If you’re like me (which I think you are, since you broke the PD Golden Globes live blog for the second year running!) your favorite time of year is Awards Season.  Also known as “I live in the Midwest where it’s -2 degrees outside before wind chill, and I love sitting on my couch wrapped in a comforter eating ice cream and secretly (or not-so-secretly) judging what all the ladystars are wearing on the red carpet while secretly (no–so-secretly) wishing I had their lives so I can be warm in LA and have millions of dollars” season.   Now that we’re officially past ThanksChrismasHanuKwaanzaNewYear, the best time of year can FINALLY begin! In honor of this glorious occasion, I’ve compiled the top 5 reasons why Awards Season kicks some major ass:

1. Tina Fey and Amy Pohler.

Obviously, this has to be number one.  These ladies consistently hit it out of the park at the Golden Globes.  After Ricky Gervais’ three years at the helm of the Globes (which I personally loved, although others hated) these ladies took over in grand style and haven’t looked back.  While they tend to lampoon those in the crowd (how AWESOME was that George Clooney zinger Sunday night!) just as Gervais did, they’re closer to the “in-crowd” and so their good-natured ribbing comes off more jokey than mean-spirited as it did with Gervais’ comedy.  Can they please just host every major awards show going forward (though I did love me some Seth MacFarlane at last year’s  Academy Awards… I might be the only one.)

2. The clothes.

The red carpet before the show is always the highlight of my evening.  Seeing what these women choose to wear and snarking about it is the absolute best.  Because we all can’t afford gowns that cost upwards of 3x my mortgage payment (or aren’t cool enough to know someone who will let me borrow one for the evening) snarking is the next best thing.  I’m also loving the “I-don’t-care-about-fashion”  or “I-want-to-do-my-own-thing” trend I’ve been seeing on the red carpet lately (see, Dunham, Lena or Deschanel, Zooey.)  The dudes have really been stepping it up in this department too (no more boring tux and that’s it!)  See, McCounaghey. Matthew  ROCKING the Green Dolce&Gabbana Tuxedo at this year’s Globes for an excellent example.  You know you’ve got a good look when your outfit outshines your wife, who just happens to be a Brazilian model. Also sorry, but I  loved Julia Roberts’s dress on Sunday (not sorry.)

3. The fake look of surprise on each winner’s face.

Let’s be honest here:  they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t think they deserved to win.  Watching them try and keep their internal egos in check since they know the camera is on them and they need to pretend to be humble is priceless.  Some of them are CLEARLY better actors than others.  This leads me to my next point.

4. The acceptance speeches.

Who doesn’t love when actors open their mouths and say what they really think as opposed to what a screenwriter has written for them?  I feel like this is when you get a real taste of who they are, how much booze they’ve had (in the case of the Golden Globes) and what /who is really important to them (see, Lawrence, Jennifer or Hanks, Tom.)  It’s a peek into the soul of a person that no other expose can provide.  Of course sometimes they “aww shucks” /walk the party line/say what their publicist told them to (see, Hathaway, Anne at last year’s Oscars,) but you can usually tell.  I think it’s kind of cool to see people who play characters for a living play themselves for a little while.

5. When things go wrong.

Watching a room full of drunken actors try to play it cool when things go terribly wrong is so much fun.  From Matt Damon admitting that he forgot his glasses and so couldn’t read the teleprompter and still nailing his intro, to Jennifer Lawrence’s trip up the stairs at the Oscars last year, and everywhere in between.  Priceless

Bonus #6- following live-tweets of the events.  Seriously, PLEASE watch the Oscars while following a few comedians and fashion bloggers on Twitter- it makes everything so much fun, and SO much less boring.  They are, after all, industry award shows where people who make millions of dollars pat each other on the back for a job well done the previous year- let’s not take them too seriously, shall we?