The Oscars sucked

I like John Stewart, but even his presence could not assuage the sinking feeling I got watching a bunch of Gold-toothed rappers doing their rendition of "It's hard out here for a pimp". Was there somebody actually named "ludicris" out there having something to do with that? All the bow-ties, penguin suits and primped ladies and then we are served up with some cutting edge Urban music; what better way to show how hip and groovy Hollywood is than to embrace art born from the street. I guess feminists weren't involved in the choice. Or anyone else who had any notion of doing anything else but cheap pandering to the young Americans who are still dumb enough, like me, to go to movies no matter how bad, stupid, boring and pointless they might be.

It's always fun to watch people move up in the world, and watching Queen Latifah, originally responsible for some vile racist filth at one time coming out of the rap world in the form of some groups she helped out, no becoming a cover-girl and media darling. The American fascination with race relations and the art generated by is getting old; I don't see much of anything come out of that field that can't be translated into "whitey trying to keep a brotha down" when the day is nigh for some serious self-reflection among African Americans. Internalization is in, externalization is out. Ask Bill Cosby. Watching the Oscars made me want to call 1-800-whiteyguilt. And watching the "36 Mafia" gangster rap group who would just as soon hold up the audience as play for them, was 'ludicris'.

I should mention also that Hollywood, having stood up for pimps, failed on another note. I watched a famous Arab film director's photo pass across the screen with various other deceased alumni, and realized that he was murdered by terrorists in Jordan with his young daughter. Here, Hollywood had an opportunity to recognize the price of terror, that it had struck on of their own, but instead, they punted, listing him up their with people who died of heart failure and colon cancer.