Two of my favorite award shows are coming up soon – the Grammys and the Academy Awards.
There is a bit of new on the Grammy front. Troubled songstress Amy Winehouse, who many critics have picked to win several Grammys this year, will not attend the ceremony. Well, it isn’t so much that she won’t attend the Grammys – she can’t! Her request for a visa to the U.S. was denied. She is nominated for six Grammys, but apparently, that pulled no weight at all with the American Embassy in London who chose to refuse her visa request. Maybe they think she needs more time in rehab – she has only been in for two weeks.
Winehouse has decided to accept the ruling and do the only thing she can do – appear via satellite both to accept any awards she may receive and to perform.
Meanwhile, I am still, still hoping for an Oscar ceremony as it is like my Super Bowl each year (viewing in my home starts at noon with E!’s coverage and doesn’t end until well after the after awards show), but there is one less thing for the actors to look forward to – the Vanity Fair party. It has been cancelled, with Vanity Fair saying it wouldn’t be appropriate to hold the party with the writer’s strike going on.
The organizers of the Academy Award show say it will go on – strike or no strike. Rumors say that the organizers are ready with clips of past ceremonies, which might be a bit fun, but without a red carpet, I will still be terribly disappointed.
Union leaders are still saying they are still hoping to strike (okay, bad pun) a tentative deal to end the strike this weekend, which is really cutting it close as the Academy Awards are set to air February 24th. The Grammys will air this weekend without any problems as the WGA had already reached a tentative agreement with them.