The Academy Awards air this Sunday, February 27 on ABC, and today we’re making our official predictions of winners which predictions we know will be relied upon by millions of people hedging bets on the Oscars. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section!

Best Picture: “The Fighter”
We debated a bit between choosing “The Fighter” and “The Social Network” for Best Picture, and “The Fighter” won out simply because we loved it. Do we really think “The Fighter” will win Best Picture? Probably not. Odds show “The King’s Speech” in the lead, and that makes no sense to us. Yes, Colin Firth was great, and Best Supporting Actor nominee Geoffrey Rush was wonderful as well. But we are choosing the film we thought packed the most talent and the most entertainment into one piece of work – not just the most British film that seems the smartest. Plus, HCG is a sucker for most underdog stories and neither King George VI nor Mark Zuckerberg fit that bill.

We really hate the new Academy Awards practice of nominating 10 films for Best Picture instead of the traditional five films. In our opinion, only five of the 10 films nominated are strong contenders: “Black Swan”, “The Fighter”, “Inception”, “The King’s Speech” and “The Social Network.” While we’re rooting for “The Fighter” and expect “The King’s Speech” will win, who knows, maybe “The Social Network” will take the top prize and shock everyone (and inflate Mark Zuckerberg’s ego even more. Is that possible?).

Best Actress: Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Not surprisingly, we expect our beloved Natalie Portman will take home her first Oscar for her performance in “Black Swan” – one of our favorite films of 2010. Unlike the nominees in other categories, Best Actress is packed with intense talent. Michelle Williams was perfect in “Blue Valentine” and Annette Bening was moving in “The Kids Are All Right.” We still don’t know who Jennifer Lawrence is, and we didn’t catch Nicole Kidman’s performance in “Rabbit  Hole.” Early congrats to NP!

Best Actor: Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
We like Colin Firth, but we’ll admit we didn’t really get all the hoopla surrounding his performance as King George VI in “The King’s Speech” until we actually saw the film. The man was mesmerizing, and his stammer was profoundly authentic. It helps Firth’s chances that there really aren’t any other serious contenders in this category. We enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network” but we think Eisenberg just is a lot like Mark Zuckerberg, and we don’t know playing someone so similar to yourself should be deserving of an Oscar (a theory which explains why Mark Wahlberg is missing from the Best Actor nominees). Jeff Bridges won last year, Javier Bardem has prostate cancer in “Biutiful” and James Franco cuts off his arm in “127 Hours.” Colin Firth will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
As much as we want Amy Adams to win for her role as Mark Wahlberg’s girlfriend in “The Fighter”, Melissa Leo deserves the award the most. Leo is practically unrecognizable as the mother of brothers Mickey and Dicky Eklund, and her accent is amazing. She reminds us of someone who is hard core Delco. If you’re from Delaware County and you’ve seen this movie, you know what we mean.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
Hands down, no question, Christian Bale will win for his role as Lowell, Massachusetts boxer and brother of Mickey Eklund (played by Mark Wahlberg), Dicky Eklund. Like Natalie Portman, homeboy didn’t get that skinny for nothing, and his dedication to his craft should be recognized. Say what you want about Christian Bale, the man played an incredibly convincing crack addict.

Documentary (Feature): “Exit Through the Gift Shop”
Joe alerted me to this incredibly interesting documentary by notorious street artist Banksy, and the film is a fascinating portrayal of the world of street and graffiti art. HCG highly recommends it. We’ve heard great things about another nominated documentary “Waste Land” but since “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is the only film on this list we’ve seen, we’re going with that one.

Click here to see the full list of nominees. Happy viewing!

Show us a woman who doesn’t love Natalie Portman, and we will show you crazy.

We can’t remember the last time we were as excited for the release of a movie as we are for the release of “Black Swan,” the ballet thriller starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. The film, which opened in limited release this past weekend and opens nationwide this Friday, centers on Natalie Portman as a super skinny New York ballerina (need we say more?) gunning for the role of the Swan Queen in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. The competition, pressure and probably hunger drive Nina mad, and she FREAKS OUT.

Besides looking insanely awesome, “Black Swan” is giving so much to dish about we can barely contain ourselves. There’s the extreme weight loss the roles required of the actors (20 pounds were dropped by Portman and Kunis each – and they are tiny people), the grueling training regimes endured (Portman started training a year before filming began) and the romantic relationship that developed between Portman and the film’s choreographer Benjamin Millepied (the New York City Ballet principal dancer who allegedly left his longtime ballerina girlfriend for NP. Scandalous!). Oh, and there may be this sex scene involving Portman and Kunis.

