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February 24, 2008
Dead blogging the Oscars III
Had it not been for this Pajamas Media piece, I might have forgotten that tonight was Oscar Night. Which would have been bad, right? Because it's been an annual tradition here that I'm at least supposed to Dead-blog the Oscars, and here I am just turning them on in time to see a woman who looks either crazy or on drugs win best actress. Now that I've googled her, it seems her reaction was predicted: Crazy is a word Cotillard reaches for in practically every sentence. It might also be invoked to describe her personality in the nicest way.I'm now curious to see the film, because she really looked pretty out of control getting the Oscar. Now that they're doing a best of retrospective, it's time for the Dead:
Some good footage from a 1968 New York free concert (although the music that's been spliced in is not what they're playing). This is slow. The Dead are still more live than the Oscars. MORE (11:17 p.m.): Now they're piling on the anti-war crap. Zzzzzzzz....... MORE (11:34): Finally the best actor. Daniel Day Lewis, who IMO very much deserved to win. (I loved "There Will Be Blood.") 11:39: And now for best picture..... Sorry, director! Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men. (I haven't seen it.) 11:45: Finally, best picture. Denzel Washington is announcing the award... It's "No Country for Old Men." I haven't seen it, but I doubt it's better than "There Will Be Blood." MORE: The Oscars shown fighting here are probably the best Oscars of the evening: May the best Oscar win! On a final note, I'm turning in, but if you still want Dead-blogging, here's a nifty 1972 film of a "Veneta, Oregon concert to benefit the Springfield Creamery in nearby Springfield, Oregon": The event was emceed by Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs. (And if you know who they are, may God have pity on your remaining brain cells!) MORE: Roger L. Simon (who, in addition to being a blogger, is a screenwriter no longer on strike) discusses the lackluster Oscar Awards and crummy films, and he offers ideas for new films. I especially liked this one: An infiltrator inside Al Qaeda. This is the most obvious, but who would that really be? Most Al Qaeda members are, superficially anyway, murderous thuggish Arab terrorist-types with a distinctly unromantic veneer. Hard to marry or build a romantic plot around even if a double-agent. (How do you deal with how he treats the Ilsa character or women in general?) And, sad to say, despite the fact that Al Qaeda is wildly misogynistic and homophobic, seeks world domination through primitive religious law while under the direction of a Saudi billionaire, many see it, incredibly, as an avatar of Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth - in other words, "genuinely" on the side of the poor. Pathetically stupid, but not good for this film.If Hollywood really wanted to, they could make a film based on Al Qaeda's American member (Adam Gadahn, who'd have to be renamed) and depict him as homesick, wracked by internal guilt and torment, and finally secretly deciding to subvert Al Qaeda by making himself look totally preposterous and hopelessly unappealing as he loutishly spouts their propaganda -- hoping in the inner recesses of his heart that it will undermine their cause but knowing all the while that his valiant efforts will go forever unnoticed and unappreciated. Meanwhile, American government rogue scientists manage to get hold of Muhammad's DNA from the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (it's there in the form of hair and teeth), and they illicitly clone an army of Muhammad embryos..... How the plot might turn out, I don't know. What I do know is that Hollywood's total lack of imagination is starting to show. Hence the awards mostly go to foreigners.... I also liked Roger's conclusion: ...sad to say, this is a probably an academic exercise. I doubt Hollywood is ready to make a movie like this, even if it would be a hit. They just don't seem to want to cheer for our team, no matter how much the audience wants it.No, they just want to undermine their own country, and in the process they've so undermined their own industry that they've become self canceling. Even the glamor is gone. posted by Eric on 02.24.08 at 10:35 PM
Comments
Wow. I didn't know that Hillary plagiarized Kesey! Eric Scheie · February 26, 2008 09:27 AM Post a comment
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"If your fences aren't mended, the sheep will get out." (Ken Kesey, Veneta, Oregon, 1972)