By the way: Did you know they're giving out Academy Awards this weekend?

In her L.A. Times article about campaigning for Academy Awards, Mary McNamara offers a textbook example of how a good writer can uncover fascinating factoids and memorable admissions while mining familiar ground. The distinctive novelty of this year's Oscar sweepstakes -- the Best Picture race appears unusually wide open -- makes the piece all the more interesting. Money quote from Amanda Lundberg, founding partner of the PR firm 42West and former head of publicity at Miramax: "The Oscars are about honoring the people who make the films... but also about getting people excited about going to the movies. It wasn't started by the committee for the Nobel Peace Prize."

Elsewhere: Stephen Schaefer offers a handy-dandy guide to Best Foreign Language Film nominees, Richard Corliss waxes euphoric about the great Ennio Morricone -- who'll be honored with a lifetime achievement award during Sunday's Oscarcast -- and Tom O'Neil sees a groundswell of support rising for Babel in the Best Picture category.

MySpace case

I’m most familiar with MySpace as a tool for marketing movies. But, then again, I’m 54 years old, and not a sexual predator. (Really. Honest.) Folks much younger than me are accustomed to posting the most intimate details about themselves on their MySpace pages. Other folks – including some my age, and older – are accustomed to trolling those MySpace pages in search of fresh prey. A Texas judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by angry parents who claim MySpace didn’t do enough to protect their 13-year-old daughter against an alleged predator. Unfortunately for all parties involved, the Internet likely will never be safe enough to suit everyone. As an L.A. Times editorial notes, no matter what filtering systems and protective devices are installed to prevent minors from contacting (and being contacted by) adults, “the most vulnerable youths often are the most resourceful ones.” But not nearly as resourceful as those who would exploit them.

First the bookstores, then...

David Streitfeld's insightful and ineffably melancholy Los Angeles Times article on the decline of book shops is well worth reading by anyone who loves to spend long afternoons paging through potential purchases in boutique-style independent stores or cozily funky second-hand outlets.

Money quote: "Technology changes behavior, which reshapes the physical landscape. The era of repertory movie houses playing Casablanca and High Noon ended with the VCR. The telephone booth was replaced by the beeper, which was made obsolete by the cellphone. And the newspaper is under siege by the Internet's ability to recombine and distribute news without leaving ink on your hands."

And: "Even in an entertainment-saturated age, people still buy books. But the casual reader has many other places to get bestsellers and topical books, from warehouse stores to the mall. Meanwhile, book nuts — the ones who simply must buy several volumes a week — are lured online. Few businesses can survive that lose customers from both ends of the spectrum."

Are megaplexes next on the endangered species list?