I didn’t watch the 86th Annual Academy Awards. For me, the thrill is mostly gone.
Maybe the Oscars seem self-congratulatory for artists, many of whom already earn more per day than most people make in a year. In life, it's easy to root for the underdog, but with the Oscars, it's hard to care about millionaires winning a gold-plated statuette.
Maybe it's because the industry can fall back on the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA Awards and countless other opportunities, including special interest group nominations, for peer recognition.
Maybe it’s the pretension. This year’s nominees, cumulatively, made 1,400 films, and "have gone to a total of six years of college,” host Ellen DeGeneres said, joking during Sunday’s telecast. (OK, I watched ABC's highlights coverage.) Still, celebrities in sunglasses spread “awareness” about a cause du jour they may know little about, perhaps without fully formed critical thinking skills.
Maybe it’s because many nominees, as DeGeneres said, are Oscar fixtures, which undermines the element of surprise. Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese also were up for honors seven years ago, when DeGeneres last hosted.
Maybe it’s the morning-after news cycle, which is filled with things that really don’t matter. Ellen used an iPhone, not a smart phone from event sponsor Samsung, for backstage tweets. “Busted!” “Shocker!” CNN reported. Meanwhile, you can bet more people know about the Oscar host’s record breaking Twitter selfie with A-list stars than they do about Russian troops infiltrating Ukraine.
Or maybe it’s a combination of all these factors.
Films can entertain, inform and inspire us. However, they can do so without a flashy awards show — one of many — that solely benefits their handsomely paid producers.
On Friday, Florida’s newspapers got, pretty much, their lone time to shine as nominations for the Florida Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest went out. I have earned six Alabama Press Association awards and would love for the News Bulletin to receive recognition for quality work that follows our team’s long hours, sleepless nights and painstaking efforts. But even if we don’t, I have countless thank you notes and memories of conversations with north Okaloosa readers who expressed gratitude for bringing some issue or view to light.
Who won what award — whether it's an Oscar or BNC — really doesn’t matter. It’s important to know about things like the Ukraine crisis and where your tax dollars are going.
Last weekend, readers debated the Crestview City Council’s decision to deny funding for the Crestview Heat youth basketball team’s tournament. I understood the council’s position; after all, they were considering layoffs before passing the last fiscal budget, so it seems responsible — to me, anyway — to have benchmarks for how to spend public funds. Contributing to one youth basketball team’s efforts would be nice, but it also could open the floodgates for funding anything and everything. Meanwhile, the money just isn’t there.
Gulf Power settlement money for overbilling will help ensure city employees won't be furloughed 32 hours, streets will be maintained, and the general reserve account, which City Clerk Betsy Roy has described as “dangerously low," gets a boost.
Sounds like that money can't be used for just anything. And remember, youth teams always have the option of fundraising.
But wherever you stand on that issue, at least you're debating something that actually matters.
What's your view? Write a letter to the editor or tweet News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni @cnbeditor.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR’S DESK: Forget the Oscars; let's discuss things that actually affect us