Obviously, the severe weight loss is what intrigues us the most. How could Natalie Portman possibly lose 20 pounds? Mila Kunis said it took her two months to lose 20 pounds and get down to only 95 pounds, and she claims she gained it all back in just five days. Really? We can’t stop buzzing. Will Portman win an Oscar for her portrayal of Nina in a role that finally allows her beauty to shine through a character, not compete with it? Can this movie possibly be as good as we anticipate?

If you’re as excited for “Black Swan” as we are (and you really should be after this post), then the trailer and this list of interviews, articles and reviews will no doubt only pump you up even more. Commuters of all forms of transportation should take delight in the Natalie Portman interview on “Fresh Air,” one of our favorite NPR programs, which can be downloaded and enjoyed on your iPod.

HCG’s “Black Swan” Due Diligence List
On Point, On Top, In Pain [NYT Movie Review]
To Become a ‘Black Swan,’ Portman Had To Go Dark [NPR: Fresh Air]
A Dark Transformation to Strains of ‘Swan Lake’ [NYT]
Those Undulating Swan Arms? Not So Easy to Do [NYT]
Tortured Swans [NYMag Movie Review]
Black Swan Choreographer Benjamin Millepied on Teaching Natalie Portman to Have Swan Arms [NYMag/Vulture]

Team HCG had the honor of seeing Lady Gaga in concert last week in Philadelphia. As we expected, the show, and the Lady herself, did not disappoint.

Lady Gaga’s 2010 Monster Ball Tour has been wildly successful, and both Philadelphia shows sold out faster than I could click my little computer mouse to buy tickets. Initially, only one Philly show was planned, but a second show was added due to overwhelming demand (I didn’t make that up – that’s exactly what the e-mail from the Wachovia Center ticket office said). I gave up on purchasing tickets the conventional way, mostly because I failed at that, and focused my efforts on trolling Craigslist and StubHub the days before the shows to try to find decent yet reasonably priced tickets.  I failed at that, too, and last Tuesday evening (the night of the first show), I was resigned to being a complete loser who couldn’t get Lady Gaga tickets when it seemed like everyone else I knew could.

Then magic happened.

A partner in my office, who shall remain nameless to protect him from the fame and notoriety that comes with being mentioned on HCG, knew of my struggle to obtain Gaga tickets.  Last Tuesday evening, said partner sailed into my office while talking on his cell phone, dropped two club box tickets to the Wednesday night show on my desk and walked out. After I regained consciousness, I chased after the nameless partner angel to express my gratitude, and I then texted my girl T-Fuzz and told her to SHOW ME YOUR TEETH.

We pre-gamed before the show with CF, Tara and JH (the woman formerly known as Jen Spuhler and a master of the Lady Gaga claw) and, since it was a special occasion, Fuzz and I had one Heineken Light each. Despite being sandwiched during the concert between two large men – both with binoculars and one in his late 60s with his similarly aged wife – we danced as hard as possible and loved every minute.

Unsurprisingly, the costumes Gaga wore were equally as entertaining as her performances.  Above, a sampling of the Monster Ball costumes (as shown during a July Boston show). The wig Gaga wore during our show was the same bright yellow color as the wig worn in Boston, but much longer and parted in the middle. These getups exceeded all our expectations, including our favorite costume pictured below (which during our show appeared to have longer front bangs if that makes any sense). Imagine Lady Gaga dancing her ass off in this contraption, which is exactly what she did:
In spite of all the theatrics, it was Gaga’s voice that stood out; she was an incredibly impressive live performer. Gaga, in between telling all the fans how much she loved them, repeatedly reminded the crowd that she never lip syncs. This was especially refreshing after growing up during a time where it was rare to hear a pop singer actually sing in concert (JH pointed out that Britney didn’t even TALK live during her shows).

Our longtime favorites “Teeth”, “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance” were some of our most memorable songs of the night, and we loved the huge octopus/animal/monster Gaga battled during “Paparazzi.”  I know lots of HCG readers have seen the Lady in concert this year. Did you love the show as much as we did?

Images of Lady Gaga’s costumes during her July 2, 2010 Boston concert via Starcasm

Huge news: Here Comes Gina now has a Facebook page.

In an effort to make your daily life a little less complicated and to make sure not a word from HCG goes by without you knowing about it (God forbid), we’re bringing HCG to the world’s largest social network.  If you’re on Facebook, just go to the Here Comes Gina Facebook page and click “like.”  From that point forward, links to new HCG posts will appear in your FB news feed!  Now you don’t have to waste time checking the site to see if there’s a new post.

So far, 53 people like the HCG Facebook page (up from 3 people last Thursday – me, Joe and MR), and we think this number is incredible.  We’ve already memorized the entire list and keep calling CF each time one of her friends likes the page.  If we hit 100 people, we really might die.

