What's up with the Oscars?

[RECHRGD]

Is it just me, or are others sick and tired of these actors and directors getting up on the podium to receive awards and then starting to spout out a bunch of crap pushing their political or sexual hopes and dreams.  When the director of 'Milk' got up to receive his award he couldn't shut up about being gay and how California and the rest of the nation better pass the gay marriage initiative and blah, blah, blah.  Then, of course idiot Shaw Penn wins best actor for the same movie and goes up and does the same thing!  Then they show cuts from the movie showing Penn and some guy graphically making out.  Kids watch this show!  I don't remember there being an 'R' rating notice at the beginning of the show.  It was the same thing a few years ago with that stupid Broke back Mountain movie that won all kinds of awards simply because it was pro gay.  I know I can turn the channel if I want, but the wife wanted to watch it so I did.  Maybe I'm just too old (turned 61 today) to appreciate this new tolerant, enlightened world that we now live in.  Maybe this subject is too political.  Just wish me a happy birthday.  Thanks,  Bob

[defiance]

So would you be mad if it was a guy and a girl making out?  If yes, you need to board up the kids' rooms, throw out all tv's, etc - that's life, and it happens everywhere.  However, if the answer is no, well...  How horrific that the precious children may be exposed to alternate points of view.  Besides the obvious 'maybe you shouldn't be prejudicial toward gays' thing, if you really want to shelter your children from exposure to anything that you disagree with, how are they ever going to learn to think for themselves?  If you believe something is so critically wrong, raise your children to value morality and critical thinking, explain to them why you don't agree with it, and trust them to come to their own conclusions.  If they agree with you, fine.  If you raise them to be intelligent and moral and they don't agree with you, maybe they have good reason for that.

[Ghoste]

Happy birthday Bob and I don't get it either.  Not because I'm anti-gay, its simply that if I wanted to see a political rally then that is what I would watch.  I don't watch the Oscars myself and that is one of the reasons why.  What do you expect though,  you have a group of people who are paid obscene amounts of money to play make believe getting together to pay tribute to themselves for how great they are and how hard it is to be them.  Espousing their personal views in public is about the only way they get to try and convince themselves that they are a part of real life.

[RECHRGD]

So would you be mad if it was a guy and a girl making out?  If yes, you need to board up the kids' rooms, throw out all tv's, etc - that's life, and it happens everywhere.  However, if the answer is no, well...  How horrific that the precious children may be exposed to alternate points of view.  Besides the obvious 'maybe you shouldn't be prejudicial toward gays' thing, if you really want to shelter your children from exposure to anything that you disagree with, how are they ever going to learn to think for themselves?  If you believe something is so critically wrong, raise your children to value morality and critical thinking, explain to them why you don't agree with it, and trust them to come to their own conclusions.  If they agree with you, fine.  If you raise them to be intelligent and moral and they don't agree with you, maybe they have good reason for that.

I can agree with your points at face value, but young children need a good foundation in order to have the tools to intelligently process "alternate points of view".  That's what parenting is all about.  We should not have to be put in the position of trying to explain why Johnny and Tommy are kissing eachother when they are too young to even know what sexuality even is.  I've raised two daughters that are now probably older than you are and they think I did just fine.  BTW, your last sentence is insulting.  Bob

[skip68]

I find it very tacky.  Everyone has an opinion on how they should live and marry and so on and that's fine.  But the awards is not the time nor place for that.  These are stars, they can go out anytime they want and get media attention and speak their mind.       TACKY, TACKY, TACKY.   NO CLASS.     Chuck.......

[bull]

I agree with you, Bob. In the past I've watched it because I was more interested in the results and it was part of my job at the time. Now I don't "have" to watch it so I don't because there's too much of an political agenda involved. Funny how so many of those actors think they're so much smarter than everyone else when in reality the opposite is true. These days it seems the Oscars is just another platform to honor the politically liberal flavor-of-the-month rather than an honest assessment of talent like it used to be. I'm sure that's why the ratings are in the tank.

