Os-scars

Good grief. How did I manage to sit through the entire Academy Awards tonight? It was painful. Notable things that happened:

1. James Franco looked and talked like he had a full-body cast on. He is not funny; he is not charismatic; he is terribly dull. Epic fail.

2. Anne Hathaway looked strange. Pretty dresses, all 27 or whatever, but she looked sick and her makeup was fucked up, kind of clownish.

3. The show started and maintained a high level of tedium.

4. Kirk Douglas presented and even though he's a fossil, he had more charisma than the hosts.

5. The winner for best supporting said "fucking" on screen. No delay I guess. Sweet.

6. The Randy Newman performance was botched by the sound guy, because he voice was too low and music too high. He won, but gracefully didn't mention it, though he did mention his 20 nominations and only two wins.

7. Billy Crystal made an appearance (I guess he was backstage for emergency in case the audience started to fall asleep). He did a 5 minute stand up that was the best thing in the entire show. What? Really? He made Anne and James look like tedious bores.

8. The "In Memoriam" was beautiful as usual. Tony Curtis died last year. He was awesome to watch. Celine Dion sang, nice job too. But Halle Barry had to make a speech about Lena Horn who died this last year, and I guess inspired other black actors - ironically I don't think any black people won anything this year. oops.

9. Christian Bale and Natalie Portman won as they should have done.

10. I guess I should have seen the "King's Speech".

11. This year Barbara Walters interviews were replaced by coverage of the after-parties, where the celebrity worship goes full tilt boogie.

12. I think I survived b/c we started watching after dinner and using the PVR to fast forward the commercials. Must remember this strategy. Last year I almost puncture my eardrums with sharp pencils.

This was also posted on the media blog.

Hollyweird Lately

In 2009 and 2010, Hollywood began producing less reality TV and more written dramas and comedies. In 2011, we are waist deep in a wealth of dramatic choice.

Good grief.  How did I manage to sit through the entire Academy Awards tonight?  It was painful.  Notable things that happened:

1. James Franco looked and talked like he had a full-body cast on.  He is not funny; he is not charismatic; he is terribly dull.  Epic fail.
2. Anne Hathaway looked strange.  Pretty dresses, all 27 or whatever, but she looked sick and her makeup was fucked up, kind of clownish.
3. The show started and maintained a high level of tedium.
4. Kirk Douglas presented and even though he's a fossil, he had more charisma than the hosts.
5. The winner for best supporting said "fucking" on screen.  No delay I guess.  Sweet.
6. The Randy Newman performance was botched by the sound guy, because he voice was too low and music too high.  He won, but gracefully didn't mention it, though he did mention his 20 nominations and only two wins.
7. Billy Crystal made an appearance (I guess he was backstage for emergencing in case the audience started to fall alseep).  He did a 5 minute stand up that was the best thing in the entire show.  What?  Really?  He made Anne and James look like tedious bores.
8. The "In Memoriam" was beautiful as usual.  Tony Curtis died last year.  He was awesome to watch. Celine Dion sang, nice job too.  But Halle Barry had to make a speech about Lena Horn who died this last year, and I guess inspired other black actors - ironically I don't think any black people won anything this year. oops.
9. Christian Bale and Natalie Portman won as they should have done.
10. I guess I should have seen the "King's Speech".
11. This year Barbara Walters interviews were replaced by coverage of the after-parties, where the celebrity worship goes full tilt boogie.
12. I think I survived b/c we started watching after dinner and using the PVR to fast forward the commercials.  Must remember this strategy.  Last year I almost puncture my eardrums with sharp pencils.

Kaddish

I was listening to a recording of Allen Ginsberg recite his poem "Kaddish" in Greenwich Village in the seventies.  A kaddish is a Jewish prayer of mourning, and Ginsberg wrote the book length poem for his late mother.  The poem is a list of things of this world his mother no longer has to deal with: the pain, the suffering, the health problems, the injustice, the transient nature of joy and beauty, the family problems, politics, religion, the problems big and small.  This year I am thankful I'm still around to deal with this life.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the good things.  But I'm thankful for the crap too as it is a constant reminder that I am blessed with the ability to choose how to respond to these challenges.

I love Ginsberg's poetry.  The poems have a serene, wise tone to them that remind me of Walt Whitman.  But Whitman had a larger vision; he visualized the earth and its people and how people could love it, and love themselves.  Ginsberg's vision was a little narrower but still potent.  "Howl" has a national vision; it laments the passing of an idealized America, an America that never was or an America that could have been - before Vietnam, Watergate, and the assassinations of Martin Luther, JFK, Malcom X, and Bobby Kennedy.  The poem "America" also explores the author's disappointment and pain as he envisions both what is wrong with America and what could have been right. 

Poems lamenting the destruction of a nation or the possibility of a nation is called a jeremiad, because the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament describes Jeremiah's lament over the destruction of Israel, a destruction they brought on themselves, for not listening to God.