White Plains’ 4th Best Personal Blog

These are heady times, as they say, to be a Kate Winslet fan. She’s on the cover of Time this week, as you can see above. And more significantly, as everyone knows, she just won her first Oscar for her role as an ex-Nazi guard in “The Reader.” (I say more significantly despite my belief that the Oscars are kind of a travesty, like most arts awards. Can one performance really be judged “better” than all others in a given year? And if there is a legitimate award given for acting, how can neither Clint Eastwood nor Cary Grant have won? And don’t even get me started on this year’s snubs such as Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” for Best Original Song or “Gomorrah” for Best Foreign Language Film.)

Still, after six nominations, it was nice to see Kate finally shed the title of “Best Actress Never To Have Won An Academy Award.” Even if the Oscar was probably for her performances in both “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road” (which I actually thought she was better in). Even if she did get emotional in a couple of acceptance speeches (c’mon Brits, cut her a little slack). Even if there is the inevitable Kate Winslet backlash, which I think has already begun. And even if she deserved it more for her work in “Sense and Sensibility” or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (or even a personal favorite of mine, “Romance & Cigarettes,” which you probably haven’t seen but should).

So although I’m a couple of days late to the party, I nonetheless say cheers to the fab Ms. Winslet! Here’s to many, many more bravura performances in the years to come…

(For much more on the subject of Kate Winslet fandom, check out this very thorough site.)