The Smell of Self Praise

The Oscar show ended with a whimper tonight after banging its own drum for four hours. And I regret to say I sat through most of it hoping it would find a higher road. Instead, the Academy (as it likes to call itself in desperate hope of imparting some actual meaning to what it does) took the safe, slow, flat and muddy path through the slums of a third world country. At the end of the night, the movie business managed to look even more transparently self serving than it does all the rest of the year. Anointing a mindless fairy tale that glamorizes television, drug violence and caste distinction with a gold plated plaster mold that has no genitalia (even though he is naked) renders the AMPAS utterly irrelevant and out of touch. Again.
The only good thing that happened was Sean Penn being just a bit self effacing and graciously acknowledging Mickey Rourke in his acceptance speech. Mr Penn also used the bully pulpit he held for about 90 seconds to get in some digs at the anti-gay hate-mongering right wing. Bravo to him for seizing the moment and giving some lip back to the self-righteous fascists who are denying same-sex couples what should be their equal rights. Another great moment was Sophia Loren posing with her hand on her hip and daring anyone to suggest she has aged at all let alone gracefully. She carried the evening even though she spoke for less than sixty seconds.
It has nothing to do with the movie awards, but I wish to comment on the last few days in national politics and the theater is has provided. Theater of the Absurd that is. It seems some of the Republican governors are openly stating they don't like the stimulus package because of the strings attached. Funny how they did not complain when the previous administration put far more stringent and onerous oh-by-the-ways on No Child Left Behind just to name one heavy handed program that cost money rather than provided it. Once again the intellectual dishonesty of the right wing shows it has no bottom. But the worst offender in the category of If-we-can't win,-at-least-inflict-maximum-damage is this fathead senator from the deep south. Shelby I think is now saying our president is not a citizen and so he is illegally in the White House. Some newspaper in Philadelphia is saying this and worse, calling Obama a Marxist and Communist and dismantler of all things sacred especially capitalism. The governor of Florida, a republican aptly named Crist, has allowed that there is only one national leader on the scene and his name is Obama and he is running the executive branch of the government. So here we do have a rare moment of intellectual honesty from a quarter not known for it and I applaud Mr Crist. Though I do not worship him. The sooner our capitalist model is exposed for what it is and the damage it has done, the sooner it can be systematically gutted and replaced with a more fair and balanced method of allocating dwindling resources. And anybody who does not see that as a step forward is an idiot. Who probably thinks Slum Dog Millionaire is a great movie.