Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Oscars and a Hazeltini


And the Oscar goes to.....none of the above!  Growing up we always anticipated the Oscar presentation.  Being from Southern California, it was a big deal.  Not so for me, anymore...  While I do like to watch a good movie with a great story, it seems the movies of today lack originality or at least an inspirational story.   Is it me, or is there too much violence, blood and guts?  What ever happened to the kind of picture that had a lasting effect on you as you left the movie theater?

The first "grownup" movie I was privileged to see was Around the World in 80 Days.  That was in 1957, I was five, and I'm sure my parents couldn't find a babysitter back then.  The year I was born, An American in Paris won.  When I was 10, West Side Story was all the rage.  My older sister bought the soundtrack and that is all I heard for the next couple of months.  Yes, I can sing all the words to all those songs!  Then the Sound of Music hit the theaters!  I can sing those tunes, also!

Flash forward to the 70's.  Interesting times!  The blockbusters of that era were, Godfather, Godfather II, French Connection, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky and my favorite, "The Sting".  The movies of the 80's included Out of Africa, Platoon and Rain Man!  Into the 90's we saw some record breaking movies, such as, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump and of course, Titanic.

After the Y2K farce, the epic Lord of the Rings swept the awards.  As the years blended into the next a political theme permeated most new movies.  In my opinion, the blockbusters are all but gone.  Out of all the nominees this year, I have only seen Inception and Social Network.  (Sorry, I'm not a part of the Academy.) I enjoyed them both.  I believe the founder of Facebook was brilliant and whoever wrote the script for Inception has a "Beautiful Mind".  How does one have such imagination to come up with these stories!

In all fairness,  I do like movies, but would rather dive into and get lost in a gook book.  Tonight,  I won't be reading and I'll probably be the only person on the planet not watching the Oscar's.  For me, it's AMAZING RACE time!  Oh yes, and hazeltini time!  So, I will mix a little hazelnut Kahlua with ice and vanilla vodka.  Sounds good to me!    Enjoy the Oscars and let me know how they turn out...

Some of my "all time favorites" include:

Dancing with Wolves
A River Runs Through It
Shawshank Redemption
Dr Zhivago
Life is Beautiful

Watch those, you won't be disappointed!

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