Tomorrow night is my own personal New Year's Eve! It's the long awaited, and highly anticipated, night of the Academy Awards!
Over time, I have slowly but surely evolved into one of those semi-senior citizens who is ready for bed at 7:30 P.M. ( which presents a real problem on school nights), and who rises with the birds (and my equally old chocolate lab) at 4:30 A.M. Couple that routine with the fact that I hate New Year's Eve, and you will understand why I am still in bed early on Dec. 31st, despite the New Year's revelry which surrounds me. However-Oscar night is another story altogether-it is a night that excites me as much as New Year's Eve partyers congregated at Times Square are excited. Tomorrow night, I will tune in early to see my favorite (and not so favorite) actors and actresses on the red carpet. I am eagerly anticipating (first and foremost) watching at least some of the show with my movie loving son. I will head for home by 9 P.M., before I turn into into a pumpkin (I said I would stay up late-not that I would stay out late!), and then my son and I will be texting excitedly throughout the remainder of the evening. I will be awake and watching until probably midnight, on the one and only night of the year on which I am willing to stay up that late. Over the years, I used to drag myself to work the following day, drained from the prior night's sleep deprivation, but I recently got smart. Now I schedule a post Oscar vacation day, so that I may recuperate, and also watch all of the inevitable recaps of the evening's highlights.
I generally make it a point to see all of the movies that are nominated for best picture, whether the film interests me or not. At times I have been pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed movies that I never would have seen otherwise (like Django Unchained). Conversely, I have suffered through films that I did not want to see (like Beasts of the Southern Wild). The only good thing about seeing that movie, was that my son and I rented it from Red Box, so three of us suffered (he and his fiancee didn't like it either) for a mere dollar. This year, however, having had surgery put a definite crimp in my style, and I have not been to the movies in weeks. Not that I haven't watched movies. My blue ray player got a real workout during the 2-1/2 weeks that I was home-it's still smoking!. I have not been out to the movies though, a guilty pleasure that I usually indulge in on a weekly basis.
This year's nominated films are American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash. I have seen six of the eight, having missed Birdman and Selma (at least so far-I still have 36 hours!). Consequently, I am not in a position to declare which film I believe deserves to win. Of the six I did see, I would vote for American Sniper, with The Imitation Game coming in at a close second. My son, who did see all of them, and who also makes predictions based on the precursor awards (something I as a movie lover had never heard of until he enlightened me) like the Directors' Guild, Producers' Guild, etc., believes that Birdman will win. That's okay. Not having seen them all, I am not as emotionally invested as I usually am, but I will be waiting with bated breath for the winner nevertheless! Bring on Oscar!
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