Oscarationalization

Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog at the Oscars [Source]

Like many of you last night, I sat in front of the TV watching the Academy Awards from the red carpet pre-show to the announcement of who won Best Picture. And I was captivated by it all even though the only movie I saw that was nominated was Midnight in Paris, which had a handful of mentions tonight at best (and won the award for Best Original Screenplay).

What is it about Hollywood that continues to mesmerize the world?

The telecast touched on the magic of film time and time again. Actors gave candid sound-bytes of what defined a great movie, Cirque du Soleil translated the wonder of the audience's cinematic experience into dance and acrobatics, and the glamour of old Hollywood graced actresses' gowns and the beautifully designed stage alike.

It's the biggest night each year for celebrating this dream machine--and perhaps a rare occasion for the true art and craft of filmmaking to be recognized, outside of what a movie makes at the box office. Because I can assure you that for every Hugo and The Artist there are a hundred (or more) generic and predictable movies that unfortunately continue to multiply in stupidity. Luckily they have the Razzies.

This is all because I was trying to think of what to write about today other than myself. And it dawned on me last night (well, actually also a few years back) that short of being society's religion today, celebrity, especially the type that is deserving of praise in skill, is in our eyes the pinnacle of success. To have the renown, admiration, attention of all is now viewed to be the mark of self-fulfillment. And to have all of these seemingly self-fulfilled people hosted at one event, in which they all dress to the nines and are amiably competitive--this is the roster of the Olympian gods in present-day America. Only most of the goddesses here are far too skinny for my taste (Rooney Mara and, dare I say, my now ex-girl crush Angelina Jolie among several others). And the gods aren't as frisky as they used to be.

Frankly, I don't know where I'm going with this anymore. I had the lightbulb of an idea dangling on a string in my mind and it has since dimmed dramatically. This is what happens when I decide to wait a day to finish up on a thought.

Is it too late to invoke the help of a muse?