it's sandy's year.

it's oscar weekend, people. i have such mixed emotions about this star-studded red carpet weekend every year for all the same reasons. on one hand, i think it's great to honor those in my industry who have worked harder than you'll ever know to create something that will likely only entertain us for about 112 minutes. on the other hand, i want to tremble and cringe and roll around on the floor at the thought that we actually put a prize on such an art form. because, after all, films are pieces of art.

okay, truth be told, some films just aren't. like the disgraceful excuse for a movie that i saw this past sunday, which i will absolutely not even give the time nor day here.

but the good ones are art. and how do you place a ribbon of excellence on art? just as one person may love "Starry Night" while the other one adores the "Mona Lisa." it's a matter of taste. and i don't recall the last time we had a sequined adorned festival held to determine who wins between van Gogh and da Vinci.

regardless, it's happenening. as it does every year. and in a matter of a day or so, those ribbons (or actually, little statues that most recipients tuck away in their sock drawers) will be handed out. just as i felt so ridiculously strong about Forest Witaker's win for The Last King of Scotland (and let's not forget...he was up against my boy Ryan Gosling for a role in a film that i actually poured my heart and tears into), i am rooting -- WHOLE HEARTEDLY -- for Sandra Bullock.

i don't care if they skip through every portion of the night and speed right to her acceptance speech, THIS girl deserves it. her performance was nothing short of captivating. it was honest and pure and dignified and beautiful and heartbreaking and i want to kiss her on the lips for it.

and for kicks, let's bring this all full circle. Sandra Bullock dated Ryan Gosling a few years before i worked with him on Half Nelson, for which he received an Oscar nomination in the same year that Forest Whitaker was nominated (and won) for The Last King of Scotland. and Ryan just worked on a film with a bunch of friends of mine (a film that will surely receive a tremendous amount of praise once it's released) in which he co-starred with Michelle Williams, whose baby-daddy Heath Ledger won an posthumous Oscar last year for The Dark Knight. and Heath Ledger (God rest his sweet soul) died in an apartment located 2 blocks away from the office i worked in while filming a tv show which sent me to Los Angeles on a trip that had me coincidentally walking, daily, past the offices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. and in that office sit all the big suits of Hollywood who are deciding upon Sandra Bullock's fate, to be determined on Sunday night.

so there you have it. take that, Kevin Bacon.