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· Oscar parties aren't just self-indulgent opportunities for winners to kick off their heels and skip La Dolce Vita-style through fudge-spewing fountains; they can also raise big bucks for charities, such as Elton John's AIDS Foundation, and the Motion Picture & Television Fund, which will raise $7.5 million with its fifth annual Night Before party Saturday at the Beverly Hills Hotel. [Variety]
· Uncontroversial Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres says she is "praying for...a one-armed pushup. I want somebody to streak." Failing that, she'd settle for Eddie Murphy sending Sasheen Littlefeather to the podium to decline his Oscar should he take Best Supporting Actor. [USA Today]
· Canadian Oscar nominees such as Ryan Gosling, Paul Haggis (Cancon Fun Fact: Both hail from London, Ontario!), and Deepa Mehta lunched with their consul general today in L.A. The patriotic pridefest became temporarily uncomfortable when Haggis cornered Gosling to tell him that while he thoroughly enjoyed his performance in Half Nelson, he thought the movie could have benefitted by having his inner-city history teacher character accidentally run over his crack dealer, only to discover that the two had more in common than they ever imagined. [Canada.com]

· Oscar Upset Rumor of the Day: Peter O'Toole will swoop in to snatch Best Actor away from a speech-fumbling Forest Whitaker, and charm the pants off of us in the process! [Gold Derby]
· Having trouble coming up with the little touches that'll have 'em talking about your Oscar party for months? Let Debi Lilly of A Perfect Event help you "glitz and glam your way to a fabulous Oscars party!" We don't know about you, but one HerRoyalHighness-tini and we're hanging off the Buckingham chandeliers. [ABC7Chicago]