Chicago: The Eponymous Thread

3.5 hours left of this dumbaroo work day...

In New Orleans, Bands Struggle to Regain Footing

Oscars are Sunday night.

Whatsay some of us organize a little road trip? I have a hankering for New Orleans!

I say with conviction that I WILL be in NO for Carnival next year. The only thing that can keep me away is being a FT student, or perhaps death.

Anyway, is the winner of a sports competition really the best team? Sure, they scored their way to the top, but if you replayed any game they were in, they could often just as easily have won, so the empirical reason for calling them "the best" is not unquestionable, and there is room for subjectivity. Right?

Stupid because it's relative? I mean, obv. there's no way to prove that such-and-such film is the "best" of the year, but I guess I like the idea of history recording what many people's consensus favorite is. When I say "get it right," partially I'm talking about agreeing with ME (which is admittedly silly) -- but I'm also talking about the Oscars reiterating what seems to be the overall critical/public opinion. Last year, I was disappointed by Crash winning, on one hand because *I* thought that Brokeback Mountain was the superior film, but mostly because Brokeback was a fascinating cultural phenomenon and a Best Picture win would've capped off its narrative in a really satisfying way.

Oh wait, I just remembered, you didn't like it.

I don't think "get it right" necessarily means "agree with me," only since one's reasons for believing a movie is The Best would have to extend beyond your own particular opinion. Right?

I agree with this.

Anyway, is the winner of a sports competition really the best team? Sure, they scored their way to the top, but if you replayed any game they were in, they could often just as easily have won, so the empirical reason for calling them "the best" is not unquestionable, and there is room for subjectivity. Right?

The difference is that the whole purpose of a baseball team is to win the World Series, the whole purpose of a football team is to win the Super Bowl, etc. Few movies are created with the primary purpose of winning an Oscar.

I meant BBM. If it wasn't clear.

Few movies are created with the primary purpose of winning an Oscar.

Maybe the way they get it really wrong is by nominating mostly/only films that are made for this purpose.

so lowest common denomenator wins here? i dunno, i have lousy taste in films especially.

As for Oscars, I could not possibly care less about who wins what and whose performance was best. I find actors talking about acting to be boring. That does not mean that it IS boring, just that I, Armando, find it to be boring.

1. General concept of art being a competition.
2. Terrible movies always nominated.
3. People acting like they are actually a measure of quality.

YES

http://www.cdzone.co.uk/scans/S/p/Sparks/351847f.jpg

Yes.

so lowest common denomenator wins here?

I'm not sure that's the best way to describe it, since in the context of film, that term is too redolent of big gross-out comedies or whatever. I mean, yes, it's a consensus, but it's a consensus of what's considered quality.

I find actors talking about acting to be boring.

Hmmm, yeah, I actually find it pretty interesting. But I don't think you find any actors talking about acting on the Oscars. In fact, about the only place you'll actually find actors talking about acting -- I mean, really going into depth about the craft -- is on Charlie Rose or Inside the Actors Studio.

1. LotR winning!
2. Terrible movies always nominated.
3. People acting like they are actually a measure of quality.
4. Too much fuss.
5. General concept of art being a competition--only sort of, since this is usually the way of the world except maybe in the case theraputic or healing art.

How can you hate most movies? Really?

fixed.

HOWEVER I think that "Half Nelson" was pretty good, as it actually succeeds at being naturalistic, and was subtle, which is a quality you rarely see in movies.

Very true. Perhaps I should change my opinon to "I don't care about most movies".

Half Nelson
The Animation Show
Brick
Marie Antoinette
Many others WHICH WERE IN MY QUEUE AND I'VE SINCE FORGOTTEN!

I guess the thing to remember is that the Oscars is what it is. I've never really liked when music critics say things like "In a perfect world, this song would be #1." If all your favorite songs were on top of the charts, and all your favorite movies won Oscars, would that really be a "perfect world"? It seems like it would be kind of weird, actually. I like having stuff that I like, and sometimes it's fun when it syncs up with what other people like, but even when it doesn't, it's still interesting to me to see who likes what and why.