Farrett Fawcett. Copyright 1978 by Bruce McBroom.

Yours truly would like to begin by letting the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) know that we understand your quandary today. Behind those cold gold statues, behind the lengthy telecasts and spirited pre-game run-up to every Oscars ceremony, is a gaggle of human beings doing their best to make it all work. And as the public occasionally needs to be reminded, humans are imperfect.  We all make mistakes.

The difference is how you handle making those mistakes. Generally, one apologizes quickly and profusely if it’s a major screw-up. Like, say, forgetting to include Farrah Fawcett, one of the most recognizable stars of the ’70s and ’80s, in Oscar’s “In Memoriam” segment.

Full disclosure, AMPAS:  I didn’t really notice the exclusion last night either. Sorry, readers.  (See how easy that was?)

Television is my thing, you see. As such, I was perfectly content with Emmy’s memorial for the actress: A heartfelt montage of Fawcett’s most iconic small-screen roles that included scenes from “The Burning Bed,” “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Charlie’s Angels,” as well as footage of Farrah, the person behind the icon.

Neither am I one of those viewers who combs through the “In Memoriam” segment.  But most importantly,  I am not on the committee in charge of compiling the list for Oscar’s “In Memoriam” feature.

It’s not hard to understand why the public’s shock at Fawcett’s omission is lighting up the media today. Obviously Fawcett’s longtime partner Ryan O’Neal is ticked…but according to her tweets, so is Star Jones. The venerable  Roger Ebert tweeted a request for an explanation. We thought it was a given by now that to be on the wrong side of Roger Ebert is a bad thing, so one would think that the imperfect humans at AMPAS would be issuing their mea culpas quickly and furiously.

But…’fraid not. In fact, the only thing that AMPAS spokeswoman Leslie Unger would tell E! News in this article was that is was not an oversight. “No matter how carefully and how conscientiously people address who is included,” Unger told E!, “there are people who just simply can’t be.”

Here’s the thing, though:  While it’s true that, as a number of TV specialists have pointed out online in social networking forums, Fawcett was primarily known as a TV icon, she did star in a number of well-known films. We’re not just talking about her two big Runs a la “Cannonball” and “Logan,” either. She had the lead in “Extremities,” and major supporting roles in Academy Award-nominated film “The Apostle” and “Dr. T and the Women.”

Look at “Dr. T’s” poster — that’s her face, second down on the right-hand side. That’s her name at the top, among a list of co-stars that includes Helen Hunt, Liv Tyler, Kate Hudson, and Laura Dern.  One would think that  during their evaluation as to who makes the list and who doesn’t, the AMPAS folks would have taken the time to look at the candidate’s credits on a certain website — or even their own member rolls. As The Wrap pointed out, Fawcett is an Academy member.  Michael Jackson, who died within hours of Fawcett’s passing and made “Memoriam’s” cut, is not. The Academy also found room for a publicist, but not Fawcett.

It bears pointing out that this is not the first time the Academy has omitted actors in its annual remembrance segment. Two years ago the Academy left troubled actor Brad Renfro out of In Memoriam; Renfro died a week before Heath Ledger, who was prominently featured.  According to The Wrap, AMPAS’s failure to acknowledge Dorothy McGuire‘s passing in 2001 almost led to the Board of Governors doing away with the feature completely.  Bea Arthur also happened to be absent from Sunday’s roster. Granted, her film roles were fewer than Fawcetts, but she did co-star in the 1974 big-screen version of “Mame.” That little film that starred Lucille Ball.

Do you think the Academy’s explanation was suitable, or should it apologize for Farrah’s snub?

Kathryn Bigelow, director of "The Hurt Locker." Photo courtesy of Wire Image.

Depending on where you stand in the battle between brave, war-hardened soldiers and the noble Na’vi, the 82nd Annual Academy Awards telecast was either capped by a great victory or a massive upset.

“The Hurt Locker” won the night, defeating “Avatar” for Best Picture and creating history by making Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to take home a Best Directing Oscar. To think it only took 82 years!

