Beat Beifuss at the Oscars: It's easy -- easy to try, at least

Beat Beifuss at the Oscars

If Brad Pitt can beat the Nazis ...

If the blue-skinned indigenous tree huggers of Pandora can beat the U.S. military ...

If Sandra Bullock can beat the Boyz-N-the-Memphis-Hood ...

Then surely you, gentle reader, can beat Beifuss in The Commercial Appeal's 14th annual "Beat Beifuss at the Oscars" contest, which officially begins -- drumroll, please -- TODAY.

Or can you?

You may recall that last year, for the first time in the contest's 13 years, nobody Beat Beifuss, as I accurately predicted all 10 winners in that year's Academy Awards contest. (Even so, we generously awarded Malco tickets to 10 readers who tied me.)

Can lightning strike twice? Will we once again be able to speak of "Beifuss, the Perfect Man" (to paraphrase the title of a 1912 editorial by C.P.J.

Mooney that we run in The Commercial Appeal every holiday season)?

Or will my performance be closer to the embarrassments of 1999 and 2003, when I was a pathetic 3-7 in my Oscar guesses?

We'll find out March 7, when the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

So how do you beat Beifuss?

It's easy -- or at least it's easy to try.

The ballot is at oscars.commercialappeal.com, or you can find a link to it at commercialappeal.com or TheBloodshotEye.com. The ballot lists the Oscar nominees in 10 major categories, including, of course, "Best Picture," which this year was expanded from five to 10 nominees, for the first time since 1943.

(Sorry, snail mail fans: "Beat Beifuss" this year is online only, due to the dwindling percentage of actual paper ballots contributed to the past few contests.)

Follow the instructions, pick your favorites to win, and post your ballot by 5 p.m. Friday, March 5.

Ten readers who beat Beifuss (if there are 10!) each will win 20 -- count 'em, 20! -- passes to the movies, courtesy of Malco Theatres. (And since adult evening tickets now cost $10 each, that ain't hay.)

If more than 10 beat me, we'll pick 10 winners at random from the pool.

So far, my overall "Beat Beifuss" record is 93-37, yet in the previous 13 years of the contest, some 1,700 readers have beat me. So -- my triumph of 2009 aside -- it can't be too hard.

On March 7, I'll post my predictions online and print them in The Commercial Appeal, and as we watch the Oscars telecast that night, we'll see how many of you beat me.

Winners will be announced later that week.

-- John Beifuss: 529-2394

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