Before stepping out onto the red carpet myself this evening (and since my Super Bowl predictions went so excellently . . .), I decided it would just be downright unfair not to share my picks for the 2014 Oscars. Overall, this turned out to be a solid year for Hollywood so I’ll acknowledge a number of these were close calls. Also, per my earlier negative review of “American Hustle” (otherwise known as my invitation to spend several weeks getting slapped around in the social media), I’m just about the only person out there tonight NOT selecting the movie for even a single award. Call it chutzpah, courage, genius, stupidity – whatever term(s) you choose — BELIEVE ME: I’ve probably been called something a lot more incendiary already… Projected winners are in red – If I get them all right, please proceed directly to the Contact Me page on the website for information on where to send congratulatory gifts (cash – or actual Oscar statues - are both always 100% acceptable).

[Here are The LA Times’ selections if you’d like to balance out your personal betting]

And with no further delay, THE ENVELOPES PLEASE:

Best Picture

• “12 Years a Slave” 
• “American Hustle”
• “Captain Phillips”
• “Dallas Buyers Club”
• “Gravity”
• “Her”
• “Nebraska”
• “Philomena”
• “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Director

• Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
• Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
• Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
• David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
• Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor

• Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
• Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
• Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
• Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actress

• Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
• Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
• Judi Dench, “Philomena”
• Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
• Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”

Best Supporting Actor

• Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
• Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”
• Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
• Jonah Hill, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
• Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress

• Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”
• Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
• Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
• Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
• June Squibb, “Nebraska”

Best Animated Feature Film

• “The Croods”
• “Despicable Me 2”
• “Ernest & Celestine”
• “Frozen”
• “The Wind Rises”

Best Cinematography

• “The Grandmaster,” Philippe Le Sourd
• Gravity,” Emmanuel Lubezki
• “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Bruno Delbonnel
• “Nebraska,” Phedon Papamichael
• “Prisoners,” Roger A. Deakins

Best Costume Design

• “American Hustle,” Michael Wilkinson
• “The Grandmaster,” William Chang Suk Ping
• “The Great Gatsby,” Catherine Martin
• “The Invisible Woman,” Michael O’Connor
• “12 Years a Slave,” Patricia Norris

Best Documentary Feature

• “The Act of Killing”
• “Cutie and the Boxer”
• “Dirty Wars”
• “The Square”
• “20 Feet from Stardom”

Best Documentary Short Subject

• “CaveDigger”
• “Facing Fear”
• “Karama Has No Walls”
• “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life”
• “Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall”

Best Film editing

• “American Hustle,” Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
• “Captain Phillips,” Christopher Rouse
• “Dallas Buyers Club,” John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
• “Gravity,” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
• “12 Years a Slave,” Joe Walker

Best Foreign Language Film

• “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Belgium
• “The Great Beauty,” Italy
• “The Hunt,” Denmark
• “The Missing Picture,” Cambodia
• “Omar,” Palestine

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• “Dallas Buyers Club,” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
• “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa,” Stephen Prouty
• “The Lone Ranger,” Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Best Original Score

• “The Book Thief,” John Williams
• “Gravity,” Steven Price
• “Her,” William Butler and Owen Pallett
• “Philomena,” Alexandre Desplat
• “Saving Mr. Banks,” Thomas Newman

Best Original Song

• “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
• “Let It Go” from “Frozen”
• “The Moon Song” from “Her”
• “Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”

Best Production Design

• “American Hustle,” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
• “Gravity,” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
• “The Great Gatsby,” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
• “Her,” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
• “12 Years a Slave,” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

Best Animated Short Film

• “Feral”
• “Get a Horse!”
• “Mr. Hublot”
• “Possessions”
• “Room on the Broom”

Best Live Action Short Film

• “Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)”
• “Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)”
• “Helium”
• “Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)”
• “The Voorman Problem”

Best Sound Editing

• “All Is Lost,” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
• “Captain Phillips,” Oliver Tarney
• “Gravity,” Glenn Freemantle
• “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Brent Burge and Chris Ward
• “Lone Survivor,” Wylie Stateman

Best Sound Mixing

• “Captain Phillips,” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
• “Gravity,” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
• “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
• “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
• “Lone Survivor,” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

Best Visual Effects

• “Gravity,” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
• “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
• “Iron Man 3,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
• “The Lone Ranger,” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
• “Star Trek Into Darkness,” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton

Best Adapted Screenplay

• “Before Midnight,” written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
• “Captain Phillips,” screenplay by Billy Ray
• “Philomena,” screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
• “12 Years a Slave,” screenplay by John Ridley
• “The Wolf of Wall Street,” screenplay by Terence Winter

Best Original Screenplay

• “American Hustle,” written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
• “Blue Jasmine,” written by Woody Allen
• “Dallas Buyers Club,” written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
• “Her,” written by Spike Jonze
• “Nebraska,” written by Bob Nelson