Oscars the Grouch

You know, being the certifiable movie-nut that I am, I should have been glued to the television last night watching the Academy Awards but, the entire thing has lost its luster for me. I used to dream of winning an Oscar, but those days have passed. I used to want to make a living in the Hollywood system, but those days are passed as well.

Now I want to make my own projects, my own way, without the great sacrifice to my family that being a Hollywood-ite would entail. The older I get the more I am aware of the moral consequences to entertainment. Granted, there is nothing wrong with pure entertainment. As I like to say, rollercoaster designers aren't going to hell because they make really good rides, and neither should filmmakers if they make a film that offers a really good ride.

However, I do see the consequences of inundating our society and our children with morally questionable subject matters. I do understand that I am held morally responsible for my stories and the effects on the souls who watch them.

Plus, the Academy Awards has been so politically charged, against my core sensibilities, that I would find myself seeing who won, then muting the television when the acceptance speeches commenced. So, why watch at all? I can just read who won later.

And I have become increasingly adverse to the culture of celebrity. A friend once asked me if I had heard a rumor about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and I responded that the day Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are curious about my life, I'll be curious about there’s. Until then, they are not on my radar screen.

So, watching the celebrities with surgically repaired faces, bosoms and stomachs, strutting their stuff down the red carpet, wearing dresses by Overpriced Designers R Us, flaunting rented jewelry that is so expensive they could feed the homeless for a year... well, I've just kinda lost the point of it all.

As my children has grown and my faith has grown, I've been able to peel away from my life the layers of the world that used to be important to the core subjects that actually make me tick, that truly inspire and touch me. And watching which dress Hilary Swank is wearing or whether the foreign film sympathetic to suicide bombers in Palestine wins anything... they just doesn't mean as much as it used to.

However, I do remember that the Oscars still represent the culmination of some peoples dreams... hec, they used to be the culmination of my own dreams, and that is the one thing that harkens me back. So, I'll watch the highlights and revisit the award ceremony next year.

Maybe things will be different.