AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... 

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards are only a few days away now!

I love this broadcast every year no matter how dragged out it is, it's a must-see.  It's like my Super Bowl.  Friends invite me to Oscar parties, but I usually decline.  It's more fun to watch the show at home, in sweats, surrounded by snacks and all the comforts of home.  Besides, I really like to actually watch the show and that's hard to do at a big party. 

As you probably know, The Barbara Walter's Oscar Special will end this year on ABC.  The new "Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special" looks terrific though.  The format is more conversational than interview.  It has the stars interviewing each other (Penelope Cruz and Halle Barry) and appears more energized compared to the traditional BW Special.  But I've loved all the specials that Miss Walters delivered to us over the past 29 years! Who could ever forget her doing the tango with Al Pacino?  Bravo, Miss Walters, you're Oscar Specials thrilled this movie-lover growing up.

I'm reading the screenplay for "An Education" by Nick Hornby.  It's excellent.  So well-written and lean. The characters are defined immediately on the page with little dialogue.  The main character is Jenny, a seventeen year old London girl (played wonderfully by Carey Mulligan), who falls in love with an older, exotic man.  The movie is  compelling and shows how we tend to project our wants onto people blindly.

"An Education" is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, along with District 9, In the Loop, Precious and Up in the Air.  Hard to pick a winner from that group.  I'm torn between Precious and An Education -- both scripts focus on young girls finding education as a means to transform themselves. 

The five original screenplays nominated for Oscars this year are: The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Disney/Pixar's Up.  I haven't read them all or have even seen them all yet, but I'm leaning toward Inglorious Basterds as the best pick.  The movie was better than I expected and a Quentin Tarantino script is always an original ride. 

There you have it.  So, will you watch the Oscars this Sunday at a party or from home?  Either way, I hope you enjoy the show.  Plan to be tired come Monday morning with a bad speech hangover.  I look forward to it.

Until next time.