For the record, Julie Christie is a total G.I.L.F.

Then again, maybe some thoughts are better kept to yourself.

I don’t know how today’s comic became a commentary on the overabundance of opinions in the digital age, but I don’t think the observation is any less true.

You can’t swing a USB mouse online without being confronted by someone else’s opinion about something. Truthfully, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We seek it out. When we buy a new camera, we want to learn about someone else’s experience with it. When we hear about the latest celebrity scandal, we check our favorite blogs to have our disgust validated by someone with a more erudite sense of humor.

The downside to all of this is that it creates a Critic Culture. Just like I pointed out in the comic, everyone has an opinion and no one can be wrong.

It may be a moot point when it comes to something like the Oscars since winners have always been chosen by industry people – members of the Academy or Motion Arts and Sciences.

Still with the annual cottage industry set up around the Oscars, all of the articles written, the handicapping, the predictions, the red carpet coverage, the dissection of fashion – it’s become more than recognizing achievement in film. And between the internet and cable television, there are a lot of hours to fill with opinions about all of it. Audiences asorb it and become part of the process. They start spouting off their own opinions. Is anyone an expert on anything anymore? Would you trust them if they claimed they were? Probably not. It won’t be long until every awards ceremony basically becomes a blown up version of the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing? Certainly no one is taking them seriously now. I mean, the lowest rated telecast in Oscar history? Yikes. Either people are starting to see through the charade the Oscars have become (do we really need so many montages during the show?) or true movie fans are a dying breed.

The Academy made some interesting choices this year. A lot of indie fare that most people didn’t get to see. So blame the Academy or blame the audience. Me – I blame the Critic Culture.

The one I proudly represent.