Oscars 2003

 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.


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