Yeah, I saw that too. I've not seen it myself, but is it one of those terrible films that people say that they like because it's 'intellectual' to do so?

So the visual effects noms are:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Very interesting, especially in light of The Potter Fuckup. No Captain America and no Ghost Protocol. Shame really as like Trey I was kinda amazed to hear that it's actually Evans in all the scenes and not just a pasted  head - I wonder if the effect itself wasn't considered good enough.

thats .... yeah ok then.
Some days I never stop being amazed.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
(this definately I think got the "end of series" bump, and probably wasn't hurt that all the drama surrounding the bake-off brought it to the front of peoples minds more)

Hugo
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
(this, along with what 10 other nom's, seems to indicate that they went with the heavy film nostalgia that the movie evoked.)

Real Steel
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
(Glad that this god the nod)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
(Again kind of a given on this one given all the hype/controversy, and the incredible work)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
(well 2 big robot movies, this one deserved a nod, but still ...)

Fuckers completely snub Drive but they put fucking Incredibly Loud and Close up for best picture?! It's not even fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

I'm a little angered Drive & Dragon Tattoo were snubbed for Best Picture, but not really suprised.
Loud & Close is just shameful. It's a bad movie, plain and simple. The only things driving it are star power, and playing off the 9/11 anniversary. A cheap tactic.

Oh, and I think it's universally agreed that The Artist has snagged Best Picture. Actor/Actress will be interesting though.

Best Animated Film is gonna be interesting (not really).
Odds that Chico & Rita will win based on merit: 2:1
Odds that Chico & Rita will win based on the number of voters who saw it: 10,000:1

I haven't seen A Cat In Paris or Puss In Boots. Is Puss In Boots any good, or is it basically Shreck without Shreck? I still think it's laughable that they bother to nominate stuff like that for best animated film. That would be like nominating Home Alone for best picture. The US industry was doing pretty good up until a few years ago. Now it's back on it's downward spiral.

I haven't seen any of the foreign films this year, which kinda bothers me on a personal level.

How was Tintin not nominated and Puss in Boots was?

^ They did that with all of them.