Golden Globes Liveblogging Preliminaries

Hey, the Golden Globes are on tonight! Guess I know how I'll be celebrating MLKJ Day -- watching vain, vapid, worthless people preen and strut in pursuit of a meaningless bauble. GOD how I love it!!

In the tradition of last year's epic coverage, I'll be liveblogging the event. Or quasi-liveblogging it, since we West Coast people get the tape-delayed coverage. Meaning by the time I write about it here, it will be the distant past for 3/4 of the country. Oh well. It's still an excellent excuse for drinking and being inordinately cruel to, and judgmental of, people whom I've never met and never will. Several of whom don't even deserve it. (Possibly.)

Look for my post of the pre-show to begin sometime after 7PM Pacific, and the main event starting sometime after 8PM. I've got dial-up, so updates will be slow and infrequent, but I'll try to have something new up every fifteen minutes or so.

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Previously, I made some commentary about this year's nominations, but I didn't make all my picks. Here they are now, in the major categories.

BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
MATCH POINT

Gotta go with Brokeback. Still haven't seen it, and can't comment to its actual worth, but I get the feeling -- and I may be wrong -- that the Globes will want to assert their hipness superiority to the Oscars by giving the award to this one (above and beyond genuine considerations of its relative quality), while the Oscars will not.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

MARIA BELLO - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
FELICITY HUFFMAN - TRANSAMERICA
GWYNETH PALTROW - PROOF
CHARLIZE THERON - NORTH COUNTRY
ZIYI ZHANG - MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

Again, with the hipness factor in mind, I'm going with Felicity Huffman. Plus, it's hard to make a strong case for any of the other choices.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

RUSSELL CROWE - CINDERELLA MAN
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN - CAPOTE
TERRENCE HOWARD - HUSTLE & FLOW
HEATH LEDGER - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
DAVID STRATHAIRN - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

Tough call. I'm guessing it's between Hoffman and Ledger, and I'm gonna go with Ledger.

BEST MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
THE PRODUCERS
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
WALK THE LINE

Walk the Line, no question. It's easy to pick the comedy category when they nominate a drama. Okay, I guess The Squid and the Whale is a slight possibility, but I still think extremely unlikely.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

JUDI DENCH - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
LAURA LINNEY - THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SARAH JESSICA PARKER - THE FAMILY STONE
REESE WITHERSPOON - WALK THE LINE

Has to be Witherspoon. Has to be.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

PIERCE BROSNAN - THE MATADOR
JEFF DANIELS - THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
JOHNNY DEPP - CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
NATHAN LANE - THE PRODUCERS
CILLIAN MURPHY - BREAKFAST ON PLUTO
JOAQUIN PHOENIX - WALK THE LINE

And how can I not pick Phoenix for the sweep?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

SCARLETT JOHANSSON - MATCH POINT
SHIRLEY MacLAINE - IN HER SHOES
FRANCES McDORMAND - NORTH COUNTRY
RACHEL WEISZ - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
MICHELLE WILLIAMS - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Johansson. It's just a hunch, and not a strong one. It's just, Woody Allen's supporting actresses often do very well come awards season.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

GEORGE CLOONEY - SYRIANA
MATT DILLON - CRASH
WILL FERRELL - THE PRODUCERS
PAUL GIAMATTI - CINDERELLA MAN
BOB HOSKINS - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS

I'm thinking Clooney.

BEST DIRECTOR - MOTION PICTURE

WOODY ALLEN - MATCH POINT
GEORGE CLOONEY - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
PETER JACKSON - KING KONG
ANG LEE - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
FERNANDO MEIRELLES - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
STEVEN SPIELBERG - MUNICH

Ang Lee. Though either Spielberg or Jackson could be slight spoilers.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

COMMANDER IN CHIEF (ABC)
GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
LOST (ABC)
PRISON BREAK (FOX)
ROME (HBO)

If it were up to me, out of these choices, it's Rome by a mile. But it's not, so I'll pick Lost.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

PATRICIA ARQUETTE - MEDIUM
GLENN CLOSE - THE SHIELD
GEENA DAVIS - COMMANDER IN CHIEF
KYRA SEDGWICK - THE CLOSER
POLLY WALKER - ROME

Please, anybody but goddam Patricia Arquette. I say Polly Walker.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

PATRICK DEMPSEY - GREY'S ANATOMY
MATTHEW FOX - LOST
HUGH LAURIE - HOUSE
WENTWORTH MILLER - PRISON BREAK
KIEFER SUTHERLAND - 24

Hugh Laurie.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
ENTOURAGE (HBO)
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS (UPN)
MY NAME IS EARL (NBC)
WEEDS (SHOWTIME)

Probably Housewives.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

MARCIA CROSS - DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
TERI HATCHER - DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
FELICITY HUFFMAN - DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
EVA LONGORIA - DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
MARY-LOUISE PARKER - WEEDS

Could Huffman be a double winner tonight? I think yes.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

ZACH BRAFF - SCRUBS
STEVE CARELL - THE OFFICE
LARRY DAVID - CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
JASON LEE - MY NAME IS EARL
CHARLIE SHEEN - TWO AND A HALF MEN

Tough call, but I'll take Carell, in the role that won Ricky Gervais a Globe.

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That's it for the categories in which I have even the slightest inkling -- fifteen total. I won't be checking the internet early for winners; I'll be waiting for the West Coast airing to find out. So please, no mention of the winners in the comments until after I've posted about them.