Welcome to Oscar Talk.

In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

The Governors Awards were held last weekend and both Anne and I were in attendance. We talk about the sights, sounds, speeches and opportunity for Oscar contenders to schmooze the membership.

The New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review kicked the precursor circuit into another gear this week, handing Best Picture and Best Director honors to Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty.” We discuss the winners…and losers.

Last week we discussed the documentary feature category and this week we have an actual list of 15 finalists to chew on. So we do.

And finally, reader questions. We address queries concerning films we’d like to see have more of a leg up with campaigning and how the Best Supporting Actor field is shaping up in terms of a winner.

Have a listen to the new podcast below. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. You to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. And as always, if you have a question you’d like us to address on a future podcast, send it to OscarTalk@HitFix.com.

“Here I Come” courtesy of Stuart Park.