No, this post isn't about my cat or even fictional super slob Oscar Madison. It's my annual post-Academy Awards piece, which I decided to share with y'all. It's rambling, discursive and random. Hmm, that sounds like *all* my posts. Oh well, time for some random thoughts about the Oscar telecast:
This year's broadcast was pretty good: Martin and Baldwin were very funny and had some good zingers. It was interesting to watch Martin play his *original* 1970's comic character for the show. It worked pretty well too.
Okay now for the promised random thoughts about en event that I enjoy but don't take very seriously:
- I got really tired of everyone sucking up to James Cameron. It got to the point that every time Cameron's name came up, I turned to Dr. A and said: "Are the going call him a genius or a visionary?" The sub-text was: hire me again, o megalomaniacal director.
- How were they able to fit the giant egos of Cameron, Oprah and Streisand in the hall?
- What was up with fluffing the best actor and actress nominees? They had colleagues and whatnot blowing them air kisses. It was really embarrassing and ate up 10 minutes of the show.
- What the hell was Sarah Jessica Parker wearing? It looked like a breast plate or a shield or something. And she's allegedly a fashionista.
- Jeff Bridges channeled the Dude in his acceptance speech. I'm glad he won because he's been so consistently good and unhammy over the years.
- Why did Barbra Streisand hand out the Best Director award? Her track record as a director is spotty at best. They should just let Marty or Clint do it every year.
- I hated the way they relegated the lifetime achievement awards to a pre-Oscar banquet. It was particularly egregious to not let Roger Corman and Betty Bacall accept in person. The audience did give them a standing ovation when they were introduced. But it was tacky, tacky, tacky.
- They snubbed Bacall and Corman whilst featuring Miley Cyrus and various Twilight
cast members. Will anybody remember who they are in 10 years? Maybe,
maybe not. I didn't recognize quite a few of the Brat Pack when they
assembled for the tribute to John Hughes.
- The bad dance numbers must go. This year they tried to be cool and used break dancing to represent The Hurt Locker. Sigh.
- I got very annoyed listening to the people who made Precious. They were all self-righteous and sanctimonious. I guess that's what happens when you hang out with Oprah.
- It's great that Kathryn Bigelow broke the glass ceiling for movie directors; especially since she doesn't make chick flicks. It was also a bonus that her indy film beat out Cameron and his blue behemoth. The only problem is that it didn't seem to piss Cameron off that his ex-wife won. Oh well, one can be philosophical when you've made the top two grossing flicks of all time.


