Warning! This is a Rant

Part 1

The award season ended, more or less, last night with the Oscars. It is a sad truth that the most watched portion of the whole show is the red carpet. America cares more about who looks good or is it who made a fashion faux pas than who won the awards? Elegance is tauted, and overdressed is blasted to the roof. Did you see the dress that Marisa Tomei had on? Me either, but according to some it was the biggest fashion mistake of the night. What was the quote I read? “One too many napkins.” Wow, talk about shallow.

Mickey Rourke, now that he has been through rehab, made a movie, done the talk show circuit and lost one of his beloved dogs (one of the ones he thanked at the Golden Globes), showed up in what ever was in the closet. The critics had a heyday, I guess that is the price one pays for playing them self on the red carpet.

And I love the term Hollywood Royalty. Who decides? Is it based on box office, longevity or this week’s media darling?

I would like to think that watching the Oscars is a nice little escape from life’s current realities for most, but I fear too many people actually care what Anne Hathaway is going to wear or if Brangelina will show up.

Part 2

Death wins again. How good were they? Over the decades of movie making there have been rising stars whose lives were cut short. Some of them have faded into the history books, but others have become immortal. One has to wonder if they were destined for lifetime achievement awards or were they a star of the moment that never had to suffer the collapse of their career?

This year one such star was honored, over and over again. Heath Ledger was nominated for and won more awards posthumously than he did when he was alive. He has made some amazing movies, and his performance in the Dark Knight made the movie, but was it really the best performance of the year? What about Philip Seymour Hoffman in “doubt”?

What frightens me is glorifying a man who died of, as the medical examiner deemed it, “an accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications." He took too many pills. He had six different controlled substances in his body. The media has placed more value on his life than he did. One has to wonder if that is what killed him in the first place.

Sometimes it is hard to live up to ones own press. Is it possible the paparazzi are just as responsible for his death as that of Lady Di?

Here ends my Oscar rant.