· Four out of five of Oscar's Best Picture contenders experienced a box office bump following last Tuesday's announcement of the nominations; of the Academy's newly anointed, only Atonement took in less money than the previous weekend, perhaps suggesting that naughty Keira Knightley fans had already ponied up their $12 to steal a look at her partially slip-obscured goodies. [Variety]
· NBC sues Law & Order executive producer Dick Wolf, asking a court to help them figure out much money the company must cough up if they decide to cancel any of his fifteen L&O permutations. [Variety]
· Sony Pictures Classics buys the rights to Sundance's The Wackness, more commonly known as The One Where An Olsen Twin And Sir Ben Kingsley Make Out. [Variety]

In today's episode: Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, and Dick Wolf; John C. Reilly; Common; Topher Grace; Dennis Haskins; The State; Sam Rockwell; Justin Long and Drew Barrymore; Donald Logue; an Olsen; Giovanni Ribisi; Henry Winkler; Jason Lee; Edgar Wright; Holly Robinson-Peete; Mindy Kaling; Scott Baio; Meg White, Vincent Gallo and Eric Erlandson; Thomas Calabro; and Jesse Metcalfe.

· Quality Friday night at Dan Tana's (10/12). In the booth closest to the bar (and restrooms), Brian Grazer superproducing dinner conversation with Clint Eastwood. Clint might be 80 but he still looks like he could squash me into a protein shake for breakfast. Guys sat on the ends with their ladies in the middle. Except it wasn't that woman Clint's with at the awards shows - this girl was blondish (but older). Grazer's starter wife nowhere to be seen, he was with a middle-aged Asian woman. They sat for awhile after dinner and Clint was nice to people who asked to shake his hand on the way out. Across the main room, Dick Wolf dining with an older producer type in the booth next to us. And Rick and Kathy Hilton in the prime corner booth. No sign of their skanky daughters.

· John C. Reilly chowing down on a burger at Apple Pan on Thursday night at around 8pm. Couldn't tell if it was the steakburger or hickory. I prefer hickory.

· It's been a some time since my last Privacy Watch communiqué but here goes:

2 Oct; Saw Common at Swinger's coffee joint on Beverly while on a first date. He walks by wearing Adidas track pants and white T just as I am about to ask, "So, what are you listening to these days?" Perfect timing! Sat with a gorgeous gal in the corner table by the counter almost as beautiful as my date.

12 Oct; Topher Grace wearing a Yankee's hat and M.A.S.H. T-shirt at Cha Cha Lounge in Silver Lake with a guy friend and two cute albeit bored-looking girls, sitting next to us in the lounge area. Overheard him talking about Tony Robbins and considered pitching my screenplay about an infomercial host but resisted the urge. My friend offered me "drinks for life" if I could steal a girl away from Topher, but I didn't want to be that guy.

12 Oct; Mr. Belding (Dennis Haskins), some other semi-famous celebs and those "pint-sized paparazzi" I just read about in the LA Times at the World of Wonder gallery for the Hollyween art show. Great crowd, horrible drinks.

13 Oct; Almost the entire original cast from MTV's The State (sans Kerry Kinney, Thomas Lennon and Ken Marino) sitting in the back row at the 7:00p run of Michael Ian Black And Michael Showalter at the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood. Laughed throughout, I made my friend promise not to ask Joe Lo Truglio about release dates for The State DVD.

· This morning (10/12) at the Griddle Café on Sunset...

Sam Rockwell came in looked around and then walked out, obviously much cooler than everyone else there. A few minutes later Donald Logue came in, looking like Willie Nelson, minus the braids, plus some man-boobs.

Also, I've spotted Justin Long at Bar Lubitsch like a half-dozen times in the last few weeks, and apparently so has everyone else, so I'm not sure it's really newsworthy anymore. A few times he's been sucking face with Drew Barrymore, who looked dazed/drunk/retarded.

· Yep...Another couple of sightings this weekend...my son and I were waiting in line at the Arclight and saw *one* of the Olsen twins...not sure which one. This was very exciting for my son, who is 12 and had already declared he wants to date both of them at the same time. In person, such a cutie!

Next celebrity, also in line, Giovanni Ribisi. Like most celebrities, he seemed smaller in person.