Monday morning used to be the most difficult morning of the work week for me.  Until Gossip Girl.

Ever since I began watching the Greatest Show of Our Time (Vulture’s tag line, not mine), I no longer battle with Mondays (Gossip Girl airs on Monday nights).  Now, Tuesday is my biggest enemy.

Come Tuesday morning, the sadness of the work week hits me and I have little to look forward to (I fear for my mental health once The Biggest Loser vanishes from my Tuesday night lineup).  On Tuesday mornings, I, like many women across America, suffer from a Gossip Girl hangover.  I awake in a state of melancholy knowing that I must endure 6 long days and nights until I can enjoy another episode filled with Chuck and Blair’s banter, Serena’s ridiculously inappropriate yet always flattering wardrobe or little J’s disgustingly long extensions.  Monday nights are glorious.  Tuesday mornings are not.

Everyone knows what’s the best cure for a hangover: more of the juice that got you so messed up the night before.  Enter the life saving Gossip Girl recaps from New York magazine’s entertainment blog Vulture, without which I may not make it through Tuesday.  Vulture uses a weekly reality index and adds and subtracts points based on the quality and realness of each episode. If you love GG, you must read these recaps.

When you’re a dedicated fan of a certain TV show, you know there’s nothing better than reliving every little detail of each episode with someone who is just as obsessed as you.  Vulture has transformed this beloved pastime into a virtual pleasure.  As lame as it may sound, it’s an incredibly satisfying experience to read a recap of one of your favorite shows and see that someone made the same observations you did (I, too, was disappointed when I saw that Nate allegedly wears Brooks Brothers shirts).

Even if you don’t watch Gossip Girl, you may still have a home at Vulture; the blog also recaps the The Real Housewives of NYC, Glee, Project Runway, Lost and 24, among others.  We’re willing to bet you find these recaps almost as entertaining as the shows themselves.

Click here to check out Vulture’s recap of last night’s Gossip Girl.  And yes, it is weird that all of the Baldwin brothers have the same exact voice.

My sister-in-law Julie (a.k.a. Hoolie) gets all the credit for this one.

A few weeks ago, Hoolie mentioned that she was lusting after the Lady Gaga Heartbeats headphones, and I was shamefully unaware of this Gaga endeavor (I don’t pretend to be very interested in trendy technology, but when technology involves Lady Gaga, my ears perk up).  Hoolie explained that Lady Gaga recently collaborated with Beats by Dr. Dre to design her own version of Dre’s high tech headphones.

Joe and I were insanely overdue on a gift to Hoolie, so we ordered her a set of the red chrome Gaga headphones, and she freaked.  Hoolie’s enthusiasm prompted me to gift a pair to Trang, too, who also loved them.  My Amazon order of Trang’s headphones was delayed, and I was forced to buy her gift at Best Buy in time for her birthday.  When the pair intended for Trang arrived at my doorstep, I debated sending them back but decided against it.  No one likes feeling left out of the fun.

The Gaga Heartbeats aren’t just any ordinary headphones.  The product description promises that these little monsters have “the power to move you to tears—or the dance floor” and allow you to hear details in music that you’ve never heard before.  HCG doesn’t like crying, but we do love dancing.  Plus, anything with such an intensely worded narrative on the box is worth a chance.  Fortunately, the product lived up to the dramatic description.  The headphones take a little adjusting to fit comfortably in your ears, but once they are, the sound is crisp and clear and you feel as though you’re in the studio right next to Gaga helping her readjust her hair telephone.

I’d only love them more if the box included tickets to Gaga’s upcoming Philly shows.

Monster by Lady Gaga Heartbeats In-Ear Headphones, $99.95 at Amazon or Best Buy

In preparation of the Academy Awards, which air this Sunday, March 7 on ABC, we are sharing an excellent cover story from a recent New York Magazine about the hysteria that takes place behind the scenes in the weeks leading up to the Oscars.

The article provides fantastic insight into all of the factors (other than the performances of the actors in the films themselves) that amount to an Oscar win.  Like you’ve probably heard before, so much of who wins an Oscar is determined by whose “turn” the Academy voters think it is to take home the gold statue.   This year, many people think it’s about time to acknowledge Jeff Bridges, nominated for Best Actor for his work in Crazy Heart, and Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker and ex-wife of Avatar director and Oscar veteran James Cameron.

