Oscar Buzz Lightyear

I LOVE Oscar "season."  I haven't always, but my friend Lindsay (http://crawfordhouse.blogspot.com/) got me hooked a few years ago, and now I cringe when Oscar night comes and I haven't seen all the nominees.  So this year I'm chomping at the bit, grinding my teeth, digging my feet in, and getting ready to scrape the chalkboard with my unmanicured mommy fingernails. 

THE ONLY MOVIE I'VE SEEN IS TOY STORY 3!!!!

Seriously!  Well, to be fair, I've also seen The Kids Are All Right, which I loved, and which I second the nomination  of Mark Ruffalo as Supporting Actor.  But I saw that at home.  Which isn't nearly as cool, since I fully support the idea of going to the theater whenever possible. 

Okay, so really.  Out of all the nominees, my art-loving world is colored simply by the toys, the lesbians, and the kids in both movies.  My soul weeps.

In years past I've scoured the reviews, begged Jeff for weekend dates to the movies, listened religiously to Terry Gross's Fresh Air on NPR (She always gets it.), and plotted out the movies going into the Golden Globes.  Two years ago we had seen ever major nominee even before the Golden Globes.  That made it so easy, because then we just had to fill in the blanks before the SAG awards and the Oscars. 

I carefully checked Netflix, Blockbuster, HBO, and Showtime to see what we could see at home to save money.  I eyed the less-than-obvious choices and waited them out at the discount cinema.  I stalked Youtube in the hopes of finding some of the short films.  I even gauged Jeff's mood to see the more dramatic movies when he was in the right mood. 

Now I feel like the kid who skipped a few college classes, then one day looked at the syllabus and realized the test is TODAY.  And I haven't studied!  So how did it all happen?

Duh.  Welcome to our world in toddlerville, population us.  The entertainment budget came mostly from my teacher salary, and when that got cut, so did our movie budget (and our babysitting budget).  And frankly, watching Luke play is very, very satisfying.  And pretty darn entertaining.

Still, there's something so cathartic about watching movies at the theater that are destined to go down in history for being great.  Food for the soul, I think.

So what's a girl to do?  Same thing I did in college, I suppose.  Get the notes from my friends and cram as much as possible.  Seeing the movies in the theater prior to the Oscars is out, obviously, but I just hate to miss them all together.  So Netflix account, I think I'll keep you open a little while longer.  And friends, I'm counting on you to suggest your favorites.  :)