I Once Was a Movie Buff

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This weekend is the Oscars. I used to live for the Oscars, set my watch by it, celebrate it like a holiday.

You see, I was a movie buff. "What do you wanna do this weekend?" you ask. "Go to a movie," I'd say. I loved going to movies, really that is what I'd do for fun. Yes, the price of admission kept going up, but it's not like I had a lot of expenses back then (before children), and matinees were affordable. It's not like I had other expensive hobbies.

There was a year, the Gosford Park year {2002}, when Hubby and I saw 4 of the 5 best picture nominees (ironically, not Gosford Park, which won the award) as well as other movies up for awards, like Black Hawk Down (one of my faves). That was fun, rarely have we seen so many nominated films prior to the awards being handed out (we tend to catch up on DVD).

But stuff happens. First, the IBS makes it difficult for me to enjoy movies in the theater. {First, you can't get into the theater without a ticket, tough if you have to use the bathroom before you've made it to the front of the ticket line. Second, there's no rewinding--so if I'm in the bathroom a lot, and I usually am, I can get pretty lost in the plot. So going to the theater these days is often more stressful than fun.} And now we have kids, so there's the cost of the movie, plus the babysitter, so we just don't do it.

And I used to follow all the Hollywood stuff, who's dating who, who's wearing what. And now I find it all toxic. Divorce. Adultery. Botox. Boob jobs.

But I digress.

So now the Oscars come around this weekend and I haven't seen any of the movies. {Well actually now that they nominate TEN movies for best picture (don't even get me started), I have seen Toy Story 3 and Inception, but none of the top contenders.} Plus all the actors are younger than me. {And I have an unhealthy resentment of people who are more successful than I am--I know, that depends on how you measure true success}. Plus with kids, it is nearly impossible to watch something other than cartoons in their presence. Plus, when I haven't seen the movies, I don't like to be "spoiled" by all the clips they show of the nominees. Which all adds up to: I'm not sure I'm even going to bother to tune in. And that makes me kind of sad. :-(

Last year I think I tried watching the early part of the show, but all I remember was tuning in once the kids were in bed, just in time to see Sandra Bullock win for The Blind Side. I love Sandra Bullock and The Blind Side was probably my favorite movie last year, so that was fun. And then the Hurt Locker won for Best Picture and that was the only movie I'd seen of the nominees at the time (I've since seen several, including Avatar) and we loved it. So I could do that again, just tune in after bedtime and watch the biggest awards.

Really, I'm still a movie buff. We watch movies nearly every night, and that pastime has pretty much replaced my other biggest hobby: tv. {I only have a handful of shows I watch, and I'm dreadfully behind on all of them.} It's not the same, but nothing ever is after you have kids, am I right?

So tell me, will you be watching the Oscars this year? What or who are you rooting for?*

*Technically, that should say "For what or whom are you rooting?" but I couldn't bring myself to be so formal. Forgive me, grammar snobs.