La La Land

Sunday night was Hollywood's Superbowl: The Academy Awards.  There were both good and bad moments.

Chris Rock was OK.  I give him a C/C- for his debut as Oscars host.

But let's be clear: Chris Rock is NOT a "genius," despite what his cronies in the industry babble.  Let's stop already with saying he's daring and brave and intelligent simply b/c he's overtly racist (sometimes to ALL races, even blacks) and profane with his comedy.  He is a funny comedian who has creative ideas, but he isn't intelligent or classy enough to recognize his own limitations.

For example, he recently gave advice to would-be Oscar winners: "Don't thank God, He's too busy with the Tsunami."  (For the record, not one winner thanked God, which isn't surprising for Hollywood.)

Rock went too far with his opening act.  His initial Bush-bashing joke -- about giving the president credit for winning the election while every other movie in America was about how much he sucked -- was hilarious!  It was also relevant to the event. 

Rock's next joke was neither funny nor relevant.

He then compared the Iraq War to a hypothetical war between The Gap and Banana Republic, including the visual aid of "blood all over the clothes."  The point was that if anyone but the president started a war and presided over a trillion-dollar debt, that person would be fired.

About two minutes later, Rock pretended to suddenly take the subject seriously by applauding the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, in which the crowd appeasingly followed suit.  But I'm not sure that message was genuine or effective considering he completely belittled their cause just minutes earlier.  Wow, what a classy move.

Actually, it was classless and DUMB.  So much for Rock's misleading "genius" label.

To his credit, Rock mostly recovered.  He even poked fun at Michael Moore and John Kerry before the night was over.  But he also RIPPED actor Jude Law for being overrated, which apparently offended actor Sean Penn, who later made a point to clarify that Jude Law was "one of our greatest actors."

Leave it to Sean Penn to think too highly of his craft and his industry.  That joke didn't mock anyone who risks his or her life every day to protect America or its interests.  The joke mocked Jude Law, an actor, and several other actors -- including Rock himself!  Get a clue, Sean.

My favorite part of the whole ceremony was never on TV.  The best part was the huge, conspicuous billboards that stood in the view of everyone on the red carpet.  They were sponsored by citizensunited.org, and they thanked Hollywood for helping reelect George W. Bush.

What capped off the evening was Clint Eastwood winning both Best Director and Best Picture for his movie "Million-Dollar Baby."  That put a nice bow on the event for me.

(See post "Go ahead, Mike -- make his day!" from 1/15/05)

Finally, some belated kudos to Kirk Douglas who, a few years ago, jokingly stressed that the Oscar-winning announcement should be "AND THE WINNER IS..." (which it was for over 65 years) instead of the pansy (and current) "AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...."

These actors are big boys and girls, and they use the company line that it's "just an honor to be nominated" anyway.  If that's true, then who cares about the sensitivity of saying someone definitively WINS?  If elementary school spelling bees can do it, so can Hollywood.  Grow up, already.

And so ended the biggest night in possibly the sleaziest business in arguably the sleaziest town in America.

Yet those aforementioned billboards remain.  Thank God.