Completing last week’s challenge to make an Oscar ballot really got me excited for the Academy Awards on Sunday!  The buzz surrounding the awards is everywhere I look, including in Entertainment Weekly magazine.  They followed my advice and provided an Oscar ballot for all of their readers.

I made my ballot, but I haven’t filled it out completely because I need to see a few more movies before Sunday.  In fact, I am in a bit of a frenzy to see my remaining three Best Picture nominees: “The Fighter”, “127 Hours” and “True Grit”.  I saw the nominee I was least looking forward to watching, “The King’s Speech”, this weekend.  It was funnier than I anticipated it to be and I enjoyed it for the most part.  It was a little slow for my taste and I do not want it to win Best Picture, although I am 95 percent sure it will.

In order for me to finish watching all the Best Picture nominees, it will take careful scheduling on my part.  I have already planned to see “The Fighter” and “127 Hours” with some friends, which brings me to this weeks challenge: plan a Best Picture viewing party.

I encourage everyone to cross one last movie off of their Best Picture bucket list.  What could be more fun than seeing that last movie with a group of friends who also have not seen it?  It can make movies that you aren’t excited to see more enjoyable.  Also, in this last week before the Oscars, try to tie up some of these loose ends:

• finish your Best Picture list as best you can.  I know not everyone will see all 10, but just seeing half of the nominees can give you a good feel and appreciation for the race.
• finish filling out your ballot.  I need to see a few more movies in order to vote for the acting categories.
• clear your schedules.  The Academy Awards are this Sunday, February 27 at 7 pm on ABC.  With Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosting, there is absolutely no reason you should miss this!

It will be a very busy week watching all these movies and doing all these Oscar challenges, but it will be worth it when you can watch the awards with a vast knowledge about them.  So let’s go out this week, watch some movies with our friends and conquer this challenge!