Watching the Academy Awards

Some people, especially those in the mainstream part of the entertainment industry, take the Academy Awards quite seriously. But for this date, we hope you'll take the Academy Awards with a grain of salt and view it as an opportunity for fun.

For instance, a few days before the show, you can log on to www.oscars.org and print out two copies of the nominees. If you don't have access to the internet, most newspapers print a list of the nominees. You and your date can make predictions, and then see which of you was the better prognosticator as the evening unfolds. Depending on what you've bet, other things might unfold as well; perhaps the opportunity will arrive for you to give your own Oscarwinning performance. Or maybe you don't care about who wins, but simply want to see what the attendees are wearing. Whatever the case, get plenty of food and drink and make it a fine time.

The Oscars are usually held in late March.

COST

Whatever you want to spend on food and drink.

PREPARATION

It might only take you two minutes to download the list of nominees and turn on your TV, and less than an hour to pick up the food and drinks. The real killer in preparing for this date is likely to be how long it will take you to clean your living room, kitchen and bathroom, and hopefully throw fresh sheets on the bed.

This will be a long date because people in the movie industry like to hear themselves talk. This means that food is going to be an issue. Make sure you either pick up plenty of food ahead of time or have several menus from takeout restaurants. Sometime during the evening call and order food, but don't expect it to arrive any time Great Dates pp. 1-230 12/19/01, 8:28 AM 128 soon. Chances are, you are not the only hungry person in town who's watching the Academy Awards.

If you are really ambitious you can always cook dinner, but that could take away from your viewing time and you might miss an actress with a great looking dress or really horrible hair.

AVOID NEEDLESS EMBARRASSMENT

Make sure you've paid your cable bill and the other utilities. Otherwise, you'll be stuck having to explain your sudden case of Oscar Interruptus as your date stumbles to find the door.

KNOW YOUR ZONES

If you live on the West Coast, you and your date might need to leave work early since the ceremony is shown earlier in the West than it is in other parts of the country.

ALTERNATIVES

There are plenty of major award shows on TV that you might find more to your liking than the Academy Awards. Here are just a few:

Soap Opera Digest Awards—www.soapdigest.com
These are held in the winter.

Emmys—www.emmys.org
TV's answer to the Academy Awards is held in the Spring.

Country Music Awards—www.cmaawards.com
The CMA awards are presented in the Fall.

MTV Video Awards—www.mtv.com
These are done in the Summer.

Latin Music Awards—www.billboardevents.com/billboardevents/index.jsp
Held in the Spring by Billboard Magazine

Grammy Awards—www.grammy.com/awards
Music awards are held each winter.

Adult Video News Awards—www.avnawards.com/
Welcome to the X-rated video awards, where long and thick meets deep and wide, and we're not talking about the hair styles. Held each winter in—you guessed it —Las Vegas. Just reading the categories for the AVN awards on their website can be more amusing than watching the entire Academy Awards show. Not on regular TV.