My Governor's Ball

The Academy Awards were last night, so like everyone else in the world, I'll toss in my two cents. Since my take is always better, let's up the amount to three cents. I watched the first part of the show while dining out with "Wife". "Daughter" was at a sleep-over, so we were enjoying a rare night alone.

I think Jon Stewart did a fine job. This is not a great gig for a comedian. The producers hire you because of your sense of humor and unique point of view, and then want you to be as bland as possible. I thought the video clips were pretty funny this year. At least we weren't subjected to Billy Crystal trying to convince us that he's a song and dance man. Stewart seemed to be comfortable for the most part. I think he really shined when he just did jokes off the cuff. You could tell he liked that too. I've seen some criticism of his monologue. Critics are getting on him for making fun of some stars right out of the box. Who cares? It was funny. I think it's great that someone takes the air out of some of these pompous celebrities. He didn't say anything mean. What's wrong with poking fun at the fact that Angelina Jolie is adopting most of the audience, or that Spielberg is going for his third installment of horrible things that happened to the Jews? Lighten up! These are movie stars, not royalty, and come t think of it, mock royalty too.

As for the awards themselves, the only big surprise was that Crash won for best picture, and that Heath Ledger didn't win for his portrayal of a gay cowboy. I saw Crash. It was a great movie, and not just because I could picture myself running my hand up Thandie Newton's leg like a demented Flamingo Kid. I'm glad Brokeback Mountain didn't win, if for no other reason than it was cool to see Paul Haggis and the other producers of Crash be genuinely shocked when their names were called. The other stunner was Three 6 Mafia winning for best original song. How do you think Mickey Rooney and old Jack felt when three crazy rappers took over the stage? I'm sure security was on high alert. If you didn't already know that it was hard out there for a pimp, you ain't been workin' hard enough. Yo!

My man George Clooney won for Best Supporting Actor. Yeah! You've come a long way from your mullet days on Facts Of Life. I call him my man, but in fact I can only dream. George does have some of that Hollywood pomposity to him, but he cuts it with enough humor to make him seem real. I don't have a man crush on him or anything, but he seems like the kind of guy I'd like to hang with, and if he needed some cuddling, well it's not your place to judge. Later...Brian