“I’ll tell you this about the Oscars – they’re real.” – William H. Macy
And so is this blogathon!

For the second year in a row Kellee (@IrishJayHawk66) of Outspoken and Freckled, Paula (@Paula_Guthat) of Paula’s Cinema Club and Aurora (@CitizenScreen) of Once Upon a Screen bring you a mammoth blogathon event to coincide with Turner Classic Movie’s (TCM) 31 Days of Oscar …

This promises to be another February filled with fabulous tales and screen wonders – many of the stories, players and films featured on TCM all month long.  In fact, the network is kicking things off this year in spectacular style on February 1st by featuring all of the Best Picture nominees from Hollywood’s Golden Year, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary! (That would be 1939, by the way) In addition, they are also screening the world premiere of the new, TCM original documentary, “And the Oscar Goes To…” that day.  (Click on the TCM logo above for details and schedule).  In short, if you can’t take the entire month of February off from work or send your kids to your relatives then be sure to clear your DVRs!

AND join the blogathon.  Share stories about the films and players in Oscar’s distinguished history.  Tell us about which films, actors or directors deserved an Oscar nod and were ignored or about which films inspire you with their music or lighting. We are not limiting this event to classic film fare, we want to see and hear it all from the golden man’s more than eighty-five year history – including information and commentaries on this year’s nominees.

So, here’s the plan as we are doing things a little different this year by focusing on a different Oscars topic each week:
WEEK 1 – the weekend of February 1-2 – the topic is Oscar Snubs!  Let’s let the venting kick things off!
WEEK 2 – the weekend of February 8-9 – the topics are:  Music, Costumes, Cinematography, Writing, etc.  You name it, it’s in!
WEEK 3 – the weekend of February 15-16 – Actors!  Lead and supporting take center stage!
Week 4 – the weekend of February 22-23 – The Directors!  
Week 5 – the weekend of February 28-March 1 – THE MOVIES!  
We are taking turns hosting, but you can submit topics either by leaving comments on any of our blogs, via twitter or by email.  We ask that you please include the following:

• Title and link to your blog
• contact information
• Topic

It would also be great if you can include any of the event banners included in this post on your blog to help us promote the event.
SO – write to your heart’s desire!  Write one post or several on each topic.  But write!  And join us.
In the meantime…
Here’s to Oscar, to TCM and to YOU!
Happy blogging!
PS – You may want to peruse the entries for last year’s event – it was absolutely fantastic and I’ve no doubt you’ll be duly impressed.

Here are some more banners that I created for this fun blogathon below…