Oscar bombs. "The Passion of The Frodo" sweeps, and more beautiful stars bravely impersonate the genuinely homely to great success. But all the crooked teeth in New Zealand can't save a dull, dull Oscar night. [Salon.com]
It was a dud, wasn't it? Here you have the most contentious moment in US politics in many years, and the most anyone with a world stage at the Oscars could say was Sean Penn's allusion to the absence of WMDs in Iraq. I appreciate the bind the actors are in: if they "get political," people will say they have no business doing so; if they remain silent, people will say they missed an opportunity, or were cowards, or whatever.
Still, it was a sad day to see Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, AND Sean Penn show up for the ceremonies AND not do something truly transgressive. It's as if they all came to the same conclusion in the same year: If you have to be a whore, you might as well be the best one. The one consolation was seeing Johnny Depp tell a reporter prior to the show (in not so many words) that right after the show ended he would be returning "home" (i.e., France).
General Stuff doesn't want his Oscars to be staid and pleasant, friendly fare for Middle America. Fuck Middle America. The Academy Awards are the Gay New Year. They should be appalling to Middle America. They should be dripping with pinko liberal sentiment, self-righteous anger, and faux populism. I know the Academy Awards have never been a truly transgressive affair; in fact, quite the opposite. But I want them to be. I want the bi-sexual costume designers and sadomasochistic actresses and coke-snorting producers to offer their naughty little selves to the world, unashamed of their predilections.
When Sean Penn accepts an Oscar, it is truly a sign that the terrorists have won.
1:03:51 PM 
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