Didn't see any of the movies nominated for best picture at the Oscars this year. That's OK. You're not missing much, if reporter and Brew Reviewer Mike Danahey is to be believed.

I've rounded up his reviews of this year's best picture-nominated movies. (His review of "Inception" remains one of the funniest things I've ever read.) Let's see how his reviews jive with the results of Sunday's awards, shall we?

• Black Swan
• Inception
• The Social Network
• The Kids Are All Right
• 127 Hours
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit

Other nominees for best picture include "The Fighter" and "The King's Speech."

For a complete list of nominees in each category and more information about the 83rd Academy Awards, visit Oscar.com.

Beer rating: The Oscars call for bubbly, don't they? Or maybe a champagne beer. Or maybe just the champagne of beers.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

I've been good. My friends have commented on how good I have been, how I manage to turn down things that are "not on the diet." They are commenting on how they can see the 20-pound loss on me, in my face and neck.

That didn't stop me, however, from completely blowing my diet on Tuesday night.

That's right, the night before the second-to-last weigh-in, I ate a chocolate brownie cookie, a couple of small slices of lemon cake, a scoop of potato salad and a couple of other things that, while not horribly bad, were not exactly part of the regimen.

The wheels have not come back on my exercise regiment since I got back from my high school class reunion, and I have to get back on the Gazelle and get my hour in a day. But, even on Thursday, other things took over -- like the dishes that had piled up, the stories that needed to get written... the blog post that Emily had to pester me about.

Still, I was down just around one pound at Wednesday's weigh-in, but I know it could have been better.

I think the question that I need to ask myself is "Why, Janelle, are you undermining your own success?"

Ah, here is where the introspection starts.

The introspection continues, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

I haven't completely given up on blogging about Elgin's Biggest Loser. I just got very preoccupied last week, with the Frock Swap and all, and had no time to get it done. Thank you, Emily, for not asking.

I've been very good about the diet, and even with minimal workouts I have been averaging about 2 lbs. of weight loss a week. Now that the FS is over, I have to get back into my daily Gazelle routine. Apparently, running your BLANK off is really not as effective as really running for weight loss.

I will give readers an update, though. As of Wednesday's weigh-in... 19.7 pounds.

Yes, since June 2, I am nearly 9 percent smaller than I was when this started. I'm in a size smaller jeans and am seriously eyeing some smaller shirts and looking fondly at two dresses I am considering for the wedding I have in D.C. in October.

What's worked -- and HASN'T worked -- for Janelle, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

I went into Wednesday's weigh-in optimistic, but realistic.

I'd been out of town Thursday morning to Tuesday evening, back home in North Dakota for my 20-year high school reunion. I knew there was going to be a lot of food around over the weekend, with little time for a workout and alcohol in large quantities. So I figured, if I came back breaking even for the week, that would be enough for me.

Not that I totally blew the diet. There were THREE pizza opportunities last week: One with girls from my class; one with my sister, nephews and their families; and one with my folks. And you know what? Each time, I had the salad (with blue cheese dressing, no less). I nibbled at the toppings on my nephew's pizza at Zorba's on Ottertail Lake and had a tiny bite of the cherry dessert pizza off my great-niece's plate on Sunday (Amazing how a 2-year-old can give you a look that says, "Hands off, Nellie!").

I stuck to the diet in other ways, too. I ate the hard-boiled eggs I brought with for breakfast most days, with a piece of string cheese or Greek yogurt. Eggs and string cheese were great highway driving snacks, too. I had chicken, including fried chicken, a couple of times over the course of the weekend.

But there were times when I didn't stick to the diet.

The good, the bad and the results of the weigh-in, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

Drumroll please... The Pre-20-Year Reunion number is... 12 (down TWO since last week!) POUNDS.

I am ecstatic about this number. I am no size 2 yet, but think I am ready to go down a size in my blue jeans.

Now, one of the "problems" with weight loss is the whole clothes-shopping issue. I gave up a lot of my "skinny jeans" a while back... mostly because the styles were long gone. And we all have seen makeover shows where the subject has lost weight, but they haven't gotten out of their "fat clothes" quite yet. These people always look like they are swimming in their outfits.

But, on the other hand, when your goal is more than 20 pounds, there are a lot of sizes to cover on the way down, and who can afford to buy clothes for each one of those size intervals?

This, however, gives me one more reason to be looking forward to the 2010 Frock Swap CCC. Yes, I am sneaking in a shameless promo here.

More shameless self-promotion, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

If you heard a high-pitched squeal on Elgin's west side on Wednesday, say about 5:20 p.m., I believe what you heard was me. That was my reaction when I realized, belatedly, what Laura Dion-Jones was telling me.

I had lost another five pounds. In a week.

Now, when I lost five pounds in the first week, all I heard was "Oh, that is water weight," and it comes from just eating healthier. The body flushes out water or whatever.

But the five pounds this week just means something else to me.

Leave Janelle encouragement, why that's important, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

Ever notice that when you start a diet or an exercise plan, there are some friends who are supportive and encouraging and other friends who seem to want to push you off the straight and narrow?

I will have to admit that I might, at times, fall into the latter category. Not that I would ever intentionally try to sabotage someone's diet or pooh-pooh their efforts to their faces. However, those from The Courier-News office will tell you that I might have an evil streak, too.

I told Laura Dion-Jones, the life coach who has put together Elgin's Biggest Loser, that I love to bake. I get bored at night or just need something to clear my mind, and I will start pulling out the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or banana bread with chocolate chips or a cheesecake or brownies. I usually have all of the ingredients needed for the above in my kitchen at any time.

How does baking make Janelle evil? Find out, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

Seven pounds now, total. It might not be the biggest number among the men and women who are doing Elgin's Biggest Loser, but for me, just wrapping up my fourth week of dieting, it is a number I am pretty happy with.

Friends already have said they can see a difference in my face. Luckily, I guess, that is where it first shows when I do lose weight.

It also is, I think, the hardest place for a person to notice his or her own weight loss or gain. When you look in the mirror every day, you (or, at least, I) don't really notice that slow progression.

The biggest difference I have noticed is just a gradual increase in muscle tone. And I can thank my Gazelle for that. You remember the Gazelle infomercials: Tony Little hawked these machines, telling viewers, "You can do it!"

More on the Gazelle, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

OK, here is the deal. I have cheated.

But I don't like that term for deciding that I wanted something sweet. So I am going to say I indulged.

I indulged Saturday night. I drove into Chicago, and my friend Carla and I went out for Mexican. I had the chicken burrito suizo. It was yummy. But really, how bad could cheese, sour cream, chicken and a tortilla be for someone going for an Atkins/The Zone hybrid diet?

It gets worse, after the jump.

NOTE: Courier-News freelance writer Janelle Walker has signed up for the second round of the "Elgin's Biggest Loser" challenge. Participants weigh in Wednesday nights, and Janelle is blogging the experience exclusively for The Courier-News.

Sorry, yes, I should have blogged before today... it has been a very hectic last week. But the good news is (or was) -- drumroll please -- five pounds lost for Week One. Woot woot!

Of course, I followed that weigh in with a Blackhawks game party at a friend's house. I had to stop and buy food for the party... which led to finding this gorgeous-looking little carrot cake and a bottle of wine at Caputo's.

Followed, then, by a weekend at the Chicago Blues Festival. I pack quite a picnic for Blues Fest. However, this year that picnic included fresh fruit, salad, veggies and generally pretty healthy food. Well... at least until my friend Krys showed up with the strawberry rhubarb pie from another friend's pie store in Chicago. I had a VERY small slice.

How does a birthday affect a weigh in? Find out, after the jump.