· E! reports that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens will be among the performers to help nurture this year's Oscar renaissance, hopefully teaming for a Best Picture reenactment of Slumdog Millionaire's romantic latrine-escape sequence.

· Lock up your daughters, Academy: John Mayer plans to attend with Jennifer Aniston, who will present an unspecified award between sly, throat-clearing grunts of "uncool" in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's general direction.

· Wow! Rex Reed sure can't wait for the big night: "It sounds like a vulgar stage show in Atlantic City starring Siegfried and Roy, designed to turn passionate movie lovers into dyspeptic movie critics-only a handful of whom will still be awake by the time the five final (and only important) prizes of the night are announced. Gone are the days of Cary Grant, Garland and Garbo (none of whom won an Oscar). Today we get J.Lo and Meatloaf."

· The directors of Presto, New Boy, On the Line and Smile Pinki gathered at VF.com for a stirring roundtable discussion of their Oscar-nominated short films

· The automated Oscar Speech Generator is live at Atom, and we've burned a few minutes preparing our own: "Thank you so much. But really, it's just an honor to be nominated alongside so many other churlish actors. I want to thank my agent, who stuck with me after I was found boogeyboarding that teaspoon. I'd like to also thank my candid family, and friendly ostrich. I better stop now before I say something formal. Thank you, and THE MONKEY'S EATING MY FRIEND'S FACE OFF!"

· Out this year as Oscar advertisers: L'Oreal and General Motors. Their replacement: Culver's Frozen Custard and ButterBurgers. Don't tell Rex Reed.