It’s a regrettable sign of awards-season distractedness that I didn’t learn until yesterday that Damien Bona, patron saint of Oscar geeks, passed away last week. If his name isn’t familiar to you, his book “Inside Oscar” — co-authored with Mason Wiley — should be: the most comprehensive and entertaining history of the Academy Awards yet written, it’s an essential tome to which the entire curious sport of awards analysis owes its existence. As a kid, I checked out the local library’s copy so many times they practically kept it aside for me. Upon eventually discovering a copy in a secondhand bookshop (ah, pre-internet life!), I wore it down until the spine cracked; Scotch-taped back into place, it still sits on my shelf. Sasha Stone knew Bona, and her heartfelt farewell, with input from Mark Harris and Susan Wloszczyna, is a lovely read. [Awards Daily]

Christy Grosz observes an air of melancholy as the Academy mails out paper ballots — for the last time ever. [Variety]

Nathaniel Rogers’ annual Oscar Symposium is always a fun read: this year’s ace panel includes Nick Davis and (again) Mark Harris. [The Film Experience]

Bernhard Schlink, original author of “The Reader,” is suing The Weinstein Company, claiming he’s got nothing out of the Oscar-winning film. That makes two of us. [The Guardian] 

WGA nominee Kristen Wiig will present Judd Apatow with the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence at the Guild’s East Coast awards ceremony. [The Odds]

“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” director Tomas Alfredson and Oscar-nominated writer Peter Straughan on the contemporary relevance of John le Carré’s novel. [The Telegraph] 

Steven Zeitchik checks in on the progress of the film adaptation of “August: Osage County,” still going ahead with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. [LA Times]

With the Kodak Theater, home to the Oscars, up for renaming after sponsorship withdrawal, Mark Lisanti has a few suggestions. [Grantland]

Assorted associates of “The Tree of Life” — minus camera-shy Terrence Malick — celebrate cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s work on the film. [Thompson on Hollywood]

Finally, some innocuously raunchy posters for Jean Dujardin’s new film are getting a few Frenchmen hot under the collar. Will it affect his Oscar chances? Uh, no. [The Telegraph]