I'm not one to push against the tide of reality. And I know that an awful lot of people take comfort in the security of joining the flow of a long line of ignorance simply b/c it's easier than exhibiting one's uniqueness and standing apart from the crowd. (And just FYI, lemmings do not go blindly into the sea -- and don't click on that link there unless you are truly curious about the misconceptions about the behavior of lemmings b/c there is a photo of a drowned lemming on that page and lemmings, while living, are actually quite cute.)

I am not going to waste my breath or time (although I have tons of both) by wishing that an immovable "thought-object" would do something besides be immovable. But this bid on the part of Disney to try to get voting members of the Academy to even remember that Alice in Wonderland in fact existed this year....(and was one of the top grossing films of all time...)

I don't know. It just makes me sick. Not that awards make reality any more or less real. And, no, I don't even watch the Oscars. But still. Come on. Tim Burton is an incredible director. There are so few directors that you can watch 2 minutes of even the opening credits of one of his films and know immediately who directed it.  And millions of people (besides me) love his movies and flock to them! (Yes even I, the notoriously anti-social Mad Woman of Hamilton Road, flock when it comes to Tim Burton's films, and I have been flocking since 1985 when I first saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure 5 times.) And now Disney is going to invest in this big campaign to try to get the voting members of the Academy to even remember that Alice even came out during the last year --- Ack! It's just sickening. Because you know what that means: the fake-lemmings are already looking in their customary unoriginal direction and darting en masse off to the sea. I don't think we're gonna stop them now, folks.

And I won't even discuss that "other guy" that I'm always babbling on about on this lofty blog. Except to say that it's just mind-numbing and dumb-founding, you know? They aren't even suggesting that he be in the running this year for the Mad-Hatter. Because for some reason, creating this amazingly memorable and original character is never what the Oscars are about. I mean, come on; he is one of the most gifted actors alive today (or even yesterday, or last year, or 20 years ago.) It just boggles my mind that so many press-type people can publicly say that Johnny Depp is this brilliant actor and no one else can even come close to achieving what he has achieved in creating such memorable characters that live on & on... and still not give the fucking guy an Oscar. And it's not like every role he plays is some freak, or anything. Sometimes he plays characters that are so brilliantly normal (ish). Gilbert Grape, Don Juan DeMarco, Donnie Brasco. I don't know. What choices are there? Be normal, be crazy, be funny, be lurid, be tragic, be a graphic novel guy, be romantic, sing a lot, kill people, be a swashbuckler... I just can't imagine what kind of part he's supposed to play that would finally make him a no-brainer for an Oscar (& it's no mere coincidence that I use that particular phrase! ha ha). And I am going to be so fucking sick & pissed off if they wait another 25 years and then give him one of those enraging "Cary Grant" type Oscars for his lifetime achievement in films. B/c when they do that, give those practically-posthumous awards, they are saying that they, the Academy, always knew they were hopelessly ignorant & moronic... and now here's a trophy to honor our lifetime of ignorance. It doesn't really honor the actor's achievements at all. Not in my mind, it doesn't. (And my mind is what counts here in Marilyn's Room...)

Cary Grant, while I absolutely adore him still, was "allegedly" always playing "Cary Grant" in every film he ever made, but so what? Audiences absolutely loved him. He was such a delight to watch. And the Cary Grant-ness of him was an act in and of itself; his Cary Grant-ness wasn't who he really was as a man, but "Cary Grant" helped audiences escape the tedium of their lives. (If you want to get an idea of what he was really like as a man, read this book -- you will love it! It's deliciously scandalous!!) And what are the Oscars for if not for saying, "We really loved how you made us feel while we were watching you for about 90 minutes of our lives" ? (Please don't answer that question; it's rhetorical. I know it's really more about politics.)

Here's an interesting fact about Rudolph Valentino. Shortly before he died, he basically single-handedly created what became "the Oscars" by establishing the first awards to honor the art of acting in motion-pictures. And the first winner of that award was John Barrymore.

Okay. I'm done with the spew fest. Now the reminder!

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"The book is intensely erotic with scorching sex scenes. It’s shocking and raw in places. It’s also warm and funny and sad and deeply emotional. It’s about destruction and redemption, friendship and desire, love and hate, pain and pleasure. It's also a powerful romance. All of these things make Freak Parade an unforgettable read." -- Saskia Walker, The Naughty Lady from Shady Lane

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