A truly non-food-related post - unless I get popcorn

I always try to see all the Oscar-nominated films before the Oscars. Maybe I have that "Oscar gene," I dunno. At the very least, I try to see the five films nominated for Best Picture - this year, that's Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen.*

Here's something odd. I've noticed that a whole lot more Oscar-nominees are out on DVD or will be before the big night (February 25, mark your calendars). Sure, Little Miss Sunshine is out on DVD by now. But usually there really isn't much you can get through Netflix until well after the awards are given out. Not this season! Look at Babel. I was planning to see it this weekend. Then I just happen on the information that it is coming out on DVD on Feb. 20! Why the hell see it when I can go see it on my own time?

Sure, a cursory review of the nominees for acting, directing, picture, etc., shows that most of these films are still in theaters. But just a few years ago, you'd hardly see any of these movies out at Blockbuster before March.

Of course, I don't have tons of time to see all these films. So that is something I just won't realize this year. Oh well. I've already seen The Queen (very good) and Little Miss Sunshine (even better, but it's a comedy so it will not win). I saw a little bit of The Departed on a flight but I lost interest (too much violence for my tastes - and I am the kind of person who will eat chicken tandoori during a zombie film). So that leaves Letters from Iwo Jima and Babel. And because Babel is out on DVD soon, I'm just seeing Letters from Iwo Jima sometime this weekend, or next week if I get sidetracked. I usually make it up as I go along.

One thing I usually don't do anymore, I admit, is popcorn at the movies. Too many strange and unnatural things (I mean that not in a "Whole Foods" kind of way, but merely in an "ew, ick" kind of way). Maybe I will do popcorn at the Senator - I still plan to see Dreamgirls again, I just don't know when. It is the second-cheapest bag of movie popcorn in Bawlmer, tied with the Rotunda (which, of course, has the same owner). The cheapest bag of movie popcorn? That other independent, the Charles, but only by 50¢. But at 500 calories per 7 cups (as much as in a small bag) - well, you do the math. Phew, am I glad I've cut that out of my diet!

Oh, just a little trivia: the last food-related films to win the Oscar? The 77th Academy Awards (for 2004, given in 2005). Two of them: the wine film Sideways, for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, for Best Makeup, (No, it's not a food-related movie, but there is a food in the title, so it's loosely food-related).

* Here's something interesting. Almost all of the nominees for our Best Picture are the same as the nominees for the "British Oscars" - the BAFTA's.