Last time the Grammys were on, i was determined to catch it live. When my alarm went off, i killed it and stayed in bed. But this time around with the Oscars, i did not even need my alarm to wake me up. I knew i did not want to read all about it on twitter or the news feed, and fine it would repeat but no, i wanted to see the moment Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his oscar, live.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a pretty known name if you like
- movies
- fine guys who age gracefully
- interesting stories.
This was the guy who transitioned from child star in sit-coms to movie star, with movies like, "What's eating Gilbert Grape", and then the iconic role in "Titanic" (for which he actually did not get nominated.). Since then, he has gone to play it all- billionaire, criminal and undercover police officer.
And through it all, no Oscar.
Did he lose to less deserving people? Of course not. He lost out to Forest Whitaker for Last King of Scotland, in the year gave us the powerful performance in Blood Diamonds, and to Jamie Foxx for 'Ray' when he was nominated for 'The Aviator'.
But this year, you could feel the almost-cosmic shift. The world waited as ... read out the nominees list and you could tell even she was excited because she did not pause but said his name out quickly and then the world clapped.
First thing i took away from Leonardo's win was his composure. There were no hysterics, no long speech about himself and how it had been a long time coming, just an unusually cool and calm winner.
But what else did i take from it?
Keep Working
This one seems easy. Leonardo DiCaprio kept making movies even when the world was sure he should have won for this or been nominated for that!
Whether it is 'Staff of the Month' or a Grammy that you lose out on, work like awards don't matter. In the end, the only true reward is in you.
Stay Gracious
I saw a facebook post where someone pointed out that Leo could have been justified in giving out interviews once or twice about the unfairness of awards but nope. Leonardo has stayed gracious. Gracious in defeat (showing up everytime he has been nominated) and gracious in victory (celebrating his co-stars and speaking up for a cause in his acceptance speech).
It is like Beyonce says on 'Formation". "Stay gracious..."
It can be any stone
This was is funny. But you know when Leonardo got nominated this year (and won last nigth), as expected, the nay sayers showed up. We heard this was not his best performance, the other nominees were better and so on.
But now move on from those ones first and switch to you. Imagine tweeting the dopest tweet of your social media existence or drawing a masterpiece then stepping back and expecting the applause. You are shocked. Wait what? I sweated blood to design this dress! How dare you not bow down?!
Then one day you put all your effort in something as you usually do, but it is not neccessarily your best work and you are not neccessarily the most qualified. But still, that is THE ONE that gets you attention.
Isn't that just the funniest thing ever?
So brethren, and brethrenesses.., tell me this-
Have you ever had to wait for something for sooooooo long? How did it feel when you got it?
