Month: January 2018

I’m not sure if you tuned into the 2018 Golden Globes this year like I did when it was on this past Sunday evening. The only reason why I chose to tune in was to see what interesting things might be said on stage from presenters, winners, and from host Seth Meyers.

Given all the tumultuous things that have taken place both in our country and in the entertainment industry specifically over the past year, I was hoping to hear some inspirational speeches. Thankfully, Oprah delivered on that while accepting the Cecile B. DeMille award. Her words certainly moved my heart. Ironically, there’s even talk now of her running for President in 2020 after that speech and a number of people I know have already told me they’d definitely vote for her.

Beyond Oprah’s stirring words, I was happy to see all the woman coming together that evening wearing black to support the “#MeToo” movement, as the entertainment industry has long been weighted towards males, of which I’m hopeful that’s finally coming to an end. Much of which can be thanked actually to all the sexual allegations that have come forward ever since the initials ones took place with Harvey Weinstein in the early Fall of 2017.

In addition to the unity I saw in support of women in the entertainment industry, I noticed two other things that made watching this show far more enjoyable this year and both took place during the red carpet. There, the focus wasn’t on the women’s dresses this year and how dazzling they looked or who made them. Instead, it was for once, on their careers and the talent they had, which in my opinion is what it needs to always be focused on. The other was when Jessica Biel was being interviewed for her nomination for her role in the TV movie The Sinner. After she answered a few questions, the focus was put on her husband standing next to her, which is no other than Justin Timberlake. In a very gentle and loving way, Justin asked if they would keep the focus on Jessica because the night was meant to be more about her. That was a strong sign of humility and something I think we all need to strive for in life because the spotlight isn’t always meant to be on ourselves.

Sadly, there were a number of things that did bother me though during this awards show. One was from Natalie Portman who was presenting with Ron Howard for the category of Best Director. As she began to read the nominations, she started with, “And here are the ALL-Male nominees for Best Director”, which I felt took away from the work of those who did get nominated. Do I wish more women had been recognized this year for their amazing directing skills like Katheryn Bigelow for “Detroit”? Absolutely! But when I saw the reactions of sadness and shame from those men who were waiting to see if they had won this category after Portman’s comment, I felt bad for them even being in that position at that point and I think so did they. After all, it wasn’t their fault that a woman wasn’t nominated in their category, it was the people who did the voting, which in this case was the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

I was also somewhat turned off by a few things Seth Meyers had to say during his opening comedic monologue. First, he said, “Harvey Weinstein isn’t here tonight. Because, well, I’ve heard rumors that he’s crazy and difficult to work with. But don’t worry he’ll be back in 20 years when he’s the first person ever booed at the in memoriam.” Then, he said, “I was happy to hear they’re going to do another season of House of Cards. Is Christopher Plummer available to do that too? I hope he can do a Southern accent… cuz Kevin Spacey sure couldn’t.” And lastly, he followed that up by “I have to admit, when I first heard The Shape of Water was a movie about a naive young woman falling in love with a disgusting sea creature, I thought, ‘Man, not another Woody Allen movie.’ There was relatively no laughter during any of these attempts at humor and instead plenty of silence and groans, of which I believe is far deserved. Personally, I found those specific jokes distasteful as much as everyone else there seemed to. I think it’s time to shift the focus onto spiritual unification and equality and not highlight the actions of those who led to any of the disunity and separation anymore. Hopefully, the lack of laughter with these jokes will prevent this from happening at the Oscars next month or any of the other awards shows for that matter.

Lastly, I need to mention the one thing I always look for every year with awards shows I watch, that being whether anyone thanked God or their Higher Power during their speech. No one did once again, which was rather disappointing. All I know is that if one day I’m ever on a stage like that where I have a chance to give God the glory He deserves, it will be first and foremost before I say anything else, because without God, I would never have made it to that stage in the first place, and frankly, without God’s help thus far, I’d probably be dead by now anyway.

Nevertheless, overall, I found the 2018 Golden Globes enjoyable and quite moving at times. I’m grateful to finally see equality moving forward in ways we’ve never seen before, especially in the entertainment industry and that alone made it worthwhile watching this year.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

While it’s no secret how much I love watching movies, especially at a theater, I must say that I really miss the days of old when it comes to that experience.

These days, there are twenty minutes of pre-show advertising and twenty minutes of trailers that run before the movie even starts, where most people seem to spend the majority of that time on their cell phones. It also appears that plenty like to arrive towards the end of all those trailers nowadays, which tends to cause distractions and disruptions to all those who came early to enjoy them. In regards to each of those trailers, which can be up to eight or nine in total, they generally last several minutes each and often spoil many of that coming film’s best plot points. When the movie finally begins, phones always seem to ring, people like to talk to their companions there with them, texting goes on way too much, and bright screens often distract viewers more than not throughout the entire running time. When I was growing up though, things were very different whenever I went to the movies.

People liked to arrive quite early at theaters back then to get a good seat and they often conversed with others, including strangers, while waiting for the movie to start. There were never more than two or three previews for future movies shown and each would run between 30 seconds to a minute, never spoiling any of the film’s best parts. The film also consistently began a mere couple minutes from the show’s posted start time in the paper and silence always seemed to be golden more than not with each audience I ever sat with. And in the end, when the credits would begin to roll, people liked to converse with each other again, asking whether they liked the film or not, as they poured out of the theater.

So, yes, I’m finding myself feeling quite nostalgic towards the days of old when it comes to the movie-going experience because of all these 21^st century changes. I think that’s why I feel so grateful whenever I attend a movie now where no one else shows up for it and I have the entire theater to myself, as then I can become immersed once again in the experience like I used to as a kid. I can get whisked away for a few hours where there’s no theater drama going on around me, nothing to distract me from the reason why I have always loved going to the movies, that being to escape from the real world for a short period of time.

In light of all this, I can understand why the entertainment industry continues to report that less and less people are going to the movies these days and why box office totals seem to decrease one year to the next. Those who love the movies as much as I do are probably finding themselves wanting to remain at home where they can see a film and not have to deal with all those 21^st century distractions that make their movie-going experience a stressor more than a de-stressor.

Nevertheless, I guess I’m beginning to show my age as I reflect upon those days of old, when things felt a lot simpler and a lot better in life. I’m told that type of reflecting happens a lot as we grow older and well, I am hitting my middle-age years you know. But thankfully, God has blessed me and keeps on blessing me with many fond memories of countless hours spent in dark theaters across the world watching the latest films and being transported into other times and places where the stressors of life always tend to go away, at least for a short while. And that is truly something I think we all need from time to time in life, don’t you agree?

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson