Oscar Commentary

Well the Oscar Awards show was on the other night and I admit that I watched most of it. I thought at first that we just recently had this thrown in our face, but that was the Golden Globes. There is really not too much to say on the subject but of course I will mention a couple of things.

James Cameron thankfully did not personally win an award for "his" film Avatar. I am glad of that. Cameron appears to be an egotistical ass who feels that he is above reproach and criticism. He is not in the same league as Lucas, Scorcese, the late Damiano, or even for that matter Stone. Besides, and here is the real crux of the matter, it appears that Cameron and Co. absconded with the name "Avatar." There is a film coming out this summer that is to be called "The Last Air Bender" based on a television cartoon called "Avatar." I am sure that the group that produced Cameron's "Avatar" employed armies of scumbag lawyer types to wrest the name "Avatar" from their rightful owners. Oh well, I suppose it is nothing to get all rowdy about but it just seems a bit crappy. This of course is only my opinion and I could be wrong. I doubt it though.

Sean Penn made his appearance at the awards show and that is fine. Now I don't like Mr. Penn, but I certainly have a good deal of respect for him. Why? He has been down in Haiti doing the work that a good many of the loud mouth Hollywood types wish they had the balls to do. They talk a good game about world problems and do of course get involved financially (I suppose) but it is not too often that you see them out in the field (so to speak) working with the people. Mr. Penn gets his ass out there and gets his hands dirty. Bravo for him and I mean that.If you recall he personally got in a boat in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and helped pull people out of the muck. Were there any other Hollywood type doing so? Not that I know of. Even if one thinks that Penn's politics are insane (which I do), or thinks he might personally be a prick ( I suspect him to be so), respect must be given where respect is due. Penn puts his money where his mouth is, and if I am to understand correctly, a lot of that money is from his personal account. He probably needs to make more money in his chosen field. Hopefully someone will soon hire him to be the feature actor or something similar. If the Hollywood types really want to help out in Haiti maybe some of them could consider donating funds to Mr. Penn personally or help him "line up another job." If I'm not careful, I may just start liking this guy.

Just a few thoughts.