My situation in a nutshell: (B18B1 OBD2b LS)
a. - Burns about 1qt (Valvoline maxlife 10w30) every 1000 miles
b. - Engine has 116xxx miles but burns roughly the same amount since i started looking around 50xxx miles.
c. - I change oil and filter (K&N or Mobil, depends on avail.) every 3000 miles or less
d. - Compression reads nominal 195 psi across the board
e. - Leakdown cyl 1. 7% 2. 19% 3. 7% 4. 8%

Prior posts/threads, professional opinions, literature etc. point to:
1. Valve seals, particularly intake
2. Worn/Defective oil control rings on pistons

I'm going to throw on my gutted cat tomorrow, to improve the visibility and amount of burnt smoke coming out of the exhaust. I'm also borrowing a friend's catch can.

Questions about blue smoke: (verify these)
1. Valve seals - smoke when cold start up, high intake vacuum events (downshifts, high rpm shifts, etc)
2. Oil control rings - all the time??? i dont know that one

Thanks guys. Please help.