Every Academy Award success story carries with it a tale of someone who’s been forgotten.

So let’s say I was a little astonished to find actor Quinton Aaron waiting for a car outside the Kodak Theatre after the Oscar show was over.

Who is Quinton Aaron? Well, while Sandra Bullock was accepting kudos for her Oscar for “The Blind Side,” someone obviously forgot that Quinton played real-life football player Michael Oher. Which is a little shocking: There would have been no “Blind Side” without him.

Aaron told me he received only one ticket to the Oscars — no date, no escort — and no ticket to the Governors Ball.

“I did get two tickets to the Vanity Fair party,” he said, “so I’m waiting for my date to come pick me up.”

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Meryl Streep vs. Sandra Bullock: It’s the only real race in the Oscars besides best picture.

Should we vote for Meryl, who is perfection in “Julie & Julia” as Julia Child? She hasn’t won an Oscar since 1982. She’s the best actress in the world. And she’s won a lot of awards this year.

Or Sandra Bullock: lots of fun, very friendly, very real. This is probably her one shot at an Oscar, playing a Kathie Lee Gifford lookalike. I’ve always had a thing for Sandra Bullock, but her high-water mark was in “While You Were Sleeping.” She’s a B-plus comedienne. She makes a lot of movies of varying quality. Witness “All About Steve,” which she made in the same year as “The Blind Side” and “The Proposal.”

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It’s January 19th. Oscar ballots are due back on the 23rd, on Saturday. That’s just four days.

Will Academy/Oscar voters reject the Golden Globe winners? In the past, the Academy has turned a deaf ear to the selections of the 80 or so mysterious Globe members. Oscar voters also like the human aspect of movie making.

This year, the HFPA went wild for “Avatar” after a last minute viewing in December. They let the technology (and maybe the 3D glasses) obscure the facts that “Avatar” has a terrible screenplay and no real acting per se. It contains some of the worst dialogue in history. But it does have amazing effects. There’s no question that it’s a game changer in sci-fi.

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“Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow beat her ex-husband last night.

Bigelow won best director and best picture for “The Hurt Locker” at the Critics’ Choice Awards, thus trouncing her ex-husband James Cameron and his computer-generated “Avatar.”

In what is the most telling awards show pre-Academy Awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards on VH1 often accurately predicts the Oscar. Last night at the Hollywood Palladium, the well-produced two-hour telecast was the kick-off for awards season.

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The Best Actress category has gotten very interesting suddenly.

While Meryl Streep remains the odds-on favorite for her work in “Julie & Julia,” there’s a new player in the game: Sandra Bullock.

Bullock is pulling a lot of of weight and good vibes for her role in the big studio formula hit, “The Blind Side.” Sandy has a Golden Globe nomination and a few others under her belt for her portrayal of a real life Memphis rich gal who takes an abandoned high school football player into her home. It’s a true story, but one that is hard to swallow if you give “The Blind Side” more than a few minutes of thought.

Still, Sandra Bullock is hard working and incredibly likable. And even though her character, Lee Anne Tuohy, resembles Kathie Lee Gifford down to her high heels, Bullock makes her a success. It’s not the actress’s first real acting knockout. She was excellent in both “Crash” and “Infamous,” showing the serious side of her acting chops.

But as one insider told me recently, “Sandy will be happy just to be nominated.” She’ll be a great addition to the Oscars.

However, this is Meryl Streep’s year. She made three hit films — “Julie and Julia,” “It’s Complicated,” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” In each, she is towering. And despite the idea that ‘Meryl always wins,’ La Streep has not taken home an Oscar in 27 years. It was for “Sophie’s Choice.” Sure, she’s been nominated a lot — over and over — but she’s also had to endure watching others swan past her.

Don’t get the impression she’s above winning. Not at all. When someone mentioned the Oscar recently, Streep supposedly responded, “From your lips to God’s ear.” I think God and the Academy are listening. Bullock aside, not to mention Carey Mulligan, Gabby Sidibe, and Marion Cotillard, 2010 is the year of Streep. You can bet on it!

A lot of Academy voters are probably going through their holiday mail today — and guess what — the Oscar ballot is here.

Some nominees seem like done deals. “Up in the Air,” “Precious,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglorious Basterds” and maybe “Invictus” or “Up” are the top likely choices. By now, a regular voter could rattle off that list of five without too much trouble.

But where to go from there? With 10 total Best Picture nominees, it’s the “back five” that will take a little more work and thought this year.

