"I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle" Lord Alfred Hitchcock
Posted on 03/06/2006 9:27:20 AM PST by SirLinksalot
Oscar Blinks
James Hirsen, NewsMax.com
Monday, March 6, 2006
Remember when Hollywood had mystique and glamour and was the wellspring of entertainment? That now seems a relic of another era.
In its place sits a town where self-absorption has taken a lead role and superficial social messages predominate.
When it wasn't embarrassing, the 78th Annual Academy Awards show was generally a bore.
Host Jon Stewart was probably a bit surprised at the tepid response to his jokes, especially the one where he quipped about the awards show being a "place where you can watch all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic Party." Stewart also admonished would-be film downloaders to think about the "women here who could barely afford enough gown to cover their breasts."
Many of the stars seemed incapable of laughing at themselves. But when Stewart let loose with a joke that was at the expense of Vice President Dick Cheney, the guffaws flowed freely.
"I do have some sad news to report," Stewart said. "Bjork could not be here. She was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her."
Stewart got moderate chuckles when he took a shot at the news media. He praised "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Capote," describing them as films about journalism's "relentless pursuit of the truth," adding, "needless to say, both are period pieces."
The big laughs returned, though, with a reference to the war in Iraq. Evoking the memory of the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein, Stewart pointed to a giant Oscar image and said, "Do you think if we all got together and pulled this down, democracy would flourish in Hollywood?"
George Clooney won the first statuette for Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana," letting the world know that he was "proud to be part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, proud to be out of touch."
Clooney claimed that Hollywood talked about social issues before anyone else. "We are the ones who talked about AIDS when it was just a gay disease," he said.
As expected, Phillip Seymour Hoffman won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of the gay central character in "Capote."
Rachel Weitz maintained the political pattern. She won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing a social activist in "The Constant Gardener."
It seems that a bit of "Brokeback" backlash may have created the surprise winner for Best Picture. After endless buzz about "Brokeback Mountain's" courage and brilliance and after it won virtually all of the pre-Oscar awards, "Crash" scored an upset win over the gay cowboy flick.
A few other observations:
The most bizarre comedy bit: Ben Stiller came on stage wearing a John Kerry sanitary "sperm" outfit.
The bright spot: "March of the Penguins" won for Best Documentary.
The most deserving award: Reese Witherspoon took the Best Actress award for "Walk the Line."
The most ironic award: "Brokeback Mountain" won for Best Score. How utterly appropriate this year that an Oscar was awarded for a hip-hop song about the difficulties experienced by a pimp.
Unfortunately, no one remembered to send a Hollywood shout-out to the troops, whose starring roles outshine all of Oscar's gold.
Bacall----That was sad....they needed a noir actress...there must be other veteran noir actors still alive and functional.
Sorry...but George Clooney is NOT a great actor! I didn't see Syriana, but he was wooden and awful in "The Perfect Storm"...was LOUSY as Batman...and though he is good looking, is almost as bad as Keanu Reeves
I googled her and went to the Village Voice where they said she had trouble reading the teleprompter. Doesn't she have
a pair of glasses?
you'll get no argument here.
As it still is thanks to your not treating it like a venereal disease!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Okay, that's a funny line.
The fact that a "song" called It's hard being a pimp out there won an Oscar for Best Song says about all you need to know about the direction Hollywood is going.
Preliminary numbers indicate it is the second-lowest rated Oscar show. The lowest rated was a couple of years ago when Chicago won for Best Picture.
It did drop about 10% from the 2005 numbers.
If that's true and it was about her inability to read the teleprompter, it makes me curious to ask whether she showed up and was part of the rehearsal. They do have a rehearsal. Golly, didn't she practice reading her lines earlier in the day or the day before? She's a pro, so I wonder what happened to her.
I wasn't around
back then, but I believe that
it was all a lie.
"It's gone way beyond that. About 35% of HIV transmission in this country is now heterosexual."
May I ask where you found that statistic?
I fully expected John "whtashisname", it is Stewart by the way to be political. He was not. He was fair and even handed. Best joke of the night was his comment after the "w/o giving to the Democratic Party line" when he said it was the first time "most of you have voted for a winner."
Stewart was humorous with being embarassing (Goldberg, Letterman), he was serious when needed to be and respectful of the audience. This was an awards show and not a Friar's roast, after all.
Best/worst Hosts of recent times (IMHO):
1. Billy Crystal
2. John Stewart
Worst of recent times:
1. Letterman 2. Goldberg
.
.
.
.
.
.
. 3. Chris Rock
That is a bit of an over statement, unless you do not watch much TV. I can think of a few 'worse' moments:
CBS News w/ Dan Rather
Sixty Minutes (Every Sunday)
The Democratic Convention
Skating with the Stars.
That may be, but the spread of it is spread nonetheless by rape, anal sex, drug use, and otherwise immoral behavior.
Just what I said. Outside of the rape these are personal choices whether homosexual or heterosexual, and actually rape is the only behavior out of the four listed which is not by choice.
For the victim, that is.
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