2014 Kennedy Center Honors

Congratulations go out to Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin, Al Green, Sting, and Patricia McBride, winners of this year's Kennedy Center Honors.  While this is a blog that focuses mostly on cinema when it comes to awards, the name that tugs most closely at my heart of those five is actually Al Green, who is one of my all-time favorite singers and has the sexiest voice in modern music (so says I, and countless others). It's fitting that he is paired with the equally sexy Sting, who is a frequent Oscar nominee and has three OVP songs we're going to be getting to likely in the next year.

Of course, the two film stars are the ones whose name you are probably gravitating for, and for Hanks, this is a monumental Preakness in his quest for the Lifetime Achievement Award Triple Crown.  Hanks won the AFI Life Achievement Award at the record young age of 45 (still an eyebrow-raiser if you ask me) and at 58 is by far the youngest of this bunch of recipients, though seems slightly more age appropriate. Hanks just needs to win the Cecil B. DeMille Award to complete his Triple Crown, an award he will surely receive in the next decade (possibly fairly soon-the DeMille Award seems to go younger with recipients than the other two legs).

Tomlin starts her Triple Crown journey oddly enough the same year as her 9 to 5 costar Jane Fonda won the AFI Award (and Tomlin can take heart in knowing that Dolly Parton won the Kennedy Center Honor eight years ago, so they are all tied up).  For the curious, Tomlin and Hanks have never starred in a film together despite decades of acting in Hollywood, but they did work on a film together.  In 2006, Tomlin was a voice actor in the animated film The Ant Bully, a film that Hanks produced.  So if you want to celebrate by seeing a long-forgotten animated film, I'd say go for it.  Or you could rent Nashville and Saving Private Ryan and have a far better time.

Congrats to all of the winners!