Beautiful, talented film star James Franco got points for playing a sensitive, grubby frybag in Pineapple Express, and then a bunch more for leaving Hollywood to pursue an MFA in writing at Columbia University. And, last night at the Oscars, Franco mentioned that he doesn't have a lot of time for TV, owing to his classes (!), but was reading Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste (!!!). The book, an engaging and intelligent study of taste and criticism framed by Celine Dion's tragic music, is part of Continuum Books' great 33 1/3 series, and written by local-boy-making-good/total Torontopian scenester Carl Wilson. The brilliant randomness of Torontonian mini-culture writ large at the Academy Awards, coupled with the absurdity of the selection (it's not like he said he was listening to Metric, you know?) was a perfect example of the potent mix of high, low, and underground culture that has taken hold of pop culture and thusly the Oscars. Well done, James.