Hi all. Another year of the Academy Awards has come and gone. I have watched the telecast since I was in diapers lo so many years ago. The Oscars have always been about tradition for me. I used to watch with my Mother and we would scream with delirious joy when we were happy and growl with disdain when we were disappointed.
My partner and I started a tradition a few years ago with a group of friends. We decided to do a 5 course dinner party and theme each course to a nominee for Best Picture. Although, we take liberty to include films not nominated if we want.
Last night was a lot of work and great. Follow me below the fold to see what we made for each film. I hope in the comments, you will include your ideas from this year's awards and the past.
In much the same way that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, conservative culture warriors love to hate the Oscars. Last night's 80th Academy Awards were no exception. Nothing seems to infuriate the family values crowd more than Hollywood award winners on stage thanking their same-sex partners for their support. Nothing, that is, except the sight of American soldiers in Iraq introducing them.
I did this last year & it seemed like fun, so I thought this could be sort of a post script for anyone who wanted to talk about the results or anything else related to the Oscars.
And since this was the 80th Academy Awards, a little bit of looking back. In the past, there have been big arguments over how some films won over what were arguably superior movies. But the operative word is "arguably", since all of this is subjective.
So a little history & tonight's winners (or last night's depending on which time-zone you're in).
Just as I was flipping over the Oscars, the nominations for Best Documentary was on.
And the winner was Taxi to the Darkside.
What an incredibly sad, outrageous, and infuriating true story. My blood boiled as my wife and I watched in horror. It was one thing reading about these cases over the years, but watching this depiction of what our Administration did to this man was just unreal.
Document the fashion atrocities, the artistic robberies, and so on.
Scout Finch has already filled us in on actor-activists. To complement that, what are your favorite political movies, this year or any other?
And remember that blogger Diablo Cody is nominated for best screenwriter for Juno.
Dubious bonus: See if you can spot me here. Since it's hard enough that my parents missed me the first time on a regular television, let alone a fuzzy YouTube, I'll tell you I'm on the Elvis Costello side of the stage, and my split second of screen time is during a fade.
Good evening and welcome to the sixth edition of Outstanding in the Field. A weekly Sunday evening diary dedicated to Americans outside the beltway who are working to improve life in American.
Since tonight is also the night of The 80th Annual Academy Awards this diary could be a celebration of the reality of Hollywood fiction vs. the media's so called facts. But since it is Oscar Night, tonight's diary is devoted to Ruby Dee who was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category and had a very long career that was certainly outstanding in her field of endeavor.
This year's most-honored films mostly are rather bleak. "If a movie-goer manages to see all the Oscar-nominated films, a generous dose of antidepressants will be in order," remarked Washington Post writer Robin Givhan.
With at least one survey finding 75 percent of Americans feeling that our country is on the wrong track, the trend toward gloomy movies may seem to be a case of art imitating life. Yet as the ideology of hyper-individualism runs its dangerous course through our politics and culture, the American public may be drawn to entertainment that depicts the future we're desperate to avoid.
In the midst of all this political theater with so much sturm I practically hurl after I drang it, there are cheap metaphors just waiting to be observed:
The battle for the prize for best picture is like the upcoming presidential election - a near exact metaphor for four oops, no two films:
I saw the film about a month ago, and still can't get it out of my head. It's a masterpiece. And, as the primaries merge into Oscar season, I can't help but ruminate on the message(s) of the film, and the mess that over 35 years of the drug war have made of our country. In that sense, there is no question, at least in my mind, that "No Country" is indeed the best film of the year, and perhaps the best movie yet made about the War on Drugs.
If you haven't seen it yet, be warned: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Thanks to John Holbo over at Crooked Timber for pointing out a howler from the early pages of David Frum’s Comeback Conservatism. In this excerpt from p. 37, Frum, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior foreign policy advisor for Rudolph 9iu11iani, says John Edwards is neither an economic egalitarian nor a friend of the poor:
Voters sense this truth. It’s an observable fact that those voters who care most deeply about equality – deeply enough to organize their lives to live in egalitarian communities – overwhelmingly vote Republican.
Take a look at a map of the state of Missouri. A recent study conducted by the state identified a dozen of the state’s 114 counties as "equality centers." These equality centers were located on the outer fringes of St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia, and Springfield. Every single one of these highly egalitarian areas of the state voted overwhelmingly Republican.
