The fact that Crash, The English Patient and Forrest Gump beat Brokeback Mountain, Fargo and Pulp Fiction for Best Picture should be evidence enough to convince anyone that the Oscars are all about industry politics and aggressive PR/marketing campaigns. But this week’s interview with a nameless senior Academy Awards voter (you know, one of the guys who actually picks the winners) in The Hollywood Reporter confirms everything you thought you knew. Here are his revealing, highly opinionated thoughts on various topics:

On PR pros and swag bags:

“I’ve gotten books, cookbooks and just about everything short of Lincoln condoms. It’s ridiculous”.

We assume it was a Beasts of the Southern Wild cookbook containing nothing but gumbo recipes.

On Best Original Song:

“This is no-brainer city: If ‘Skyfall’ does not win I will fillet my next-door neighbor’s dog.”

We like Adele; we also like dogs. We’re conflicted.

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Director Steven Spielberg used an exclusive Entertainment Weekly interview and a strategically released screenshot to turn the hype dial for his upcoming DreamWorks film Lincoln up to 11: Notoriously picky Oscar vet Daniel Day-Lewis will play the doomed president, and this new image alone is enough to inspire a big string of PR wins for the movie, set to open on Nov. 9.

The news isn’t exactly new: Photographers caught images of Lewis in character some time ago, and rumors about the cast, including Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, started floating around in mid-2011.

But this striking image is the best promo the film could receive at the moment. Another intriguing on-set tidbit: Cast and crew referred to the famously dedicated actor as “Mr. President.” We’re not sure how Spielberg could manage to gin up more excitement for this one.