[Silver R/T]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

[Dans 68]

Happy birthday, Bob!  Have a good one.




...and please don't get me started on the Oscars.... 



Dan

[defiance]

... nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

Actually, your statement is provably false, given that they just did it.

You should know this is very personal to me.  My brother has to deal with persecution in the name of misguided "morality" every day.  His life, his sexuality, and his taste in movies are none of your business.  He's not forcing a damn thing on anyone, but people want to spend so much time trying to tell him what to do.  Why?  So you don't have to watch two dudes kissing on tv?  Or, actually, correction - so you can remove the OPTION (you weren't forced to watch).   OH the HORROR.

[Ponch ®]

Hollywood likes to preen itself on how "progressive" and embracing it is. That's why nowadays playing a gay guy = Oscar nominations. I haven't seen "Milk" nor am I interested in seeing it, so I don't know how good it is. But I have a feeling that if Proposition 8 had not passed in November, academy members might have been less activist when casting their votes.

I wrote a blog about this very subject a couple of years ago, when Brokeback Mountain was all the rage.

[BB1]

What's an Oscar? 

[The70RT]

Happy birthday Bob and I don't get it either.  Not because I'm anti-gay, its simply that if I wanted to see a political rally then that is what I would watch.  I don't watch the Oscars myself and that is one of the reasons why.  What do you expect though,  you have a group of people who are paid obscene amounts of money to play make believe getting together to pay tribute to themselves for how great they are and how hard it is to be them.  Espousing their personal views in public is about the only way they get to try and convince themselves that they are a part of real life.

EXXXAAAAACTTTLYYY!!!!

[Brock Samson]

  I never cared much for the show at all intill this year when i got my new 47 inch Samsung,.. and I had a ball finally seeing it, uninterrupted as every year previous i was at work when it was on and had to listen to everyone and their Momma's baby's daddy's opinion on the pros and cons of the awards show, cause it is all the rage around the water cooler everywhere.
One thing you have to realize about this show is that the Academy Voters are in large part Gay,..
so this is a matter near and dear to their Calif. resident hearts,..
I have had some dealings with Mr. Penn who had a sweetheart deal with our newspaper via Sharon Stone and our Managing editor - her husband,.. Phil Bronstein, to say he is a darling of the liberal west coast media types would be putting it mildly..
BTW: They only have room for 20 or so personalities up there at a time though there are 200 who might be concidered... Part of the job these folks perform is to set an example for us/you - the great unwashed peanut gallery to emulate.
  Anyhow,.. the amount of influence Hoolywood has on the world at large is impossible to overestimate, the fact that they're just now managing to link up with Boollywood via the slumdog millionaire move, shows that sometimes it takes a few years for them to catch up with the rest of the world.
So in closing, there are a couple factors at work here that skew the entire proceedings and make it impossible to reconcile with reality.
They don't call it La La land for nothing. 

[Ponch ®]

 
One thing you have to realize about this show is that the Academy Voters are in large part Gay,..
 

noooooooo....get the fluk outta here...

[NHCharger]

Silver. They make this device called a remote control. Try it out, you might find it useful.
The only person I know that watches this crap is my mother-in-law. These people are so full of themselves it's unbelievable.

Happy B-Day Bob.

Ponch, I find your avatar rather disturbing

[dkn1997]

  I hate politicians , but at least some of them actually had to win an election and they work in politics every day.  So by default, their political views mean something to me.  My big problem with these actors or any other celebrity being "political" is that who the hell are they?  They are no more informed than you or me, yet an alarming amount of people lend credence to them as if they know something or their opinion is somehow more informed or valuable than the average guy on the street.  In fact, it's worth less to me because they are actors, their job is to portray something they are not.  I dont' believe for one second that all of these actors believe the agenda they push..be it left or right wing.  How could you believe someone that gets paid to pretend for a living?

[nh_mopar_fan]

I didn't watch any of it. I was switching through and caught that #1 a-hole Maher presenting the best documentary.

That was great.

