For Mark Ruffalo, it's easy being green

Right, this is the other thing that's going on in Ruffalo's life right now. Ten years after he hit big as Laura Linney's vaguely lost brother in "You Can Count on Me," he's been Academy Award short-listed for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Moore's vaguely lost sperm donor in "The Kids Are All Right." The character, Paul, is a laid-back grower of organic foods; Ruffalo's naturalistic performance makes one wonder whether he actually realized he was in a movie.

Coigney had insisted he do the film, and "it's just as much her nomination as mine. An actor's wife is not an easy gig."

"I do feel like I have this new worth," Ruffalo continues. Not from himself - a guy who grew up in Wisconsin and Virginia Beach - but from the Hollywood institution that treats "Oscar nominee" as an official title, like a PhD at the end of your name.

"At the beginning of your name," Ruffalo says. Then he starts to giggle. A few days ago, he received a DVD in the mail. "Nominee etiquette," he says. It offered helpful instructions for how to behave at the show. "It starts with brush your teeth, comb your hair, it's a good idea to wear a tuxedo. Then they move on to no booing, no hissing, no yelling things out." Also, "it's very important that you don't talk about the weight of the statue. That's been done. Leave that one alone. And don't kiss the person giving you an award."

He finds the whole situation amusing, which might be the result of living away from it all. Or it might be the result of the perspective-altering brain tumor that he battled in 2002. He'd dreamed he had one, and when he went to the doctor to be on the safe side, the doctor found out Ruffalo was right.

Either way, Ruffalo's life right now seems to be more about his work offscreen than his work on it - though he is gearing up for his role as the new Incredible Hulk in "The Avengers." He can see the headlines, written by the same people who now title all of his profiles, "Ruffalo Is All Right." "How about: 'Ruffalo Goes Green: Activist, Actor, Hulk?' " he suggests.

The activist work? That's just beginning. "A real movement is starting to coalesce around water," he says. "Our idea is to go from city to city [and unite] whatever water groups are fighting mountaintop removal, or water scarcity, or gas drilling - anywhere that water is under attack, we host a concert there."

For now this idea exists only as a blue pin in the shape of a water droplet that he wears on his lapel. The concerts and the fracking legislation are only parts of what he sees as a larger, philosophical issue.

The ultimate goal, he says, is that "we need to start thinking about clean, publicly owned water as a constitutional right."

That's in the hazy future. First he must navigate the Oscars, which, "as an event, is fatally boring," he insists. "They don't let you get up and dance or anything."

And who will you be wearing?

"Neil Barrett."