Perseverance pays at the Oscars

In the two decades that I have been entering our office Oscar pool, I have won once. Mostly I do terribly, often placing strictly middle of the pack.

This year, though, was different. For some reason, I was able to correctly choose 20 of the 24 Oscar categories – missing only Best Foreign Language Film, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short and Best Short Animated Film.

And the only reason I missed Documentary Feature is that I followed a hunch, which told me that the overwhelming favorite – “Man on Wire,” which I saw and wasn’t blown away by – would be done in by the Hurricane Katrina film, “Trouble the Water” (which I haven’t seen).

As for Best Foreign Language Film, I – like many movie-watchers – never suspected that the Japanese film “Departures” had a chance against the Israeli animated film “Waltz with Bashir,” which won near-universal praise (I saw it in L.A. and loved it).

So, twice now in 20-plus years, I’m the office winner.

Take that, Megan Albertus .

Below: Cast members Dev Patel and Freida Pinto celebrate with director Danny Boyle after their film, “Slumdog Millionaire,” won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Associated Press photo