Wow, what a show. Certainly one of the best Oscar telecasts I remember seeing in quite some time. Not that Billy Crystal isnt still "King" of the Academy, but our old friend from high school who taught us all how to "get small" did a tremendous job and had me laughing my arse off all night. I've been longing for ages to see my main man Steve slide back into his standup days and it's execellent to see he's lost absolutely nothing in that regard.
As for my predictions, I was once again Mike's spank-baby as he took me to the woodshed in "red-headed step child" style. All I can say is "ouch".
Couldn't be happier about some of my miscues, though. As much as I wanted Richard Gere to win best actor (which, due to Academy ignorance, wasn't nominated) I settled for Michael Caine. When they announced the name of Adrien Brody, all it took for me to be joyously reimagined was seeing the face of genuine suprise, appreciation, and gratitude, with tons of humility thrown in for good measure. Directly because of this, I will now watch this kid's career rather closely. I'll go as far as to say that his acceptance speech should be cannonized and played every year to show everyone else how it should be done.
Hurray for Michael Moore for "Bowling for Columbine" as I picked that to win. As for his speech, I confess I agree with some of what he said, but his overzealous approach in regards to screaming his disapproval of Bush came across more like fanaticism. Not to mention stupidity as certainly there were servicemen in some parts of Iraq who were watching as not everyone is engaged in fighting. The last thing they need in a time of combat is someone bashing their purpose by calling into question their commander-and-chief. And while I'll say again I don't buy the reasons our gov't gives us for being there, I love everyone of those guys and girls in uniform. I consider them my brothers and sisters, and would gladly take up arms with them, and surely Mike agrees with me wholeheartedly in that regard.
To say I'm thrilled about Nicole Kidman winning is possibly the understatement of the year. I pull for her every year. She is the epitome of grace under pressure. While she had me in her pocket already, she solidified my love for her when she attended the awards in the face of the "Tom" scandal, and showed that unforgiving smug punk what class if all about.
Roman Polanski winning for best director didn't suprise me. Enough time has passed to where people have forgiven him of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old while trying to get her drunk. Surely this should have no bearing on who does something "Best", but let's face it,,,,,,it does, which is why he's just now winning something he deserved years ago.
As for him bolting the country to escape jail, I guess I'll confess I don't blame him. When you're told on the phone you're going to jail for basically what is a life sentence when you've been told it's only going to be a few months, you run. The shock factor alone would get you packing. Facing the music is one thing...a judge putting a rap record on in the middle of your Sinatra impersonation is something else.
"Chicago" clearly deserved the best picture this year. Have to state, for the record, that while I did say "Chicago".....I followed it up with "Gangs of New York". I was that conflicted, which is why I can not take credit for getting that one right. My obligation to give Mike what is his over-rides my desire to be closer in the competition.
Again, it was an excellent show, and for the first time in a while, I can't wait till next year!
WAR COSTS OVER 75 BILLION
I'm sure most of us have heard the cost of the War in Iraq is now over the 75 billion plateau. That kind of money is hard for a humble fellow like me to imagine, although I would like to be able to. But when you have that kind of money, you can only look to what you can do with it. So let's take a look at 3 things we could do with it here (instead of giving it to "friendly's" such as Enron)
#1. Put EVERY child in the US thru HARVARD, for the next 100 years.
#2. Feed EVERY hungry child in the US FOR LIFE
#3. Healthcare FOR LIFE for ALL US citizens for the next 2 generations.
Surely an idea like this will NEVER come across the mind of those in power today, but who knows, maybe one day we'll actually get people in our government who give a damn about us...other than Senator Byrd, that is.
Till next time take care, and God bless
Matthew
