the academy awards

npr broadcast a story today about woody allen shunning the academy awards despite allen's numerous nominations and past wins. only allen knows why he avoids the awards like the plague. i remember when his film annie hall [1977] was up for several oscars and the big to do made over allen's non-appearance at the ceremony. if i recall allen was playing clarinet in his jazz ensemble and there was a camera crew to record his notable absence at the award ceremony.

the academy awards is broadcast this sunday. and i don't give a shit. when i was a lad i used to be a devout oscar watcher. i would watch the awards mostly for the movie clips because those were the pre-digital, pre-cable tv, days and the only way to see movie clips [especially if you are a rabid movie nut] in those days was during awards ceremonies like the oscars.

i don't think i've seen a single movie nominated for an oscar. perhaps it's because of orneriness. life is only so long, i have only so many hours to spend watching films. so i'll watch the movies that have my attention, that i'm obsessed with, and not the movies that have been nominated for a gold statue.

whatever reason allen avoids award ceremonies i share his aversion. awards? you've got to be kidding. who really is to judge? i remember watching c-span [for those outside the u.s. the 'c' stands for congress] channel when the national book awards were broadcast. i watched because poet hayden carruth was up for an award for a collection of his poetry. i've always like carruth. because on a very personal and extra-literary note carruth also suffered from panic disorder, like i do. anyway, carruth won the nba. guess what. he was no where to be seen. his stature rose a few cubits in my humble estimation.

besides, i'm doing my best to deconstruct my ego and to give a fuck about competition. i am non-competitive. or try to be. so awards are so much bullshit. well, okay, even so i had the same attitude last year and i watched the oscars anyway. so sue me. sometimes film geekdom trumps everything else.