The 82nd annual Academy Awards  just finished being aired on television around the world. It has been tradition in the USA to televise the ceremony since 1953, thus making the Oscars an important night for not only the international acting/film making community, but for the international viewing public as well. For quite a long time, winning an Oscar statuette meant the recipient(s) were the best of the best in areas of film making; years after winning an Oscar, though, many winners have continued to gain benefits from getting that gold statue. Having the term “Academy Award winner” in front of an actor or film maker’s name has never created negative associations, but frankly I think that might become the case in the future if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn’t clean up its act.

The first telecast of the Academy Awards I ever watched was the 68th Academy Awards in 1996. I remember specific things my parents told me about the people that came on stage, such as actor Christopher Reeve who made his first public appearance at the awards since a horrific throw from a horse in 1995. I recall seeing Kirk Douglas receive his Academy Honorary Award even though he was recovering from a stroke. I also remember asking how Mel Gibson won an Academy Award for Best Director when I only knew him to be an actor. Even though I was only about 7 years old, I knew I had to keep watching this award show for years to come and I have. Seeing great achievements in film rewarded properly is spectacular, but recently additions at the telecast and behind the scenes have definitely changed the real purpose of the ceremony itself.

Over the past several years, I – and many others – have noticed that the entire tone and look of the Oscars has drastically changed from what it once was. Years ago, the Oscars were a serious event meant to acknowledge outstanding skill, artistry, and achievements in film. Now, the entire thing seems to be much more of a spectacle for television ratings and talk versus the films and film makers being honored. The telecast has been completely revised to cater to a younger audience, an audience that is more concerned with who their favorite actor is with or what their favorite actress is wearing. I would have no reservation in assuming the demographic the Oscars are targeting has only seen the most popular, highest-grossing film(s) of the year such as this year’s Best Picture nominee, Avatar. I honestly do not believe that the majority of people watching right now have seen other Best Picture nominees such as Crazy Heart and Up in the Air; both films are rated R in the USA and deal with more “mature” or “adult” concepts/scenes besides being vastly cheaper to produce than other box-office hits. The biggest thing to stand out to me is who is on the guest list to attend the show and even present awards. Miley Cyrus was asked to attend the Oscars first in 2008 simply because she had reached mega-stardom at the time. Was she in an Oscar-nominated film? No. Was she nominated for something? Nope. Was she relevant to the Oscars at all? Not really. She was there to boost ratings and encourage younger viewers. This trend has become the driving force behind the Oscars nowadays, and frankly it is rather depressing.

As I mentioned previously, things in front of the cameras as well as behind have affected the way the Oscars are seen these days. For me, I could tolerate the irrelevant, inexperienced mega-celebrities being invited to the ceremony and being analyzed on the red carpet. However, the last straw was the modification of the Best Picture category this year to include five more nominees, raising the total to 10. The Academy previously had 10 Best Picture nominees for the last time in 1943, but that practice was ended the following year. Why did the Academy change the category? AMPAS President Sid Ganis stated that by having 10 Best Picture nominees, it would “allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize.¹” In all honesty, AMPAS should have had someone a little smarter come up with a better excuse than the one given by Ganis to make their justification a little more believable. With 10 Best Picture nominees, the word “best” doesn’t really fit the category anymore. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first definition of the word best (adjective) is “excelling all others”. When something or someone is going to be the best and excel above the rest, shouldn’t it be logical to have a small amount of things/people to decide between? Not for the Academy! The more the merrier. In my eyes, that makes the Best Picture category look more like an episode of The Bachelor or some other reality TV show. Throw in all the really amazing, “excelling” movies into the same category with some almost “excelling” films and see what you get.

I honestly hope the Academy is more so going through a “transitional” phase with the categories and setup in preparation to modernize the awards to match up with super advanced technology and new ways of film making. Everyone says the future of film is 3D, but I don’t really want that to happen. I would feel quite uncomfortable and disturbed if someone took a film like Black Hawk Down (2002) or Apocalypse Now (1979) and turned it into a 3D movie. That said, I am really hoping the Academy makes some new categories as time goes on versus adding more nominees to categories or lumping things together.

Not watching the Academy Awards this year was sort of weird since it has been a yearly fay of excitement for me since 1996. However, I would rather miss all the bad years of the Oscars and start watching again when they get their act together so I won’t be reminded of all the crap they are doing now. See you in a few years, Oscar.

My older sister and I have always joked to each other, our family, and friends that both of us need to make our own countries. Hers was always called “The Island”, and sadly I don’t think I ever named mine. Either way, “the island” was always what we referred to as a utopia society where everything was the way we wanted it to be because, obviously, we were in charge. Throughout the years as our political, religious, and moral ideals have changed, we have drifted away from the outrageous idea of ruling our own unique countries. For me, though, as I saw my peers grow to accept and praise the society we currently live in here in the USA, I have grown continually disappointed and disgusted by it.

