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Hellooo Sternal Journalists and happy Oscar evening.
I was hoping something stupendous and culture-shifting might happen that I could comment on for tonight’s SternJourn, but I guess for the better, it was not quite as eventful as last year’s event.
That being said, it was probably significantly better for the world. Some of my favorite movies—Women Talking, Pinocchio, Navalny, All Quit on the Western Front, and Avatar: The Way of Water—all took home significant awards, RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” nabbed best song. And off course, Everything Everywhere All at Once lived up to it’s pretty massive expectations.
If anyone was a real loser, it was All Quiet on the Western Front cinematographer James Friend who gave a perfectly normal and nice speech, but it was the sixth acceptance speech of the night after five tear-jerkin’ bangers. Normally, out of the first five, you’re gonna have at least a couple boring ones so he really got a shit draw. Great cinematographer, though.
Out of those first five speeches, the one that might take the night was Ke Huy Quan who won EEAAO’s first statue of the night, and—certainly aware that the audience of hopeful creatives watching on TV is many magnitudes larger than the audience of talented and adequately lauded folks in the room with him—implored through tears that:
“Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive.”
Obviously even the most successful people often suffer from imposter syndrome or an urge to give up, but Quan really lived that life, as evidenced by the film acting work on his Wikipedia page:
That 2002 to 2021 gap is for real. I will probably keep crying every time I watch that acceptance speech.
But! It’s also dangerous to latch too hard onto inspiration from events or moments like the Oscars. A) For every Ke Huy Quan, there are 100 Jamie Lee Curtis’—the folks that are very talented, but have less swimming upstream to do because they’re already in (Brendan Fraser commented on this eloquently in his acceptance speech for The Whale).
Plus, it’s a type of inspiration that only comes around once a year. I have personally for years felt the huzzah of creative energy after watching the Oscars. It can be helpful, but if you hitch your whole wagon to it, you can see how quickly it dissipates.
So let me direct your attention to the opposite of the Oscars: Instagram comments.
Right after watching the Oscars, I opened IG to, if I’m being honest, bask in the cascade of steady likes I’ve been gettin on this silly reel about how I did dry January. All you need to know is that I compare myself to a 1997 Toyota Camry at the bottom of a lake.
A lot of people have nitpicked the logic of the joke, pointing out that Camrys from the 90s are actually quite durable. But. But. This hero took the opportunity to build me up:
What an incredibly nice thing for a stranger on the internet to say. And one whose profile picture is a bunny with a gun, no less:
Give it up for Gavin. Give it up for Ke Huy Quan. Give it up for yourselves and for remembering that inspiring moments and people are not just one night a year at the Dolby Theater; they’re out in the world and sometimes even in your terrible phone.
Recommendations!
Avatar: The Way of Water. Film. Man, I really like this movie. I went to see a matinee screening with two good friends ready to be visually wowed, but otherwise bored. But I had a blast! It was a truly immersive experience. I think I even stand by it being so long. I feel kinda like a piece of me is still on Pandora. This sounds like a joke, but it isn’t. I saw a talk with the writer Jesse Ball, and when talking about his reading habits, he (by my memory) talked about how sometimes when he finds himself skimming a passage, or just not reading very closely, he tries to accept that as the way book wanted to be read. It’s something a think about a lot when I get stressed about not feeling every piece of nuance in a piece of art. That’s all very heady, but I also thought about it after watching Avatar. I was worried that I hadn’t seen the other movie in a decade, but I didn’t need to. That’s not how it wanted to be read.
Tips, Trends, and Storylines to Help You Bet on the Oscars. Podcast Episode. Matthew Belloni, host of The Ringer’s The Town is very obnoxious, but I love him. I especially liked this episode which had me spending about twenty minutes yesterday trying to download FanDuel so I could win what I was certain was an easy $2,900 by betting on Top Gun for Best Picture. Turns out that FanDuel is not legal in California, and I’m glad because I would have lost.
Vinegar. Food. I’m not a bad cook, but even my basic culinary knowledge is nowhere near comprehensive. My mom taught be about garlic like 15 years ago, I figured out onions a decade ago, I pick up little basics here and there every now and then. My most recent basic that I’m toying with and realizing to be very important. Vinegars Red wine, apple cider, whatever, try it. It’s pretty cool.
Power Plant Triple IPA. Beer. At 11%, this is a dangerous beer but it is very delicious. I will one day write more about my absolute disgust at the stranglehold that Hazy IPAs still have on the IPA market, but this entry from El Segundo fights back, reminding you what a real IPA should taste like.
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