Oh, the magnificent virtue on display by our modern-day muses and vessels of wisdom and grace. I am inadequate.
3
There is more outrage over this than the Monsey and Jersey City massacres. Let's remember that a Board of Education member stated she was supportive of the killers and is still on the Board of Education. She has many supporters, none of whom have been named and shamed. The selective outrage shows that most of activism isn't about inequality and injustice but is opportunism.
5
Wish there was less fake concern about women/ minorities being in ....whatever we're talking about.
A good movie is a good movie, no matter who is in it. Do we really need quota systems for transgender, black, brown, Latino, Asian, female participants?
9
@RLiss - I'll bet money you're white and have no idea what it's like to not see yourself depicted in popular culture.
2
@RLiss We already have said quota systems in film. Blacks are drastically overrepresented in film given their tiny 12% population of the United States. And the fact remains that minorities do perform poorly in spite of massive efforts to boost tests scores or rewrite tests to eliminate any trace of cultural bias. Academic tests like the SAT are imperfect, it should go without saying, but they provide one of the few general indices of intellectual merit at our disposal. It's not just possible, but probable that the same difference in merit would apply to the field of cinema. Should more qualified white and Asian people be punished to make room for much less deserving blacks or other minorities, as is done in college admissions around the country, just for the sake of so-called diversity? Or is this quest for diversity itself more damnable and prejudicial than the reverse, because it not only means unfairly excluding potentially more deserving people, but also overlooks more important kinds of diversity than mere skin color -- such as diversity of philosophy, politics, upbringing, etc.? For the media to try to shame and silence one of our great writers in Stephen King for simply stating that he thinks quality outweighs all other concerns is rather disturbing, if unsurprising. The media promotes an ideological monoculture where only people who agree with their sanctioned views are represented, whereas anyone who disagrees with them is labeled prejudiced and therefore ostracized.
2
We remember when awards were awarded based on the quality of the work - not on the (perceived) need to address past injustices against various sub-categories of the human race by giving them prizes.
The absurdity.
In expanding its diversity over the past 3 years The Academy has increased new members by over 2000, approximately 20% of its total. How's that?
Jennifer Lopez snub? Gosh. Guess she'll have to be happy with playing halftime of this year's Super Bowl where viewership will be at least triple that of any Oscar broadcast. Poor J-Lo (and her half-bil net worth).
8
Thanks to the NYTimes for including the Michael Bloomberg interview by Stephen Colbert. Bloomberg gave measured, direct and rational answers to serious questions. He may not have enough "flash" to get elected president, but I can really see him doing a solid job that would actually move the country forward.
9
What! Michael Bloomberg, who supposedly just co-authored a book on climate change, resonds to Colbert on Monday's Late Night with "climate change...whether or not it happens, nobody knows..."
And we're supposed to support this person for the Presidency? When will America realize that billionaires (and faux ones) aren't populists? Let's hope the voters wake up this year to real policy change.
3
We need some diversity when it comes to late night talk show hosts.
I'd like to see mixed into the late night talk show crowd hosts who are actually funny and not just a bunch of humorless, snarkey, wiseguy complainers.
6
I am really, really, really looking forward to the day when we forget the colors, the genders, the titles. Just concentrate on art and skill and incredible work.
18
Instrad of focusing on gender, I would have appreciated a thorough critique of the movies (and cinematic merits) that were supposedly overlooked.
11
Your comment on Jennifer Lopez at the bottom was well positioned almost to be overlooked but she was not snubbed. She is not talented and simply plays a slightly different version of herself in all her awful films (think Maid in Manhattan) especially in Hustlers. To have her on the same level as a Meryl Streep, Octavia Spencer, Olivia Coleman, Halle Berry, etc is an insult to those incredible artists with great range and talent. She is still and forever will be average Jenny from the block not Hollywood elite
15
An industry gives itself awards and we are supposed to be enthralled by it. Nope; not caring this year. There are too many other pressing matters.
21
The Oscars, the Tonys, the Emmys, the Grammies.
Some group of people deciding which is "best," and the world goes nuts. Millions are spent. Some say "Thank you," some say "We was robbed!"
I have never and will never watch the Oscars. And I haven't watched the Grammies since Jethro Tull won for "BestHard Rock/Metal performance" in 1989.
Just do your best work, hon.
18