> > I did not watch the Academy Awards Ceremony at all this year. It is the first year in many that I have managed to do this-- For several years now, I have held the opinion that the Oscars are not worth my time to watch, in part because they go too long, in part because they do not interest me enough, and in part because I am trying to cut back on the amount of TV I watch.
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> All that justification, and this was the first year you managed it? All that justification, and you have to ask if you're doing the right thing?

Well, OK, to be fair, I suppose I should have ALSO posted the reasons why I thought I SHOULD watch it. I won't bother doing that now, though, because with the responses I have received, I feel that they are easily outweighed by the reasons I gave above.

> If you don't care enough about what gets what, seriously, don't bother. It's not a civic duty to watch the show, nor will you be culturally uneducated if you do not force yourself to take it all in. The Academy Awards are about peer recognition in Hollywood. That's it. If you're the kind of person that loves movies and/or cares about the art and craft of filmmaking and/or cares about the winners, then go for it. Otherwise there's no reason to bother.

I think the problem I have is that I WANT to be that kind of person, but I am not-- I should mention, though, that this site has raised my interest in the craft, through various features and articles. I am suddenly struck by the irony in the fact that this year, with the RinkWorks knowledge increasing my interest in the art of filmmaking, I finally managed to NOT watch the Oscars.

> As I write this, I'm having deja vu. I think this was discussed before, either here or in the Site Journal, last year or the year before. I vaguely remember someone saying that you SHOULDN'T watch the Oscars if you care about the art and craft of filmmaking, because the Oscars rarely reward the best films. I think that's a good point but overly cynical...except in the case of this year.

Now that you mention it, I seem to remember something of the sort being mentioned in the Site Journal. Speaking to your last sentence, though, I think I do feel that cynicism towards the Academy Awards at some level, and that may be a big part of my unspoken reason for not wanting to watch the show. More to the point, though, I think I would greatly enjoy a program which went through the nominees and showed in detail why they were nominated. Of course, this sort of show would not appeal to most who watch the Oscars-- I imagine the majority of viewers either know the business well enough to know why movies got the nominations they did, or they don't care. For myself, though, I would like to learn more on the subject.

Don "Wannabe Movie Buff" Monkey