This year’s Academy Awards emcee, Chris Rock, recently caused a minor flap when he declared the idea of giving out prizes for artistic achievements to be “stupid” and antithetical to the very idea of art. It’s awfully hard to deny the logic of Rock’s position. “The idea of slapping a ‘best’ label on artistic endeavor is understandable; we live in a society that insists on quantification. And everyone likes to be a winner. But it’s also like trying to hold smoke in your hands… it’s easy to report the box score — everyone understands winning and losing. It’s more difficult, however, to delve into the game to find out why something succeeded or failed.”