For anyone who loves movies and/or the Oscars, this well-written piece is worth a read, and the photos by Brigitte Lacombe that accompany the story are spectacular.  Team HCG is trying to squeeze 3 final movie viewings (Precious, An Education and Up in the Air) into these last 3 days, and we’re concerned we may not get to see them all.  Let’s hope one of the films we’ve already seen takes the top prize…

The Red Carpet Campaign [NYM]

Image: James Cameron and Avatar star Zoe Saldana at the Critics’ Choice Awards.

Last week the nominees for the 2010 Oscars were announced.  Team HCG is really into the Oscars.  For as long as we can remember (or since law school), we’ve committed ourselves to seeing all of the films nominated for Best Picture before the Oscars air.

Seeing all of those films in the time period between the announcement of the nominees and the airing of the Oscars isn’t always an easy task.  It requires diligence, a stockpile of candy and, if you’re Joe, acceptance of the fact that you had to see “Brokeback Mountain” on your 23rd birthday.

This year, our task is even more arduous than in years past.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has doubled the number Best Picture nominees from 5 films to 10 films (the switch is a reversion to old school practices.  In the 1930s and 1940s the Academy recognized between 8 and 12 Best Picture nominees each year).  10 films?!  I can already feel my stomach churning from too much soda and popcorn.

The nominees for Best Picture are:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Fortunately, some of these films are already available on DVD, and the weekend blizzard gave us a chance to get started on our viewing.  So far we’ve seen:
- Up (So cute, but Best Picture?  I don’t think so.)
- The Hurt Locker (Very good.)
- District 9 (Disgustingly bad.  The inclusion of this film as a Best Picture nominee must be a joke.  I hated every minute and had to leave the room halfway through because I was going to be ill.)
- Inglorious Basterds (Okay, only Joe has seen this, but 1/2 of the team will have to fly for now.)

The Oscars air on Sunday, March 7 on ABC.  That leaves us 26 days to see 6 films.  I’m particularly excited for “The Blind Side”, while Joe (and my dad) is amped for “Avatar” (I am kind of dreading it).

Does anyone else attempt to see all the Best Picture nominees?  Do you have any favorites?

A reason for waking up this morning: Tonight marks the premiere of the much-anticipated reality show starring Kelly Cutrone, the owner of the fashion public relations company People’s Revolution.  Many may recall Cutrone from her appearances on “The Hills” and “The City” as the sharp-tongued, always demanding employer and sometimes mentor of Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port, respectively.

If you’re into fashion and want a real look at the day-to-day happenings in a firm like People’s Rev, this show is right up your alley.  If you’re looking for pure entertainment, it should be good for that, too – Cutrone is known to spew quite a bit of profanity and is great for one liners (including the title of this post – which is the title of her new book.  Isn’t that phenomenal advice for women in the workplace?).  If you watch tonight and aren’t familiar with Cutrone, be forewarned: she can be pretty scary.  But that’s all part of her appeal.

There’s no question that we’ll be watching.  Check out the preview above!

Kell on Earth, premieres tonight February 1 at 10:00 p.m. on Bravo (watch what happens)

It’s AWARDS SHOW season!  We’ve dished about our intense love for awards shows before, and the Golden Globes may just be our favorite.  The show, which airs this Sunday, January 17 at 8 p.m. on NBC, is a sassy precursor to the Oscars with cooler fashion and a more entertaining show (and yes, we do actually watch the show).

Like all awards shows, this one is all about the dresses.  We devour each and every bit of them, gushing over those that fit perfectly and float down the red carpet and sympathizing with those that, despite best intentions and an actress who just finished the Master Cleanse, completely miss the mark.

Why do women obsess over starlets in beautiful dresses?  Because (1) like celebrity gossip, they’re a fun distraction from everyday life; and (2) for many of us, it’s impossible not to – it’s in our DNA.  After all, after high school proms, college/law school formals and her wedding day, what does a woman have to live for?  (Answer: other people’s weddings)

The fashion at last year’s 2009 Globes didn’t get any better than a stunning Eva Mendes in Christian Dior (shown above, second from right – do I really have to tell you?).  Absolute perfection.

Below, a sampling of the some of the best from the 2007 Globes (as you may recall, the 2008 Golden Globes ceremony was canceled due to the writer’s strike).  There wasn’t a woman in America who wasn’t infatuated with Reese Witherspoon that year when she debuted new bangs looking incredibly chic in yellow Nina Ricci.  And will anyone ever look more gorgeous than Penelope Cruz in Chanel Haute Couture? We used to be those people who tuned into the pre-show beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and barely wavered from the set, but the technology of DVR has allowed us to take risks and leave the house.  Just make sure you don’t have any double recordings (i.e., repeat Jersey Shore episodes) set up that day.

P.S. In case you’re into the awards themselves, click here for a full list of the nominees.