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I have, in fact, seen a grand total of one of the movies nominated for Best Picture - Django Unchained. There are a couple on there which I probably will see eventually, in particular Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, but as usual, there are an awful lot that don't have a great deal of interest to me at all. Still, much as the Super Bowl isn't so much about the football, the Oscars are a solid part of American culture, which can only be watched as such. Curious to see what Seth McFarlane is like as a host. I've seen him work a number of the Comedy Central roasts, but how much of that skill is transferable to the Academy Awards...
Interestingly, Nate Silver, who just about nailed the Presidential election results, is trying to use his skills to predict the winners of the main awards. His system is largely based on the previous ceremonies, e.g. 80% of the time, the winner of Best Film at the Directors' Guild of America awards, also picks up the Oscar. He expects Argo to be a runaway victor for Best Picture, but the other categories will be a lot closer, not least because Argo doesn't have a horse in those races. He reckons Best Director will got to Steven Spielberg for Lincoln, which will also get Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, and Jennifer Lawrence will nab Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook.
Anyway, it'll be fun as usual, so pop the popcorn and ready the sarcasm.