If you’d like a sense of how long of a wait that is…well, you only had to watch this year’s Academy Awards telecast from beginning to end.  Hype and oddsmaking aside, this had to be one of the dullest Oscar nights in recent memory, and we reached that opinion long before it ran more than half an hour overtime.

Certainly the 2010 Oscar telecast had its moments; the tribute John Hughes was catnip to all the children of the ’80s tuning in, and it was legitimately touching, as was the In Memoriam montage set to a live performance by James Taylor.  Neil Patrick Harris’s surprise opening number was a winner (if not le…gen…wait for it…), but rare is the time when NPH isn’t a welcome addition to our TV screens.  (…dary.)

The problem was almost everything else.  Oscar’s ode to horror films, for example, inexplicably included a frame from “Edward Scissorhands”.  The thing felt strangely out of place. (And a note to Kristen Stewart:  If you’re going to present at Hollywood’s biggest event, can you please muster up a smidgen of faux cheer for a couple of hours? You’re an actress, for crying out loud, not an undertaker’s wife.)

(P.S.  We apologize to any undertaker’s wives we might have offended with that statement.)

(P.P.S.  But seriously Kristen…leave the sneer at home with your jeans next time.)

Then there were our hosts.  No need get your pants in a twist — Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin did just fine.  But didn’t the idea of Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin hosting sound stupendous at first blush?  The reality fell quite short of those expectations. From what we know of these men and their comedic abilities, one would never think that the term “workmanlike” would describe their tag-team hosting stint. Yet, that’s what we got Sunday night. Martin and Baldwin hit their marks and made us laugh at all the right moments, but there were no surprises. Nothing off the book or unexpected.   Their joint opening monologue was pleasant, but this is Oscar night. Oscar demands all things to sparkle.

Alas, most of the night’s glitter was provided by Neil Patrick Harris’s performance blazer and the bodice of Zoe Saldana’s gown. We were promised magic, and were left bored out of our skulls.  We wanted extraordinary fashion, or even some equivalent of Bjork wearing a comatose swan on the Red Carpet, but the stars and their stylists behaved themselves.  We wanted to be wowed by jaw-dropping art direction and choreography worthy of Busby Berkeley’s legacy, but instead, we were served a hot mess of interpretive poppin’ and lockin’.  (Why, Adam Shankman…why?)

All of that was window dressing to the main event: “Avatar” vs. “The Hurt Locker” and the saltier undercard, director James Cameron versus his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow. When the dust cleared and “The Hurt Locker” and Bigelow were declared the winners,  a major blow was landed on behalf of indie filmmakers everywhere.

The final trophy count:  “Hurt Locker” 6, “Avatar,” 3.  It was a feel-good victory, no question. Nevertheless, we will always be haunted by the notion that we never got to see James Cameron make a bombastic, quoteworthy thank you speech delivered completely in Na’vi.

But that’s the way  all Oscar telecasts go;  the victories are either just and deserved, or complete travesties.  It’s all in how you look at it. Tomorrow, there will be many celebrating Mo’Nique’s victory or sniffing that her Best Supporting Actress win was overrated; there will be Sandra Bullock fans who will be in the position of defending her Best Actress trophy to those who believe Meryl Streep was robbed.

As for Jeff Bridges winning Best Actor and Christoph Waltz dancing off with Best Supporting Actor…it’s a fair guess most people are just fine with those wins.

What did you think of the show?  Cast your vote in our day-after Oscar poll, and check out our full list of 2010 nominees at winners here.  Miss something? You can find scores of photos here, or click here for a full recap of the show.

How to Train Your Dragon Supergraphic

The Times goes on to tell that supergraphics, large digital displays or vinyl billboards posted on the sides of buildings, an advertising practice that has gone on for years, were banned as part of a citywide ordinance last August. Just last week the city attorney filed a lawsuit involving over a dozen supergraphics scattered across the city. In seeming defiance of that filing a few days later the vinyl wrap was attached to the 1928 building.

Officials cited several concerns over public safety as the main reason for removing unpermitted supergraphics because the huge sheets of vinyl could fall on cars and people if not properly secured. Since the signs lack proper permitting and inspection they have not been certified as safe. Officials also noted that supergraphics often cover many windows, making it difficult for firefighters to enter during an emergency.

