Award Show Fatigue

I realize I'm several days late in discussing this, as it is probably not news to anyone who doesn't live under a rock. And my guess is, if you're reading this post, you probably don't. Anyway, I wanted to discuss my reaction to the Grammy's briefly. Now it's been my experience that award shows generally tend to resemble glorified popularity contests (not always, but much of the time). I can also say from experience that, in my opinion, when it comes to things like music and movies (and also sometimes people you know in everyday life), popularity and actual substance are often two nearly mutually-exclusive characteristics. That being said, I am still a huge music fan, and thus, I still sucker myself into watching the Grammy's every year. Almost every year I end up disappointed afterward. This year was no exception. However, this year's show was actually more anti-climactic than most. I watched the entire show and the next day the only things that really stuck with me were how dumb the Dixie Chicks sound when people are actually giving them dap instead of condemning them and how much half the people who were actually at the show seemed to be even less enthusiastic than I was sitting on my couch at home. Not to mention the entirely too much face-time dedicated to Justin Timberlake throughout the show. And I'm not even a JT hater. I'm comfortable enough with my masculinity to admit that he actually seems like he's probably a pretty cool guy. Nonetheless, when he pulled out that little camera and danced around with it all up in his face, that was a bit much. And the whole "contest" where people at home were supposed to vote for one of three generic girls who no one's ever heard of so that they can frolic next to Timberlake on stage, well that was just plain weird. Anyway, I'll say that right now I'm not exactly holding my breathe for the upcoming Oscars, but then again, they've got a lot of upside to work with after Sunday night.