But watching the Oscars, either with friends at an IRL party or the hivemind of Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks, it can devolve into a big game of Didja Know?

Most people don't have time to see every movie that's nominated, let alone research every little factoid about them. So this year, we're here to help. This quick "cheat sheet" of talking points is by no means an exhaustive list of every piece of relevant trivia, but it's a useful resource for moving your small talk beyond "Ben Affleck was robbed!" (He was. Everyone knows it. BUT there are more interesting ways to talk about it.). Peruse the items above and then comment with your own favorite pieces of trivia about this year's Oscars, which will be airing Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific on ABC.

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This Is One of the Most Political Best-Picture Races Ever

 

Talking Point: Of the nine films up for Best Picture this year quite a few have political messages or undertones of some kind. Zero Dark Thirty's intense take on the search for Osama bin Laden had everybody talking about torture. Argo is the movie version of the real-life tale of rescuing six American embassy workers during the Iran hostage crisis. Django Unchained is a revenge tale about slavery; Lincoln