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]