Mark’s Soap Box

Oscar’s Go Bland and Still Insult

I watched much of the Oscars last night, till I couldn’t stand it anymore and turned on something else. (I don’t even remember what I watched, but it was less painful than the Oscars) I have no doubt the reason my poker was so bad last night is clearly due to the pain I was feeling watching the dull, boring, and insulting Oscar show. At least that is my story.

The Academy and Hollywood have a long way to go to make up for the hatred and bilge they have pumped out. Blanding your broadcast is not going to do it. You need a complete reversal of the political crap you spew.

The Envelope Please

And the winner is? No one, clearly not the audience.

The critics are all a guffaw, saying there were no insults or edgy moments.

The critics today will note she offended nobody. For that alone, she will likely be asked back. (nypost article)

Well, I beg to differ.

Highlights (I am being nice):

1. Jerry Seinfeld insults theater owners. Yea, the people who are suffering due to the horrific movies being made are told they are nothing more than janitors, thieving janitors at that.

“In movie theaters now, they’re trying to get you to pick up the garbage around your seat. I’m picking nothing up. I’m the one who threw it down. How many different jobs do I have to do?”

…

We have an agreement. “You rip us off on overpriced crap. Things I don’t need, and that are bad for me. When I am finished, I open my hand.”

Nice job Jerry. You think that you are there to trash someone else’s business. That is why they have to run those spots to remind you and liberals (also those who have been trained by liberal, i.e. public school children) of courtesy. You of course take this as an insult for which you return the favor. This points out the exact issue with Hollywood. Lack of respect, for anyone or thing other than their own — hyper-inflated egomaniacal — selves.

2. Oscars showing their hatred for America and Israel:

Best Live Action Short Film: West Bank Story. Ari Sandel. Pic was about two competing falafel stands as a way of explaining the Mideast conflict. Says Sandel: “Hope is not helpless.”

It’s a musical (a’la West Side Story) and equates the conflict with a Broadway stage show.

Debbi Schussel has more.

Some Goring of America by the lefty nut cases:

Davis Guggenhiem: “My fellow Americans … [laughter], people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue.”

Hollywood is to morals as politicians are to morals: two ships in the night.

This is another example of why Hollywood is so reviled. They can’t get over their anger at losing (they believe they lost) the election of 2000. The fact that Hollywood and the news media did everything they could do to get Gore elected and failed fills them with rage.

deadelinehollywood reported: There are Mexican flags waving in the audience. (see next topic)

3. The loss of American in the Oscars

Ellen DeGeneres, doing a crisp and unpretentious job in her first gig as an Oscar host, said at the outset that this would be “the most international Oscars ever,” and that prediction seemed to come true. But it meant that many of the films cited were largely obscure to the national audience. Weren’t the Oscars invented to honor American films? Apparently not anymore. (from WaPo, see below)

Hello American-hating Academy. Wake up.

4. Rewarding your political friends instead of quality.

Al Gore, looking larger than life, took to the stage twice, once to chew the fat with Leonardo DiCaprio (who told Gore, “You are a true champion for the cause,” meaning, of course, the cause of environmental issues). Gore returned later to share in the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, “An Inconvenient Truth,” essentially an illustrated lecture by the former vice president on the subject of global warming. (from WaPo, see below)

5. Going low brow:

Steve Carell says about sound effects: “It’s usually best done alone, late at night, surrounded by electronic gadgets.” Adds Greg Kinnear: “And if you really want to do it right, it’s always best when you pay top dollar for a true professional”.

Yea, I know it’s not that racy. The problem is that in contrast to the rest of the night it stood out at blatant ‘blue’ humor, that was not funny. Going ‘blue’ to get laughs, is usually not a good way to go. It’s even worse when you are merely trying to be cheeky and can’t pull it off. Without Kinnear adding his idiocy, it would have been O.K.

** Articles on Oscars **

WaPo says:

Alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) a bore and a horror,

Scarred by Oscars

I’ll remember this 79th Academy Awards show as a mostly black-and-white amateur hour shot in the style of the 1950s. I feel compelled to ask whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is aware that the world now has color television?

NYT gushes, of course, but does hit some salient points:

The Academy Awards are the one night when Hollywood struts and preens as if nothing is bigger or more powerful than the movie business. Yet the selection of Ms. DeGeneres, the first daytime talk-show host to serve as the master of ceremonies, was a reaffirmation of television as the dominant water-cooler medium — for the moment.

Ms. DeGeneres noted how many foreigners were nominated. “I see a few Americans,” she said. “Of course I’m talking about the seat fillers.”

Yea, O.K. NYT; we get it. You hate Conservative, Christians, Republicans, and anyone White or American. The NYT let slip the bias of themselves and the Democrats:

And like the Democratic Party the night was notable for its diversity: not just race or gender or sexual preference, but nationality.

Question for NYT: what party had the largest number of minorities in top spots during administration? Answer: Republican (GWB).

Oh the Variety,not.

Oscars LXXIX, to cast the 79th edition in Super Bowl-like grandeur, did start on an elegant note, show casing the nominees in a taped segment and then panning the room to find them all standing, basking in the warm adulation of their peers. It was a feeling, alas, that couldn’t and didn’t last.

Only insiders would understand this clip. Once again showing why Hollywood does not get it. They live in this echo chamber and feel they are the only thing that exists. Get over yourselves. We are tired of you.

Tags: Al Gore, algore, Babel, Blood Diamond, Clint Eastwood, documentary, Dreamgirls, Global Warming, Green, Happy Feet, Hollywood, Jennifer Hudson, Jerry Seinfeld, Laura Ziskin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Letters from Iwo Jima, Martin Scrocese, Nicole Kidman, Oscars, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Departed