He started in about how he had a documentary out too and paused....dead silence. So he went on, it's called Relugiousity and he paused, a single clap ot two.

It was great watching him die a slow death up there.

[Back N Black]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

How can you say you don't like Gays?  have you met everyone of them? 

[rav440]

as much as i like movies , i dont give 2 craps what an actor thinks or has to say on any given point .

actors should shut up and act .

why TEAM AMERICA didnt win an OSCAR years ago is beyond me .  

[Silver R/T]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

How can you say you don't like Gays?  have you met everyone of them? 

Would you want to get shot in the head? How can you say "NO", have you ever been shot in the head?
You see you don't need to experience something to know that you won't like it/wouldn't want it happen to you. Does that make sense?

[Back N Black]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

How can you say you don't like Gays?  have you met everyone of them? 

Would you want to get shot in the head? How can you say "NO", have you ever been shot in the head?
You see you don't need to experience something to know that you won't like it/wouldn't want it happen to you. Does that make point?

Quite different getting shot in the head and being friends with a gay person.

[Silver R/T]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

How can you say you don't like Gays?  have you met everyone of them? 

Would you want to get shot in the head? How can you say "NO", have you ever been shot in the head?
You see you don't need to experience something to know that you won't like it/wouldn't want it happen to you. Does that make point?

Quite different getting shot in the head and being friends with a gay person.

It was just an example, (no hard feelings) might as well be friends with satanist. What would be wrong with that, some might say? Maybe one day you will find yourself being converted to whomever you hang out with (satanists, molesters, druggies, gay....)
Afterall they do have a saying "you are who you hang out with"

[RallyeMike]

 

[skip68]

"Can't we all just get along?? " 


Whhooo Hooooo!!!   In before the 

Mrs.Skip68

[bull]

I have been friends with several people who are gay and just like everyone else I like them or don't like them based on their personality, not their choices. I'm friends with lots of people who make choices I don't agree with, morally and otherwise but I don't hate them. In other words, love the sinner, hate the sin.

But I don't have to like what they do based on the choices they make and if they bring it up and try to change my mind about it I have the freedom to argue with them. I don't go around yelling at gay people about their lifestyles but the opposite should hold true too. That said there's absolutely no reason for Hollywood to be pushing an agenda aimed at coaxing, or in some cases forcing, their agenda onto people whose morals dictate otherwise. They don't like the persecution anymore than anyone else so why use the same methods on those who disagree with them? "Gay evangelism" isn't going to sway my opinion on homosexuality, it just makes me roll my eyes and turn the channel.

[RECHRGD]

I don't see the need to lock the thread.  My main point was that the graphic nature of the make out scenes (gay or straight) shown on the show would have been enough to put an 'R' rating on any movie that we would go to see in a theater.  So why is there no such rating put on a show that is available to any child/adolescent simply by hitting the remote button.  Parents should have the option to decide if the content of a program is appropriate for their children to view.  I guess I'm an old relic, but I still think parents should have the right to instill there values upon their children.  When the kids are mature enough to go down their own path and it isn't what the parents may have hoped for, then so be it.  We don't need a bunch of self indulgent hollywood morons trying to push their agenda down out kids throats.  Bob

[Silver R/T]

I don't see the need to lock the thread.  My main point was that the graphic nature of the make out scenes (gay or straight) shown on the show would have been enough to put an 'R' rating on any movie that we would go to see in a theater.  So why is there no such rating put on a show that is available to any child/adolescent simply by hitting the remote button.  Parents should have the option to decide if the content of a program is appropriate for their children to view.  I guess I'm an old relic, but I still think parents should have the right to instill there values upon their children.  When the kids are mature enough to go down their own path and it isn't what the parents may have hoped for, then so be it.  We don't need a bunch of self indulgent hollywood morons trying to push their agenda down out kids throats.  Bob

I agree 100%

[skip68]

I do agree! I was shocked and looked at my kids (6 & 12)  as it happened....... It made me a little uncomfortable at a late hour (you all know how LONG the show was!!  )  to discuss homosexuals. I am NOT a gay hater either at all! I have friends from the past, and a recent one that is gay. Do I dislike that person,...No, I judge a person on character and that's it.    I just think that the awards shows have always been fun for the whole family to watch, and this small segment was an oops on the editors part! Shame on them!   

