Pop Culture Corner Vol. 1

As Promised!

After reading this wonderful post from the A.V. Club (go to item #3), I realized that, for one thing, the Oscars are kind of crap. I know this is in no way shocking and that I'm maybe the last literate person outside of L.A. to come to this conclusion, but there it is. It didn't seem like this when I was growing up, starry-eyed by the hopes of one day working in the movie industry, so to me the Academy Awards still hold a holy significance for me that they almost surely don't deserve.

Now, however, my faith is badly lapsing. I mean, come on. A Beautiful Mind? Gladiator? Crash, of all things? And those are just in the last five years or so. Go back further and apparently Driving Miss Daisy is better thanDo the Right Thing. The first ever Best Picture Winner was the 1928 film Wings. You've never heard of it, of course, except for possibly in the trivia that it was the first ever best picture winner. With a few exceptions of obviously phenomenal films that were instant classics, most Best Picture winners are the sort of thing that fade into relative obscurity about a week or two after their coronation. Million Dollar Baby is a great film, of course, but not one that people of any age or demographic are likely to be watching at home in the future.

My point is that Great Movies can only be judged from a little bit of distance, and maybe shouldn't be chiefly judged by those who make them, at the whim of the politics of any given week. As such, I give you The First Ever (and likely ever) Revisionist Oscars!

(and beg for your replies...)

I'm only going back to 1990, because it's unlikely that any of us truly have enough of a memory of anything before that, and if we do it's bound to be tainted by nostalgia.

1990 - WINNER - DANCES WITH WOLVES

(other movies that year* included Goodfellas; Ghost; Awakenings; The Grifters; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Last Exit to Brooklyn; Miller's Crossing; The Nasty Girl; Beauty and the Beast**; Edward Scissorhands)

1991 - WINNER - SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

(JFK; Naked Lunch; Boyz n the Hood; My Own Private Idaho; Thelma and Louise; The Fisher King)

1992 - WINNER - UNFORGIVEN

(The Crying Game; A Few Good Men; Glengarry Glenn Ross; Howard's End; The Player; My Cousin Vinny; Malcolm X; Reservoir Dogs; Aladdin)

1993 - WINNER - SCHINDLER'S LIST

(The Piano; In the Name of the Father; The Fugitive; Philadelphia; Short Cuts; The Nightmare Before Christmas; Menace II Society; Strictly Ballroom)

1994 - WINNER - FORREST GUMP

(Pulp Fiction; The Shawshank Redemption; The Hudsucker Proxy; Ed Wood; Quiz Show; Heavenly Creatures)

1995 - WINNER - BRAVEHEART

(Apollo 13; Babe; Mr. Holland's Opus; Leaving Las Vegas; Dead Man Walking; 12 Monkeys; The Usual Suspects; Get Shorty; Toy Story)

1996 - WINNER - THE ENGLISH PATIENT

(Fargo; The People vs. Larry Flint; Jerry Maguire; Shine; Sling Blade; Trainspotting; Welcome to the Dollhouse; Bound)

1997 - WINNER - TITANIC

(L.A. Confidential; As Good as it Gets; Good Will Hunting; The Full Monty; Wag the Dog; The Ice Storm; Chasing Amy; Boogie Nights)

1998 - WINNER - SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

(Saving Private Ryan; Elizabeth; Life is Beautiful; The Thin Red Line; The Truman Show; Out of Sight; Bullworth; Rushmore)

1999 - WINNER - AMERICAN BEAUTY

(Fight Club; Magnolia; The Sixth Sense; The Green Mile; The Hurricane; Boys Don't Cry; The Insider; Being John Malkovich)

2000 - WINNER - GLADIATOR

(Wonder Boys; Almost Famous; Traffic; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Erin Brockovich; You Can Count on Me; Requiem for a Dream)

2001 - WINNER - A BEAUTIFUL MIND***

(Ocean's Eleven; Moulin Rouge; Gosford Park; In the Bedroom; The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring; Mullholland Drive; Monsters' Ball; Ali; Monsters, Inc.; Shreck; The Royal Tenebaums)

2002 - WINNER - CHICAGO

(Gangs of New York; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Hours; The Pianist; Adaptation; Catch Me If You Can; About Schmidt; Road to Perdition)

2003 - WINNER - THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING

(Lost in Translation; Mystic River; Finding Nemo; Pirates of the Caribbean; Monster; Whale Rider; In America; The Last Samurai; Kill Bill Vol. 1)

2004 - WINNER - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

(Sideways; Ray; The Aviator; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Closer; Maria Full of Grace; Kill Bill Vol. 2)

2005 - WINNER - CRASH***

(Brokeback Mountain; Sin City; Munich; Good Night and Good Luck; Syriana; Transamerica; Walk the Line)

So there it is. Have at it, folks.

