What the fuck is with people in this country? I'm watching the Oscars last night (an annual ritual of self torture) and Jamie Foxx wins the best actor Oscar, as expected. So he says a few things about his daughter and Ray and also his grandmother. So he says some things about how she taught him to stand up straight and to act like he had some sense and that's all well and good and a nice little story about a sweet grandmother. But then he goes into this thing about when he "acted the fool" he would get a beating. And he goes on about it making it sound like he turned out as well as he did because his granny beat his ass, and this is where I get really annoyed. This has got to be the only civilized nation where people talk about being beat by parents/grandparents in such a positive way, as if it is something that makes all the difference in a person turning out to be a positive contribution to society. I got news for ya' Jamie, there's a lot of guys who got beat by their mothers who are on the corner selling crack. Hell, there are pimps out there helping to build character in lots of hookers, where's their shout-out?
My mother beat the shit out of me all the time, and I don't have any Oscars or Golden Globes. I got anger, fear, a sense of worthlessness, depression and several adolescent and college years spent talking with shrinks, but no gold statues. Why is it that this kind of violence is still tolerated, even celebrated, in this country? So these would be OK too, right? --
"And I'd like to thank my mom for locking me in the closet every night, because without that I wouldn't be here tonight accepting this honor."
"Thanks Grand-dad, for burning me with all those cigarettes so I grew up right."
"And most of all, I dedicate this to my dad. If it hadn't been for all those times you raped me, who knows how I would have turned out. I love you pop."
See what I mean? So I say fuck granny. And fuck Jamie too. I'm sure he's passing on the same legacy of violence to his daughter.
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More random Oscar notes:
You can always expect the song category too be filled with a lot of bad stuff, but holy shit! Something is wrong when the best performance of the night is the Counting Crows doing the most boring song in their career. And why did the Academy choose to torture me with Beyonce performing almost all the other songs? And what the fuck was with her eye shadow each time. She was a goddamn one woman United Colors of Benetton commercial. It's the Oscars Beyonce, not a 70s porn movie. The combination of her and Andrew hack Webber had to be the lowpoint in Oscar history. And damn, that song that won might be good, but how would you know, after being destroyed by a "posing is more important than singing" Antonio Banderas and Carlos Santana playing the same two long drawn out annoying notes he's been playing his whole career. In other years you would at least have someone good, like Elliot Smith or Aimee Mann, or a solid song by Randy Newman. Somebody crappy like Phil Collins for Tarzan would win, but at least there would be one or two good songs/performances. Not last night. My vote would have been Wycleaf Jean's song from Hotel Rwanda.
Jamie Foxx was good in Ray, even great. But I still would have gone with Don Cheadle out of those nominated. Biggest crime of the night, of course, was Paul Giamati not even being nominated. That's two years in a row he's been screwed.
Who the hell let Puff Daddy in? Not nearly as bad as letting him on a Broadway stage last year, but still.
admittedly, I have not seen Aviator or Million Dollar Baby yet. But this I know: the guy that made the horrible films Unforgiven, Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, Bridges Of Madison County and Firefox has two directing and two best picture Oscars. And the guy that made Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Last Temptation Of Christ, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The King Of Comedy, Cape Fear, and Goodfellas has none. That's just wrong. Of course he does have pretty good company. Hitchcock, Altman and Kubrick, Fellini, and Lumet are all on the never win list.
Of course the real best picture of the year was ignored in every way except for being thrown a crumb with a writing nomination. Before Sunset was by far the best movie I saw this year. Director Richard Linklater accomplished one of the most exquisite and understated movies I've seen in a long time. If you haven't seen it, rent it today. If you've seen it and didn't like it, well..., I'm sure Christmas Vacation will still delight you for the 87th time. Or that White Chicks movie. Albert Brooks says it's great.
La Oprika Paprika
2 weeks ago
Posts
7 comments:
uber-cranky! And nary a mention of IMSCs or CFs.
There's some here I just plain disagree with, but I have to wonder:
What the fuck is your problem with Albert Brooks? Obviously haven't seen Real Life or Modern Romance.
