The 71 ^st annual Golden Globe Award nominations were announced this morning, and both 12 Years a Slave and the upcoming American Hustle tied for the most nods: seven apiece. It’s an odd face-off: in one corner, the bleakest, most sobering film of the year; in the other, a wild knockabout farce. But hey, at least it shows Hollywood still has some range. Among the nods for 12 Years a Slave: Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Actor, Michael Fassbender for Best Supporting Actor, Lupita Nyong’o for Best Supporting Actress, Steve McQueen for Best Director, and the film itself for Best Picture (Drama). As for American Hustle, it pulled a neat hat-trick in that all four top-billed actors got nods: Christian Bale for Best Actor, Amy Adams for Best Actress, Bradley Cooper for Best Supporting Actor, and Jennifer Lawrence for Best Supporting Actress. It also got noms for Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) and Best Director, for David O. Russell. Other films shown a lot of love: Gravity, which got nods for Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, and Best Actress (for Sandra Bullock); Captain Phillips, which got nods for Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, Best Actor (for Tom Hanks), and Best Supporting Actor (for newcomer Barkhad Abdi); and Nebraska, which got Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), Best Director, Best Actor (Bruce Dern) and Best Supporting Actress (June Squibb). As with any award nominations, part of the fun is talking about who got snubbed, and this year that was everybody who had anything to do with Lee Daniels’ The Butler. Once considered an awards front-runner, it was shut out of every category. (Even Oprah was overlooked!) And the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks, which looks to have been genetically bred for maximum awards appeal, only got one nod, for lead actress Emma Thompson. Not that the Globes should be taken too seriously as an arbiter of quality. In case you weren’t aware, you should know the following: that the people who run the Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, aren’t actually press and they aren’t actually even foreign—they’re a tiny group (less than 100 members) of star-crazed Californians with no credentials beyond, say, running a Ryan Gosling fan blog. Every year, Hollywood A-listers wine and dine HFPA members in the hopes of getting nominations for their movies, and every year the HFPA happily obliges, giving nominations to actors, actresses and movies that everybody knows didn’t deserve them: Pia Zadora, Madonna, The Horse Whisperer, The Tourist, etc. Just something to keep in mind…