Were you surprised by anything that happened this week (I mean, other than “The Substance” collecting five Oscar nominations)? I mean, really surprised? If so, maybe you haven’t been paying adequate attention.

But what is our capacity for attention in these information-dense days? I was intrigued by this long essay in The Atlantic by Chris Hayes (yes, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes) about how attention is now, in his words, “The defining resource of our age.” I’m not sure I agree with everything Hayes says here (the essay is adapted from his new book), but it will have you asking this question: “How am I allocating my own limited stash of attention?” And that’s probably a good question to ask these days.

Meanwhile, the Gazette-Times reported this week that the city of Corvallis will not appeal a judge’s ruling that portions of the city charter were unconstitutional violations of free speech — and that, therefore, efforts to oust City Councilor Charlyn Ellis for allegedly violating those parts of the charter were void. Good — that should end the matter, or at least it will when the city finally ponies up the dough to pay Ellis’ attorney, right?

Well, no, not quite: Mayor Charles Maughan says that the city wants to recap the entire affair with a summary to be posted on its website, so that citizens can understand the whole affair. But it seems fairly obvious to me that most citizens who followed this already have a pretty good sense of the case. And as for the city’s attorneys working to make sure the language on the summary is correct, I can only assume that they’ll be doing that work for free, because this already has cost the city $260,000 in legal bills — and the city hasn’t yet paid for the fees for Ellis’ attorney, which almost certainly will be in the six figures. And maybe we don’t need to read about the case on the city’s website, when it’s a breeze to track down the judge’s opinion.

I was disturbed by one other thing in Ella Hutcherson’s Gazette-Times story: Maughan talked about the case as if it were the inevitable result of process: It wasn’t an attack, Maughan said: “It’s just that there are certain processes that get triggered by certain things” — you know, like that big boulder of process at the start of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Once unleashed, it just keeps rolling until you’ve paid out a cool half-million.

Elsewhere, at least one of the scoundrels behind the conspiracy to put googly eyes on public art pieces in Bend has come forward to confess: Jeff Keith, founder of a Bend-based nonprofit called Guardian Group that works to combat human trafficking, said that he used duct tape to attach googly eyes to two sculptures. He’s pulled similar stunts before with public art in Bend, he said, adding that the stunts provided respite from the emotional toll of his work. To which I suggest that maybe we should issue a set or two of googly eyes to every American.

Speaking of Bend: The New York Times has a delightful story reporting on the effort by a bunch of ski enthusiasts in that community to raise $200 million or so to buy the Mt. Bachelor ski area from its corporate owner. The ski area is for sale, as it turns out, and the local effort has gained substantial momentum. But it’s not at all clear that the owner has any intention of selling the area to the locals. Still, this is a wonderful story, and one with a real sense of life in Bend. The writer, John Branch, has this description of one of the principal players; “Like so many others in Bend, he looks like he either just returned from the mountain, or is planning to head there as soon as he can.”

Speaking of mountains, you probably noticed that among Donald Trump’s blizzard of executive orders this week (none of which surprised you, because you were paying attention beforehand) included two geographical notes: He wants the Gulf of Mexico renamed the Gulf of America and prefers the name Mount McKinley for the tallest mountain in the United States, as opposed to Denali (the name preferred, by the way, by most Alaskans, including its two Republican U.S. senators). The news sent the style gurus at the Associated Press Stylebook into a frenzy — what to do? — and they essentially ended up splitting the baby: The worldwide news organization will continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” but will refer to the name “Gulf of America” in its copy, which feels a little like “the artist formerly known as Prince” usage. As for Denali, AP will henceforth call it “Mount McKinley” on the reasoning that the president has full authority to change federal geographic names within the country. Here’s the AP story explaining the decision.

Trump also described William McKinley, the namesake for the mountain, as a “great president.” But didn’t we all think that Andrew Jackson was Trump’s favorite president? The New York Times has this story about McKinley’s short but consequential time in office, in which the president imposed tariffs and expanded American territory and — oh! It all makes sense now.

Trump hasn’t forsaken Old Hickory, though: The portrait of Jackson that hung on the wall of the Oval Office during Trump’s first term has returned to its place of pride, as conservative columnist Michael Barone reports.

The whole Gulf of Mexico thing, by the way, is a big pain for mapmakers — but it’s certainly not the first time that political moves have influenced the names of places, as this AP story explains.

For months, it’s looked as if this year’s Oscar race would be the most wide-open in years, and this year’s nominations have confirmed that. In The Atlantic, David Sims breaks down the race for best picture, and winds up suggesting that the movie that is among the most conventional of the 10 nominees, the Bob Dylan flick “A Complete Unknown,” might have the best shot at going all the way. It’s interesting to note that the two biggest box-office hits in the mix — “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two” — are considered long shots at best for the best picture prize. (That augers poorly for Oscar ratings; traditionally, the ceremonies that draw the most viewers are those in which a big hit like “Titanic” is favored.)

For me, the big surprise among the nominations was not that Demi Moore was nominated for “The Substance” (her performance has been attracting raves since the film opened at Cannes, and her Golden Globe speech probably wrapped up the nomination — and, quite possibly, the Oscar). But “The Substance,” an extremely gory body-horror movie with a strong satirical undercurrent, got four other nominations, including one for best picture — a real surprise, seeing how the Oscars are traditionally dismissive of horror flicks.

You might have noticed that we appear to be in a golden age of well-made, provocative horror films. It makes sense, though: Movies reflect the times in which we live. As Coralie Fargeat, the writer and director of “The Substance,” has said: “I don’t see horror films as any different from other movies. They are so political. They are such a great way to tell so many things in a very rude way and in a very indelicate way.”

Sounds like Fargeat has been paying attention.

Keep an eye out for my annual Oscar contest, in which readers who beat my predictions may win a gift certificate to Darkside Cinema (or the Pix, if you have a hard time getting over to Corvallis). In the meantime, let’s plan on gathering here next weekend.