The incidental coverage and impressions from the Academy Awards ceremony may have prompted the gamble as some industry experts estimate that over $100,000 may be made for a month’s worth of supergraphic exposure.

Regardless the supergraphic has been removed.

Two Views Looking North Up Highland

On Friday night, check the site for the red carpet photos and a complete list of winners from the Spirit Awards. Then on Sunday for the Oscars, we’ll do a homepage takeover with up-to-the-minute winners and photos.

For both shows, we will also post award coverage on Facebook and you can follow us on Twitter: @IMDb for award results, and @IMDbLive for on-the-scene commentary  from both Oscars and Spirit Awards!

Make sure you check out our Road to the Oscars section, which is complete with photos of the nominees, and trailers and clips from all of your favorite nominated films! And don’t forget to print our downloadable Oscar ballot, so you can keep track of the winners during the show.

Have you voted in our Oscar poll? The poll closes today at 8pm PST, so make sure you cast your vote!

1. Reporters from several outlets had their credentials revoked after they took high resolution digital photos of their own press badges and posted them on their site. Morons.
2. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, read: Oscar) staff is professional and polite but they’re not kidding around. The area around the Kodak Theater is run in a way only slightly dissimilar from what one would imagine is the operational structure of the Green Zone. It’s rather unpleasant but entirely necessary. If you want to feel like you’re nine-years old again and about to break a schoolyard rule, mess with an AMPAS person working the Oscars
3. It will likely rain buckets on Sunday. They already have tents up in anticipation
4. The baffling preferential voting system, which for the first time is being employed for Best Picture this year (nicely encapsulated here) will likely dramatically change the campaigning approach, if they keep it next year. In this system, a picture that does NOT have the most #1 votes could conceivably win Best Picture. Okay, we already knew this before yesterday but we heard it a lot yesterday.
5. Sources say Nicholas Chartier, the Hurt Locker producer who was banned from attending the ceremony, has a long history as a disruptive presence and is not well-liked (here’s just a taste from a recent L.A Times article). Still, the wags say, the banning seems heavy-handed by the Academy and to not have a precedent.

by Keith Simanton

Eddie Izzard

Everyone is talking about who will take home an Oscar this year, but we are just as excited about the Film Independent Spirit Awards.  It was announced today that Ben Stiller, Olivia Wilde, and Maria Bello have all signed on as presenters, along with Emile Hirsch, Marisa Tomei, and Matt Dillon (who also won two Spirits awards for Drugstore Cowboy and Crash).  Eddie Izzard will be this year’s host and Precious, The Last Station, and (500 Days) of Summer are leading in the nominations (no Avatar sweep here).

The Spirit Awards have been called the “indie Oscars”, and historically have taken place the afternoon before the Academy Awards on a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.  Rather than having tuxedos and evening wear, stars come in casual dress and talk without time limit or editing.  In fact, Ally Sheedy gave a 12-minute speech back in 1999.  But this year,  as they celebrate their 25th anniversary, the show will take place on Friday, March 5th, and will move downtown to the L.A. Live Event Deck.

IMDb will be heading down to cover the event and live-tweeting via @imdblive.  We’ll also have the full list of winners along with with pictures up-to-the-minute on the site.  If you want to watch along with us, The Film Independent Spirit Awards will air live and uncut on Friday, March 5, at 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET on the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

If you’re not familiar with the nominees, check out our Spirit Awards nominee list.

What indie films are you rooting for?

• Meryl Streep earned her record-breaking 16th nomination with her Best Actress nod for Julie & Julia
• Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s nomination for Crazy Heart was a pleasant surprise; it feels like this is the slot that some expected to be filled by Julianne Moore for A Single Man
• Up is only the second animated feature to be included in the Best Picture category (do you remember the first? need a hint? )
• The directorial battle between ex-spouses will continue to the end of the awards season, with both Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron nominated again in the Best Director category

See our full list of Oscar nominees here, and check out all of our coverage in our 2010 Road to the Oscars section.