I’m not so sure, what it is that attracts me to this show every year, but it’s inevitable, that I end up plunking my butt down and watching the thing in it’s entirety.  It can’t be that the show is jam packed with three and a half hours for cutting edge entertainment, as it’s certainly not.  If your lucky, there’s maybe fifteen  or twenty minutes of quality entertainment that will have people talking about after the show is done.   I know, it can’t be that my wife enjoys watching the show, since she usually expresses her dismay and intolerance for award shows about fifteen minutes into the thing.  It’s a bit like watching the Olympics I think.  The opening ceremonies are usually pretty good, the middle seems like it’s never going to end, and the closing usually has all the big exciting stuff going on.

I think, that part of what attracts me to the Oscars, is that I feel like I missed my calling in life by not doing something in life that involves a career in the movie making business.  I’m not talking about being a marquee actor, although that would be cool.  But, any sort of career that would be slightly more creative then what I do now, and involves being a part of the movie business.  Watching the “Making Of ….” stories that come with most DVDs, is often more exciting for me then the movies themselves.   I just find it amazing how they can bring such a large group of diversified talents together and end up making really good movies.  Mind you, not all the movies are really good, but that just makes the better ones seem all that more amazing.  Watching the Academy Awards, just gives me another little piece of insight into the movie business, and makes me feel for a little while, like a tiny bit of an insider.

I think, the other reason I like watching the awards, is the acceptance speeches.  No, not all the acceptance speeches, most of them are deplorable.  But it’s those few diamond in the rough speeches and reactions that seem genuine and sincere.  You know which ones I mean.  “You like me . . . you really like me!”  For me, last night it was Sandra Bullock.  I haven’t seen the movie she won for – Blind Side.  I was actually rooting for Meryl Streep for her performance in Julia Julia.  I loved that movie, and I can’t even cook.  So, I was a little surprised when Sandra Bullock one.  She seemed to be genuinely surprised as well.  But, here speech was both funny, sincere, and intelligent.  And, who knew that she and Meryl Streep were lovers?  Certainly not me.