BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) HOOPLA
This year, the Oscars and the NBA All Star Game is airing at the same time. I’m a huge fan of film and a huge fan of the NBA. I’m going to be flipping back and forth, but how much? The NBA All Star Game gets a whole weekend. We get a celebrity game, a rookies/sophomore game, the dunk contest, three point contest, skills competition, and like a million more attractions. They make it a big event that’s accessible and as fun as possible. The Oscars have a red carpet special, maybe a Barbara Walters/Oprah type of preshow, and then that’s about it. It’s a much more isolated eventful night. It’s more “prestigious” though, so it has that going for it.
(THREE) PERFORMANCE
It changes every year, but the Oscars are typically a “smile and wave” type of award show. Everyone is on pins and needles and for some it’s the most important day of their professional lives. At best we get a few shitty music numbers and a sad orchestra. The NBA All Star Game is obviously more action packed. It’s less stuffy and really over the top. I’m sure some random pop star will sing the anthems and then some flavor of the month half time show or a performer I don’t want to hear. So it’s a war of “nothing-ness” vs. “nothing”. I still gotta go with the NBA.
(TWO) NEWS IMPACT
It’s two sides of the news paper… sports and entertainment. Both will have their normal news items of winners, losers, and little quips that made the night “special”. It’s hard to say. One of the biggest news stories in sports is Jeremy Lin right now. He’s not playing in the game though. So he’ll be talked about, but not featured. If anything his lack of presence will leave a gap. We can’t watch basketball without him being brought up right now and then for them to take a few days for the All Star stuff and NOT talk about him is going to be weird. On the Oscar side of it, it’s not much better. The Artist is getting a lot of attention this year, but other than that it’s a lack luster year. The Descendents was great, but I can’t see it being a huge “news-getter”. I wonder what will be the bigger story the day after.
(ONE) SNUBS
There are some really questionable snubs in the NBA All Star Game this year. Rondo isn’t an All Star? I’m not even a Celtics guy or anything, but that’s a pretty big snub. Other than that, it’s pretty much the best of the best. The Oscars snubbed a lot of great movies in favor of their typical “Oscar fodder”. Why wasn’t “Win Win” nominated for ANYTHING? You could argue Owen Wilson should get more love. It’s all subjective, I know. There are just so many movies to have come out that it’s hard to say.
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