*These lists of other movies are, of course, not exclusive nor comprehensive, and serve only as helpful reminders. I also chose not to mention this year's Oscar's as we're still too close to properly judge anything.

**The first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture.

***Imagine a written, audible sigh, as I lose a little more faith in humanity.

CACR11

New Hampshire's Democrats want to change the term of our governor from two years to four years. At present, only New Hampshire and Vermont limit their respective governors to two years. New Hampshire actually goes a step further than Vermont in restricting executive power - we have an elected Executive Council that can put a negative on the governor's plans.

I happen to like it this way. As you know, I'm no friend of unchecked power of any kind, be it the President of the United States or the head of the local Board of Selectmen. While I'm not equating a four-year governorship with tyranny, I think in a small state, the governor should be held accountable on a regular basis.

Big staters and small staters: what do you think?

Dahlia Lithwick is my hero

If you have time, and need a laugh, I highly recommend reading this Slate article. She covers the recent Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick, and the article is amazing for many reasons, mostly due to the sheer number of stoner jokes she manages to fit into it. It's also an interesting case of school censorship, and raises issues of how do we consider which illegal activities it's ok to advocate for, but when it comes down to it.... It really is just a case about a kid who thought it'd be funny to put a giant sign up across from his school that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."

And yes, David Souter at one point asks whether or not we should think about what the phrase "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" actually means. That is now on the public record, folks.

Tap, Tap

Is this thing on? I know you're there...I can hear you ignoring Josh's posts...

Seriously though, there must be something we can discuss that hasn't been talked to death. Over at the Caravan we're having a discussion on what makes a person gay. Is it a choice? Is it biochemical? Can a person have any control over it?

Come on guys, we both know you're reading this.

Richardson

The governor of New Mexico and presidential hopeful prepares to sign a medical marijuana bill. His words:

"So what if it's risky? It's the right thing to do," said Richardson, one of the candidates in the crowded 2008 field. "What we're talking about is 160 people in deep pain. It only affects them."

He just got a lot more interesting.

Exam Week

It's exam week for me. Sorry for the light posting.

Thanks, Congress

Is the super-early switch to Daylight Savings Time messing with your inner season-clock? I know mine is completely confused by the dual prospect of snowbanks and light until almost 7 p.m. Another successful federal initiative!

Feel Bad About Yourself

You know why I like the concept of Original Sin, as I've said before? Because it reminds us that we shouldn't go around feeling good about ourselves. And why shouldn't we feel good about ourselves? Well, look at the world today. More specifically, look at what the United States has done in the past six or seven years. Most - if not all - of our policies have been based on the premise that we are a good people, that good people will do good things if given power, and we should feel even better about ourselves for it.

We see where this has gotten us. I say we need to stop feeling good about what we do. We need to stop promoting ourselves as virtuous, inherently good people who can do no wrong. This is called pride. Until we rid ourselves of these self-glorying conceptions (and their parallel delusion that only mysterious bad people who are not us are behind all villainy), our nation will only suffer. So stop feeling good about yourself.

Town Meeting Time

As you may have noticed, it's town meeting season in the New England states. Consider this an open thread to air your views on local democracy- plusses and minuses.

Scooter

So, he's guilty. Does anyone think he cooked up this whole scheme by himself? Of course not. What remains to be seen now is who was really behind this and what their full motivations were.

The worst-case scenario is that we had a vice president who knew the intelligence on Iraq was faulty (at least, not a slam dunk), and swept inconvenient facts under the rug so as to "sell" the war to the Congress and the American public. A war that has since gone rather badly. Sadly, the worst-case scenario seems the most likely, too. Thoughts?

The Return

Sorry for the unexpected pause in blogging over the weekend. Our computer's old keyboard stopped working, and it took some time to diagnose the exact nature of the problem as well as remedy it. We should return to a regular blogging schedule soon.

I Know You Like Quizzes

So here's another one: what kind of intelligence do you have?

I'll post my answer in the comments.

Two Great Tastes

With the acquisition of Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox have a loaded rotation this year. But, as the Onion tells us, they also have something extra:

"If what we've heard is correct, then Matsuzaka indeed possesses a Power Level of well over 9,000," said ESPN's Peter Gammons, struggling to contain his excitement on Tuesday's edition of Baseball Tonight. "Over 9,000! Which, of course, is only to be expected of the ballplayer whom sources say descended into the Underworld to spit in the flaming eye of the Lord of Hell and steal the secret power of the Onikaze, or 'demon-storm' pitch, which tails away nicely from both lefties and righties."

It's the best of both worlds!