So about two years ago we were indulging in an annual ritual of pain-- namely, watching the entire Academy Awards ceremony on the tube, because (in what has become a yearly industry snub) we had neither been nominated for an award nor invited to attend in person-- when our already-cranky selves took umbrage at what we could only classify as an unforgivable oversight: "Blame Canada" lost Best Original Song to that awful Phil Collins mess. Oh, and Apple forgot to buy ad time during the broadcast. But mostly the first thing.

Seriously, though, people always complain when Apple doesn't advertise during the Super Bowl (and rightly so), but when you think about it, it's even weirder that Apple has been ignoring the advertising pull of the Oscars for the past few years. After all, while both events haul in a huge television audience, you might argue that a higher concentration of movie buffs than football fans might more closely align with Apple's target demographic. Consider the fact that Apple has been trying to introduce a whole new generation of closet Spielbergs to the Mac platform by pushing the use of iMovie (and now iDVD). Consider also the way in which Apple has been trying to wedge itself into the Hollywood creative process with technologies like QuickTime, Final Cut Pro, and DVD Studio Pro. And yet, there wasn't an Apple ad to be seen all night.

Well, Apple was a no-show last year as well, but in what is obviously a direct effect of our complaining two years ago, we're happy to note that Apple is now on MediaWeek.com's list of a few "new advertisers" who have signed on to hawk their products during this year's festivities. Kudos to Apple for finally having the good sense to realize that our marketing instincts are nothing short of brilliant. Now if only the Academy could recognize genius as well and send us our freakin' invites, already.

We don't know what sort of commercials Apple plans to air during its $1.3 million slot (or slots), but most of you have probably noticed a distinct lack of iMac commercials so far. Well, fear not-- we've heard that three such ads are in the works, and we figure the Oscars would be as good a time as any to show them off (provided that Apple has managed to get the production/backorder problem a little more under control, of course). Actually, considering the nature of the event itself, we wonder if Steve would consider setting aside his rumored dislike of the Pixar spots and show those, instead. Whatever. We're just glad that Apple will have a presence this year, and come Sunday, March 24th, we'll be tuned in as usual. Unless, of course, someone can wrangle us some tickets?...