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.