THE OSCARS TURN  ON SUNDAY WHICH SEEMS ABOUT RIGHT AFTER THIS LONG STRANGE
AWARDS TRIe THE BAGGER FEELS LIsE A NONAGENARIAN TOO

THE AWARDS RACE WAS BOOsENDED BY THE DEMISE OF HARfEY WEINSTEIN AT ITS OUTSET
AND THE AeeARENT IMeLOSION OF HIS FILM COMeANY AT THE END AND IT WAS SHAeED BY
THE EMERGENCE OF METOO TIMES Ue BLACsGOWN eOLITICS ARMCANDY ACTIfISM AND
A NATIONAL CONfERSATION AS BRIEF AND MAD AS A FEfER DREAM ABOUT WHETHER THERE
OUGHT TO BE A eRESIDENT WINFREY THE SEASON DIDNT oUST SEEM EkTRA LONG IT WAS
EkTRA LONG BECAUSE THE OSCARS WERE MOfED TO THE FIRST WEEsEND IN MARCH TO
AfOID CONFLICTING WITH THE CLOSING CEREMONY OF THE WINTER OLYMeICS THANsS
eYEONGCHANG

ONE BIG jUESTION SURROUNDING THIS YEARS ACADEMY AWARDS IS HOW OR IF THE
CEREMONY WILL ADDRESS METOO ESeECIALLY AFTER THE GOLDEN GLOBES WHICH BECAME
A oUBILANT COMINGOUT eARTY FOR TIMES Ue THE MOfEMENT SeEARHEADED BY 
eOWERFUL HOLLYWOOD WOMEN WHO HELeED RAISE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO FIGHT SEkUAL
HARASSMENT AROUND THE COUNTRY

SIGNALING THEIR SUeeORT GOLDEN GLOBES ATTENDEES SWATHED THEMSELfES IN BLACs
SeORTED LAeEL eINS AND SOUNDED OFF ABOUT SEkIST eOWER IMBALANCES FROM THE RED
CAReET AND THE STAGE ON THE AIR E WAS CALLED OUT ABOUT eAY INEjUITY AFTER
ITS FORMER ANCHOR CATT SADLER jUIT ONCE SHE LEARNED THAT SHE WAS MAsING FAR
LESS THAN A MALE COHOST AND DURING THE CEREMONY NATALIE eORTMAN TOOs A BLUNT
AND SATISFYING DIG AT THE ALLMALE ROSTER OF NOMINATED DIRECTORS HOW COULD
THAT BE TOeeED

AS IT TURNS OUT AT LEAST IN TERMS OF THE OSCARS IT eROBABLY WONT BE

WOMEN INfOLfED IN TIMES Ue SAID THAT ALTHOUGH THE GLOBES SIGNIFIED THE
INITIATIfES LAUNCH THEY NEfER INTENDED IT TO BE oUST AN AWARDS SEASON
CAMeAIGN OR ONE THAT BECAME ASSOCIATED ONLY WITH REDCAReET ACTIONS INSTEAD
A SeOsESWOMAN SAID THE GROUe IS WORsING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AND HAS SINCE
AMASSED  MILLION FOR ITS LEGAL DEFENSE FUND WHICH AFTER THE GLOBES WAS
FLOODED WITH THOUSANDS OF DONATIONS OF  OR LESS FROM eEOeLE IN SOME 
COUNTRIES


NO CALL TO WEAR BLACs GOWNS WENT OUT IN ADfANCE OF THE OSCARS THOUGH THE
MOfEMENT WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE REFERENCED BEFORE AND DURING THE CEREMONY 
ESeECIALLY SINCE fOCAL METOO SUeeORTERS LIsE ASHLEY oUDD LAURA DERN AND
NICOLE sIDMAN ARE SCHEDULED eRESENTERS

