I don’t watch the Oscars.  I love movies but I don’t care for the elitism and fanfare so the whole Oscars thing makes me want to gag.  I would enjoy movies far less if I fully realized what pompous twits most people involved in movies are, so I spare myself the spectacle.

I love movies but I don’t consider movie stars important people to society.  If any of them do anything of note staring in a movie is low on the list.  If they’ve raised a child with sound moral values, that’s noteworthy.  If they’ve been able to use their wealth to help society in some way, that’s noteworthy.  But I don’t want to hear about it, it should be done with humility and without fanfare.  I don’t care about a movie star’s politics or personal life.  So, there you have my populist ideas of stardom.  Accomplishments are a good thing.  Stardom is rancid.

Lately Hollywood is in trouble and it's not too proud to beg.  I read that during the awards there were several pleas for people to attend movie theaters. 

Well, Hollywood should be scared.  Theater attendance has been dropping year after year.  The National Association of Theater Owners says that in 2002 attendance had its best year since they’ve been recording it for the past 25 years.  From 2002’s 1.63 billion movie ticket sales it fell to 1.57 in ’03.  Then to 1.52 billion in ’04 and finally by June of ’05 it was scraping rock bottom at only 654 million movie tickets. 

This is a Home Theater website and I am a huge fan and proponent of the Home Theater hobby.  No, this won’t be where I croon about how HT will eventually take over the movies because it’s natural evolution and clear human preference.  Although it’s true, if people want to watch at home they will.  The Hollywood business paradigm will just have to adapt.  But I must digress, Home Theater is more about Theater than it is Home.  As much as I enjoy Home Theater I still like going to the movies.  There is nothing like seeing certain kinds of film on the big screen.  I simply enjoy the experience of going to and watching a movie with a crowd of people.  People are annoying sometimes, but not usually.  My pet peeve is people kicking the back of my chair or putting their feet up on the chair next to me.  Nothing threats of bodily harm won’t cure.  Simply stand up and turn the kids behind you and threaten them.

“If you don’t keep your feet off my seat I’m going to jump back there and tear your heart through your nostrils.”  Usually does it.  A more polite approach would probably work too but they get enough of that at school these days.

The other annoyance at the theater is the cell phone.  Ahh, yes.  That’s a great excuse to use this little missive.

“I see that cell phone has a built in digital camera.” They all do nowadays.  “That’s great because where I’m going to shove it you can call it a colonoscopy.”

There is no excuse for letting your phone ring, let alone talking on the phone during a movie.  It's really a twisted plea for help.  They're really informing people around them they have deep seated issues.  Foruntately there is a known cure.  It's an called old school medieval whoopin.  Where are the Spanish inquisitors when you need them.  The real heresey is cell phones in movie theaters.

But honestly, I’m annoyed by people a minority of the time I attend the movies.  Usually I have a great time, enjoy the film, hear nice sound.  There is an added touch to getting immediate responses of a crowd to the film.  If you live in a city you have access to some world class theaters in these new multi-plexes.  They’re cheaper to get into than they’ve been in a long time too.

So, give the movies a try.  Support the good ones.  It’s good for the movies and it’s good for Home Theater.