MT. OSCAR

PEAKING

LATE EFFORT: “Michael Clayton” is enjoying a last-minute surge of support, but will it be enough to topple “No Country for Old Men”?

CLIMBING

DRINK IT UP: Making the most of the catchphrase “I drink your milkshake,” publicists for “There Will Be Blood” sent frosty vanilla shakes to the media. Now if we could just get a movie to include the line, “I eat your triple-layer chocolate cake.”

MRS. ROBINSON: When “Juno” director Jason Reitman was 16, he moved in with a 26-year-old woman. That, he says, is why he likes exploring that moment when teens know they are suddenly adults.

AT BASE CAMPPARTY ON: With no parties of their own this year, do you suppose Graydon Carter and Dani Janssen will be kicking up their heels at Elton John’s bash?

OOH, LA LA: Forget Briony, the pics in W magazine this month make it seem like Keira Knightley and James Mc- Avoy are the ones in need of atonement.

DADDY-O: At a screening of “Mongol,” the Kazakhstan film about Genghis Khan, Armyan Bernstein, in introducing the director, noted that more people trace their DNA to the invader than anyone else. “So, I guess he’s like a super-stud or something.”

LOOKING FOR A SHERPA

CONFUSED: We’ve lost track. Are we still in the “Juno” backlash or are we solidly back to embracing it?

NEXT TIME: First-time nominee Viggo Mortensen may leave the Oscars empty-handed but don’t feel too badly for him. He’ll almost certainly get another shot soon enough for the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.”

DRESS TO IMPRESS: Julian Schnabel’s griping at the Oscar nominees luncheon about not getting a best picture nom would have carried more weight had he not been wearing a pajama set at the time.