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The 97th Oscars: A Night of Big Wins, Big Speeches, & Big Conan Energy Award season is officially over, and the 2025 Academy Awards  are now in the books. As I do every year, I watched the telecast. This year I watched with my girlfriend, Julie, and we had a small Oscar party, which was a blast. But the real fun? The live interactive chat on my Patreon page , where we had a great crowd of subscribers discussing the ceremony in real-time. We talked about the pacing, debated th

Last Wednesday, December 11th, the Chicago Film Critics Association  kicked off the film awards season with its annual Awards Dinner at Budweiser Brickhouse Tavern  on Gallagher Way , right next to Wrigley Field (yeah, where the Yum Yum Donuts  used to be). I have been a member of the CFCA, on and off, since the organization began in 1989. I've presented awards, made phone calls, tallied votes, set up chairs, and even driven celebrity presenters and winners to and from the a