The Oscars giveth

...me tears on my sofa

Hello friends,

It’s been a minute! I took a few weeks off from this newsletter because I was experiencing some symptoms of burnout at the beginning of February, and I needed a moment to unwind—which I heartily took. I realised I needed to practice what I teach (and have been learning about all these years) and make some extra space to recover. As I’ve written about here, I’m in the midst of a master’s degree, which is its own type of torture, so I need to find space where I can find it. I would say that undertaking a master’s degree is like shoving information into your mouth at breakneck speed, I wonder how we are supposed to retain it all? I’ll get back to you on that. Anyway, that’s where I’ve been, and I’m returning to Serenity Never refreshed (if not serene).

Photo from Cinespia

This week I’m turning to something topical: the Oscars baby!!! I’ve watched the Oscars for as long as I can remember. I watched it from the tender age of 5; it was oddly captivating for me as a child. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the glitz and glam striding across the screen. I loved the pre-show red carpet interviews, I loved the fashion, I loved that I got to stay up wayyyy past my bedtime to get a big fat dose of TV.

When we moved to London, my mother and I would wake up in the wee hours of the morning to watch it live (usually with school the next day). We’d set our alarm for 1 am to catch the live broadcast, so as not to miss a single dress or acceptance speech. Then I’d go back to sleep at 4 am and show up to school bleary-eyed. Oh the things I did to never miss a moment of culture. This was before the days of clips all over the internet the next morning and endless replays — you really did have to tune in live and as it happened.

I continue to watch (though I eventually stopped the 1 am wakeups as I grew older and YouTube became a thing). To tell the truth, last night I was a little bored by it all. That is until Everything Everywhere All at Once started sweeping the awards. Cue sobbing on my couch. I cried at Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, The Daniels and Michelle Yeoh. I cried watching Rihanna. I cried watching Lady Gaga and Lenny Kravitz. In summation, I cried a lot.

I used to glue myself to the screen during every actor’s acceptance speech and imagine what my own speech would be when I would inevitably win in the best actress category. I wanted to be an actress for at least six years of my childhood until I went to Sylvia Young Theatre School in East London (where Amy Winehouse and Billie Piper got their start) and was overcome by crippling stage fright.

I still love a good acceptance speech, and last night delivered. My favourite was Daniel Kwan’s, one half of the Daniels, who said: “There is greatness in every single person; it doesn’t matter who they are. If you have a genius that is waiting to erupt, you just need to find the right people to unlock that. Thank you so much to everyone who has unlocked my genius. This means so much to us.”

I don’t know why I still love the Oscars so much - it’s always too long, a bit boring (although last year’s slap was very dramatique) and has been accused of being repeatedly problematic, but it always just stirs up so much emotion in me. I love the ceremony of it. It makes me believe in the power of the human spirit, and in the power of art and always reminds me of my undying love for the movies.

May we all start our week believing in our own genius, and may we all find the people who help us unlock it. I’ll leave you with Prince at the Oscars from the 80s.

Nora x

Photo from Cinespa