While there's a lull in the fiyah Doug and I are dropping over at the Purple Y! this week ... remember that time Bill Condon did the Oscars and they were fabulous and classic and so very chic? Because that was last year. What a listless evening. The Awards shouldn't have to depend upon ballot upsets to make for compelling television.
As far as those upsets go: Sandra Bullock was in Crash. I am agog, I am aghast, and we should've seen this coming. And FUCK YEAH KATHRYN BIGELOW. From Drew, via Sarah:
"The Hurt Locker' happened to be directed by a woman, and that's the way it should be. She's a storyteller. You look back at her career, and it's not the career that female filmmakers are supposed to pursue. She has always been attracted to stories about characters who live on the edge, people who push themselves to extremes. She's made movies that interest her, movies that stand defiantly outside any easy box, and as a result, this win tonight feels like it is more than a win for her, and more than a win for women in general. It is a win for the demolition of assumptions based on gender or race or background. It is an message that storytelling is about being true to yourself and the story you want to tell, and I sincerely hope that all over the world, every young person who wants to grow up and direct is looking at the awards tonight and thinking, "That could be me."I don't feel bad for James Cameron, and I don't feel this was the product of some half-bil backlash. He makes sci-fi movies that can get nominated for Best Picture. That's not a small thing.
To the awards distributed last night, I would add some sort of endurance medal for the poor, beleagured-con-gusto Sherlock Holmes musicians, and a special jury prize for achievement in sound entertainment to Doug for leading the Birmingham Science Museum's IMAX crowd in a marimba-backed rendition of "Livin' on a Prayer" last summer that was ten times more entertaining than the three hours of "Will it Blend?" that followed. And next year, if we run the zoo, we're putting Keyboard Cat up in a box seat, Muppet-Show style, and letting his ass deal with staged lingering.