America is no longer the country it set out to be, what our Founding Fathers wanted it to be, or what we used to be, either. We are a country of two ruling parties, neither of which I agree with at all anymore. We are a country ruled by sensationalism, fear, and greed. We are a country that continually contradicts our own constitution, even though our lawmakers – including Presidents – are meant to obey it. We are also a country of great excess to such an extreme that I am often embarrassed that the US has become the example of such a definition.

A lot of people tell me “become an activist” or “join a movement“. Unfortunately, I know that the USA is quite far gone into the depths of ridiculousness, and even if I were to join a movement or become some sort of activist, I would not live to see the USA change to the degree it needs to. Call me impatient, but I don’t want to live and die in a country whose current stances on fundamental human issues are as such that I am ashamed of them. Everyone says these days that the USA will change thanks to the next generation. Well guess what? I won’t be around for much of that because I’m already in my 20′s. For me, wanting to leave the USA is not something I just want to do; I need to do it for my own peace of mind, happiness, and health. Although I was born an American, I am not an American that fits with the rules and expectations of 2010 America. While I thank America’s past for giving me the freedom to leave the country in the first place, I have to kindly decline the opportunity to live here for the rest of my days.

In 2009, I knew I was going to leave the US someday, probably a lot sooner than later. I opened a savings account that I transfer $50 into automatically every month, along with any extra change that is rounded up from purchases (thanks to Bank of America). I have nearly $1,000 in it currently, and I don’t plan on ever withdrawing from it until I am ready to actually leave the US. Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly where I’m going to move…yet. Thus, I am starting a List of Requirements that a country should probably meet to qualify for consideration. Mind you, this list might be incomplete because I keep thinking of new things all the time. Currently, the list contains a few things such as follows:

CORE REQUIREMENTS (non-negotiable)

1) Less than 6,500ft (1,980m) above sea level
Due to an absolutely wonderful genetic heart defect that totally sucks, I experience pretty darn bad altitude sickness within 1 hour of reaching an altitude of around 6,500ft. The average, healthy person may experience Acute Mountain Sickness (the “technical” name) at around 8,000ft (2,440m), and this is even expected a lot of the time because it is so common. In my case, I experience severe AMS at much lower altitudes and in much less time. On the family trip to Flagstaff, AZ in 2009, I experienced extreme AMS symptoms at 6,910ft (2,100m), and some progressed into symptoms associated with High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) after going to the Grand Canyon which is about 7,000ft (2,135m). I don’t really want to die only 30 hours after moving to a new city somewhere, so a tolerable altitude is something I can’t really compromise on.

2) Potential jobs in my career field
I know that IT, Internet, and Administration are all growing fields, but there are obviously some places where there will be more jobs in these fields than others. As I am double majoring in both web development (Visual Basic, PHP, MS SQL, MySQL, ASP.NET, etc) and web design (CSS, X/HTML, Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc), I am getting the best of both worlds for my education. On top of those, though, I am getting into advanced server administration with UNIX-based operating systems for desktops and servers. I know there are many, many jobs out there already for these areas, but I need a job in the future, too.

SUGGESTED REQUIREMENTS: LEVEL 1 (can be somewhat negotiated if needed)

1) Reasonable amount of moderately proficient speakers of the English language
I don’t think I would want to move to some place like Russia, China, India or whatever because their language is fairly hard to learn for a total foreigner. I have some experience in French from taking it from middle school through high school, but my knowledge is more limited to syntax, grammar, and pronunciation versus actual useful vocabulary. Since there are many languages that are fairly similar to French syntax, grammar, roots, and so on, it is possible that I would have a slight advantage in some countries versus others. However, I don’t really want to spend unwanted time here in the USA learning a foreign language just so I can move to another part of the world. Thus, I am hoping to move somewhere that has a decent amount of English speakers. I know there are plenty of countries that require school kids to study English from a young age – possibly even until college – so hopefully then I will have an easier time adapting to a new country versus not understanding anything at all.

2) Decently affordable and adequately available health care
As lucky as I am (note the invisible online sarcasm), I have some health issues that are constantly kicking me in the butt. Some people may be more concerned with one – maybe two – aspects of health care (eg: dental, pediatrics for their kids, etc), but there are many that play a big role in my life. My biggest “issues” revolve around mental/behavioral health, cardiovascular health, and prescription drug availability. Of course, I need dental and vision care, as well, but those are kind of a given. The USA has the most horrendous health care system that actually qualifies as a “system”. Pre-existing conditions, health insurance lobbying 24/7, no importation of generic or brand name prescriptions, huge deductibles, enormous up-front co-pays, and absolutely ridiculous terms and agreements are commonplace here. People deal with them every day, including me. I would much rather live in a country that had some sort of public/universal/government health care system, or at least a partial one. I don’t care if the government taxes my income a lot higher, because frankly I would rather have less money in my pocket overall but better health services that don’t force me into bankruptcy after receiving.

