March 15, 2006
Oscar and Sour Grapes
It would appear that Annie Proulx, the author of the short story which became the movie "Brokeback Mountain" is mightily peeved that "Brokeback" wasn't picked for "Best Picture".
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The people connected with Brokeback Mountain, including me, hoped that, having been nominated for eight Academy awards, it would get Best Picture as it had at the funny, lively Independent Spirit awards the day before. (If you are looking for smart judging based on merit, skip the Academy Awards next year and pay attention to the Independent Spirit choices.) We should have known conservative heffalump academy voters would have rather different ideas of what was stirring contemporary culture. Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest-homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films are good. And rumour has it that Lions Gate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of Trash - excuse me - Crash a few weeks before the ballot deadline. Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver. |
Hmmm... yep, she sounds mightily... peeved.
Disclaimer here: I haven't seen "Brokeback". Don't plan to - it just doesn't sound like my cup of tea. Nor am I much interested in "Crash", which did win "Best Picture".
It's not that Middle America is "hostile" to the theme of "Brokeback" - we're just not much interested. And I suspect that the majority of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences is the same way.
I am, rather distantly, interested in Proulx, who really is a skilled writer - with a bad case of sour grapes.
Hey, Annie? You win some, you lose some.
Posted by ward at 09:05 PM | TrackBack
March 07, 2006
Moody Blues
Last week, Mrs. OWW went to a concert - The Moody Blues hit Jacksonville!
Woooohooooo!!!
These guys have been making music, good for 35 years.
Unlike a certain SuperBowl group, the Moody Blues do NOT look or sound like revived corpsicles. Edge, Lodge and Hayward still get down and flat out rock.
Nights in White Satin? Certainly.
Ride My Seesaw? You bet.
Lost Chord? Of course.
I'm Just a Singer in a Rock 'n Roll Band? Absolutely.
They didn't do Dr. Livingston, which was the only minor disappointment in the whole evening.
A dozen others? Yowza!
I've missed, over the years, 3 earlier opportunities to see them. After attending this one, I regret that - but I didn't miss out on the quality, 'cause these old geezers still have it, in spades.
Posted by ward at 11:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack