The Independent Spirits snuck up on me this year. I’m so used to them happening on Oscars Eve that I didn’t even internalize whether that would remain true (last year, they were four days apart). Apparently not. And while I understand the benefit of stacking them up — the logic is, everyone is already in town, and you’ll get a starrier crowd — I actually think it could be better for the awards, and for Independent Film and projects in general, to schedule these for a weekend when a hundred other things aren’t happening. That way they get to breathe a little and have a news cycle of their own. I mean, we need at least one Oscars-free week to process those f’ing boots, after all.