Once upon time, before the advent of the internet and its websites devoted to nothing but Oscar talk, millions of people gathered around television sets once a year in nail-biting suspense to see who would win the biggest prizes in the movie world.
Such customs are now almost as quaint as waiting to read today's news in tomorrow's newspapers, because almost anyone who wants to can find out most Oscar results well in advance with almost near certainty.
This is possible because Oscar experts have figured out that many of the top awards are easily predictable by examining historical trends and the winning movies at Hollywood trade awards, such as the Screen Actors Guild, the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild.
If these pointers weren't enough, it's also easy for well-connected pundits to sense the Oscar breezes in a tightly networked company town like Los Angeles where only about 5783 people actually vote for the coveted awards.
Those wishing to retain an element of surprise about the Oscars are thus advised to avoid visiting specialty websites such as GoldDerby.com which collates the predictions of experts into reliable pointers to Oscar glory.
