Here's what I find different about my Oscars ballot this year. Year after year, I always ended up ticking NOT my frontrunners for the Oscars ballot, but more of who/what I think will snag the Oscar. So, that is what I did this year too. I always put the check mark on my guesses on who the Academy would most probably pick, and a smiley face next to my frontrunner favorites.

Guess what, this year The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences decided to let all my smiley faces win! The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock... which is really new to me. Either my likings have become more attuned to the Academy standards, or the Academy has become more attuned to the public's liking.

I've been a huge fan of Jeff Bridges since I was 6 years old. He's my first ever celebrity crush (at 6 years old, YES.) I've seen SO many of his movies: King Kong, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, The Iceman Cometh, Nadine, Starman, 8 Million Ways To Die, The Fisher King, Tucker, Blown Away, White Squall, Mirror Has Two Faces, Fearless, The Big Lebowski, Arlington Road, The Muse, Seabiscuit, Iron Man... the man is a legendary actor. This Oscar win has been a long time coming, and completely well-deserved of. Jeff Bridges is MY IDOL, and this is a huge big moment for me as he's been nominated 5 times and never won a single one when he's such such such a brilliant performer. After the Academy disappointed me last year by giving the win to Sean Penn instead of Mickey Rourke, I was almost skeptic that it was at all possible that Jeff Bridges could win. I almost felt that just because I want Jeff Bridges to win, the exact opposite is going to happen. But no, there was actually a miracle this year.

The irony of it all is The Hurt Locker. I dub it The Little Movie Who Can. Why? With a production budget of only $15M, it still hasn't made back its entire production budget domestically up to this very day (only $14.7M). It's the lowest-grossing Best Picture Winner in the history of the Oscars, beating its gargantuan opponent, Avatar, also known as the world's highest-grossing movie of all time, ALSO directed by an ex-husband. Talk about payback in the most natural way a Hollywood couple could ever know. Not just that, its director, Kathryn Bigelow, will be etched in history from hereonafter as the first woman EVER to helm Oscar's Best Director title, and it happened on International Women's Day. Well, technically, in Asia.

I can't tell you how relieved I am that the Academy didn't award Avatar with Best Picture. I'm still coping from when they gave one to Titanic 10 years ago. Sorry, Avatar, as beautiful and groundbreaking as you may be, you are NOT Best Picture material.

I have yet to watch the ceremony as I live in Pluto where no local TV station bought the rights to the live Oscars telecast. The only network I could count on is a regional cable channel called Star Movies which airs it 2 days later and censors acceptance speeches in an attempt to de-gay their telecast. Hmph. Thank God for the internet. But thank you, Academy, for most certainly improving yourself year after year. I look forward to watching the show... as soon as my third world internet finishes downloading it.