Mrs.Skip68

[dkn1997]

I don't see the need to lock the thread.  My main point was that the graphic nature of the make out scenes (gay or straight) shown on the show would have been enough to put an 'R' rating on any movie that we would go to see in a theater.  So why is there no such rating put on a show that is available to any child/adolescent simply by hitting the remote button.  Parents should have the option to decide if the content of a program is appropriate for their children to view.  I guess I'm an old relic, but I still think parents should have the right to instill there values upon their children.  When the kids are mature enough to go down their own path and it isn't what the parents may have hoped for, then so be it.  We don't need a bunch of self indulgent hollywood morons trying to push their agenda down out kids throats.  Bob

I agree 100%

Hey, I'm a big dope and to characterize me as "insensitive" is a huge understatement, but get with the times.  Sean Penn is a hollywood phony and I really can't stand the fact that he is trying to push his agenda on anyone, but you gotta have more faith in the values you instill in your kids.  They learn from the way you live.  If your kid is being negatively influenced by tv or anything else, look in the mirror when it's time to point the blame finger.  IF he/she is young enough that you feel the tv content can influence them at all one way or the other, then that's an age where you should be in the room with them available to explain what they saw or heard.  No matter how careful you are, something you don't agree with or like is going to slip past the goalie....sometimes you gotta chase the horse after he gets out of the barn.  you can't prevent everything.  i think a kid would get more out of you explaining something you consider objectionable rather than being shielded from it all of the time.

[Ponch ®]

Maybe one day you will find yourself being converted to whomever you hang out with (satanists, molesters, druggies, gay....)
Afterall they do have a saying "you are who you hang out with"

Dude, if you're afraid that hanging out with a gay person is gonna turn YOU gay, then youre probably not sure yourself of what you are.

[Mike DC]

 
In the last 15 years, we've seen a sub-genre of movies emerge that are purposely-engineered for the specific job of winning awards. 



Steven Speilberg probably has to be named as the major player in getting it going.  He had that run of "serious" movies in the early/mid 1990s that also made big money because the public kinda felt like they were doing their homework by going to see them.  Amistad, Schindler's List, etc. 

"Pearl Harbor" was another major attempt to ride the trend although it wasn't Stevie-Berg's work.  The whole project seemed like a perfect genre-combining idea on paper, but the final movie suffered from chronic & excessive suckage.    (But man, they should've seen that problem coming a long way off.  You just can't Bruckheimer a huge recent historic event and expect it to work.  And with Michael Bay directing . . . )


IMHO Steven was more genuine & humble about his award aspirations than what's happened recently.  Not to mention the collosal snub that they gave "Saving Private Ryan" kind of ended his run.  That might have helped put things back in perspective for him.  (It lost the Best Picture Oscar that year to "Shakespeare in Love!" WTF!?!)  He probably has a hard time giving a sh*t about the Academy ever again after that one.


----------------------------------------------------------


Sean Penn is about the single biggest poster boy for it these days.  With most of his movies they might as well just start mailing him statues after seeing the script. 

Sometimes I can totally agree with the opinion being voiced and still come away annoyed with the way it's being handled.  The whole circus that always surrounds every "important" movie each season  . . . some of it has gotten so friggin' patronizing & self-congratulatory that I wanna puke. 

"Milk" might be a great movie.  But they lost me at hello with the type of project it was. 

   

[1969chargerrtse]

Silver. They make this device called a remote control. Try it out, you might find it useful.
The only person I know that watches this crap is my mother-in-law. These people are so full of themselves it's unbelievable.

Happy B-Day Bob.

Ponch, I find your avatar rather disturbing

"These people are so full of themselves it's unbelievable."

