The Oscars

So yeah. I like to watch the Academy Awards. A terribly guilty pleasure for a film-aholic like me. Some might call me a chump or a sucker because of it. But I don't care.

I've caught at least a LITTLE bit of the Oscars every year since I can remember. It's something that I think of fondly partially because it reminds me of being little--it was one of the rare circumstances where I was allowed to stay up 'til midnight on a school night, breathy with anticipation, adding up the amount of movies I'd seen that were up for Oscars that year, my mom and I sitting on the edge of our seats, eagerly predicting each winner and booing when the Academy proved us wrong.

Now, don't get me wrong. Just because I like to watch them doesn't mean that I think the awards themselves are worth a whole helluva lot or that way too much of it is not just snooty pomp & circumstance. And god knows, Billy Crystal just annoys the LIVING SHIT OUTTA ME. (!!!!!)

BUT there is something to be said for the Oscars. The pomp & circumstance (though perhaps gratuitous at times) is a reminder of the grandness of movies, a reminder of the classic (and up-and-coming) movie stars and the weight they carry. How they warm our hearts or leave us burning with anger in movie after movie. That what they do is impressive. And despite the fact that every year I inevitably end up getting pissed off because a far superior movie/actor/actress gets overlooked or outshined by another far inferior movie/actor/actress, I still think the Oscars offers up something beautiful for us all--a reminder of everything that goes into all these little movie gems that we cherish so much.

I know I'm wont to forget the complexity involved in creating any given movie. And the Oscars is just a reminder (with every 30-90 second speech) of how much really goes INTO a movie--how many people are involved, how much skill is involved, how little credit everybody but the actors/actresses really GET and yet how they nonetheless keep forging ahead, relatively unknown to us, just because they share a certain sacred kinda love for film.

So yeah, perhaps I think Bill Murray shoulda won (dammit! I even lost $1 on that one!). And perhaps I can't help but be reminded of a billion OTHER really damn good little movies out there this year (and any given year) that didn't see the light of day when it came to the Academy Awards (All the Real Girls). And perhaps the Oscars are just a LITTLE bit too much about the politics and not enough about the quality of the films. And perhaps I inevitably become disgusted each and every year because of this fact--because the Academy often overlooks real quality--and end up vowing to boycott them the following year. Yet each and every year, I return for at least an hour or two... Because for those of us who love movies, the Oscars are just a reminder of why we love them--a hand skimming a pond that jostles up some of the sediment lying at the bottom. And it doesn't just jostle in our brain and hearts the movies nominated, but all the movies we've loved and enjoyed throughout our lifetime.

But then again, I'm a movie geek, so what do I know?

Random Question of the Day:
Who/what do you think got terribly short-changed at the Oscars this year (or who/what shoulda been up for an Oscar that wasn't)?

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