And so we get to the big one, for now.

As a reminder, these would be my votes (who, given the universe of the nominees, I believe should win), not who I think will win. (That post will come later.) I’m not giving my vote unless I’ve seen all nominees in a given category, and I’ll update this post if I’m able to do that at a later date.

The Best Picture award, unlike the others, is voted in a preferential ballot; therefore, all the nominees are ranked.

Without further ado!

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained

Best Editing: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg for Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran for Anna Karenina

Best Production Design: Sarah Greenwood (Production Design); Katie Spencer (Set Decoration) for Anna Karenina

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams for The Master

Best Sound Mixing: Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes for Les Misérables

Best Sound Editing: Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton for Life of Pi

Best Documentary Feature: ND

Best Documentary Short: ND

Best Musical Score: Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina

Best Original Song: Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall” from Skyfall

Best Animated Feature: ND

Best Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Animated Short Film: John Kahrs for Paperman

Best Live Action Short Film: ND

Best Foreign Language Film: ND

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

Best Original Screenplay: John Gatins for Flight

Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner for Lincoln

Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski for Lincoln

Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva for Amour

Best Director: Steven Spielberg for Lincoln

Best Picture: Argo

2) Django Unchained

3) Silver Linings Playbook

4) Zero Dark Thirty

5) Lincoln

6) Amour

7) Beasts of the Southern Wild

8) Life of Pi

9) Les Misérables

Looking back at the list of votes, one can wonder “how can you think Argo is a worthy Best Picture if you don’t think it deserves any other awards? Or, for that matter, if Lincoln got both Best Writing and Best Director?”

There’s no proper or particularly convincing way to answer those questions. For one, I think that the sum of the parts can be either larger or smaller than the total. For another, even thought they are all to some extent a combination of rational and emotional reaction, to me the choices of Best Writing and Best Directing are less subjective than that of Best Picture. In other words, as I said before, while I can (and certainly do, a lot) appreciate Lincoln, I definitely love it less than I love Argo.