We are watching the Oscars because everyone is too sick to go to the Glass Harp reunion show in Cleveland tonight. I'm taking notes and will have a report later, but I am telling you right now we just saw an ALL-TIME OSCAR HIGHLIGHT:
Fat, greasy Michael Moore won for Best Documentary Feature and launched into a rant against Bush and the war, calling it all "fictitious," and after some token polite applause the audience became very hostile and AND BOOED HIM OFF THE STAGE. It was a moment to savor in an otherwise unmemorable show. Classic.
UPDATE
Moore's boorish bludgeoning of the evening looks even worse in light of Best Actor winner Adrien Brody's impassioned but nonaccusatory call for a "quick resolution," and Peter O'Toole's almost unbelievably gracious speech accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award. He particularly thanked the United States and called us "good." I almost teared up.
UPDATE
Please see Oscar commentary here.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mike
I guess you forgot to mention that everyone at the Oscars had signed a waiver saying they wouldn't mention the war during the ceremony.
I'm thinking that was the reason for the booing.
And I'm led even more so to think that because people cheered when he mentioned the election, and the illegitmacy of the president.
No one booed (except for one person, who was booing quite loudly, perhaps Kelsey Grammar) until the war talk started. I'm guessing that rubbed a few people the wrong way, since mostly everyone was looking forward to an evening away from the terrible thoughts of the war.
Either way, you can't say Mr. Moore leaves this with egg on his face. He's just recieved more publicity (and as they said in Chicago, no publicity is bad publicity) than he could have ever dreamed of. And at the end of the day, he's still got the #1 non-fiction book of 2002 and the most successful (both financially and critically) documentary of all time under his belt. Not bad I'd say, for a fat, greasy guy.
2 - Natalie Davis
I would add that to peaceniks, the only people whose opinions would count with me (nothing against war and Terrorist-in-Chief Bush supporters, but, they are not the ones I would look to for opinions or advice, particularly when the immorality of violence is the subject under discussion), Mike Moore is a hero. And I quite agree. Finally, truth on television. Who would expect to hear it at the Oscars?
And the looksism stinks to high heaven.
Pax vobiscum.
3 - James Russell
Fat, greasy Michael Moore
And the fatness and the grease does what exactly to actually refute his ideas and statements?
4 - Mike
http://www.oscar.com/oscarnight/winners/win_32297.html
interesting post-ceremony video on the left
5 - Rob
Too bad you missed Glass Harp.
6 - Eric Olsen
In this case the fatness and greasiness are reflections of personality and thus germane to the situation - he is what he is.
7 - san
Natalie speaks the truth: "Mike Moore is a hero." I couldn't agree more.
8 - Eric Olsen
Damn, we couldn't get much father apart on that assessment.
9 - Nigel Richardson
Hmmm, should all future posts here carry the weight of each contributor so that we can judge the worth of their comments from that? (Not sure how greasiness is measured, maybe some dermatologist reading this could oblige?)
My personal opinion, I just wish Moore had been a bit less obvious, a bit more subversive -- left the potatoheads in the audience thinking "hey, he's smart" rather than "I wonder what he's so angry about".
10 - Bill Sherman
"In this case the fatness and greasiness are reflections of personality . . ."
Sorry, Eric, but in this case your explanation is even more offensive: fatness a reflection of personality? Put down your Ken Layne novel and consider all the faulty presumptions imbedded in that li'l statement.
It's okay take umbrage over Moore's entirely predictable display, but rolling it into a stereotypical fat bash totally obscures your point. . .
11 - The Theory
nothing short of a death would keep me from Glass Harp...
peace.
12 - Eric Olsen
Bill, No fat bash, just a Moore bash - the out of control self-indulgence totally holds, not backing down a bit on this one. He is slovenly on every level, most importantly in his mind.
And on the matter of fat - the greens and lefties are totally right on this one: it is a crime and a disgrace that we are the fattest nation in the world, indulging ourselves with sugar, fat and salt, putting off doing anyting about it for another day, manifesting our self-indulgence for all the world to see, and killing ourselves in the process.
Obesity is our greatest health risk - period. It's not funny and it's not okay and I will not apologize.
13 - Eric Olsen
TT, you are a remarkable young man. Peace to you.
14 - Bill Sherman
We're totally gonna have to disagree on this 'un. Simply put, the blanket assumption that all fatness represents a loss of control is dubious and medically specious. Too, I would argue that much of the fatness we see in this country has been created, to a certain extent, by a diet culture that starts earlier and earlier on young Americans - wreaking havoc with their metabolism in the process. Is obesity a health risk or is obesity coupled with a pattern of failed dieting the problem? (We know, for example, that one of the first things to go in extreme dieting is muscle mass - and that the heart is one of our most prominent muscles. It's possible that certain kinds of dieting can be worse on the heart than staying the same size.)
I don't want to downplay the health risks because they clearly exist. But NIH reports to the contrary there is a lot of contradictory material out there about the causes and effects of fatness. And as someone who knows some very fat men and women who are ten times more self-controlled than me, I still think you're off-base.
15 - Eric Olsen
Okay
16 - The Theory
thanks eric.
peace.
17 - Dawn
In no way is Michael Moore's fatness anything other than an manifestation of his gluttony. He is hardly in the margin of "healthy fat".
It's totally ironic that a man who points the finger at America for its gross imperfections - is well - grossly imperfect.
Fat and greasy can be used as a metaphor for laziness and lack of integrity. Which for those of you who embrace Michael Moore as a hero, it is clear that beggars can't be choosers. You have so few idiotic way out lefty heroes to choose from - what a pity you would cling that loser.
He is a dirty liar too.
18 - Jim Treacher
"Mike Moore is a hero."
Close. Michael Moore ATE a hero. And two bags of chips. Then it was time for lunch.
Just kidding! It was only one bag of chips. And it was after lunch.
P.S. I'm fat too.
19 - Bill Sherman
But are you greasy, Jim?
20 - Eric Olsen
Jim, great to hear from you, dude! This isn't about Moore's weight, it's about his classless self-indulgence and his wretched tin ear to the tone of the evening, which accomodated all views harmoniously other than his monomaniacal rant.
Oh, and he is bulbous and oleaginous.
21 - Bill Sherman
"Fat and greasy can be used as a metaphor for laziness and lack of integrity."
But should they be, Dawn? Perhaps if you're a cartoonist (and are looking for a good medieval emblem of weak-willed gluttony), that'll fly. But the issue is what Moore said, not how he looks . . .
Unless you're visually offended by the image of fat&greasy people on teevee - in which case that's a whole other posting.
22 - Bill Sherman
I like the word "bulbous," Eric. Makes me think of Captain Beefheart. . .
23 - Jim Treacher
"But are you greasy, Jim?"
What did you have in mind, sailor?
24 - Jim Treacher
Look, if Ann Coulter says something stupid... make that WHEN Ann Coulter says something stupid, ya go for the "skeletal human remains" material. Ted Rall, deadbeat dad jokes. Michael Moore, girth mirth. Just working with the available tools. Why would anybody take it personally? Lighten up. (No pun intended.)
25 - Bill Sherman
"What did you have in mind, sailor?"
Nuthin' that you couldn't find in Joe's Garage.