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North Stafford woman hasn't missed watching an Oscars ceremony since 1961. Date published: 2/25/2007
In 1961 Minoo Shapurian was 19, newly sprung from boarding school and crazy for all things American--especially movies.
She and younger sister Haida had grown up watching American films in their native Iran and in Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey during their father's diplomatic postings. At last the family was posted to the United States, and the Shapurian girls delighted in the culture of bobby socks, Elvis Presley and Hollywood. That year, living near Washington, they watched the Academy Awards on television with their parents, Ali and Djia Shapurian. "West Side Story," a family favorite, won best picture. Forty-five years later, Minoo Shapurian Binda of Stafford County is proud to say she's never missed a broadcast of the Oscars. She'll watch again tonight from her North Stafford home, as the 79th annual Academy Awards are televised on ABC beginning at 8. Thanks to a digital video recorder, though, she'll skip the commercials and speed through windy thank-yous. She's neutral on first-time host Ellen DeGeneres and on Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, David Letterman and most other the hosts over the past 20 years or so. Billy Crystal is all right, but Minoo Binda misses the days when Bob Hope and Johnny Carson ran the show with class and humor. TICKETS, PLEASEStill, she's loyal to the Oscars as an annual event, and still avidly follows the movies that inspire them. When she goes to the cinema these days, it's often in the company of her sister, who's married and still lives in Northern Virginia. They avoid the megaplexes, with their small screens, sticky floors, chair-kickers and audience gabbers. To them, movies are still an event, meriting a trip to the Uptown Theater on Connecticut Avenue in Washington. The sisters, often in the company of their movie-loving adult children and tolerant husbands, sit quietly among other polite film fans who wouldn't dream of chattering over the dialogue. They clap at the end of worthy movies, and they wait till the last credits roll before they get up to leave. "You cannot say a word when we're watching a movie," Binda said. "It requires 100 percent focus." Afterward, they go out to eat somewhere and discuss, processing every aspect of the experience--story, acting, scenery, costumes, music.
Date published: 2/25/2007
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