Hold your breath and count to ten...

Mere hours away from the big announcement! Which means it's dream ballot time. Unfortunately this year I do this having yet to see ZERO DARK THIRTY (opening tomorrow here in Tarannah). Also LES MIZ, though not so unfortunately. Could not be bothered. On to the categories!

Best Picture

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Bernie

Damsels in Distress

Holy Motors

Magic Mike

The Master

Rust and Bone

Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master

Leos Carax, Holy Motors

Michael Haneke, Amour

Ang Lee, Life of Pi

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Special mentions:

Ben Affleck, Argo

Jacques Audiard, Rust and Bone

Richard Linklater, Bernie

Steven Soderbergh, Magic Mike

Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Denis Lavant, Holy Motors

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Matthias Schoenaerts, Rust and Bone
Jean-Louis Trintignant, Amour

Special mentions:

Jack Black, Bernie

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Mark Duplass, Your Sister's Sister

Richard Gere, Arbitrage

John Hawkes, The Sessions

Channing Tatum, 21 Jump Street

Best Actress

Linda Cardellini, Return

Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone

Nina Hoss, Barbara

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Special mentions:

Emily Blunt, Your Sister's Sister

Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

(the rest after the jump)

Best Supporting Actor

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike

James Spader, Lincoln

Special mentions:

John Cusack, The Paperboy

Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained

Seth Rogen, Take This Waltz

Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Ronald Zehrfeld, Barbara

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, The Master

Emily Blunt, Looper

Macy Gray, The Paperboy

Cody Horn, Magic Mike 

Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Adapted Screenplay

2 Days in New York - Julie Delpy, Alexia Landeau 

Bernie - Skip Hollandsworth, Richard Linklater 
Lincoln - Tony Kushner, John Logan, Paul Webb

Rust and Bone - Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain

Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell

Original Screenplay

Amour - Michael Haneke
Damsels in Distress - Whit Stillman

The Master - Paul Thomas Anderson 

Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola

Your Sister's Sister - Lynn Shelton

Special mentions:

Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino
Looper - Rian Johnson 

Safety Not Guaranteed - Derek Connolly

Cinematography

Argo - Rodrigo Prieto
Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda

The Master - Mihai Malamaire Jr.

Rust and Bone - Stéphane Fontaine

Skyfall - Roger Deakins

Original Score

Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli

Beasts of the Southern Wild - Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin

Cloud Atlas - Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer 

Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
The Master - Jonny Greenwood

Documentary Feature

The Central Park Five (not shortlisted)

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (not shortlisted)

The House I Live In

The Imposter

Searching for Sugar Man

Stories We Tell (not eligible as it has not yet had a theatrical run in the States, but could not leave it out, being the best documentary and one of the best films seen all year)

And with that, all that remains is to heed Adele's advice from the soon-to-be Best Original Song winner that lent this post its title. Now try to get some sleep, will ya? Lemon out.