Reminiscing about times when the Oscars were fun...

Oscar winners and hosts... and Peter N'yongo, whoever he is!

When I was 12 years old I spoke virtually no English. That didn't stop me back then to stay up all night, before school, to watch the Oscars. Needless to say I had no idea what Whoopie Goldberg was saying back then, I tried to laugh anyways. Growing up many kids in Germany dreamed of America, and I was no exception. I loved everything American, especially movies. Also, my crush, Haley Joel Osment, publicly known as the creepy kid in The Sixth Sense, was nominated. And of course I also wanted to be a famous actress one day.

Nothing is left of this. My dream of becoming a Hollywood star died the day I first came to Hollywood. What a shithole! LA is not a place I'd want to make it. With increasing education I also realized that I'm actually quite a big fan of conventional ways to get rich and not really that into movies. I would love to be famous for my intellectual work or work that changed the world, not because I date a celebrity. And I kinda got too fat living in America to ever make it in the business anyway. Mostly, however, this whole Oscar conversation became a complete embarrassment to me. And I'll tell you why!

I struggle with people being superficial a lot, and I suppose it makes sense for me to stay away from the most superficial industry in the world. I can't believe a bunch of rich people walk a red carpet and out of all questions reporters could ask them they go for "what are you wearing?" What I can't believe even more is who cares. I enjoy the principle of recognizing good work and people being told they rock. What they look like while they win or not should not matter. In fact, it seems that looks determine who wins these days. The uglier the performer is in a movie the more likely he or she is to win a price for acting.

There are a few particular examples I have which have disillusioned me from actually enjoying the Oscars over the years other than it simply being a horrendously boring show. First and probably most significant, Reese Witherspoon won. Reese Witherspoon is a horrible actress. So is Halle Berry. Or Catherine Zeta-Jones. This year Matthew McConaughey walked out with an Oscar before Leonardo did. This kinda stuff infuriates me. While these people got lucky once with a fantastic role that would make close to anybody an "acclaimed actor" the likes of Leonardo, Joaquin or Peter O'Toole died or will die before the honor finally strikes them. Embarrassing!

This year's broadcast was especially cringe to watch, if you ask me. The amount of times Hollywood stood up for a standing ovation was pathetic. They stood up for Lupita N'yongo winning Best Supporting Actress for the only film she's been in. Where exactly does a 10 minute appearance in ONE movie qualify for a standing ovation? That's right, it doesn't. They raised for Pink! Yes, the "singer" Pink and her tenor version of Somewhere over the Rainbow. I've heard that better on American Idol, every week! Maybe each time it was just Liza Minelli needing to get up for the bathroom and people copying her because she's Judy Garland's daughter and a big deal although she was pissed drunk all night.

In general, the trend of a movie only being Oscar-worthy if less than 10,000 people saw it annoys me. It makes no sense giving the Oscar to The Hurt Locker while the entire world is united in the belief that Avatar is the best movie of 2009.We're not talking about Twilight, we are talking about a movie almost nobody hated. Even today nobody's watched The Hurt Locker. Can I also say that the ceremony itself is as boring as most of the movies that are being rewarded every year? This year was an all-time low in terms of entertainment as the number of surprises equaled zero. I'm bored writing about it. As a result, I will now cease to do so and not watch next year.