WEATHERFORD — Steve Boggs, Democrat Publisher

Did you watch the Academy Awards Sunday night? I did. I do every year. It’s my guilty pleasure in life, watching the rich and famous parade in front of the world and thank everyone from the Academy to their parents to their agents for “all you do,” whatever that may be.

I was very pleased with this year’s Oscars. The fake movie Avatar didn’t win much, and a movie that gives a real-life look at our soldiers in Iraq won six times — including Best Picture. The Hurt Locker was already on my list of movies to see, and Sunday’s award made it my ‘must see’ in the coming weeks. Kudos to director (and now Oscar winner) Kathryn Bigelow for her shout-out to the military. Never thought I’d hear that at an Oscar event.

Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side, a very good movie. She was deserving of the award, not because she’s been around so long, but because she was very good in that movie. Baltimore Ravens standout tackle Michael Oher, whose life the movie was based upon, said the movie was fairly accurate, except for the part where he had to learn how to play football. Oher said he knew how to play football from the time he could walk.

I’ve seen every Oscar-nominated film since 1990, with the exception of Brokeback Mountain. I am a movie freak and tend to retain all sorts of useless information from movies I’ve seen over the years. I’ll watch any sort of movie, but I prefer the kind that can hold my interest for two hours.

From this year’s crop, Inglourious Basterds was a decent flick, although tame for Quentin Tarantino standards. I also enjoyed Up, as well as District 9. I haven’t seen An Education, Precious or A Serious Man, yet. In fact, they nominated 10 films this year, compared to the usual five, so it may take me a while.

What attracts me to movies is good writing. Same goes for television and, of course, books. (My favorite writer is Tom Junod who writes frequently for Esquire Magazine.) Good writing is different things to different people. For me it can be anything from Mad magazine to Great Expectations. I think Hunter S. Thompson is boring, and Catcher in the Rye was the worst excuse for a book I’ve ever read.

Writing for movies is a special talent, and Tarantino has a knack for it. His movies are violent, often to the point of being comedic, but he tells a good story and can hold my attention — something that’s not easy to do.

As far as Sunday’s Oscar telecast goes, it was quite boring and someone disjointed. The crazy lady who Kanye’d one presenter was interesting. She had apparently left the Music by Prudence project, which won an Oscar for best documentary short film, about a year ago. For the record, her name was Elinor Burkett, once a producer for the project. And no, she did not have permission to be up there.

The most consistent part of the Oscar telecast over the past 20 years has been the lack of a decent host. It’s a thankless job, really. Everybody bloviates over winning an Oscar, and the host is charged with moving things along. Johnny Carson is the last host I can remember who was any good at it, with deference to Billy Crystal.

Sunday’s telecast ran three-and-a-half hours. They can shorten it fairly easily, by not performing the nominated songs, and cutting down the moving tributes to dead people. It was 16 minutes before they gave out the first award Sunday night.

Yes, it was time deducted from my lifespan (unlike a round of golf), and I didn’t manage to accomplish a single worthwhile thing during that time. However, it’s an annual ritual for my family and me. We all love movies, and we all like to watch the Oscars every year.

I will continue to watch in years to come, and hope to one day bestow honorary Oscars on overlooked masterpieces such as Blazing Saddles and, my personal favorite, Airplane.

Robert Hayes was robbed that year!