Not too bad a suggestion, but the winners are still demoralizing and predictable, and it gets you watching and wasting 2-4 hours when you could be doing something more valuable. Newsday here sponsored a public contest like yours; I don't know who won, or care. At 11:19 AM 3/27/99 +0900, Darcy Paquet wrote: >For years, I witnessed the Oscars with a mixture of revulsion, shock, and >dismay, and yet I continued to watch them, like the child who keeps sticking >his finger into the outlet. After I started gambling on the outcome, >however, I've found that I can not only sit through the whole telecast, but >I actually look forward to it. I think it really puts the event into >perspective. > >Try this: print out a list of all the nominees and distribute it amongst >your friends. Have everyone list their predictions as to who will win, >first and second choice. Feel free to also include additional categories, >such as "Will Kazan say anything in deference to his role in the Communist >witch hunt?" or "How many dresses will Whoopi wear in the course of the >evening?" Establish some sort of point system for the different categories, >have each player throw some cash into the pot, and then invite everyone over >to your house for the telecast. For additional laughs, play with friends >who are naive enough the choose the best entry in each category. > >Try it, it works! It's much more satisfying than trying to understand the >awards from any kind of aesthetic viewpoint. The money can be used to buy >the winner some sort of useful prize, such as a Kiarostami video. > >Good luck, and happy viewing. > >--Darcy > >_________________________________________________ >Darcy Paquet http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~darcypaq >Inst. of Foreign Lang. Studies [log in to unmask] >Korea University, Seoul KOREA > >---- >To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L >in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask] > > Paul B. Wiener Special Services Librarian SUNY at Stony Brook 516/632-7253 [log in to unmask] ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html