But I was worried about jinxing myself. Now that Oscar nominations have been announced and my Telluride wager is decided, I don't mind.

While vacationing at the Telluride Film Festival last Labor Day weekend, Princess Di and I were invited to a  late dinner at a tres chic French restaurant called La Marmotte. That worried me a bit because I thought "marmotte" only meant some kind of rodent, plus the Ratatouille stink was still on me. I have since learned that La Marmotte is also a famous bicycle race in France. Not that I'm crazy about bicyclists, either.

Anyway, we ended up sitting across from writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky whose film The Counterfeiters we had tickets to see the next day. Very nice gentleman, with an ingratiating shortage of English language skills. Still, we had great conversation for nearly two hours, laughing at each other's misunderstandings, drinking some mighty fine wine and chowing down on grilled hanger steak with some kind of frou-frou shrimp and whatnot.

Then this guy comes up, sits down and starts talking business with Stefan, who didn't seem to fully appreciate the interruption. Since he didn't say anything, I figured the interloper was just another publicist trying to get him to mingle for his film's sake. Stefan left with him for about two minutes then returned. A few minutes later, the guy -- Tom somebody --  also came back to the table where we began talking about  films at the festival.

Tom was raving about Persepolis, an intersting movie I had watched about 45 minutes of the first night after a long day's travel, so I didn't make it all the way through. Tom was predicting Academy Award nominations for the French/Iranian project based on graphic novels, including best adapted screenplay. "It's golden," he claimed.

No way, I said. Certainly best animated feature (which it earned Tuesday) for the unique style. Maybe even best foreign language film with its political topicality. But best adapted screenplay? No way.

Tom seemed genuinely insulted that anyone would contradict him. He offered a bet on Persepolis getting that screenplay nod. Knowing I was from Tampa Bay, and since he's a hockey fan, he suggested  Lightning playoff tickets vs. New Jersey Devils playoff tickets. The wine won and we shook on it. Stefan hid a slight smile behind his hand.

When the hanger steak was served, Stefan asked what part of the cow or whatever it comes from. Tom, apparently still feeling testy, jerked his thumb toward me and said: "Ask this guy. He knows everything."

A tense but tasty entree, to be sure.

Later, I pulled out the business card -- one of mine since Tom didn't have one -- that he scribbled his name, e-mail and phone number upon. Turns out he is Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics and recently named with his partner by Variety as the sixth-most powerful person in independent cinema. At least I could count on him affording to pay up.

That was almost five months ago. Tuesday morning when the Oscar nominations were announced, I did a Macaulay Culkin fist pump when Persepolis wasn't among the adapted screenplay nominees. I also cheered a bit when Stefan's film The Counterfeiters earned a well-deserved nomination for best foreign language film.

So, I dashed off an e-mail to Tom today, congratulating him on the nominations and reminding him of the wager while letting him off the hook:

"The good news for you," I messaged, "is that the Lightning don't have a snowball's chance in hell of making the playoffs this year, although those Devils are tearing up the ice.
The better news for me is that I'm not really big on hockey but I'm HUGE on being right."

I'll let you know if he gets back in touch.