Now Playing: Darius Milhaud--"Suite Provencale"
Believe it or not, I'm glad I watched the Oscars. I wasn't particularly enthused over any of the awards, except for Philip Seymour Hoffman's win; I love that guy. It was more for the spectacle itself, and what it says about the people who try and rule our imaginations. Now, while I think the Oscars have serious issues, it's hard to truly despise a ceremony whose high points are 36 Mafia, Itzhak Perlman, and a brief shot of Peter Sallis sitting behind Tim Burton. In what's probably a personal record, I only saw one of the movies nominated for an award over the past year, and that was March of the Penguins. Jon Stewart proved shockingly flat as a host; I haven't seen The Daily Show for over two years, but I've never thought he'd lose any of the funny (and therefore I blame the occasion). Ludacris and a few others aside, the introductory speeches were cowed and lame, like all the life had gone out of the ceremony. It was painful watching Lauren Bacall wrestle with that film noir tribute, but overall there was a healthy sense of schadenfreude about the whole thing. The film industry is (or believes itself to be) in trouble, and it was fun to see the results. My favorite moment was the speech from the President of the Academy (whoever he is). While not up to the standard of the RIAA president (whoever he was) who delivered that rousing "hunt-and-destroy" speech at the Grammies a few years back regarding MP3 downloads, it was still pretty stirring stuff. If it weren't for him, I would have gone wholly ignorant of the crime I've perpetrated on the American film community, and my own aesthetic sensibilities by not making damn certain I caught visionary masterpieces like Yours, Mine, and Ours, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, and In the Mix in the only way to truly appreciate them--on the big screen (TM)!! I'll have to have a good long think; where did I first go wrong?
Actually, In the Mix looks pretty entertaining.