It’s Oscar Season

You thought the Oscars had finished for the year. That guy that always takes his shirt off in movies won Best Actor. That girl who never acted before won Best Supporting Actress. That guy who’s in a rock band won Best Supporting Actor and Veronica Guerin won Best Actress ( oops I meant Cate Blanchett…she’s so convincing). Someone took a photo of it with Ellen Degenere’s phone so I know it definitely happened. Then there was the after parties and with them more photo’s and selfies and back slapping fun. Yes the Academy Awards definitely happened but ‘Oscar Season’ has only begun.

Image courtesy of Ellen DeGeneres…no wait…Bradley Cooper…Whose phone was it?

I guess the big surprise for me was that the movie American Hustle didn’t get anywhere near the awards. Even though they had a string of nominations and a big name cast. As they say say in American sporting speak they were a big fat ‘O-for-10’ on awards night. Another surprise was Mandela:Long Walk to Freedom which only had one nomination in the Best Original Song category for a number by a little band named U2. Long Walk to Freedom starred Idris Elba from The Wire and Luther and by some coincidence premiered in London the night that Nelson Mandela passed away. His grandchildren were in the cinema watching the movie when they found out of Madiba’s passing. However it was not 27 years in captivity but 12 Years a Slave that won big on the night. This movie starring Chiwetel Ejiofor who played a man sold into slavery, took the big prize. I have heard great things about it but have yet to watch it. It’s sitting on my movie box as I type, awaiting viewing. I will reward myself with a few movie nights when I get to the end of my current project. As I said earlier – the Academy Awards are over for another year but the ‘Oscar’s’ are only beginning.

If you turn your attention to the homeland of Nelson Mandela you will see a new media frenzy going on. As I wrote some time ago the trial of Oscar Pistorious was always going to be big news (complete with it’s own TV channel). Not as big as the passing of the former leader of South Africa but depending on how this trial progresses (and of course the outcome) it has the potential to be big news for some time. It’s my hope as a concerned citizen of the world that whatever the outcome, it is just. In South Africa there is no jury, so one has the sense that there will be no one to be  swayed aside from the female African-descended judge that resides over the trial.

I have witnessed firsthand the gun culture that is so prevalent in the ‘Rainbow Nation’. It made me very uneasy. Most who own guns will tell you that it is for personal protection but as far as I have read there are no articles citing that high gun ownership reduces gun related deaths. Perhaps if there is a just outcome, we can see a redressing of gun culture in the country and other nations who have created this part of their lifestyle out of fear. So whether Oscar gets 12 years or 27 years and whether it is seen as murder or manslaughter there must be some form of punishment. Gun crime is truly unforgivable.