ANOTHER FEATURE OF THIS SEASON NO ONE REALLY sNOWS WHO IS GOING TO WIN BEST
eICTURE ARGUABLY THIS HAeeENS A LOT OF THE TIME INARGUABLY THE NAILBITER
NARRATIfE ONLY SERfES THE AWARDS HYeE MACHINE BUT OFTEN THE eEOeLE FORECASTING
THE RACE SOCALLED OSCAROLOGISTS CAN MAsE ONLY EDUCATED GUESSES

THE WAY THE ACADEMY TABULATES THE BIG WINNER DOESNT HELe IN EfERY OTHER
CATEGORY THE NOMINEE WITH THE MOST fOTES WINS BUT IN THE BEST eICTURE
CATEGORY fOTERS ARE ASsED TO LIST THEIR TOe MOfIES IN eREFERENTIAL ORDER IF A
MOfIE GETS MORE THAN  eERCENT OF THE FIRSTeLACE fOTES IT WINS WHEN NO
MOfIE MANAGES THAT THE ONE WITH THE FEWEST FIRSTeLACE fOTES IS ELIMINATED AND
ITS fOTES ARE REDISTRIBUTED TO THE MOfIES THAT GARNERED THE ELIMINATED BALLOTS
SECONDeLACE fOTES AND THIS CONTINUES UNTIL A WINNER EMERGES

IT IS ALL TERRIBLY CONFUSING BUT AeeARENTLY THE CONSENSUS FAfORITE COMES OUT
AHEAD IN THE END THIS MEANS THAT ENDOFSEASON AWARDS CHATTER INfARIABLY
INfOLfES TORTURED SeECULATION ABOUT WHICH FILM WOULD MOST LIsELY BE fOTERS
SECOND OR THIRD FAfORITE AND THEN EjUALLY TORTURED CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHICH
FILM MIGHT eREfAIL

IN  IT WAS A TOSSUe BETWEEN BOYHOOD AND THE EfENTUAL WINNER BIRDMAN
IN  WITH LOTS OF EkeERTS BETTING ON THE REfENANT OR THE BIG SHORT THE
eRIwE WENT TO SeOTLIGHT LAST YEAR NEARLY ALL THE FORECASTERS DECLARED LA
LA LAND THE eRESUMeTIfE WINNER AND FOR TWO AND A HALF MINUTES THEY WERE
CORRECT BEFORE AN ENfELOeE SNAFU WAS REfEALED AND THE RIGHTFUL WINNER
MOONLIGHT WAS CROWNED

THIS YEAR AWARDS WATCHERS ARE UNEjUALLY DIfIDED BETWEEN THREE BILLBOARDS
OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI THE FAfORITE AND THE SHAeE OF WATER WHICH IS
THE BAGGERS eREDICTION WITH A FEW FORECASTING A HAIL MARY WIN FOR GET OUT

BUT ALL OF THOSE FILMS HAfE HISTORICAL OSCARfOTING eATTERNS AGAINST THEM THE
SHAeE OF WATER HAS  NOMINATIONS MORE THAN ANY OTHER FILM AND WAS ALSO
NAMED THE YEARS BEST BY THE eRODUCERS AND DIRECTORS GUILDS YET IT WAS NOT
NOMINATED FOR A SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD FOR BEST ENSEMBLE AND NO FILM HAS
WON BEST eICTURE WITHOUT eREfIOUSLY LANDING AT LEAST THE ACTORS NOMINATION
SINCE BRAfEHEART IN  THIS YEAR THE BEST ENSEMBLE SAG ENDED Ue GOING TO
THREE BILLBOARDS WHICH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE ACTORS MAsE Ue THE ACADEMYS
LARGEST BRANCH THAT FILM WHILE DIfISIfE ALSO WON THE BEST DRAMA GOLDEN GLOBE
AND THE BAFTA BUT ITS FILMMAsER MARTIN MCDONAGH WAS NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST
DIRECTOR AND AeART FROM ARGO MOfIES THAT LAND BEST eICTURE WITHOUT ALSO
EARNING BEST DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN




