With the speed of a lumbering engine powered by critical hubris and self-importance, the 84th Academy Awards nominations dropped into our newsfeeds this morning with predictable result. Did you know that people liked The Descendants this year, The Artist as well? Brad Pitt and George Clooney scored the requisite Hollywood heartthrob acting votes (they will lose to the no-name French guy who doesn't talk), while Meryl Streep got her due for sticking around. Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese were also nominated, just like they always are. It's another Oscar ceremony, y'all!

To chime in on the various best-of roundups floating around the web, Opening Ceremony has put together a list of this year's favorite movies, books, songs, fashion moments and more. A nice twist on their effort is that they asked a bunch of their famous friends to declare their picks, including Nicola Formichetti, Spike Jonze, Jason Schwartzman, and The Misshapes. They also tapped a few internet-famous people, too, like photoblogger Tommy Ton, who selected Belgian model Hanne Gaby (pictured) for best street style.

● Skinny 50 Cent is back, and this time he wants to help you get skinny, too. The notoriously health conscious rapper is working on a weight-loss book called Formula 50: A 6-Week Total Body Transformation Plan, wherein he'll lay out the baics for muscle building, nutrition, exercise and, of course, mental strength. [Page Six]

● Anne Hathaway is engaged to her long time beau, Adam Shulman. "He's the best!" she says. [People]

In her new memoir, Then Again, Keaton writes not only about herself, but also about her relationship with her mother. But, duh, you just want to hear the stuff about Woody Allen, right?

● Woody Allen's dream leading lady? First Lady Michelle Obama. "If I was in a room with Michelle Obama, and I thought she was right for a part, I wouldn't hesitate to ask her," he says. [USA Today] ● The women of Parks and Recreation made a video of themselves eating Pop Rocks sent to them by Tavi Gevinson, because "P.S. Candy is delicious, and it will always be delicious." [Rookie] ● Good news for all those who still believe in "'til death do us part." Demi Moore is still wearing her wedding ring. [Huff Post]

Yesterday was one of those rare days when, by virtue of having no castings and avoiding my part-time internship, I was able to shirk all work responsibilities and take the day off. I finally bought hangers and went for a run in Central Park (two things I’ve neglected to do since I moved here). I also met up with an old professor of mine, and we walked through Riverside Park and up along the Hudson, ending up at the Fairway in Harlem where he insisted the fish is better than at any other grocery store. The walk through the fall foliage was overwhelmingly cinematic, reminiscent of Woody Allen’s Manhattan. Which, in turn, reminded me of the opportunity modeling affords to familiarize myself with this glorious city. Walking from Milk Studios to the Conde Nast building to ad agencies in Soho and photographers’ apartments in Chinatown, I spend the majority of my day navigating the urban landscape and seeing so many interior worlds to which I would otherwise never be privy. This goes for any city I work in, but New York is of course its own breed. I’ve only been here for six weeks, but I’ve developed an intimate relationship with the avenues and buildings and parks in a short amount of time. Because modeling requires me to be a modern-day flâneuse, I get to witness so much of the beautiful and the grotesque in this city. Here’s a list of contemporary urban occurrences that I observed early on, which will probably seem quite normal and ordinary to you long-term New Yorkers.

Buried - Here is an abbreviated list of phobias that might be triggered by Buried, the first English language feature from acclaimed Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés: claustrophobia (fear of restriction and suffocation), taphophobia (fear of being buried alive), achluophobia (fear of darkness), autophobia (fear of being alone), and ophidiophobia (fear of snakes). Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), an American truck driver working in Iraq, regains consciousness after receiving a blunt blow to the head, only to find he’s been, yep, buried alive in a wooden coffin under several feet of desert sand. With only a cell phone, a lighter, and fuzzy memories of his convoy’s ambush, Paul attempts to lead rescuers to his grave through a series of frustrating calls to his government, his family, and the insurgents who put him there. A lesser actor wouldn’t have been able to carry the film, but Reynolds is sublime, conveying fear and resolve with every gasp of rapidly thinning air. —Victor Ozols

Like any rabid Woody Allen fan, I'm both an apologist and an appreciator of the director's contemporary work. Surrounding some lovely dromedy gems—Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Match Point—is an endless sea of...not dross, not garbage, but fatally flawed, if still enjoyable, films: Hollywood Ending, Melinda and Melinda, Cassandra's Dream, Whatever Works. So the question everyone asks when a new Allen film is about to come out is, which category will it fall into? Will it be a beauty of a film or another challenge for us Allen apologists? Where will You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger fall? The first trailer just debuted and I'm just not sure.

We learned some new things about the Woodster today. In his chat with The Telegraph, Allen revealed much of the usual fare: we knew he loves New York, and younger women, and Diane Keaton, and that he's a bit neurotic. But the 74-year-old is more neurotic than we imagined, and more humble than we'd expect from someone known for casting himself opposite the babe du jour. Some surprising insights into the life of Mr. Soon-Yi Previn after the jump.