As a kid, I never missed the Oscars. To me, the Academy Awards show was the Super Bowl. I tracked actors, directors, and the Oscar race like most kids study baseball stats. As I got older and began to understand the concept of art, I began to put less and less stock in the Oscars. In actuality, it?s a popularity contest. You can?t judge art by adding up votes. Those who know art history or whatever will argue that it?s a cry of ignorance to say, ?I don?t know much about art but I know what I like.? To this layman, nothing could be truer. Art is entertainment on a basic level. It?s a visceral experience or should be. Art moves us, each piece in its own way to varying degrees. The great ones tend to be universal in their powers.
The manly art of self-defense we call boxing is an art which can?t be judged in a ?best of? contest kind of way. In a sport heralding the idea that ?Styles make fights? it?s inevitable that each style won?t appeal to the masses. For every five people who love watching an Arturo Gatti fight, there is probably one who loves Cory Spinks with a deep, burning passion. That said, here is a list of people and events that moved me in 2011.
