When I was a teenager in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, I didn’t know a single person who loved movies like I did, not even close. I’d watch the Oscars by myself every year. The next day I’d have no one to talk to about my enjoyment of the show and my favorite winners or biggest disappointments. My family and friends loved me, but movies just weren’t their thing. As such, I couldn’t really talk to anyone about how happy I was that Sean Connery had won an Oscar, or how upset I was that GOODFELLAS didn’t win an Oscar, or then how excited I was that my hero Clint Eastwood had dominated the awards with UNFORGIVEN! This was the day and time where there was no social media so I was truly alone in my obsession. Being alone didn’t matter though, because there was just something about the world of film that I was fascinated with from the moment our family got our first VCR. Seeing my favorite stars all together in the same building was just so fun. My favorite host of my youth was Billy Crystal. He was just amazing, and I even remember him riding a horse off the stage at the 1991 show, the year I graduated high school. 

I guess after heading off to college and then starting a family a few years later, the Oscars became less and less important to me over the years after that. I still didn’t know anyone who loved movies like me, but now I had a career to focus on and little league baseball games to coach. As much as I still enjoyed the cinema, I guess it’s fair to say my priorities changed. And then I got involved in the world of cinema on social media in 2021. I met people like Eric Todd, who shares my love for the actor Charles Bronson. I met people like Lisa Marie Bowman, Jeff “Who is not Joseph Cotten,” Stewart Moncure, and others on Twitter who love to watch movies together and tweet about them. This is the first time in my life that I actually know a group of people who love movies like I do. These folks take cinema seriously and don’t make fun of me for doing the same. I found my movie people. So I started watching the Oscars again. Watching OPPENHEIMER win 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, a couple of years back was especially enjoyable for me since one of my favorite actors of my youth, James Woods, served as an Executive Producer. I’m watching the Oscars again tonight. It’s just more fun knowing that there really are people out there who care about movies, and the people who make them, just as much as I do.