an Oscar on the night that they celebrated "Time's Up" and "Me Too"?

And Gary Oldman. Ugh.

[merv1618]

Any word on how this went

[nycaqb1999]

Yeah final results:

Total Scores
105 Sam Brochin Hunter
104 Lawrence Simon University of Virginia
103 Max The cheaters school of feelin bad (Bard, this is me)
102 Aakash none
102 Derek McGill
100 Krishna Girish AMC Brooklyn PU College (lol)
99 Bradley Kirksey RTS
95 Renato Trinity
94 jake trinity
90 Kevin Kodama OPRFHS
89 Isaiah Ithaca
81 Milan Fernandez University of Toronto
78 William “Not Holden” Golden James E. Taylor High School
78 Raynor ex-Harvard
78 Conrad Oberhaus Stevenson HS
77 Paul Kirk-Davidoff Carleton College
75 Evan Suttell Michigan State
74 Maya Nalawade Darien Highschool
70 Ricky Notre Dame du Lac
70 Wonyoung Jang Belmont High School
70 Kenneth Martin Evanston Township High School
70 Adam Sperber Northwestern (alum)
68 Benjamin Kirk Ithaca High School
68 Sameen Nyu
64 Sunil Mahajan University of Florida
63 John petrovich Purdue
61 Victor Prieto Penn State
61 Tejas BHSU
61 Chris BHSEC
60 Rachel Yang Hunter College High School
57 Ian Baram University of Chicago
53 Zachary Knecht University of Florida
53 Elliott Koriath Stevenson High School
53 Billy Steve
51 Morgan Venkus Chicago
51 Chloe Levine Hunter (aka Brick Prison)
49 Ujwal Brown University
49 Charlie Mccollum Trinity School
49 Eric Douglass University of South Carolina
46 Sharath Narayan James Clemens High School
45 Sashwat Venkatesh Downingtown STEM
41 Vaishakh Stevenson
41 Grant RM
40 Joe Nutter school of hard knocks
39 Kelin Maggie Walker
39 Emily Dickson Pitt
39 Dinis Trindade University of Missouri-Columbia
38 Ellie Cambridge (UK)
37 Evan Knox University of Georgia
36 Alex Dzurick Unaffiliated in the Philadelphia area (Un-a-Philly-ated)
33 Richard Chen Friends Select School
33 Stromberti Auburn E. Stevenson High School
33 Beth hosek University of dayton
32 Michael Borecki Bowdoin
30 Delaynie Fritz Texas
30 Mimi Trinity
30 Minda Moe UC Davis
30 Lev Bernstein (is picking randomly) Bard High School Early College
29 Jonathan Ong McGill
29 Luc Wetherbee Cornell
28 Maddie Hendrick Florida State
27 Alan Michigan State
26 Govind(Achu) Prabhakar Stevenson High
25 grant tj
24 Dan Nguyen Manheim Township
23 Partha Rao Crystal springs Uplands
23 Vasa Clarke Virginia
22 Manith Luthria Carnegie Vanguard
21 Nicholas Czerny St. Mark's A
15 Briana Magin MSU
15 Gostkowski the real SB MVP Nick Folk School of Kicking Field Goals
9 Emmett Laurie Rutgers
8 Eva Hill Belmont High School