Oscars reach out to young voters

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is trying to up its hip quotient by inviting a raft of comely twenty- and thirtysomethings to join the august organization.

Those among the MySpace generation who can now vote for the Oscars, and collect massive amounts of free DVDs every winter, include Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Terrence Howard, Keira Knightley and Rachel Weisz. Dakota Fanning, 12, has also been invited, although it will be up to her parents to decide whether she can watch her R-rated loot.

The academy tends to invite people who’ve been nominated for Oscars to join, and 39 of the 120 invitees this year were 2005 nominees. In a nod to globalization, the academy has also chosen 2006 to right some historical injustices, inviting some long overlooked, foreign-born talents to join their ranks. They include Werner Herzog, more than 20 years after he directed “Fitzcarraldo”; screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, who’s been nominated three times for such films as “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and won an Oscar for his short film “Heureux Anniversaire”; and Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animator who won an Oscar three years ago for “Spirited Away.”

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Rachel Abramowitz

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FINALLY

Case forwarded: Rush Limbaugh will not face charges in Palm Beach County for the bottle of Viagra that was found in his luggage on June 26 at Palm Beach International Airport, prescribed in his psychiatrist’s name. Charges could have nullified the conservative radio host’s plea agreement in a “doctor shopping” case. However, because the doctor wrote the prescription in Miami-Dade County, the case has been forwarded to prosecutors there for review.