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Lord of the Things.

Lord of the Things.

So why is it that I’m surprised that Peter Jackson’s LOTR:ROTK won 11 Academy Awards, tying the all-time greats like Titanic and some Charelton Heston movie. (Maybe Ben-Hur??) I mean, it’s not the first time a sequel goes well for the creators. So I should be happy right?

I guess I’m just ambivalent about that. But what reaaaaally gets my blood going is the crassness with which “the Academy” (read: everyone in attendance) gave the award to Sean Penn for Mystic River rather than my boy Bill Murray for “Lost In Translation”. I mean, Jesus! He should have won simply for being able to pull off brilliance in that stunning pile of festering dog-dung that was a movie. (I was all excited about it, especially following The Virgin Suicides. What a disappointment!)

Anyway, yet another year has passed. That’s how I measure years: the Oscars are like New Year’s Day and The September 11 Commemorative Services are mid-way. Don’t ask my why I pick those two markers. That’s just how it is.

One of my OCDemons is that I count things incessantly. (Example: driving down the road the number of ‘cracks’ my tires register or the number of times I’ve seen Moulin Rouge–128.) And this makes 13 years that I’ve watched the Oscars without missing a beat, no small feat for someone who used to have to work on Sundays. (Portable televisions are great things.)

For those who watched, yay for you guys. Billy Crystal was great.