Award Shows

Y'know something that really gets my knickers in a twist?

Entertainment Industry award shows.

We're right in the middle of the Award Show season...
The Golden Globes, the SAG awards, the Obies, the Emmys, the LA Film Critics Awards, the Grammys (and Latin Grammys), the ESPYs, the Tonys, MTV's Music Video Awards, and of course, the Academy Awards...
(With all the different people out there throwing statuettes at each other, if you don't win something this year, your agent just isn't trying hard enough.)

It really turns my stomach to see the Hollywood glitterati gladhanding each other, giving themselves awards, dressing in the most tasteless manner...
It just makes me ill.
And to top it all off, there are TV shows about the shows, and there are TV shows about what happens before the show, and of course, shows about what goes on at the parties after the shows...

Award shows, in general, are an excuse to self-publicise...
Do we see this in any other industry?
What if all the car makers got together and gave each other awards every year?
"And the award for the best body style of 2005 goes to... Isuzu, for the new Eclipse!!"
How about chefs?
"And in the Best Rack of Lamb catagory, the nominees are..."
You don't see this kind of thing in NORMAL businesses, because the award you get when you do a good job is that people BUY your product or service...
If you don't do a good job you go out of business or lose your job, or whatever.

In the Entertainment Industry, if you don't get the award, or worse, don't get nominated, God forbid, it is cause for some world class pouting...and let me tell you, that is one crowd that is capable of putting on a serious act of being offended if they think they are being dissed... And for all the gushing sincerity you see when they are accepting their chrome plated bijou, remember that these people are ACTORS, ferchrissake! There isn't a real and sincere bone in their bodies... They make a living by ACTING sincere... So as they are up at the poduim thanking their moms and their dogs and their stockbrokers and bartenders, all they are trying to do is to prolong their time in the spotlight-
"I hope everyone can see how good I am looking, and how well I can act... I need another job this year."

Hey, Hollywood!
If your film/show/play/whatever is worthwhile, we'll go see it.
We don't need to hear clip after clip of pre-show buildups and shameless self-promotion in the weeks leading up to the show... and I could give a shit how many many times you've been nominated, or how many awards you've got, or how many times your have been snubbed.

Geez... I'm surprised I don't blow a gasket just watching all the crap as the cover it on the news... As if it were actually someting important...
"Three dead in Iraq today, two hundred killed in chemical spill- But first! The Oscar nominees are announced! Here's the live report from Hollywood..."

TBG out. (Reading a book. Try it some time.)

(What book? This week's read is Malcom Lowry's Under the Volcano.)