It's that time of year again, Oscar season, the annual ritual in which a section of the population celebrates Hollywood, another section bemoans the lack of depth in commercial films, and the rest of the country rolls their eyes and checks their watches. 2006 was an all-time low for my participation in the ritual — I have only seen two of the nominated films (The Prestige and An Inconvenient Truth) — although I have a few more on DVD that I haven't yet watched.

In the past I have run Oscar contests to see who can most accurately predict the selections of the various voting groups within the Academy. This year, however, I want to try something a bit different. I have created an on-line Oscar ballot (using the Wufoo form generator), and am deputizing all the Hidden City readers as members of the Academy for voting purposes.

Between now and 4pm on Sunday, February 25, visit the Hidden City Academy Awards Ballot and make your selections as to who you think should win in each of the categories. If, like me, you have barely seen any of the films, pick something based on the cool name or whatever other half-assed criteria you want. That's what the real voters do most of the time, anyway.

Sometime the day after the presentation I will post the results of our own voting. There won't be any prizes this time, but I will happily post the name (or alias) of the person with tastes(?) most closely matching those of the Academy.

Oddly enough, I won't even be watching the show this year, having already made arrangements to see the Merce Cunningham Dance Company — admittedly primarily due to the live performance by Sigur Rós.

Oh, and just for the record: yes, I know there is absolutely zero validity to the results of this poll. It's for fun, that's all. Statisticians and professional pollsters, you may wish to avert your eyes from the hideous scenes to follow.