We're hardly a fortnight away from the big night, and it's got a lot of heavy competition in the culture right now: the election, the Grammys, a break in the writers' strike, the latest Britney Spears hospitalization.  And amidst all this excitement, we must also not forget one thing: LOVE!  Or at least, LOVE as dictated to us by a greeting card company.  In other words, Valentine's Day. 

Besides being a day of chocolate, romance, and drunken mistakes, February 14 is the warning that you have only ten days left to see all the nominees before the Academy Awards.  It's also a convenient way for me to bunch together some random ideas into a theme.  Observe:

With Valentine's Day coming up this week, I'm taking this opportunity to send virtual love cards to the following secret Oscar crushes of mine.  (Well, so much for SECRET crushes --posting sentiments on Yahoo! tends to get the word out).

Here's who's getting a Valentine from me... 

♥ Academy Members With Kids. Thank you for taking your children to all those movies with cartoon characters and then nominating Surf's Up for Best Animated Feature.  I would never have seen this movie and would have judged the DVD by its cover --a seeming rip off of March of the Penguins, Happy Feet, and Badtz-Maru.  Instead, it's a sweet, funny, adventure of a movie that is shot unlike any animated movie you've seen before.  It's incredibly innovative and worthy of its nomination.  That said, I hope it loses to Persepolis, which should have been nominated for Best Picture.

♥ Persepolis. I don't know if I've mentioned, but this should have been nominated for Best Picture. Its first 45 minutes are as good or better than any movie I saw from 2007 --and the rest is pretty great too.  Its images are artful, its humor is dark, its characters are believable.  The entire enterprise has a core that is authentic, soulful, and the most you could hope from a movie: unpredictable.  In short, it's everything that Juno wasn't. Go see Persepolis; then imagine how good Juno really could have been if it had been directed with the heart, style, and grace of Persepolis.  Then realize that Persepolis is essentially a hand-drawn animated graphic novel that takes place mostly in Iran, is mostly in black-and-white, and -- oh yeah -- is mostly in French.  And still it wins my heart, my Valentine, and hopefully, an Oscar.

♥ The Writers and Producers. Nice job working out the strike.  I especially liked the part where the producers said there was no way to pay residuals on Internet usage and then ended up agreeing to pay them.  And where the Guild leaders promised their members that the next contract would address reality show and animation writers and didn't.  It just goes to show you what a good negotiation will do.  Now, let's get Bruce Vilanch back to writing some ad libs for Jon Stewart!

♥ DVD-By-Mail Plans.  You kids are probably too young to remember, but we used to have something called video stores.  You used to have to get in a car (which used to have exclusively an internal combustion engine --imagine, a time before hybrids!) and go to the shop and fight other people for new releases.  Then, if you didn't get the movie back to the store in time, they charged you late fees.  I know: crazy, isn't it?!  That's why Blockbuster Online gets a big old Valentine from me.  Sure they stole the idea from Netflix, but they changed the game by supplementing the mail queue with in-store availability.  As someone who is in the process of having to see about 30 movies in a span of four weeks, I need volume and this gives it to me.  With more and more Oscar-nominated films being released every week (and more and more harder to find in theatres), I'm supporting a huge international corporation, yes, but they're supporting me too.

♥ Truth In Titles.  To anyone who thought the ending of There Will Be Blood was too violent... did you see the name on the marquee of the theatre?  How about on the ticket stub in your hand?  P.T. Anderson even changed the title of the Upton Sinclair novel from which he adapted the screenplay (I guess he thought it fairly obvious that there would be Oil!) just to warn you: Really! There will be blood!  Personally, I applaud Anderson.  Not only did he make an outstanding film (not a wasted shot, despite its 2 hour, 38 minute running time), but the film delivered on its promise.  That's more than I can say for I'm Not There (Dylan was so there, six people had to play him) or Good Luck Chuck (I can't imagine anyone who saw this who feels at all fortunate).

♥ The Folks who Post Comments on this Blog.  It's one thing to read through all this crud I come up with, it's another to be so inspired that you're compelled to let me know when you agree, disagree, or simply want to let the world know that I am "fascinating!" (sb41champ) and/or "a moron" (sergeyhaletski).  Whatever the sentiment, I really do appreciate your taking the time to express it.  To those of you who use the comment section to give shout-outs to your hate group, ponzi schemes, and disreputable gay dating websites: what's the equivalent of a Valentine's lump of coal in the stocking?

♥ Bebe.  My grandmother Bebe would always send me a hand-made Valentine card.  She's been in a health care facility for the last year or so and sadly, isn't aware of what day is a holiday anymore.  I add her here not just for sentiment, but also to make a point about movies and the Oscars.  In addition to her family members, Bebe keeps three photos near her bed: George Clooney, Paul Newman, and Merle Oberon.  In her younger days, nothing would thrill Bebe more than being told that she looked like that famous movie starlet Merle Oberon --except being told that she was prettier.  Paul Newman has long been her fictional secret lover that she was ready to leave our grandfather for at a moment's notice (if only that horrid Joanne Woodward would release him from her spell).  Clooney, as for many, is just eye candy.  Now, at 90 years old and without the best of her brain, these people provide Bebe with comfort, joy, and warm (if fuzzy) memories.  All three have been nominated or won Oscars.

Enjoy your Valentine's Day.  Might I suggest dinner and a movie?