ajh
Tag Archives: Oscars
Foreigners
Sure is nice to a foreign character actor win an Oscar from time to time. I was just thinking earlier today how there should be more foreigners on American TV and in American films.
I would have loved to see more Brits and Frenchmen and Germans beside Captain Picard on The Next Generation. American television, particularly the scripted shows, needs to expand beyond the norm.
ajh
Boycotting The Oscars
I’ve been boycotting the Oscars for years. I haven’t watched an Academy Awards ceremony since the 1990s, I think. The Oscars became a bore a long, long time ago.
Sure, I’ve seen clips and segments, but I haven’t sat down to watch it.
I hadn’t planned on seeing it this year either, and now I have another good reason for skipping it: Joe Biden.
The vice president has been added as a presenter, for reasons I can’t begin to fathom, other than the old sycophantic Hollywood types wanting to brush up with political fame and power, and vice versa.
Get ready for another snoozefest.
I catch up with whatever I deem worthy of my time on YouTube, after the fact. Mostly, however, I watch old Oscar ceremonies, many from before I was born. I like to see what was happening at the time, from the likes of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson.
ajh
A Waste — of Time, Energy, Talent & Who Knows What Else
“Vulgarity is no substitute for wit.”
I agree with Ben Stein. The Oscars show was a huge waste — of time, energy, talent, space, money. The list is endless. The production was a wasteland, showing off how disconnected Hollywood really is from mainstream America.
I skipped watching it live, instead opting for clips online. Thank heaven I did not get sucked into the hoopla. Four plus hours of crap mixed in with a few worthy moments of delight.
Choosing a man, Seth McFarlane, who is the ‘creative’ force behind one of the most vulgar and off-putting animated shows on television, Family Guy, was a great risk for the Academy, and it did not pay off.
He mentioned various actors who had played Abraham Lincoln — Raymond Massey, Daniel Day-Lewis — and then he added, “But the only actor who ever really got inside the brain of Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth.”
What the hell was that? A sick, evil joke about the murder of Abraham Lincoln on a network TV show? We have really gone way down into the toilet bowl of humor.
Roughly at the same time, the host said that some charity for college students at the Motion Picture Academy was a great idea: drunk producers and “college co-eds.” I thought we didn’t say “co-eds” any longer because it insults women.
But then the charming host brought out an actress who played a vicious alcoholic and said that was what he aspired to be. What? Do the writers think alcoholism is funny?
The cultural rot, the Kultursmog, on display was bewildering. Sure there were nice, wholesome moments interrupting the narcissism and boorish displays. But there wasn’t enough of ’em.
“Too much ego in one room. . . . the Obama ego and the Hollywood ego. I thought my TV would melt.”
It wasn’t just paleos like myself who question the festivities. There’s a long list, including plenty of leftists and liberals too: Richard Roeper, Kirsten Powers, Chad Lowe, a director named Jon Cassar, and a writer with the LA Times.
Seemingly the only entity to not get away with offensive Oscar ‘humor’ are the writers with The Onion, who have been chastised mightily by the masses.
ajh
The Academy Archives
With the Oscars just days away, ABC and its so-called news division is pushing it hard, promoting and promoting and promoting. The latest minion to hock the big Oscar show: Katie Couric.
I was honestly hoping for more. I really do want to see in the Academy archives. I am sure there is such a place, and I bet there are much juicer and more newsworthy stories than those presented on Good Morning America. But what do you expect?
The only storyline I didn’t know about that was worthwhile and entertaining: Clint Eastwood stepping in for Charlton Heston, who had a flat while driving to the ceremony. Besides Eastwood and Heston, and the well-known incident of a fully naked man interrupting David Niven and prompting a witty, quick-footed remark, there wasn’t much. And there certainly weren’t any archival, historic, a-ha moments of wonderment.
“Archives Hide Hidden Gems in Academy Award History”
What a misleading and disappointing headline.
I know, I know. I shouldn’t get my hopes up for a good news story done by a reporter who actually works hard.
Katie, please venture out from the safe confines of the studio and life in New York City and do some friggin’ reporting! Leave the fluff to Regis and Access Hollywood.
ajh
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 