Closing Out Oscars 2023 – One More for the Road

I definitely appreciate the moment every year where I can step away from the Oscar race and live real life. This, going on 22 years now. My website used to be written by, produced, and designed by only me. But now, I have a team of angels who work on the site with me that I must take the moment to appreciate. This site has grown largely due to them. If anyone or anything has held it back, it’s been me. Our bright star Jazz Tangcay was always too big for this site and now flourishes as the Artisan Editor over at Variety, but that was the thing. This little site I think about as a gas station off Route 66. The only people who visit are people who know about it but it isn’t exactly growing by leaps and bounds.

Working for this site and working for me means you have to take lots of incoming from the screeching banshees on Film Twitter and occasionally in the comments. They’re always in surveillance mode, watching what I say, tattling on me to various members and some of them get blocked just for following me. Why are they like this? It’s the downside of collectivism. It starts out great, then it gets weird.

As Michael Drew once wrote way back in 2011 in the book Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future:

If history is a reliable guide, we’re about to take a good thing too far. As we approach 2023, the Zenith of our current “We,” we’re about to learn what Steinbeck was talking about when he spoke of a similar time: “a teetotaler is not content not to drink—he must stop all the drinking in the world; a vegetarian among us would outlaw the eating of meat.

Yes, “working together for the common good” can quickly become self-righteousness. In the words of novelist David Farland, “Men who believe themselves to be good, who do not search their own souls, often commit the worst atrocities. A man who sees himself as evil will restrain himself. It is only when we do evil in the belief that we do good that we pursue it wholeheartedly.”

Eventually, all of this will collapse because it always has. I am not in any political/ideological tribe and I think for myself — and these days, you are judged by what and whom you align yourself with. I just try really hard not to play along. I write what I think matters and I am friends with people I’m not supposed to be friends with. I have no doubts that if we were living in Salem in 1692, I’d have been an accused witch. It is what it is.

Either way, the writing staff at AD is brave and loyal. They know they could have bigger platforms on Film Twitter if they weren’t part of this site and my friends. Somehow, they have the stuff to stick it out, which means they are people of strong character. History will remember them well.

I have to start with Ryan Adams, who is really the person who kind of keeps things held together on this site for over 15 years now. He wandered in like a stray cat all of those years ago and mostly works behind the scenes, though every so often he writes something that reminds us of how good of a writer he is. Ryan must put out the ongoing fires in the comment sections, proofread every dyslexia-ridden post of mine, and is essentially always there when we need him. He’s a good friend.

Then there’s Clarence Moye, who has built up an unbelievably successful TV side of Awards Daily, something I never thought was possible. He’s incredibly smart about stuff like coding — I mean, who knew? Though he maintains a full time job and has a family, he’s still able to devote much of his time to this site in ways people would never see or notice. Though every so often he too delivers a great piece of writing that proves he’s destined for greater things.

I’ve known Marshall Flores a very long time — so long I can’t even remember when we first “met” online. I think he was one of those people who initially thought I was a dude (Editor’s Note from Marshall: this is 100% true). It isn’t just that he helps with the agonizingly blinding charts or that he runs the contests every year, and often proofs my dyslexia-ridden posts, but he’s always been a good friend to me and the site, despite my own “problematic” personality (which is definitely often in disagreement with him). Through it all, we’ve somehow managed to stay friends anyway. I think that speaks well of him — he has the capacity for humanity and forgiveness, two traits that matter probably more than anything else.

Joey Moser has built out a unique voice in covering the shorts for the site. He takes the time to make sure every one of us has access to them every year, which is so helpful. Though he’s mostly on the ADTV side, he’s making his way over to the film and Oscar side. I guess what I love about Joey is how funny he is and how kind he is. Again, he has every reason to have bailed on the catastrophe that is this website — a walking TAR metaphor — but he has remained on staff.

Megan McLachlan continues to take risks as a writer and is branching out to cover more and more film festivals around the country. She also pitches stories to other outlets and is greatly motivated when it comes to the stories she writes here. As part of the ADTV team, she’s also starting migrate over to the film side and really should have a bigger job covering film as on-camera talent, IMO. A generous and kind person who, like Joey and Clarence, has a great sense of humor.

David Phillips really classes up the joint with top notch pieces, somehow landing on obits for some reason? But he is also doing more and more writing here and there. He has quite the following on Twitter and is slowly making a bigger name for himself. Like the other writers here, he continues to pitch ideas, and even if the answer is no (which it sometimes is) he’ll still keep at it. He’s a good guy and a good addition to the site.

Mark Johnson is my old friend who came to AD after Award Circuit closed down, and writes the Good as Gold column here. He’s great at predicting the Oscars (even if Marshall Flores beat him this year) and I’ve probably never met a person who never has a single bad thing to say about anyone. His heart is good as gold (even with a hole in it). This year, Mark attended the Oscar ceremony for the first time, dressed up in a green tux and everything. Like so many people on this site, his enthusiasm for film and the Oscars remains intact, even if people like me sometimes complain about the collapsing empire.

Zhuo-Ning Su is our “foreign correspondent who attends Berlin, Cannes, and Venice.” How lucky we are for that. He’s just one of the kindest people I’ve ever worked with and writes wonderful reviews. Sometimes when I feel like a failure and I think this site really should shut down, I think about Tony (we call him Tony) and I think, he’s really one of the best things about this site because it gives us a strong presence at important film festivals.

He doesn’t really write for the site and you don’t really hear from him much, but Jalal Haddad should get endless credit for totally calling the win for Everything Everywhere All At Once. I’m not sure I have given proper attribution, but he was the first person to say that this was the SAG standing ovation movie. I totally doubted him and that, per my own experience of the film, but he had it right months ago. He’s also a really funny and great person I don’t get to see enough.

Shadan Larki pops in and out with coverage and has freelanced with other outlets. She attended the HCA awards this year and represents Awards Daily well, for however long she’s with us. She is a kind person too, who takes some of the personal attacks on me hard. I promise you, there is a lesson in all of this somewhere. That lesson is, I think, grit. She has it.

Dr. Rob has somehow figured out how to run a preferential ballot and that has allowed readers to lock in their favorites every year. He is very generous with his time and patient with an unruly form. We never had an annual ballot before Dr. Rob came along.

To everyone who reads, comments and links to our pieces, or listens to our podcasts, thank you. This site wouldn’t exist without you. As always, I’m not sure how long this site will continue. I am never sure how much I can take. But it’s worth taking a look back at where we came from and where we are now, thanks to a rising staff of good-hearted, talented people.

Regarding Toxic Commeters: thanks for showing your true selves not just to me but to the world. I think it’s great to see how terrible other people can be in order to appreciate how good people can also be. There might be one guy who abandons a dog at a convenience store, but there are hundreds who would rescue it. Likewise, for all of the comments left here meant to destroy me (mainly) or other people, you really just end up making everyone else look good. Though I do hope you find a way to use your time better.

If I had to put up with this kind of abuse when I started, I would never have run an Oscar site for 22 years.  So here’s to all of the people who make running a site like this worth it. I appreciate the letters and the support over all these years.

And that closes out Oscars 2023 — a long, strange trip. Until next year, Oscarwatchers…