I did it. I got over 75%. I'm an expert.
I got 19 out of 24 (79%), and if I'd only stuck with Sean Penn for Best Actor - who I was really rooting for anyway - the only ones I would've missed would've been four completely unimportant categories which I'm totally fine with having missed. So let's review exactly what happened on what turned out to be a really good Oscars in all respects.
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Sean Penn for Milk
I Picked: Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Winner: Kate Winslet for The Reader
Best Achievement in Directing
Winner: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Best Achievement in Music, Original Song
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman, Sampooran Singh Gulzar ("Jai Ho")
Best Achievement in Music, Original Score
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
Best Achievement in Editing
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Achievement in Sound
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Winner: Smile Pinki
I Picked: The Conscience Of Nhem En
Best Documentary, Feature
Winner: Man on WireBest Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Best Short Film, Live Action
Winner: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire - Anthony Dod Mantle
Best Achievement in Makeup
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Winner: The Duchess - Michael O'Connor
Best Achievement in Art Direction
Best Short Film, Animated
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Winner: WALL·E - Andrew Stanton
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Winner: Milk - Dustin Lance Black
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
While I'm thrilled about my results, I changed a few results from my original picks, and all those changes ended up being wrong. But I entered the orginal list into the Oscar.com game, which should put me near the top of their pool (22 out of 24 ain't bad - except that the game glitches so badly that every time you leave the site, it deletes all of your picks. I tried to go on right before the ceremony started, but the game had crashed, so I couldn't get to it to re-enter the picks. It's a shame, because somewhere floating in a sea of data on the Oscar.com site is a near-perfect Oscar list.
Hope everyone did well this year!