Monday, February 23, 2009

oscar, oscar, oscar

I used to give Oscar parties. Actually, it was sort of a tradition that my friends (and I) would look forward to. When my movie-buff friend Mary and I would co-host the party, sometimes things could get quite elaborate, with fancy ballots and cool prizes. We would theme the party to coincide with the fabulous movie-related gift. One year the prize was an authentic vintage 1960s James Bond (Sean Connery, of course) action figure, in white tux jacket, with Beretta. I have to admit that I won that year and still have my gift in his original packaging.

As interested in watching and critiquing movies as I am, since I've had my daughter my movie going has dropped to almost nil. I used to at least keep up with everything new coming out, whether I chose to see it or not. Now the kid is telling me, "Look, The Tale of Despereaux!" when she sees an ad on television or in a bus kiosk. Of course we usually don't end up going, because she still isn't really old enough to enjoy the movie experience - even kid movies in the theater seem to be a fidget-fest or an invitation to nap. So I end up scheduling the rare film viewing that I simply must see on my day off. I finally get around to seeing the ones that I might have seen in first-run when they hit cable. If I can stay up that late...

Last night as I watched the Oscars, as much for the gowns (as always) as the random flashes of humor (Steve Martin and a very wicked Ben Stiller), I realized that there was one nominated movie that I had seen last year. Kung Fu Panda.

1 comments:

Steven said...

You're not alone -- all the articles I've read about the Oscars say that more and more it's about honoring films that hardly anyone has seen. It's fine with me, because those are the films I like.

Whatever happened to Mary?

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