Why All the 'Oscar' Fuss?

Why any human being would sit at home on a Sunday night and watch a bunch of zillionaire Hollywood actors and actresses pat themselves and one another on the back is beyond me. But there they were last night, parading before the cameras on 'Oscar' night at the annual Academy Awards.

I mean, I do get it for the actors and actresses themselves, and for their families and friends, of course.

Almost every industry takes time out during the year to recognize and honor those in each profession or business who excelled during the previous year. Dinners are shared, toasts are made, speeches are given, trophies and plaques are handed out.

But while the nation's leading architects, novelists, construction workers, police officers, firefighters, bankers, small business persons, mass transit employees, entrepreneurs, secretaries, priests, and many others receive their honors in near-anonymity surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues their exploits are almost never celebrated in front of a television audience.

Why would any office worker, home maker, student, or businessperson care who took home what trophy for some movie that the vast majority of them have never seen and likely will never see? Why should I care what kind of dress Sandra Bullock or Meryl Streep wears as they walk down some red carpet and into a theatre to receive their awards?

Defending Your Life

The wry comedy of Albert Brooks was on full display in the 1991 heavenly comedy "Defending Your Life" which he directed.

In the film, Brooks stars as a man who has died and finds himself in a purgatory-like pleasant way station where he must actually, literally defend his life at a formal hearing in order to advance into Heaven itself.

In his preparations for this 'hearing' he meets a character played by Meryl Streep, someone who appears in so many ways to be more intellectually and morally advanced than Brooks.

Through the emotional help of this woman, along with a self-examination of his own life, Brooks is able to find success in his defense, and entry into paradise.

What this pleasant little film highlights is that there are any number of moments and periods in all of our lives where we fall short as human beings. Where our own physical, intellectual, and moral shortcomings win out, and our human weakness takes over. Where we do the wrong thing when we clearly know what is right. Where we fail to learn from past mistakes, and where these errors end up hurting not only ourselves but also those around us.

In the end, Brooks is saved from his many moments of failure and weakness by the overall generosity of his heart and spirit, his ability to love truly, and particularly by his faith.

In my own life there have been many challenges, some circumstantial, many self-induced, which I have had to overcome in this life journey to self-improvement and character building.

Mamma Mia !

A classic movie musical put out in the 21st century, with song and dance numbers, whatever will they think of next?

A bit skeptical of something that is based on a Broadway play that was itself inspired by the music of ABBA? The 1970's-era world-wide supergroup ABBA? So was I.

It's not that back in my teen years that I didn't find some of their dance, disco, and early emo ditties catchy, the Swedes put out some timeless tunes for sure. But an entire story based on those tunes, how could that work? Well, it does, because 'Mamma Mia !' is simply outstanding.

The story line basically follows the upcoming wedding of a young girl named Sophie, played by dazzling young American actress Amanda Seyfried. As her wedding approaches, there is just one thing missing for Sophie - her father.

For years she has been raised alone by her mother, fantastically played in a starring turn by the incomparable Meryl Streep, whose character Donna simply doesn't know which of three men are Sophie's dear-old dad.