Meanwhile, the most unequal parts of Missouri, the cities and especially the city of St. Louis, voted heavily Democratic. Where you find many different lifestyles and races; where you find singles, immigrants, and gays; where you find high-rise buildings, country estates, and really great take-out – there you find inequality. After all, what is inequality but another form of "diversity"? And what is "equality" but another word for homogeneity? Communities with lots of married families, lots of single-family homes, and low proportions of nonwhite minorities and single people – communities that Democrats and liberals would inwardly disparage as "white bread" – are communities in which people tend to earn similar amounts of money.
If your eyes ever return from rolling back into your head over that bit of wisdom, there’s plenty of reading material at Overnight News Digest to keep you busy for a while.
And don't forget to call a Senator or two tomorrow to encourage them to help out Chris Dodd on FISA.
I have not marched against the war in Iraq. I went to one protest and it was so pathetically small and inconsequential-- a kind of reunion for aging 60's types on the beach in Carlsbad-- that I came home more depressed than before I went. So I didn't have much hope for a film about the war. But "In the Valley of Elah" is a stunning masterpiece that works on every level! It is an indictment, but it is never didactic. No question, Tommy Lee Jones will win the Best Actor Oscar for it; and Sarandon and Theron will vie for supporting awards.
Ever since "An Inconvenient Truth" won its two Oscars(tm), I've been giving a great deal of thought about the significance of that event. I've been frustrated by the attempts to swiftboat Al Gore by the "Tennessee Center for Policy Research." On another website I visit, I had a short but spirited guestbook exchange with someone calling themself "Nicky Cage from Hollywood" about the validity of climate change ("Nicky" couldn't refute any of the statements I made, but simply referred to me as a "global warming fanatic").
But the Oscar(tm) win led me to start thinking about how that might help bring the issue to an even wider audience. I know, I know--to all of us it seems ridiculous to think that such a critical issue as climate change isn't in front of everyone every day, but I really don't think that's the case.
The day after his documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' received two Oscars, Al Gore's political stock is high - unlike the stock market which took a beating today.
From NBC's 'Today' show as reported by ABC News' The Note
NBC News' Andrea Mitchell on "Today" explored the possibility that Vice President Gore, the "inconvenient candidate," might run for president, calling him "Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare."
Said Mitchell, "the new Al Gore: he is suddenly cool, and coy about keeping his options open."
What are other reporters, columnists, and politicos saying about this possible matchup and Al Gore's political future?
Say what you want about whether he will run or not, but Al Gore is an Icon of dramatic proportions that we have on our side and that will affect the 2008 election. The Rethuglicans et. al. don't have anything like him on their side. Gore has come to represent integrity, care for the environment, green technology, and the values of the Democratic Party. He's got credibility with the mainstream and now he's got the Oscar, the 7/7/07 concerts and perhaps the Nobel Prize. He'll be out there in the public eye and the pop culture, and if he doesn't run, I'm betting he'll help campaign for the candidate that comes out strongest on the environment. He has no baggage at all. There's no hangover with Gore (read: Monica). The only bad decision he ever really made politically was picking Lieberman as a running mate. That's over now. He's more popular than he was in 2000 and in 2000 he won the popular vote by a large margin (read: political capital). He represents what's good about the Democratic Party and he only seems to get better.
So regardless of whether he runs or not, here's to Al Gore, the clear-headed, solid, credible enviro spokesperson the Dems have needed for a long time.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court of the United States intervened to revoke the Academy Award won by 'An Inconvenient Truth' last night at the 79th Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, in Los Angeles, California. Responding to a case filed this morning in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Exxon v Guggenheim, David, Gore et al, and moving at lightning speed through the legal system all the way up to the highest court of the land, a spokesman issued this stunning statement
After reviewing all the overseas ballots cast for this documentary, we have concluded that it is unclear if all of them were legitimate. Therefore, until such time this case is resolved in our legal system, we have decided that the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts, and Sciences acted in haste. Their judgments, based on the compelling arguments made in Exxon v Guggenheim, David, Gore et al were, to say the least, unconvincing. Oral arguments will be heard early this afternoon.
When asked if he is planning to enter the 2008 race for president, Al Gore says he has no plans to run. However, Mr. Gore has done little to dispel rumors that he will enter the race. In fact, he has perpetuated them. Case in point: His well-orchestrated skit with co-presenter Leonardo DiCaprio last evening, in which before millions of viewers he teasingly began "My fellow Americans, I'm going to take this opportunity right here and now to formally announce my intention . . . " At this point, as rehersed, the orchestra cut him off. If anyone hadn’t noticed, this is almost the same type of teaser which Barack Obama used during the Chicago Bears playoff game, a precursor of his eventual announcement. Was this a mere coincidence? Hardly!
I did this 