Neither of them hold a candle to the Fonz, though. Ayyyyy....! That's right, after the USC game on Saturday, I ran into The Fonz (Henry Winkler) at Borders in Hollywood. Ok, I know, Fonzie is a televsion character...just let me hold on to a few illusions from my childhood. No leather jacket, just tweed. He looked great. A silver fox!

· 10/11 - Walking into the Coffee Table in Silver Lake, I passed Jason Lee, with his adorably boho wife and little Pilot Inspektor, staring at me in a yes-it's-me-your-resident-must-tv-star kind of way. I looked back in a dude-I-wasn't-even-staring-at-you kind of way. Maybe he's just trying to lay low until after the holidays when people will hopefully have forgotten a certain mistake to do with chipmunk poop that doesn't deserve mentioning.

· Oct 13 Awesomely-talented director Edgar Wright taking in some Cronenberg at the Arclight on Saturday afternoon. No Apatow Repertory Players in tow.

· Saturday the 13th 1pm-ish
At the ralphs on coldwater and ventura. Holly Robinson-Peete. Lookin casual w a newsboy hat. She was having a conversation w the checker and seemed very friendly. We made eye contact and immediately i fell in love. I wonder if she is looking for a poor white dude to keep on the side

· Mindy Kaling at Joan's on Third for brunch, Sunday 10/14. Same old — really cute in person, very laid back, with indeterminate white guy. I wanted her kelly green hoodie. And, also, her career.

· Oct 13 Scott Baio at the Apple store at the grove, checking out new imacs and keeping company with a pregnant blonde lady friend. hmmmmm, is that his blonde pregnant friend?

· Went to the Orpheum Theater (downtown LA) last nite (Mon 10/15) with a friend and caught PJ Harvey's stellar solo show, and while waiting near the door for my bud (whose ticket somehow/inexplicably got flagged as 'already used', until we straightened out the situation with the pretty helpful Orph staff), it was a veritable mini-parade of the hip. First, White Stripe Meg White walked in (with some youngish hipster dude) - she looked somewhat recovered from whatever exhaustion/ailment scotched the Stripes' tour last month (not hating on them - it's quite a good record). Then, in came Vincent Gallo with Eric Erlandson of the late Hole (no sign of the Widow Cobain, however). They pulled better seats than i got, and the troika lingered after the show down near the front of the stage. Sidenote: PJ was gettin' the love from the crowd too, but honestly, how many friggin' times can people yell out "WE LOVE YOU, PJ!!!!". Geez, catch that plane back to Williamsburg or the 101 back to Silver Lake/Los Feliz or wherever you're from. We get it - you LIKE her. I'd have thought you'd have all shot your gush-wads after Morrissey last week (though Bjork is coming to LA soon, so save up).

· Being that a couple of other Melrose Place stars have been either making a comeback or banging each other like Peter and Amanda...I saw the evil Dr. Michael Mancini today at the Wells Fargo on Ventura in the Valley. Thomas Calabro, He looked good and he always be able to say he tapped Bree first.

· Monday, 10/15, Formosa Cafe. Jesse Metcalfe blazed in at some point in the night. He power walked with one dude trailing him and sat down briefly with a table in the back. I think he was there less than 10 minutes. He's ridiculously good looking, even with his girly eyebrows (seriously, even mine aren't that well groomed).

The Wall Street Journal: We see producers trying to come up with ideas that will play well on mobile phones or the Web. Are these ventures worthwhile?

Mr. Wolf: I'm feeling that maybe I'm totally out of touch. I've been pitched Webisodes. I've been pitched everything. ... C'mon. Please, you think ringtones are going to be a major revenue stream for studios or networks? ... Unfortunately, the business model is irreparably broken, and people are going to have to figure out something new. ... I'm 59 years old. I don't think the world is going to come crashing down in five to six years, but I guarantee you, if anyone tells you what the television business is going to look like a decade out, they are on drugs.

One need to look no further than the still-evolving example of NBC president Kevin Reilly's apparently misplaced trust in West Wing hitmaker Aaron Sorkin to stir the Peacock from its fourth-place funk to see how easily desperate television executives can misinterpret this Wolf Corollary ("Anyone who says they know something is on drugs") to the Goldman Principle ("Nobody knows anything"), misguidedly thinking that "anyone who has a history of using drugs can tell you how to save your network."

• 'Law & Order' Boss Dick Wolf Ponders The Future of TV Ads (Doink, Doink) [WSJ.com]