The Oscars are a lot like most political arguments.Everyone talks about them during the relevant month, but no one really cares what the outcome is. Hell, like those arguments, most people involved don’t even know when the actual decision is made. No one is going to lose sleep over “Frost/Nixon” beating “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” and no one is going to be on the edge of his or her seat when Heath Ledger is announced the winner for Best Supporting Actor.No one really cares, but everyone thinks they should.And the reason no one cares is the same reason people don’t care much about eating cabbage and blacked-eyed peas on Jan. 1. The idea is a great one — luck and health for a year — but the reality is terrible because those foods pretty much taste like dirt.The Oscars cannot help but disappoint because they merely mirror what was fun in the first place: seeing the selected films.And it’s fun trying to catch up on all the movies that are nominated for various categories. It’s a blast trying to guess what will win because — when that guessing is in progress — everyone else is guessing as well. It becomes a game of sorts, but a game that doesn’t rely on the end result.Because in the end, no one cares who wins what. All the films remain good, and sometimes it’s even nice when a good director loses just to see what that director will do in his or her next attempt at the little golden statue.No, the Oscars are nothing more than validation for everyone involved.The normal folks — the rest of us — get validated in our choice of film when the movies we like get nominated. We get to champion our good taste around when a movie we liked gets a nod for Best Fill in the Blank Here.”See, I totally loved the stylish hipness of ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ and now I got hundreds of film-educated people agreeing with me.”Or whatever.The folks involved in actually making films get validated in the most obvious way. They get accolades for the work they’ve done (more accolades, at least, than the high pay and constant fame).The folks in the Academy get validated when they are given the power to decide what is the definitive “best movie of the year” every single year, regardless of how many people call them self-serving, pretentious idiots.And, finally, Hugh Jackman gets validated by actually being asked to host one of the least important nights of television, which is far more than anything the poor guy has ever done in his career.All around, everyone wins to some degree.And by the time the show finally airs on Feb. 22, everyone will be tired of all the validation and just give up caring.All of this is fine, save for one little catch. We only get most of the “Oscar-worthy” films in the final month or so before the show. Then we get another 11 months of easy, money-making crap. Then another month of good film.This won’t change, but it sure is a shame. In the past month, I’ve had one of the best movie-watching sprees I’ve ever had.Soon, theatres will be filled with more “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and “Hotel for Dogs,” the Oscar fervor lost in the dust of February.And, frankly, that’s just too bad.—-Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]