Last night, I did a Facebook post about how I’d seen both “12
Years a Slave” and “Gravity,” and allowed as how after all was said and done, I
liked “Gravity” better. I will leave it to you to decide if I’m a cold fish or
not. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for “Slave” when I saw it, but there you
go.
Tonight we go to an Oscar party, and part of the annual
routine is, we turn in our ballots ahead of time with our Oscar picks in every
category, including the obscure ones. The individual who gets the most right
wins a prize and a small money pot.
One thing you learn really early in this game is that if you
go with what you like, you lose. This is more like picking stocks. If you want
to win, you don’t fall in love with anything. Some in this party group watch
all the preliminary awards shows and read all the critics’ picks before making
their choices. There are those who just can’t play games. They’re always in it
to win it.
When you think about it, taking two or more disparate works
of art and having to decide which one “wins” is a little silly. I liked one
movie better than the other, maybe because I was in the mood for one and not
for the other. Are Academy politics – which is now what the Oscars are about –
any loftier as criteria?
The Oscars have spawned all kinds of wannabe awards
ceremonies. I myself attended banquets as a broadcaster and won quite a few
trophies for my work in that field. The first year I won, everyone had to give
speeches, and the small-market awards were at the end, so my speech was after
midnight, and most people had gone home, There were so few left in the audience
that I offered to take them all out for breakfast.
But name me an industry, club, school, or even pastime that
doesn’t have an awards show. I once had to cover a luncheon of a professional
organization in the town where I was working, and I’m sure that everyone
attending got an award. In fact, at one point the emcee/presenter had to leave
the podium and sit down so someone else could give HIM an award.
It’s a privilege to be alive. We don’t necessarily need a
trophy or a badge to validate it.
But not watch the Oscars? Are you kidding?
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