It didn't take much imagination to see Harvey Weinstein wielding the whip hand two weeks ago when theSlumdog Millionaire backlash commenced. At least not as much imagination as Harvey summoned to deny it.

If the incoming Oscar producers are serious about their pledge to detonate the awards show and rebuild from scratch, may they take two imperative lessons from Sunday night's Grammy telecast:

· A brash appeal to teenyboppers brought 19 million viewers to CBS for the Grammys.

Mickey Rourke put some Oscar-race distance between himself and Sean Penn last night, winning the British Academy Awards' Best Actor prize before ceremonially washing it down backstage with a bottle of Champagne.

Most-shirtless Oscar-nominated screenwriter Dustin Lance Black made his deepest inroads yet to awards-night glory, claiming two WGA prizes Saturday for his work on Milk.

As the last awards stopover for two weeks before the Oscars, the Orange British Academy Film Awards could have made things fun by rejecting Slumdog Millionaire just for the hell of it. Oh well.

She kept awards-show fashion "rock and roll," was "kinda real," "legendary" and "fierce" on stage and committed no natal errors. Other than not taking home an award, M.I.A. had a great Grammy night.

What the Oscars lack in viewership will be made up for in spectacle—everything from Judd Apatow's sprawling A Salute to Penis to a Busby Berkeley-esque number placing Hugh Jackman inside a circle of scissor-kicking aboriginal-wind-spirits.

If you're like us, you used to blame your poor Oscar-pool showing on those short films that never arrived in theaters before awards night. For better or worse, that excuse is officially over.

Just because Heath Ledger was a favorite to claim this year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar since before The Dark Knight even opened, that doesn't mean he can't use a gentle, posthumous awards-season studio nudge.

Variety isn't the first publication to parallel America's bright new political era with this year's Oscar derby. But, bless their hearts, they may very well be the last.

Kidding! It's rhetorical! Clearly it's not such a slow news day that we would actually contrive to ask that question, right? Right. But someone would — you get one guess who.

When you have the Oscar essentially locked up in your nominated category, you can try many more intriguing gambles with your campaigning. Take Penélope Cruz for NSFW example.

There's no single passage from this epic new David Fincher interview that we feel especially good singling out at others' expense, but at least one answers history's long-standing question: Why is he such a prick?

Knowing what a turn-on the Oscars are for Anne Hathaway, it's more than a little disheartening to think of what we stand to lose with her awards-night date of choice.

It sounded like a good idea at the time: Hide your awards-hopeful in the major markets, then let it fly into wide release with as much Oscar-nomination momentum as possible. Alas.

America, this is getting ridiculous. All Wall-E tried to do is save Earth, and now you're repaying the little robot with a series of awards snubs that put its Best Animated Film Oscar into question.

Now it's just getting ridiculous: Hollywood squandered its only shot at a competitive Oscar season on Saturday when the Directors Guild of America gave its top prize to Danny Boyle.

"That would force the curious actually to watch the show itself to see all the celebrities and the gowns, rather than getting their fill from outside news media." [Times]

Rookie Oscarcast producers Bill Condon And Larry Mark gave their most expansive interview to date about the changes forthcoming for their inaugural show; we're not sure we agree, let alone understand.