A MOST SUCCINCT CURATION
I stole this title because, either I don’t know what it means or it doesn’t mean anything and I’m satisfied with that. So today, I’m commandeering it to cover the selecting of the winners of the coveted, yet obvious, Screen Actors Guild (SAG•AFTRA) Award trophies that are determined and presented in the next few weeks. This is not to be confused with the Academy Awards, the big show that everybody watches. The SAG Awards show is not that, being about as hard to find on TV as Pasadena’s Rose Parade. So forget the Academy Awards. SAG and I go back a long way and they take their awards very seriously. How I am associated with them is a long, sometimes sordid story of brief happiness and long disappointment that I will spare you except to say that the happiness part is now. It hinges on 2 brief seconds of screen time, filmed back in 1969 when I had aspirations. It was enough of a moment to earn my credentials so let’s just drop it right there.
The current contenders have been announced after having been presumably chosen in some smoke filled back room. (These things rarely change although the smoke was probably updated.) A ballot and voting process is devised with the kind of security worthy of a federal government; not ours, of course. I hasten to add, no voter fraud has ever stigmatized the process. (Did I mention that one of our past SAG presidents also later occupied that post with our federal government? That’s not really relevant to the present issue here, though.)
What is relevant is that most SAG members don’t earn a living from membership, can’t afford to see all the latest movies, yet must vote after having (hopefully) seen everything in contention. You would think, as actors, we should fake it, no sweat. Well, no, we have more integrity than that. So, the powers that be arrange to give us access to all the performances up for awards and all we have to do is watch them and then vote. We’ll get dozens of CDs, have the option of shows streaming into our computers or Roku or cell phones or fitbits (I don’t keep up with the technology). These are new, some barely released films and shows and they’re all coded to identify whoever dares to show one inch of content to an unauthorized user. That’s ten pages of performers and their work to see and vote by Jan. 19.
Fortunately, I’ve a month of turkey sandwiches and Eunice has agreed to put out the garbage. I’ve just received one film already but oddly, it’s the one I’ve seen.
