Tomorrow morning, the Oscar-season suspense will end (or will, at least, get shifted from who'll-be-nominated to who'll-win) as Anne Hathaway and Academy president Tom Sherak announce this year's nominations at 5:38 a.m. Why so early? So the news can be part of the East Coast morning talk shows. Why 5:38, precisely, instead of 5:40? I have no idea. Why can't Sherak just read the nominations himself, and not make Hathaway endure having full hair and makeup done in the middle of the night? Ditto, although part of the reason I'm going to get up and watch this spectacle is to see what a Hollywood starlet deems appropriate garb for that hour.

Anyway, there'll be plenty to discuss on Tuesday. In yesterday's paper I predicted whose names we'd hear read in the major categories, and other than forgetting to include Christian McKay of "Me and Orson Welles" in the supporting actor category (Sorry, Christian! You were great!), I'm still standing by those predictions. In particular, the best director category seems the easiest to call: If anyone other than Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Quentin Tarantino and Jason Reitman gets named, I'll be shocked -- it'll be the year's biggest upset. In any case, we'll talk Tuesday.

In the meantime, here's a reminder of why Meryl Streep will make Academy history on Tuesday by becoming the first actor to receive 16 nominations. (And who did she beat for this record? Herself.) Just that "dooooo" alone is practically worth an Oscar nod.