Harsh, Monsieur, very harsh. I would tend to doubt that Mr. Foxx is beating his daughter, though. I think there's a no-beating clause in most standard agent's contracts these days.
I DID see Million Dollar Baby and, while I liked it, it had far too many flaws to be Best Picture. Richard Linklater wuz robbed!
Dude, go to Salon. The main article up right now shares some of your opinions. Some.
Hold on there Beigey. My little joke at the end was no jab at the ever-brilliant can-do-no-wrong-in my-book Albert Brooks. Just a little take off on his bit during the show. Me luvs Albert.
"JAMIE FOXX'S GRANDMOTHER IS DUE RESPECT"
DONT'S HATE ON JAMIE FOXX FOR BEING RAISED AND PROPERLY DISCIPLINED BY HIS GRANDMOTHER. I KNOW WHAT HE MEANT WHEN HE THANKED HER. SHE WASN'T AN ABUSIVE PARENT LIKE MOST PEOPLE. I AGREE THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ABUSE THEIR CHILDREN BADLY AND TAKE IT TOO FAR BUT THIS WASN'T JAMIE'S CASE. HIS GRANDMOTHER INSTILLED VALUES AND THE PROPER DISCIPLINE THAT MOST CHILDREN LACK THESE DAYS. MY MOTHER DISCIPLINED ME THE SAME WAY AS JAMIE'S GRANDMOTHER AND I DON'T HAVE ANY FANCY AWARDS BUT I AM A SUCCESSFUL PERSON IN MY OWN RIGHT. DISCIPLINE IS NEEDED TODAY. JUST BECAUSE HE REFERRED TO IT AS A BEATING DOESN'T MEAN SHE TRIED TO TORTURE AND KILL HIM. I KNEW THE DIFFERNCE. DON'T HATE, SHOW SOME RESPECT AND RECONGNIZE THAT FOXX IS A SUCCESSFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE DOING SOMETHING POSTIVE WITH HIS LIFE. THAT'S MORE THAN I CAN SAY FOR MOST MEN.
HE HAS MADE OSCAR HISTORY, HIS GRANDMOTHER DID SOMETHING RIGHT!!
"JAMIE FOXX'S GRANDMOTHER IS DUE RESPECT"
DONT'S HATE ON JAMIE FOXX FOR BEING RAISED AND PROPERLY DISCIPLINED BY HIS GRANDMOTHER. I KNOW WHAT HE MEANT WHEN HE THANKED HER. SHE WASN'T AN ABUSIVE PARENT LIKE MOST PEOPLE. I AGREE THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ABUSE THEIR CHILDREN BADLY AND TAKE IT TOO FAR BUT THIS WASN'T JAMIE'S CASE. HIS GRANDMOTHER INSTILLED VALUES AND THE PROPER DISCIPLINE THAT MOST CHILDREN LACK THESE DAYS. MY MOTHER DISCIPLINED ME THE SAME WAY AS JAMIE'S GRANDMOTHER AND I DON'T HAVE ANY FANCY AWARDS BUT I AM A SUCCESSFUL PERSON IN MY OWN RIGHT. DISCIPLINE IS NEEDED TODAY. JUST BECAUSE HE REFERRED TO IT AS A BEATING DOESN'T MEAN SHE TRIED TO TORTURE AND KILL HIM. I KNEW THE DIFFERNCE. DON'T HATE, SHOW SOME RESPECT AND RECONGNIZE THAT FOXX IS A SUCCESSFUL AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE DOING SOMETHING POSTIVE WITH HIS LIFE. THAT'S MORE THAN I CAN SAY FOR MOST MEN.
HIS GRANDMOTHER DID SOMETHING RIGHT!!
buddy that sux and you know what u deserve to have your asss beaten see theres a differenece which u have to realize the pimps and shit when they got beaten it was out of abuse probably drug related or alcohol i got beaten growin up but only when i fucked up and not all the time but it taught me not to do bad shit that's for damn sure and am i a better person for it yes so u gotta know something ur drunk ass mama beating u doesn't and you growing up with anger thats ur problem
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