During the first few minutes of the Oscars liveblog, an operative called our attention to someone Blackberrying behind Philip Seymour Hoffman. Another reader just sent in this screengrab of the moment, which seems to out Capote co-star Catherine Keener as the already-bored thumb-typist. (Even worse, the device looks more like a cellphone than a Blackberry, making the moment still more awkward—what star still fumbles through messages on a phone keypad?) We'd like to imagine that she had a good reason for ignoring the show so quickly after it began, like angrily texting her agent, furious about how he booked her an obstructed view seat behind Hoffman's gigantic head.

Capote screenwriter Dan Futterman obviously took very detailed notes at the Humbled By Success Soundbite Seminar at last week's Oscar luncheon. In an interview with the AP, he candidly explains how he made the impressive transition from actor to award-nominated scribe on his very first screenplay: by writing a bunch of disconnected stuff, then getting his wife to bail him out:

Perhaps feeling the hot breath of gay cowboy up-and-comer Heath Ledger on his neck in the Best Actor race, award frontrunner Philip Seymour Hoffman will appear on 60 Minutes this Sunday to add to his lead by revealing The Personal Demons He Vanquished On The Path To Oscar Glory:

Back Stage's Cuts blog noticed this ad for Capote that ran in the LAT this weekend and found its juxtaposition of holiday whimsy and serious subject matter pretty jarring. No, it's not exactly Munich's assassins in Santa hats, but we see their point. If anything, we think that the folks at Sony Pictures Classics marketing department really missed an opportunity to fully explore the New Year's promotional concept and completely destroy Philip Seymour Hoffman's credibility. We pick up the slack for them after the jump: