March 24, 2002

[TV] It's almost time!

I love movies. I love the expanse of them, the scope, the vision. I love going to the movies. I like paying for my ticket, I love theater seats, I love the smell, the popcorn, the overpriced drinks. I love the anticipation, that moment as the lights dim and the movie still has the potential to be brilliant. I love funny movies and serious movies. I like American flicks and foreign flicks. I like big blockbusters and small indies. I like big stars and nobodies. I just love the movies.

I also love acting awards shows. I clarify that because I am so out of touch with popular music that the Grammies and the American Music Awards don't really resonate...but the Emmies, nightime, daytime, the Golden Globes, the SAG awards, the DGA awards...I am so there. I love the spectacle, I love the drama, I love the dresses. I really love the pretty dresses, but I love the ugly dresses more. It makes me feel somehow superior to these rich and famous people when I realize that, were I blessed with the money that they have, I would have picked a better dress. I also love the acceptance speeches. Most of all, actually. A good acceptance speech is about as close to an expression of raw emotion as you can get without involving birth or death. Good ones stick with me, like favorite scenes from good movies. In 1988, an actor named A Martinez won an emmy for his portrayal of Cruz Castillo in the daytime drama "Santa Barbara". He thanked his female costar thusly: "A, uh, colleage of mine, Roscoe Born, says that working with Marcy Walker is not really work. You just look at her and wait for her to get to you and then she does." Sigh.

So, with my love of movies and my love of awards shows, it should come as no surprise that I love the Academy Awards. Since I was a little girl, I have loved the Oscars. I remember making my dad stay up late to watch the parts of the show that were past my bedtime. He was supposed to leave me a list on the kitchen table of who won what after I bowed out--no Internet back then, and the local papers went to press long before the ceremony was over so if he didn't watch, I might not know who won till the next day! I remember running out the next morning and grabbing that piece of paper, devouring it along with my cereal.

As a grown-up, I have never missed the ceremony. For the last several years, I have watched with my husband and my friends John and Philip. We are sometimes just the 4 of us; we are sometimes joined by others. Adil, Leigh, Brandon, Jerry, Troy, Lisa, Ann...all have partaken of this ritual at some point or another. This year, we will be 5: the regulars plus my friend Adil, whom I hadn't seen in ages. Academy Awards night isn't the best forum to visit, but it will ne good to see him none-the-less.

Anyway, my predictions for the big 6: Moulin Rouge, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Ron Howard, Sir Ian McKellan, Jennifer Connelly.

Back tomorrow with a review!

Posted by Lori at March 24, 2002 4:17 PM