Happy Oscar Day, everyone! Yes, the Academy Awards are finally here, and we can all gather ’round the merry twinkling of our televisions, basking in the glow of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It’s hard to believe that the first Academy Award celebration was held almost 82 years ago, on May 16, 1929. It wasn’t televised then, because television hadn’t been invented yet! And the winners had already been announced (on February 18th), so the nominees weren’t on pins and needles, waiting to see if their name would be called at the right moment.
A lot has changed, but the way I hear it, the golden statuette itself is still very much like those handed out over eight decades ago: a knight with a sword, standing on a reel of film. They were sculpted out of solid bronze by George Stanley.(Pictured left: the statuette given to Edwin J. Burke for his screenplay adaptation of Bad Girl. Oh, that Oscar…he’s just as handsome as ever, isn’t he?)
Well, we all celebrate the Academy Awards in our own way. Some of us throw parties and circulate hor d’eouvres; some of us pile onto the sofa in our jammies with popcorn at the ready; some of us dress up in Oscar de la Renta and walk the red carpet. (What, you’ve never done it? But you must, darling, you must!)
Personally, I’ve decided to celebrate by starting a new feature on my blog: Movie Monday. I’m going to watch every movie that has ever been nominated for Best Picture. Not all at once, of course! My idea is to watch a year’s worth of movies every week. Yes, it will take over a year to work through the entire list, but oh, the movies we shall see! That places we shall go through the imagination and talent of 80+ years of film makers.
Now, I have to warn you, there are one or two (or three or four) movies that I haven’t been able to find yet on home video. But thanks to the miracle of modern technology, most of these classics are available for viewing, and view them I shall!
Next Monday (March 7), we’ll kick this off with the three pictures which were nominated on the very first year that the golden Mr. Oscar was handed out.
So, who are you rooting for this year?
As a MEGA movie lover, I can't wait to follow this blog feature, Misha. 🙂 It's a great idea.
This year, my favorite to win is The King's Speech. I saw 9 of the 10 nominated and my second favorite is The Fighter. In fact, many of those nominated this year are really WONDERFUL FILMS.
Thanks Karen! Hope the blog turns out to be entertaining! 🙂