Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

NOT nominated for Best Picture, Director, or Screenplay - along with Volver's snub, this is the biggest surprise of Christmas Morning in Hollywood.

Questions, comments, concerns:

-Dear Dijon Mustard, could you please do something in a film other than play an embattled black (usually African) men? kthxbye.
-Do the actors really like Blood Diamond that much?
-Do they really not like The Departed that much (only one acting nom, albeit for the very deserving Mark Wahlberg)?
-Who at DreamWorks gets fired for flubbing Dreamgirls' seemingly-sure-thing noms?
-Will Peter O'Toole only win Best Actor if he dies between now and the close of balloting?
-Will Will Smith win if he doesn't?
-It just occurred to me: the Fresh Prince and Marky Mark, Oscar nominees in the same year! (Smith has been previously nominated for Ali, and don't forget Queen Latifah's Supporting nod for Chicago: hip hop represent!)
-My favorite category might be Best Adapted Screenplay: Borat (!), Children of Men, The Departed, Little Children, and Notes on a Scandal (which I've yet to see).
-6 nominations for Pan's Labyrinth?! We saw it this weekend, and yes, it's a good film. But it's not a great film; it doesn't transcend - well, anything. The creature-feature parts of the film are the least interesting, to be honest, while any time Sergi Lopez is onscreen, things pick up. Guillermo del Toro seems to have a limited palette as a director.
-This could be the craziest Oscars in years; apart from Dame Helen Mirren and Jennifer Hudson, it feels like almost every race is wide-open (but pleaseohplease God don't let fucking Clint beat Marty for Best Director again, that'd be the ultimate Oscar cruelty) (and please don't let Alan Arkin' sleepwalking performance beat Eddie Murphy's electric highwire act just because Arkin's, y'know, old).

Let the games begin!