Oscar and Argo and Jimmy Carter

Could a Best Picture win for Argo be the latest step in the "rehabilitation" of President Jimmy Carter. Douglas Brinkley of The Daily Beast makes a persuasive case that our 39th POTUS could benefit just as much as Ben Affleck at tonight's Oscarcast. Even though Carter himself has noted that the movie takes a few, ahem, liberties with historical facts.

Oscar nominations: WTF?

Please don't misunderstand: I have no serious quarrel with this year's selections by the Motion Picture Academy for Oscar nominations. But the list unveiled Thursday morning is rife with inclusions and omissions that seem more than a little... well, shall we say peculiar? Or, perhaps more precisely, flabbergasting?

My instant analysis, for what it's worth: The front runners are Lincoln, Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis, Emmanuelle Riva, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Not necessarily saying these are my selections -- but I think that's how Academy members will vote.

You can read my CultureMap.com Oscar coverage here.

Oscar Watch II: Many are advertised, but few are chosen

My CultureMap commentary on the Oscar nominations announced this morning (along with my early handicapping of the major races) can be found here.

I liked it. I really, really liked it.

Props to Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin for his shout-out to Paddy Chayefsky -- the writer of that "other" Oscar winner with Network in the title -- while claiming his Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. And a tip of the hat to co-host Anne Hathaway for her tongue-in-cheeky allusion to a genuine injustice: She didn't get a Best Actress nomination for Love and Other Drugs. ("You know, it used to be you get naked, you get nominated!") My other observations about Sunday evening's Oscarcast -- which, judging from Tweets and blog posting I have sampled, I enjoyed much more than most folks -- can be found here.

Producing controversy

If Little Miss Sunshine wins the Academy Award for Best Picture this Sunday night, some people may be cheated out of the credit they deserve.

R.I.P.: Frankie Laine (1913-2007)

Many will remember Frankie Laine best for singing the Rawhide theme. ("Movin', movin', movin'/Though they're disapprovin'/Keep them doggies movin'/Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw-hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!") But others will cherish more dearly the utterly serious silliness of his rendition of Blazing Saddles -- a movie theme that, lest we forget, actually was nominated for an Academy Award. Legend has it that when Mel Brooks advertised in the trades for someone with a "Frankie Lane-type" voice to sing the the title tune, Lane himself showed up to audition for the gig. If that story isn't true -- it should be.

Best films of 2006? Sez who?

The PGA -- the producers, not the golfers -- have announced five nominees for Best Picture of 2006. Not a shabby list, I must say. Indeed, I would predict that at least three of their titles will wind up on my overdue Top 10 list. (Hey, it's coming, it's coming.) And I would not be terribly surprised if all five also wind up in contention for the top Oscar as well.

'Martin Scorsese's Next Film To Be Three Hours Of Begging For Oscar'

Hilarious stuff from The Onion: A sneak preview of The Entitled, Martin Scorsese's "three-hour, unabashed plea for a Best Director Oscar," coming soon to a theater near you.

"'I've been making pictures for 40 years,' said the intense, fast-talking Scorsese in an excerpt from The Entitled, during which the Rolling Stones' 'Gimme Shelter' can be heard in the background. 'For 40 years, I've been making pictures. And I've always been fascinated with the struggles a man must endure when people don't appreciate him. People say I'm the best. I didn't say it, they did. I just do my work. But for years they've been talking and you know it. You do. I deserve that award, is all I'm saying...

"'You already should have done right by me with Gangs Of New York,' he said. 'I handed you guys that one on a silver platter.'"