“Tom Tangney isn’t just a reviewer, he’s a critic with a point of view. He has his own angle on the key to each movie, often taking the road less traveled. Instead of trying to be a big voice, he has his own unique voice. He has a lively style, a good sense of movies and provides surprising insights that take the reader behind the curtain of publicity and hype. His text may not be long but his ideas and insights are large enough to make him worth reading regularly.”

– LOS ANGELES PRESS CLUB

Wow. That was certainly nothing I ever expected. To be given a national award for best Online Criticism by the LA Press Club! And to have such nice things written about my work! Who would ever have guessed that?

I primarily entered my stuff because I relished the idea that a panel of Hollywood insiders would be forced to read my writing. Don’t get me wrong; I am very proud of my BEHIND THE SCREENS column for MyNorthwest.com but I didn’t think I had a prayer of a chance against such established names as Jay Carr (Turner Classic Movies, Boston Globe), Tim Mohr (Playboy) and Luke Thompson (E! – Entertainment Network.) The LA Press Club judges deserve a lot of credit for the impartiality they showed by giving a relative no-name with absolutely no connections their top prize. I am truly honored. And I want to publicly thank the MyNorthwest.com staff for their unwavering support, always encouraging me to write whatever and however I want. It’s that kind of freedom that brings out the best in people.

Okay, now about the big night itself. The ceremony was at the Steve Allen Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (in 80 degree Hollywood, of course.) The evening started out with about an hour of socializing, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and all the wine and champagne you wanted. (I went for the champagne. What can I say? I was in a celebratory mood!) The coolest thing about this was the chance to chat up Robert Forster, who was going to be giving out the awards later that night. A veteran actor, Forster was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Quentin Tarantino’s JACKIE BROWN and is now a regular on the hit TV show HEROES. Thanks to Tarantino, his hipster/cool quotient is about as high as it gets.

Forster and Tangney going “old school.” Alternate caption: Robert Forster and Bozo the Clown.

When I introduced myself to him, Forster gave me a vigorous handshake and launched into a discourse about how he had been debating whether or not he should wear a tie and had decided to go the formal route because he was sure he’d meet a guy from Seattle who’d also be wearing a tie. He said he wanted to show some “old school” solidarity with me. Pretty funny, especially since I wear a tie about as often as I win a national award. Anyway, Forster regaled me with stories about Tarantino and the legendary John Huston, who directed Forster in his very first film. He also gave me what’s apparently become something of a signature gift for him, a sleek chrome letter opener. Very classy guy.

Another classy guy is the Pulitzer-Prize winning Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern who was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In his acceptance speech, he talked about his long career which included a successful stint as a screenwriter. He also confessed that as a kid he’d always dreamt of working in radio but his voice was never deep or resonant enough to make it as a deejay. That’s why, he explained, he was so delighted with his present gig as Santa Monica’s NPR film critic. He says he may value his Wall Street Journal work more but he has a lot more fun doing radio. Afterwards, I talked to him about my own personal reversal of his critical arc – that I was lucky enough to have started out in radio, and only now, with the advent of mynorthwest.com, was I getting the chance to write “long.” The grass is always greener …

And finally, the awards themselves. The LA Press Club gave out 11 National Entertainment Journalism awards honoring the best news stories, the best features, and the best critics in print, tv, radio, and online. Included among the winners were journalists from the Los Angeles Times, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, KABC-TV, NPR’s Marketplace and of course, MyNorthwest.com.

Ella Taylor from the LA Weekly was named best print critic, the legendary Kenneth Turan, best radio critic, and yours truly, best online critic. Now that’s what I call good company.