[TiMopar]

Actors are the most overrated people on the planet. The acclaim and rewards they receive are out of all proportion to the achievement. Simply, they pretend to be other people as a job. That's all they do. They don't even write the stories. All except Penelope Cruz; I love her....

[defiance]

I didn't see the makeout scene (while I STRONGLY believe in their rights, and will stand up to defend them - I don't particularly like watching two dudes making out ), so maybe it's more graphic than I thought?  Were clothes coming off and guys groping or something?

[Back N Black]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

How can you say you don't like Gays?  have you met everyone of them? 

Would you want to get shot in the head? How can you say "NO", have you ever been shot in the head?
You see you don't need to experience something to know that you won't like it/wouldn't want it happen to you. Does that make point?

Quite different getting shot in the head and being friends with a gay person.

It was just an example, (no hard feelings) might as well be friends with satanist. What would be wrong with that, some might say? Maybe one day you will find yourself being converted to whomever you hang out with (satanists, molesters, druggies, gay....)
Afterall they do have a saying "you are who you hang out with"

I hope you or your friends don't end up in prison, then you have no choice.  Your Gaydar will be spinning like crazy.

[Ponch ®]

would have to agree, I don't like gays and nobody has the right to push it on TV shows

How can you say you don't like Gays?  have you met everyone of them? 

Would you want to get shot in the head? How can you say "NO", have you ever been shot in the head?
You see you don't need to experience something to know that you won't like it/wouldn't want it happen to you. Does that make point?

Quite different getting shot in the head and being friends with a gay person.

It was just an example, (no hard feelings) might as well be friends with satanist. What would be wrong with that, some might say? Maybe one day you will find yourself being converted to whomever you hang out with (satanists, molesters, druggies, gay....)
Afterall they do have a saying "you are who you hang out with"

I hope you or your friends don't end up in prison, then you have no choice.  Your Gaydar will be spinning like crazy.

He's sure got some purty lips...

[MichaelRW]

The Oscars have become way too political and I don't just mean the boneheads that have to use this venue to make their personal political opinions known. "Milk" gets awards but not even a nomination for Gran Torino. Unbelievable! Clint should have gotten the best actor award. It was probably his last chance.

[dkn1997]

Maybe one day you will find yourself being converted to whomever you hang out with (satanists, molesters, druggies, gay....)
Afterall they do have a saying "you are who you hang out with"

Dude, if you're afraid that hanging out with a gay person is gonna turn YOU gay, then youre probably not sure yourself of what you are.

Silver...If your logic is right, then I am going to find some independently wealthy pornstar scientist who has found a way to live forever.

[moparsuebear]

Slumdog Millionaire? As best picture??? Who rates this stuff??

[captnsim]

Idiots,thats who.  I've found the worse a movie is rated the better it is... 

[rav440]

Slumdog Millionaire? As best picture??? Who rates this stuff??

yep looks like they went back to the old way of voting on movies nobody everheard of or will really ever see or want to see 

i have to say in the last few years they did do a good job picking movies like CRASH and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

[Brock Samson]

 I think slumdog millionaire is a GREAT movie! but i realize the level of prejudice that prevades this site..

[Dans 68]

I think slumdog millionaire is a GREAT movie! but i realize the level of prejudice that prevades this site..

Good, provocative word usage for a Sunday. 

Dan

[dkn1997]

I think slumdog millionaire is a GREAT movie! but i realize the level of prejudice that prevades this site..

I wouldn't call it prejudice, but realize you among car guys and we'd rather see oscars go to the "Alien" sequel or the next "Rocky" installment.   "prevade"  that's a good one.

[The70RT]

I think slumdog millionaire is a GREAT movie! but i realize the level of prejudice that prevades this site..

I wouldn't call it prejudice, but realize you among car guys and we'd rather see oscars go to the "Alien" sequel or the next "Rocky" installment.   "prevade"  that's a good one.

I agree.........and who really gives a $hit!

[Mike DC]

         
Slumdog Millionaire isn't one of the ham-fisted leftist political statement movies from the Hollywood elite. 

It's just a good movie that happened to come from another country.