“Avatar,” for example, looks like the Big Studio shoo-in. It’s made a gazillion dollars. Even thought it has no acting nominations, a terrible script and a lot of CGI, “Avatar” will still take a nod. And the idea of James Cameron parading his ego around the Oscars is too tantalizing to pass up.

“Nine” would be next, if for nothing else, the glamour quotient. Without “Nine,” the Oscars could be a dreary affair. (Don’t forget– animated “Up” is great but produces no big stars on the red carpet.)

“Nine” also benefits from at least two or three performance nominations (Marion Cotillard in lead, Penelope Cruz in supporting, Daniel Day-Lewis in lead) and lots of craft noms too. Between SAG, Critics Choice and Golden Globes, “Nine” has momentum. (And if the show doesn’t feature Fergie singing “Be Italian” and Kate Hudson on “Cinema Italiano,” then we’re in for a long, long night.)

Three more? How about “An Education” — absolutely, with Carey Mulligan for best actress, too — and “A Single Man,” with nominations for Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

One more nomination needed for the big show on March 7: Sandra Bullock, for “The Blind Side.” If we’re going popular this year, then a Bullock nomination is cool. Even Meryl Streep, this year’s fait accompli best actress, would agree.

The 10 nominees that can make this year’s show exciting: “”Up in the Air,” “Precious,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “Invictus,” “Nine,” “Up,” “A Single Man,” “An Education” and “Avatar.”

Clint Eastwood’s new film, “Invictus,” fell short of its objectives this weekend at the boxoffice.

Despite projections of a $12 million-$14 million take in wide release for the $60 million-plus movie, the $9.1 million earned by the film had to be a disappointment for Warner Bros.

Perhaps limited release would have helped it get out of the gate. Last year, Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” had a little over $11 million in the bank when — after 29 days — it went into wide release Jan. 9. It made $29.4 million on its first big weekend.

“Invictus” has a lot going for it, but a lot against it too. The main subjects are racism and rugby, and in a foreign country. Those are not accessible topics for American audiences. There’s no love story. And no women. And there’s little explanation of what’s going on.

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Sandra Bullock is a favorite of mine. I don’t know why exactly. It’s not like I know her. Like you, I know her on screen. But I like to root for her.

On Thanksgiving, she did the hardest thing ever in her career: She beat the vampires of “Twilight: New Moon.” Her likable new film, “The Blind Side,” finished at No. 1, just a couple of gleaming jagged teath above “New Moon.” (The latter is back to no. 1 of this afternoon.)

Not only did Sandy (that’s what I’m going to call her) top the vampires, she beat herself and her naysayers. The reason: “Blind Side,” from Warner Bros., has already made more than $60 million in eight days. (It’s up to $76.3 through this morning.)

On the other hand, a truly terrible Bullock film, “All About Steve,” from 20th Century Fox, has made only $33.8 million in 82 days. That movie got such bad reviews — and Sandy produced it! — that some reviewers were saying her party was over.

Never!

In fact, 2009 has been a pretty good year for Sandy Bullock. In June, her first release of the season, “The Proposal,” was a blockbuster. Co-starring with Ryan Reynolds (in maybe his best performance so far, too), Bullock pulled in a whopping $164 million in the U.S. in about 65 days. Its total worldwide boxoffice is almost $300 million. The Disney/Buena Vista release is a natural, too, for one or two sequels.

Consider this: Sandy’s generational competitor, Julia Roberts, has never had a year with two hits like “Proposal” and “Blind Side.” And certainly not after two decades or more in the business!

What did the Disney and Warners people know that Fox didn’t? The movie has to be “All About Sandy” — not Steve or anyone else. She has to play sophisticated yet vulnerable. Her big brown eyes have to suggest empathy. And the other characters have to like her. In “The Proposal,” for example, there’s talk that Bullock’s character has been difficult and self-centered, but that was all off screen. On screen, all we see is a nice girl trying to survive. Just like in her biggest hit, “While You Were Sleeping.”

She won’t win any Oscars this year, but never say never. (Attention, Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman: Let her present this year at the Oscars, at least.)

Sandra Bullock (and please, Sandy, stay away from the plastic surgeons and dermatologists) is a player, and she’s here for keeps. Hope, as they say, floats.

P.S. Check out her very good cameo as Harper Lee in Doug McGrath’s extremely underrated Capote movie, “Infamous.”