Before you go making your picks for Sunday’s regal rumble, we (me) here at Showcase (.ca) wanted to offer you some tasty informational Timbits to help you on your way.  Below you’ll find the Vegas odds, as well as a sexy secret about each of the combatants in the three major categories.  You can thank us when you whip all your colleagues in the office Oscar pool that you organized (you terrible nerd)!

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (5/1): This movie was written by the guy who wrote Forrest Gump.  And it is exactly the same film.

Milk (20/1): SPOILER ALERT: He’s gay.

Frost/Nixon (30/1): While not a direct sequel to Eddie, both films feature Whoopi Goldberg as the coach of the New York Nix.

Slumdog Millionaire (2/19): The grand prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in the film is 20,000,000 Indian Rupees, or 504,408.81 Canadian Dollars.  To win that much you would have to bet $53,095.66 CDN on Slumdog, and have it win.  We do not advise this.

The Reader (30/1): SPOILER ALERT: Kevin Spacey is The Reader.

SHOWCASE PICKS: Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (4/1): Tunde Adebimpe, who plays the guy who marries Rachel, is also the lead singer of TV on the Radio.  Anne Hathaway does not play Rachel, or the guy who marries Rachel.

Melissa Leo for Frozen River (30/1): You know why her odds are so low?  Because no one saw this movie and no one knows who she is.  I’m dropping truth bombs up in here!

Meryl Streep for Doubt (7/2): Oprah Winfrey reportedly lobbied for the role of Mrs. Miller.  The role ended up going to Viola Davis, who outacted Streep in the best scene in the film and will probably win Best Supporting Actress for her performance.  Oprah Winfrey owes Meryl Streep an Oscar.

Angelina Jolie for Changeling (15/1): Her name is an anagram of “Eagle-Oil Ninja,” while Changeling is an anagram of “Lichen Gang.”  Spooky.

Kate Winslet for The Reader (7/16): Kate Winslet has exactly 0 projects lined up right now.  It would be incredible if she won the Oscar and then retired and played professional baseball for a year and then came back and won another 3 Oscars and then retired again and then unretired again when she was way past her prime and started playing basketball for the Washington Wizards.

SHOWCASE PICKS: That was a Michael Jordan reference.

Best Actor:

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (40/1): And the Oscar for “Guy You’re Sure You Know From Somewhere but Can’t Quite Place Him” goes to… Richard Jenkins!  I’ll save you the trip to IMDb – he was in Eddie.

Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (15/1): This is the worst Best Actor nom of all time.  And that’s a fact, jack!

Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (8/1): His chances are slim as he’s already received recognition for this role.  He won a 2007 Tony award for his performance in the New York stage production of Frost/Nixon.  And that actually is a fact, jack!

Sean Penn for Milk (11/10): Sean Penn starred in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon.

Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (11/20): Mickey Rourke starred in Diner with Kevin Bacon.

SHOWCASE PICKS: Kevin Bacon.