A precursor-less Oscar season?

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Zahveed
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Post by Zahveed »

This is what I've been doing all year, though not purposefully.
"It's the least most of us can do, but less of us will do more."
Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

Good luck. If you last through the first week in December, I'll be amazed.
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Sonic Youth
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Post by Sonic Youth »

I've not participated on the boards all that often lately. I've been very busy - good-busy, I'm happy to say. But I've seen relatively few movies this year, and there's very little I've been excited about anyway. So I've been thinking, what a good time to try a little experiment: this Oscar season, ignore the precursors entirely. Try to shut them out entirely until the nominations are announced. We've all complained about how predictible and unexciting the Oscars have become due to the overabundence of precursor awards (even though, it must be admitted, the precursors themselves have provided their own excitement, or at least their own interest). So, if I can avoid reading/hearing about the precursors, will I be able to attain some of the excitement and surprise on the morning of the nominations?

This won't be easy... did I say easy? It will be damned difficult. It means not learning who won the NYFCC awards or DGA or the SAGs. It means not watching the pre-Oscar award shows. But it means more than that. I'll have to stop reading this section of the discussion board, and maybe even the movie reviews... something I know Oscar Guy won't appreciate since it goes against his wish to have more people participate. It means not being a part of all the <s>bitch-slapping</s> wonderfully stimulating conversations that flourish here this time of year. I'll have to try not to visit Cinema Sight, Gold Derby, Awards Daily and other Oscar sites. I shouldn't even read prediction lists. I'll have to be careful with how I read the news. Stay away from the entertainment headlines. In fact, stay away from entertainment websites altogether, in case a banner ad gives away more than I want to know. Try not to watch commercials on TV, where they eagerly tout this information. Etc, etc. You know what? This sounds impossible. Actually, it sounds ridiculous. I don't expect to fully succeed. In fact, I'll likely fail. But, I'll give it a try.

Truth be told, I'd probably never attempt such a thing had AMPAS not expanded the Best Picture field to ten films. People have said, most recently in the Loose Thoughts thread, that the "new and improved" format has made the Oscar race less exciting. They're right. The question of "which film will take the fifth slot" was far more intriguing than "which films will take slots 8 through 10". But even with a five picture slate, if by late December it's a foregone conclusion which four films (or performances) are already "locks", what fun is it?

So, this self-serving post is my announcement that - this year at least - I'm serving myself up as that relic from the past, the Oscar fan from the paleolithic pre-internet days who doesn't have a clue what critic's awards are. After Thanksgiving, when the Satellite nominations are announced, my time in the isolation chamber begins. This doesn't mean I'm going away. I'll still be reading, writing and submitting when I can. Just not in this section. Wish me luck, and if I survive I'll give you a full rundown.

Lock the door behind me, please!




Edited By Sonic Youth on 1290567048
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
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