Mt. Oscar

Mt. Oscar: To scale the heights of the Oscars — to reach the precarious pinnacle of that Golden O — wrap yourself in raves and pack lots of buzz. This week’s altitude readings are by Wes Bausmith, John Horn, Elena Howe and Gina McIntyre.

PEAKING

THE WINNER IS: This year’s crop of Oscar-related parody videos. Among them: the mildly silly cellphone video of James Franco singing during a shave at funnyordie.com, the mash-up of “Inception” with “Toy Story 3” and the laugh-out-loud subtitling of “True Grit” on YouTube.

CLIMBING

FAMILY MATTERS: Queen Elizabeth II, who is portrayed as a child in “The King’s Speech,” screened the movie last week. Her reaction to the film about her father King George VI’s debilitating stutter? She was “moved” by the telling of the royal family’s story.

ON NEW TURF: Australian actress Jacki Weaver is already reaping dividends from her supporting actress Oscar nomination for “Animal Kingdom.” She recently landed an American agent to represent her here.

AT BASE CAMP

A BONE TO PICK: By all accounts, the lead actress Oscar race is down to Annette Bening and Natalie Portman. But with the talent Jennifer Lawrence displayed in “Winter’s Bone,” and the grace and charm she showed on her “Tonight Show” appearance, we’re sure she’ll get another shot at it one day soon.

MARK CORLEONE?: Mark Wahlberg, producer-star of “The Fighter,” “was definitely a producer-boss on set,” says director David O. Russell. “But he is very quiet and respectful of me, so he wanted me to do my thing — it just meant I treated him more like a godfather. I was always calling him ‘Godfather, Godfather.’ ”

LOOKING FOR A SHERPA

ONE THAT COUNTS: Few people pay attention to the ACE Eddie Awards, but the makers of the fast-fading “The Social Network” sure will. If the Facebook movie can’t score the American Cinema Editors editing prize on Feb. 19, “Social” could be looking at just one measly Oscar win — for Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay.

MISSED ONE: The Screen Actors Guild Awards are a good bellwether for the Oscars, but they’re not rock solid. In 2001, the guild didn’t even nominate Marcia Gay Harden, who went on to win the supporting actress Oscar for “Pollock.”

GREEN WITH RAGE? Not to say that people who lose out at the Oscars get raging mad, but in Mark Ruffalo’s case, it couldn’t hurt. Up next for the “Kids Are All Right” nominee is playing the Hulk in “The Avengers,” so he’ll need to find a source of anger to fuel that performance.