Goldtripping

It was the year 12 Years a Slave made Oscar history, even if most pundits were predicting Gravity. The Inside Llewyn Davis journey started in Cannes, then went bust come Oscar time. And Marty and Paul Thomas Anderson talk Wolf of Wall Street. And goodbye to my friend Craig.

Competing Oscar narratives in 2012 made it seem like a wide open year. But Argo emerged the frontrunner when Ben Affleck was surprisingly left off the Best Director list. It was a competitive year and the year Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress. It was a hard year for me emotionally and looking back reminds me of someone very dear to me who died of an overdose this past year.

The Artist won Best Picture in 2011 - but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Hugo were the movies I was most captivated by. But taking my daughter to Cannes was, to me, the best thing about it. Also, what it was like going to the Oscars and the continuing struggle of life online.

My daughter moved to New York this year and I wanted to capture the moment on a podcast. The sound is a little bad since we're driving. We were driving across the country and decided to record a conversation

One of my best friends Michael Grei and I discuss our friendship, the Oscars and life in general. Michael was my former boss back in the 1980s at the video store in Santa Monica. We've been friends ever since.

In 2010 I watched the Social Network 30 times. It is among my all time favorite films. It did not win Best Picture but that didn't seem to matter. 2010 was also the year I first went to the Cannes Film Festival.

The first woman wins Best Director, Avatar breaks box office records, Up in the Air, Precious, An Education all nominated as the Academy expands to ten Best Picture nominees. And it's off to Italy and Paris.

The Dark Knight changes the Best Picture race forever, Slumdog Millionaire wins Best Picture, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button remains probably the best of them. Thinking about movies that make relationships - and how to forgive people who do terrible things.

No Country for Old Men wins Best Picture, Best Director(s),Best Screenplay - Roderick Jaynes is nominated for but does not win Best Editing in a year that also saw There Will Be Blood, La Vie en Rose and Ratatouille

He joined the site in 2007 and has been a faithful friend and great addition to the site ever since. We have a long chat...

Martin Scorsese finally wins Best Director for his most excellent film The Departed. But it was a closer race than it might have been, with Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine and Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima. I finally took my daughter to Italy to meet her father.

Returning from a long break and visiting the year was 2005 -- Brokeback Mountain was the film to beat until Crash won in an 11th hour shocker.

The year was 2004 -- Million Dollar Baby came in at the last minute and beat Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. But it was also the year that Alexander Payne's wonderful film Sideways entered the race.

The year was 2003 and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was about to win Best Picture. A new relationship would upend our lives and cause much damage. But it would be a learning experience like no other.

It was the year Roman Polanski and Harvey Weinstein faced off for the Best Picture Oscar. Nicole Kidman, Adrien Brody won Oscars in lead. Chicago would be the big winner in Best Picture.

A Beautiful Mind was hit with a smear campaign, a publicist makes contact, a bad break up and a new move, plus Halle Berry and Denzel Washington make history at the Oscars

Gladiator beats Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and why Almost Famous continues to resonate over time. Oscars at the turn of the millennium, how social media has changed everything and what it was like to pretend to be a journalist.

Why did I start an Oscars website 20 years ago? What has it been like living online from the turn of the millennium to now. How did I raise a baby and a podcast at the same time? Welcome to Gold Tripping, a podcast memoir that lays it all out. This episode is about the events in my life that led me to a life online.