All I could think of was Bush's bloody war.
The sons of bitches who run Tulsa's ABC affiliate copied the
bigger assholes
and not run that stupid news cral along the bottom of the screen,
so we're trying
to escape Bush's bloody war but we can't because the crawl keep
screaming
"15 dead, 12 captured, tortured by Iraqi
army."
How the hell am I supposed to watch some entertainment while Bush's
bloody
body count totals are crawling around my TV?
I got two pieces of paper and taped them to the screen to hide
that crap.
So the rest of the night, all I wanted was for every person who
got to the microphone
to say, "Stop this senseless, bloody
war that the idiot monkey has started."
Well, I was about to get my wish.
Two hours and five minutes into ABC's broadcast, Gaiel Garcia
Bearnal (phonetic)
was introducing a song from Frida and said, "The
necessity for peace in the world
is not a dream - it is a reality. And
we are not alone. If Frida was alive, she would
be on our side - against this
war." Good for you, Dude.
Twelve minutes later, Michael Moore won an Oscar for Best Documentary
with
Bowling for Columbine, which I'd really like to
see. Maybe HBO or Cinemax
will find the courage to run that. In what I thought was
a gracious gesture, Mike asked
all the nominees to come onstage with him, but did they know
what he was up to?
Moore said it was strange to write a documentary about real times
when we live
in fictitious times. Then he launched.
"We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president."
The crowd was cheering and booing at the same time.
"We live in a time where we have a man who's
sending us to war for fictitious reasons,
whether it's the fiction of duct tape
or the fiction of orange alerts."
Applause gave way to some boos, as the orchestra began playing for Moore to leave the stage.
"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame
on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you," Moore shouted.
"Anytime you have The Pope and the Dixie Chicks
against you, your time is up."
Oh, maybe you'd like to hear it?
Click
Here to hear/save the MP3
Afterward, host Steve Martin tried to restore levity.
"It was so sweet backstage, you should have
seen it," Martin joked.
"The Teamsters were helping Michael Moore
into the trunk of his limo."
You know how I feel about this stupid, bloody and unnecessary
war, but Moore went too far.
There are times when you use the big hammer and there are times
when you use a smaller hammer.
I think it would've made more sense to mention the war and keep
the crowd on your side.
But one thing, his comments were heard by a billion people.
And, once Moore said what he said, the pressure seemed to be
off.
Nobody else needed to say anything, but then came a moment
of true class.
Fourteen minutes after Moore left the stage, they introduced U2
to sing Rude Rich's
favorite song, The Hands that Built America, from
Gangs
of New York.
I thought Bono did a particularly spectacular version of that
great song.
Click
Here to hear/save a short MP3 of what nobody else
can do this well.
Damn, that sends the chills, doesn't it?
But that's not even the best part.
I think Bono and U2 wanted to send us a coded message.
Click
Here to hear/save the extra-short MP3 of the coded message
For those of you unable/unwilling to listen to that, when the
song was over, Bono said,
"Thank you," and then, for
no apparent reason, Larry the drummer got in a few licks.
Did you recognize it?
It was the opening to Sunday, Bloody Sunday.
If you're not familiar with the song, its lyrics include,
Sunday, Bloody Sunday)
And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they
die
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
The real battle just begun
To claim the victory Jesus won
Sunday Bloody Sunday
What a classy way to send the message.
In another venue, Bono might've handled this differently,
but this was Martin Scorcese's night more than Bono's,
so I thought that little drum message was better than Morse Code.
Well done, guys.
For my money, those couple of drum licks were the best thing
all night.
As the evening wore on, I started getting real tired of that Chicago song.
Next was Susan Sarandon, who very tastefully flashed a peace sign
on her way to the mic.
Earlier, one of the show's producers said it was impossible to
get Sarandon to do anything
she didn't want to do, such as remain silent, but again, after
Michael Moore, there wasn't
that much left to be said.
Another highlight was Adrien Brody's Best Actor acceptance.
Halle Berry read his name,
and when he approached her, he threw his arms around her and
did what every Democrat
in America wants to do. He gave her a deep, long kiss as he bent
her over backwards.
Whew!
Asked about it later, he said something like, "You
don't get a chance like that very often,
so I took my shot." Asked
if she kissed back, Brody said "Yes."
After the big kiss, Brody got serious. Quoting Variety.com,
But accepting his award, his jovial attitude
turned to tears as he remembered making the film
and thought about the war in Iraq.
He said his experiences had made him "very aware of the
sadness war causes. Let's pray for a
peaceful and swift resolution," he said, which brought
the audience to its feet. I think
the audience wanted to support the anti-war effort all along,
but Moore went a little too far and he
made it seem like bad behavior.
Sidebar:
There were no ridiculous dresses last night.
I think Renee Zellwegger probably won "Worst
Dress," but it wasn't that bad.
A few minutes later, another giant came out with words against
the war. Dustin Hoffman was
very polite and very reserved but his intentions and feelings
were clearer than Lake Concha.
"The artist can illuminate the past, and make
it relevent sometimes for the present,
and hopefully...correct the future.
It's an honor to present a clip from The Pianist.
The Pianist is a story of survival
in a world gone mad. It's about a Polish Jew, a
celebrated composer and musician who hides
in the devastated Warsaw ghetto
during the ...brutal ...Nazi ...occupation.
And although separated from his loved ones,
and witness to unspeakable horrors,
he
finds the will to survive."
The words in bold were punched home.
A great actor can say so much without coming out and saying it.
Dustin Hoffman is
very, very much against Bush's bloody and unnecessary war and
he let everybody
know it with with just his vocal inflections. It was another
of the night's highlights.
Next up, Barbara Streisand.
"Songs are amazing things - they allow us
to raise our voices in pain, in passion,
in praise, ...and in protest. I'm very
proud to live in a country that guarantees
every citizen, including artists, the
right to sing and to say what we believe."
Well, put.
She phrased that in such a way that only a fool (or a Republican)
could disagree with her.
There's no way Eminem should'be beat U2 for Best Song, but at
least I can take solace
in knowing the voting results were not tabulated by GOP-owned
Diebold.
I thought the guy who accepted Eminem's award wimped out totally
on the speech.
Christ, if Eminem's people can't have bad manners, who can?
Peter O'Toole was cool when he accepted his Honorary Oscar.
Denzel gave out the Best Actress Award, "By
a nose, ...Nicole Kidman," who took
a cue from Adrien Brody and double-kissed Denzel.
Kidman mentioned that one
reason they gathered last night was "because
art is important."
Sidebar:
Y'know, those Republican bastards are always
popping off about the "cesspool of Hollywood,"
but I'll bet you a fourth of the pilots
now flying over Iraq saw non-actor Tom Cruise in Top Gun
and made the decision to join the Air Force
and become a pilot. Screw you, GOP.
Pedro Almodovar won Best Original Screenplay for Talk to Her.
In his brief speech, he dedicated
his award to "all the people that are
raising their voices in favor of peace, respect of human
rights, democracy and international
legality, which are all essential qualities to live."
Good for you, Pedro!
So, the 75th Oscars will be remembered for Chicago, The Pianist,
Michael Moore,
Adrien Brody's "attack" on Halle Berry and, for me, the coded
message from U2.