Mike McInally

Because I’m not exactly ready to drive home yet over these icy ribbons that are passing tonight for streets, let me kill some time by offering my early picks for the big winners at next year’s Oscars.

This actually is the best time to predict the Oscar winners, because perceptions are completely unbiased — most of us haven’t even seen any of the movies, and actually seeing the movies never helps in making Oscar predictions.

So, without further ado, here are the top winners on March 7:

Picture: “Up in the Air”

Director: Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

Actor: George Clooney, “Up in the Air”

Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique,  “Precious”

Now remember that this year’s Best Picture campaign might be a little wacky, because 10 films will be nominated instead of just five. It’s too early to tell how that might affect the race — and whether it will allow a couple of blockbusters to sneak in, as was the intention. And the early critical raves for “Avatar” might mean it gets a little bit of a push into the thick of the Oscar race, knocking out another popular favorite or two — say, “Star Trek.”

Speaking of getting knocked out of the Oscar race early, say farewell to Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones” — it’s getting hammered by critics.

Incidentally, the national writer who consistently has been the sharpest at following the twists and turns of the Oscar race is Dave Karger, who writes for Entertainment Weekly. Click here to check out Karger’s Oscar blog.

CORRECTION: This piece originally listed Feb. 22 as the date for the 2010 Oscar ceremony. That was the date of the 2009 ceremony. This year’s Oscars will be handed out on March 7.

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