maybe it's a function of me living most of my life in the midwest (still not used to the eastern time zone), or perhaps because this was one of the rare years where i hadn't seen most (if not all) of this year's nominated films, but once 11:30pm rolled around and they STILL hadn't gotten to the Best Director, Actor, Actress, OR Picture winners at last night's Oscars, I had grown pretty tired of the back-slapping. Was Doogie Howser really necessary to start the show? And I would've rather heard the original song nominees perform their songs in full (or at least a live medley), esp. if it meant a shorter dance interpretation of the original score nominees. For an industry whose job it is to entertain us (a job at which they profit mightily, by the way, even though I couldn't tell you the last time I went to the theater...although i do love netflix!), how do they succeed in making this show so BORING every year? Ditch the cheezy jokes and production numbers and long-winded "star" intros that take up so much time, and just have a brisk, classy awards show. Incorporate more modern technology. We're used to movie-related things sucking us into the screen (however large or small), and it's the one awards show where that should really be to their advantage. Most of it should be pre-produced, not live. We should all (nominees and moviegoers) be able to sit back and enjoy the show, esp. with all the animation and 3-D and action flick special effects experts there are in Hollywood. The Oscars has always been a night of glamour, but a speedy Oscars broadcast might bring a little bit of class back to a Hollywood that obviously pines for its golden era, with the cabana-style setting of the theater, historical film montages, lifetime achievement awards, etc. This would also leave (a little) more time for acceptance speeches. Yes, they may most often be mundane, but they can also end up being the most memorable, poignant moments of the show. It's always so awkward when people get "played off" the stage by the music, esp. when certain folks get :30 to say their spiel, and others (Jeff Bridges) get what seems like 10 minutes! Everybody knew you were gonna win, Jeff - could you not prepare some sort of brief speech? And I still have NO desire to see Avatar, lol...all of the documentary nominees looked pretty awesome, though! Here's Alec Baldwin's post-show comments after co-hosting. Alright, I've already won the "Could You Be More Ironical?" Award for being way too long-winded with my critique of The Oscars being too long, so I'll leave it at that!
I was sad to find out today about the passing over the weekend of Mark Linkous, who made great music for the better part of the last 2 decades, mostly under the band name Sparklehorse. Do yourself a favor and check out any/all music Mark made during his, at times, troubled life. It certainly made my life better enjoying the sounds he created. So thanks for that, Mark.
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