· Here's this year's Oscars poster, featuring the Kodak's impressive array of laser cannons, aimed to incinerate any winner whose acceptance speech exceeds the allotted time. (They're looking at you, Slumdog Millionaire composer AR Rahman.) [Access Hollywood]

· The Academy is suing to block an Arizona company from selling seven-night luxury Oscar ticket packages starting at $175,000, which gets you "Bel Air hotel, access to celebrity stylists, a camera crew to record the experience, and your own Wolfgang Puck-catered jacuzzi rendezvous with the Reader producer of your choice (some restrictions apply)." [AP]
· The New Yorker's David Denby and the NY Times's A.O. Scott discussed this year's crop on Charlie Rose, where Denby...gasp...suggested Brad Pitt doesn't give good closeup. "He doesn't know how to dramatize thought." Double gasp! For counterpoint, we have the opinion of Defamer's own S.T. VanAirsdale, who calls Denby "a totally joyless, dyslexic, elitist fungus of a film critic." We're so torn right now! [Charlie Rose]
· "Ledger’s inevitability isn’t just a function of that famous-when-you’re-dead afterglow familiar to fans of 60s rock and 90s grunge." Little Gold Men explains how Heath actually earned his Oscar. (As if we didn't already know that.) [VF.com]
· The Film Experience Blog noticed that once a gay-themed movie gets Oscar recognition, unseen, gay-hating, internet-trawling forces tank it in its IMDb ranking. The graphs don't lie. [Film Experience]
· What's a Best Picture Oscar worth? Slate says $6,663,508. [Slate]