ProetryPlaceBlog 44

Oscars and Authors

    We don’t go to the movie theater anymore because Dolly can’t hear the dialogue or music, so we are often literally in the dark about award winning movies and performances. This year, I made a list of the Oscar nominated movies and pre-ordered their DVDs from Amazon so we can watch them on our television screen with Closed Captioning. Several of them have already appeared on the On Demand menu too, and we will eventually watch our way through them all. We’ll have to stock up on Orville Redenbacker’s microwave popcorn, I suppose, in order to savor the full cinema experience.

    Last night we watched the Oscar show from Hollywood. I was busy and “missed” the now-traditional red carpet interviews and glamour photography but settled down in my Lazy-Boy when Ellen DeGeneres appeared to emcee the shindig. I fully expected to be able to catch a few cat naps during some of the less exciting portions of the show, no matter how essential and well-deserved the awards for editing, cinema-photography, etc. are, or I might possibly even wake up at midnight to ask Dolly, “Who won?” But my interest was piqued this year—we had already watched “Blue Jasmine” and “Dallas Buyers Club” and expect to view another eight or ten. Surprise! I remained conscious throughout the four-hour tribute to the magic of the silver screen with only an occasional break for necessary reasons.

    We were touched by the short segment that acknowledged the passing of several who had graced the screen in our younger, movie-going days, groaned at some of the lame and long acceptance speeches (why don’t they hire a writer?) and cheered by some of the more heart-felt and meaningful ones (the charming and talented Lulpita Nyong’o of “12 Years a Slave” comes to mind).

    Like a good novel or script, the show built slowly and suspensefully to the climactic awards for best actress and actor and best movie. “Gravity” had won quite a few awards (seven, per Google) by that time but did not take any of those top awards. Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchet gave creditable, well-rehearsed acceptance speeches (I know of only two actors who refused to accept their Oscar Awards, George Scott and Marlon Brando) for their well-deserved acting awards. Steve McQueen read his, and only the last line, in which he paid tribute to those who had been or still are in slavery, is memorable.

    All those others who had given superlative acting performances, written outstanding movie scripts, etc., and prepared and rehearsed their acceptance speeches would go home or to some lavish celebration party disappointed. The television cameras invariably pan across the faces of these non-winners, or, for lack of a kinder word, losers. A few seem genuinely happy for and supportive of the winners. The glances of others are filled with various emotions from disappointment and depression to envy and disdain.

    The Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) for best books published in 2013 in a variety of genres will be awarded at a ceremony this June in Kennesaw, Georgia.  Another Season Spent, my first book of poetry, published last February, has been entered into the competition. I may attend the awards ceremony out of curiosity, but I will not be preparing or rehearsing an acceptance speech. I am proud to have my poetry available in the public domain and pleased that my work will be judged in the context of other contemporary Georgia writers, but I have no expectation that I might actually win an award.

   I will take note of the winners and, just as we hope to view the Oscar winners and nominees, I hope to eventually read many of those volumes that do take top honors (one winner and one runner-up are announced in each of a dozen categories). I hope and expect not to feel envy or disappointment, but rather a challenge to learn (even at my advance age) and do better.

    Writing, though often challenging, is a joy for me, or at least provides some self-serving benefit--an epiphany, a comfort, a new understanding of the writing craft. The reward is in the writing itself. Publication, even with the marvelous John Bell of Vabella Publishing to work with, is a demanding chore. What I hope to gain from the GAYA competition is motivation to continue to create and to collect up and edit my short stories, memoirs, poetry and nonfiction for potential publication. Writing is a lonely job. Publishing and competing brings me into the company of fellow writers and perhaps an audience of readers—like you.

Richard Allen Anderson     http://richardandersonblogs.blogspot.com     3 March 2014