And the Best Pre-Oscar Satire Goes to...

Joyce Wadler's Jon Stewart and the Night Visitor - New York Times (pretty funny read)

The Oscars. The big show is coming up on Sunday. I was in a low-budget, low-humor, nationally released film ten years ago. This qualifies me to predict how people who are actually in the film industry will vote in their well-campaigned artistic love fest.

For some reason, I just can't hustle up any Oscar excitement this year. I see the hype but it is not working on me. I spend time doing my homework so that I am ready to win the Oscar pool but I am still just not that into it.

You would think that I would be the most excited about the Oscars. This is the gayest Oscars since the 34th Annual Oscar Celebration back in 1961. That is the year that West Side Story won 10 of 11 Oscar nominations. It was also the year that Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour won 0 of 5 nods.

And don't forget Jon Stewart. It doesn't get much better unless you consider the awesome presence of Terrance Howard and a hip-hop song nominated for best song...Again. I love when they actually award popular contemporary music at the Oscars. But I still haven't caught A.M.P.A.S.itis. I am much more excited about who will win Project Runway.

Maybe I've just realized that my life is more important than the movie industry. This year my life doesn't revolve around getting excited about people that I don't know who's careers are soaring. Sure, my career is valid too but it is not exactly award winning.

When I was kid, I always imagined that I would one day be sitting in a reserved Oscar seat. I'm not sure if I ever truly believed that I would win an Oscar but I always thought I would hang out with people that had one. To re-cap, at ten I aspired to be a hanger-oner. I have had the great fortune to meet people of all walks of life including a few Oscar nominees and some winners too, including one of my favorite living actors.

I do love the actual Oscar event. And I am looking forward to Sunday's festivities but that mostly has to do with the company I keep on that night. I could care less about which studio's stock is going to rise because they made a movie that won an award and a lot of people paid to see it.