5. George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s bromance comes to a head  in the best actor category – with only one of them being able to walk away with the coveted prize. Personally, I prefer Clooney’s performance in ‘The Descendants’ to Pitt’s in ‘Moneyball’ – but the academy has overlooked Pitt for a long time and he may finally be due. Of course, Jean Dujardin of ‘The Artist’ could come in and ruin it for both of them.

4. Look for ‘The Help’ to upset in at least one category. Most pundits are picking Meryl Streep in the best actress category and ‘The Artist’ in best picture, but something tells me that ‘The Help’ is going to swoop in and nab one of those awards. Personally, I think it should be able to lay claim to both. If Streep does win best actress, however, we can only hope she doesn’t do her usual blathering at the podium. We know, given how many awards she’s won, she’s no longer shocked when she takes home the prize. It just makes her look stupid. I think everyone agrees that Octavia Spencer has supporting actress for ‘The Help’ all sewed up – but it would be nice if she and Viola Davis could take awards home together since they both did stellar work. That being said, if Melissa McCarthy somehow nabs the supporting actress statue, I won’t shed any tears. She and Spencer both stole their movies.

3. Sasha Baren Cohen will do something stupid. His schtick was funny as Borat. It was less funny, but still entertaining as Bruno. It’s just old and passé now. Earlier this week it was announced that Cohen would not be allowed on the red carpet dressed up as his newest alter ego Admiral General Aladeen. Reportedly, show producers didn’t want him using the footage for his newest movie. Then, all of a sudden, it was announced he would be part of the show. I think everyone smells a set-up/publicity stunt.

2. The show will feature a performance by Cirque du Soleil – that will invariably fall flat. Every year people complain the show is too long and, as the show moves later into the night, the actors are given less time to give their speeches. Why not cut stupid stuff like this out? Cirque du Soleil did a performance in 2002 – that was essentially when everyone got up to get another beer and had a bathroom break. If you really want to reinvigorate the Oscars – streamline it. No one wants to watch this.

1. Billy Crystal restores the luster to Oscar. It’s been a tough couple of years without the venerable Crystal – a host who always somehow manages to rise above trite jokes in a tired format. I think anyone who saw last year’s debacle with Anne Hathaway and James Franco, though, knows that just about anything has to be better than that drivel. Thankfully, Crystal manages to be funny without going over the line. After Eddie Murphy abruptly dropped out of hosting duties several weeks ago, the thing Oscar needs most at this point is a little stability. Crystal always delivers that – plus, I know I’m excited to see how he projects his countenance into ‘The Help’ -- I just know it's going to have something to do with Minny's pie.

What about you? What do you think will happen during tonight’s Oscar telecast?