It’s Awards season, and I feel it’s my duty to provide handy guides. Last week it was the Edgars™, this week the Oscars.

Here’s the full list of nominees.

There was a time when I’d try to see all the nominated movies, but I’ve gotten old, and, for the most part, movies have stayed young. Fortunately, there’s always at least one I can recommend. If you liked All the President’s Men, you’ll probably like The Post, and, in a few years, maybe Fire and Fury will be out.  But for now I just concentrate on my Oscar party.

Dusting off party goods for the Oscars

I know it’s early, but I need time to get quizzes and prizes ready. Here are some sample Name That Movie quotes from 2012 and 2013. Who said this? Try them and let me know how you do. You know there will be a prize or two.

1. Person A: “How did she die?”

Person B: “Saw herself in the mirror one day.”

2. “Can you please not fight in here? I don’t think I can take it. For some reason, my Xanax isn’t kicking in.”

3. “Half of North America just lost their Facebook.”

4. “Your eggs are dying. Would it kill you to go on a date?”

5. “No one freely shares power in Washington, D.C.”

6. “It used to be about trying to do something. Now it’s about trying to be someone.”

7. “I want you to help me catch a killer of women.”

8. “Make for the sewers!”

9. “It’s incredible that the Coliseum is still standing after thousands of years. You know, Sally and I have to re-tile the bathroom every six months.”

If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by on March 4, 2018. Costumes welcome.

Christmas is over, for the most part. I always find a stray ornament, a “Santa” dish towel, and some other surprise red thing after I’ve sealed the boxes for storage. No problem; I have a drawer in the guest room for “Holiday Addenda.”

A lot of food came in the door this year as Christmas presents—pears, home made biscotti, several kinds of fudge, and too many cookies to count. I loved them all and made sure I had enough company to share them.

What I didn’t get was:

1. Fruitcake. Yes, I like fruitcake. I know it gets bad press, but freshly made fruitcake is delicious, and this “like” is one of many others I have to defend.

Others are listed here.

2. Christmas letters. I read them all, carefully. Sure there’s a lot of duplication, like soccer/basketball/other-ball trophies won by grandchildren, and bucket list trips to Machu Pichu. But I love catching up. My Christmas list includes some I haven’t seen in decades. Even so, I like knowing what’s happening in the lives of people I once saw every day.

3. Cold. It’s hard for me to feel Christmasy when I’m wearing sandals.

4. Crackers. Not the edible kind, but the ones with silly hats and sillier jokes.

Sample: What do you call Santa’s little helpers?
Answer: Subordinate clauses!

5. Carols. I like them all, from Away in a Manger to Santa Baby to Jingle Bell Rock. And, yes, all the verses of 12 Days of Christmas.

6. Calendars. You can’t have too many. I need an arty one (Central Park in Art); a hometown one or two (Boston); one that has large numbers for the dates; one nearby to mark up; one right above my computer monitor; and a nostalgic one (from 2008 – can you guess what that is?) And those are just my office calendars.

New (l.): 2018 Picasso calendar; Old: NYC Cal to mark weeks of class

7. Needles all over the rug. Love them! I even featured them on my card this year. If you didn’t get one, it’s because I don’t have your address. Send it and you’ll have a card in the mail before all the trees are gone from the rubbish pickup pile.

What I don’t like: mystery presents, since I don’t know whom to thank. Here’s this year’s unknown:

CHOCOLATE ALERT

Mystery chocolate!

Does anyone recognize this gift? A box came in the mail with a large tin of Godiva truffles and a festive collection of cookies. The only return address is Bloomingdale’s in Palm Beach, FL. I don’t know anyone in Palm Beach. There is a name associated with the box, but I don’t recognize it — I’ll call it just D. B., to protect a potentially innocent person. A reward leading to the identity of the sender . . .

Finally, HAPPY NEW YEAR! And—wait for it—as of this writing there are 357 days, 2 hours, 37 minutes, 22 seconds till Christmas 2018!

Two scenes from a recent jaunt to New York City.

Can you figure out the exact location?

How about this one -- where am I?

In case you missed this list on Lois Winston’s blog a couple of weeks ago, I’m reprinting here.

Here are some of my favorite things, in various categories:

• Element of the periodic table — Polonium, #84, the first element discovered by Marie Curie, and named for her native Poland.

• Crime drama — “Ray Donovan,” because of Liv Schreiber, Jon Voight, the Boston accents, and the dark, dark mood: “You don’t want to know what really happened.”

• Scientist— Enrico Fermi, “the architect of the nuclear age,” for better or worse, and author of one of my favorite quotes.

• Favorite quote #1, from Fermi — Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture, I am still confused. But on a higher level.

• Female crime writer — Patricia Highsmith, because she gave us Tom Ripley.

• Drink — very dry decaf cappuccino with whole milk (Reminds me of that scene in “LA Story,” where no one is ordering a simple coffee.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08NkaqoOELg

• Favorite quote #2 — There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them. – Louis Armstrong. (Know anyone who fits this description?)

• Favorite animals — the lions, Patience and Fortitude, outside the New York Public Library.

• Mathematician — Countess Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter and the world’s first programmer, not because she was an addictive gambler, but because many people think she’s an acronym. ADA, the Department of Defense programming language is named after her. And so is Ada Madison, one of my pen names.

• Museum — one with a Hopper, a Stieglitz, a Wharhol, and a coffee shop.

• Sport — whatever is off season.

• Male crime writer — Stephen King, because I’m only one degree of separation from him (My first agent was his first editor. Or is that two degrees?), and because he hugged me when I handed him his Edgar for “Mr. Mercedes.”

• All-round great Author — Joyce Carol Oates, because she’s on my mind. She was featured in the NYTimes, 10/23/17, as part of the Set the Page Free project, between Xerox and the literary community. And because she’s written a gazillion books that I love, from “Them” in 1969 to “We Were the Mulvaneys” in 1996 to “The Man Without a Shadow” in 2016. She’s quoted in the article as saying “I like to write.” Really, Ms. Oates? Tell us what you don’t like to do.

Sunset lined up with 42nd Street, on a summer evening.

•  Street — 42^nd in Manhattan, running from the East River to the Hudson River. In between are the United Nations, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, the New York Public Library, Times Square, and one or two theaters and eateries. Hmm, maybe it’s time for a visit!