On Monday, the Oscar ballots get mailed to academy members to determine nominees. Here's the rest of the timetable:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14: Ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. PT

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25: Nominations announced

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2: Final ballots mailed

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7: Nominees luncheon

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12: Scientific and technical awards presented

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22: Final ballots due by 5 p.m. PT

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27: Awards presented at Oscars ceremony

Uh-oh! Gold Derby senior editor Matt Noble has already given us his savage video send-ups of "The Fighter," "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network." (Click through the video album here.) Next up: "127 Hours." This guy is fearless. He practically went naked for his riff on "The Fighter." Here Matt risks a hernia. Makes you wonder what he'll look like in a tutu performing an entrechat while inevitably spoofing "Black Swan" next, doesn't it?

Following up on their fiesty slugfest over the Oscar contest for Best Actor, Gold Derby senior editors Chris Beachum and Rob Licuria come out swinging over the Best Actress match-up.

It's an annual Christmas tradition at Gold Derby that's back by popular demand. Here's the best Yuletide present I can give you, dear Derbyites: My dad bursting into his rendition of Bing Crosby performing his immortal "White Christmas." Click the right-pointing arrow below to listen..

The O'Neil clan is making this a very special Christmas. Instead of gathering at our homestead in Mentor, Ohio, we're all in Hollywood and having a jolly holly time. My father Frank, sister Diane, neice Judy and nephews Dennis and Keith are bunking at the Magic Castle Hotel by night while scattering across Hollywood by day – comparing their outstretched hands to Whoopi Goldberg's cement imprint at Grauman's, taking tour bus rides past celebrity homes in Beverly Hills, exploring the infinite treasures at the Hollywood Museum.

We wish you the happiest, healthiest, jolliest holiday season!

Almost everyone -- including all but one of the Gold Derby pundit panel -- is writing off Christopher Nolan's mind-blowing blockbuster "Inception" as a major Academy Awards contender this year, but when looking at all the facts, figures and bigger picture, I think it could still be the ultimate Oscar champ.

There is no question that "Inception" will be a Best Picture nominee, and may well be the most nominated film which is often a telling sign towards the big winner. It is virtually guaranteed nine nominations (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects). And some of the other below-the-line races -- Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup -- are not out of the question. Reaping bids in any of these other categories will only increase the odds of "Inception" winning Best Picture.

The film will receive major guild support, including the DGA, WGA and PGA. Nolan could win the DGA Award, and the PGA loves to honor box office successes. "Inception" contends in 10 Critics Choice categories as well as for four more with the Golden Globes.

KEEP READING

When Gold Derby unveiled the latest batch of Oscar predictions pooled from top experts, one forecast jumped out – and screamed: Pete Hammond (Deadline) just switched horses in the race for Best Picture. The news rattled Hollywood because Pete had been riding "King's Speech" since early days in the derby. Now he's aboard "The Social Network" express.

Why?

Check out our video chat below, which Pete and I recorded at the Hollywood Museum and is all the more interesting when you pay attention to what Pete puts in second place in his new Best Picture ranking: "The Fighter." Can it really pull off an upset to win? Pete and I both say, "Yes!"

What will the other nominees be? See our pundits' predix here. Check out the detailed rankings of projected winners category by category by pundits here. Those predix are translated into racetrack odds here.

Our panel of pundits have winnowed the possible contenders in the Best Supporting Actor race down to just a handful of possibilities. On this, the diamond anniversary of this category at the Oscars, it is worth looking back at what sorts of roles have won this award over the first 74 years to predict who could prevail this year.

Among the winning archetypes of the past: Leading Man Slumming (George Clooney in "Syriana," Jack Nicholson in "Terms of Endearment); Character Actor (Christoph Waltz in "Inglorious Basterds," Chris Cooper in "Adaptation"); Mid-Life Crisis (Tim Robbins in "Mystic River," Jason Robards in "Julia"), Young Buck (Timothy Hutton in "Ordinary People"); Grumpy Old Man (Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine," two-time champ Melvyn Douglas in "Being There" and "Hud"); and Spry Ole Devil (Morgan Freeman in "Million Dollar Baby," oldest ever-winner George Burns in "The Sunshine Boys"). 

This year, we see examples of all these among the likely nominees. There are leading lights Christian Bale and Matt Damon taking featured parts in "The Fighter" and "True Grit" respectively. Geoffrey Rush offers a compelling characterization in "The King's Speech" as do Sam Rockwell in "Conviction" and Jeremy Renner in "The Town." John Hawkes is most definitely enduring the crisis of his life in "Winter's Bone" while Mark Ruffalo creates one in "The Kids Are All Right." The up-and-coming Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer stand out in "The Social Network." And Michael Douglas manages to be both grumpy and spry as he reprises his Oscar-winning role in "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps."

The experts have spoken and now it is your turn to tell us which film you think will prevail at the Oscars.

Will it be "The Social Network," which has won over several key critics groups, or "The King's Speech" that might be more in keeping with the traditions of the academy? Perhaps "The Fighter" can rise up to knock out these two frontrunners or maybe it will be "Black Swan" that dances off with the top prize.

Let's not forget the summer blockbusters "Inception" and "Toy Story 3" and the two past Oscar champs who return to the race -- Danny Boyle ("127 Hours") and Ethan and Joel Coen (True Grit"). Or could another film helmed by a woman, be it "The Kids Are All Right" or "Winter's Bone," win out?

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 25 with the 83rd annual Academy Awards taking place on Feb. 27.

Three composers have been ruled out of the running for Best Score by their brethren in the music branch of the Academy. Carter Burwell won't contend at the Oscars for either "True Grit" or "The Kids Are All Right" while Clint Mansell is out of the running for "Black Swan" and Michael Brook was ruled ineligible for "The Fighter."

All four scores were found to rely too heavily on pre-exisitng music. In the case of "Black Swan," the score includes significant samples of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" while "True Grit" makes use of many 19th century hymns. Both scores for "The Fighter" and "The Kids Are All Right" were found to be include too many old songs and not enough new music.