3) Beautiful surroundings: natural, man-made, or both
There are plenty of aspects of cities, towns, villages, and countries overall that make a location beautiful. Natural surroundings such as plant life, wild life, general weather/climate, and landforms are all things I would like to have. On the other hand though, having a busy city with unique architectural history, varying cultural influences, and reflections of the past are all things I would want too! I honestly don’t mind either one, or even having a nice mix of both. For example, when I lived smack-dab in the middle of San Francisco, it was awesome because everywhere I went was very different from the previous block, there were many different world influences, etc. Right across the Golden Gate Bridge, though, there was immense beauty in the natural surroundings involving the water, the hills, the greenery, and much more. It was a wonderful mix of both and that would be nice to have once more.

4) Fairly calm political and social environments
Since ridiculous politics play a huge part into why I want to leave the United States, the country I choose to make my new home will need to be a tad better than the country I currently live in in terms of political and social environments. Currently, I completely disagree with the direction the USA is headed in, as I have for many years. Citizens are not equal here in many, many areas, such as health care availability, educational opportunities, average salary, etc etc etc. While most countries might have very similar issues, the USA also has some fairly outrageous ones in my view. Gay marriage and same-sex partner rights are hotly debated even though it is the year 2010¹. Abortion rights for women are still up in the air mostly because of religious groups². The USA condemns many other countries stockpiling nuclear weapons, yet the government spent over $35,100,000,000 in 1998 alone³ on nuclear weapons creation and other programs. I could really go on for quite a while, but I think you get where I am going with this. The USA doesn’t have what I am looking for in a political and social environment, so I am hoping to find somewhere in this world that is a little more easy-going with politics and social issues, unlike the USA.

SUGGESTED REQUIREMENTS: LEVEL 2 (more negotiable than level 1 requirements)

1) Moderate or acceptable climate (including precipitation, daily high, daily low, etc)
Having lived in a city that is contained within the Sonoran Desert the majority of my life, I have continually dealt with daily low temperatures around 40°F (4.4°C) in winter and daily high temperatures of well above 100°F (37.7°C) in the summer. Arizona is extremely dry the greater part of the year⁴ even though we experience a summer monsoon⁵, but that doesn’t guarantee decent rainfall. In all honesty, Arizona has one of the best climates in the USA because we do not experience powerful tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides, etc. as some other states do. The worst things we have to dealt with on a somewhat regular basis are the overwhelming heat, dryness/drought, flash flooding, and forest fires. For me personally, I would rather give living in a different climate a shot versus staying in the desert my whole life. That said, though, I also don’t really want to move somewhere that is the total opposite of Arizona and downright freezing most of the year. A somewhat moderate climate would be ideal, but not absolutely necessary if it means other advantages.

2) Acceptable quality/standard of living in major cities
Don’t get my wrong, I know the average “standard of living” varies drastically throughout a country all the way down to throughout a single city. I have been very fortunate to have grown up in a wonderful area that has provided my family and me with just about anything we could want. Scottsdale (the city I have lived in) is praised for being an extremely “livable” city, and the NRDC ranked Scottsdale as the #8 “smartest” medium-sized city⁶ in the USA. On the flip side, Scottsdale is also known for some things that I honestly don’t care about, such as plentiful couture shopping, world-class dining and restaurants, night clubs galore, PGA Tour golf tournaments, and collector car auctions. Those are things I rarely (or never) use. To me, those particular aspects of a city such as mine are simply excessive and most definitely not needed for me when I move to another location. I would much rather prefer a city/town/location/etc that did not cater to those with “expensive taste”, but did focus on keeping the air fresh, the water clean, and residents happy overall. Honestly, I don’t even need a big city to live in; I would be happy with anything from a rural farming area all the way up to a jam-packed busy city if it had what I wanted.

As I mentioned originally in the beginning of this immense posting, this is definitely an incomplete list. However, the “requirements” I’ve come up with so far cover a lot of ground in most cases. Within my own research, I’ve found a surprisingly large number of countries that supply the vast majority of things I am looking for. The process of choosing the one country that is right for me when the time comes, though, is going to be a lot more thought-intensive than this, I’m sure!

Since I have a while to go before I am genuinely able to leave the USA, I think I will have plenty of time to figure out just where to head off to in the future. Until then, though, I will keep researching and monitoring the continuous changes around the world. Hopefully I can figure out where I want to ship off to soon, but then again, I have well over 1.5 years to get through in the USA first!