Oscars 2021!

Its Oscar time and though nobody gives a shit, nobody has seen all the movies, and nobody will watch I will because I still love movies, films as we snobs say. Here's my list of irrelevant opinions for tonight.

Best Supporting Actor

Who Will Win-- Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

Kaluuya is a great talent. He can play good or bad. He's a charismatic actor willing to take chances. He was brilliant as Fred Hampton. He's gonna win and we can all hear his British accent as half the audience goes he's British?

Who Should Win--Sacha Baron Cohen for Trial of the Chicago 7

Cohen is fearless. His portrayal of Abbie Hoffman was also brilliant. The Trial of the Chicago 7 was dialogue heavy. It was an Aaron Sorkin talkfest. Some like that some dont. I do.

Best Supporting Actress

Who Will Win--Youn Yuh-Jung for Minari

I have no idea what this movie is about . I 'll see it eventually but this Oscar category is prime for unknowns. She is as unknown as they come. I'm sure she's great.

Who Should Win--Maria Bakalova for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

This unknown Bulgarian actress was the perfect choice to hold together the only movie out in 2020 that held MAGA accountable for their treason and nuttiness. As fearless as Cohen is, so is she. Not to mention she had to put up with MAGA kook Rudy Giuliani

Best Actor

Who Will Win-- Chadwick Boseman for Ma Raineys Black Bottom

What tragedy this young man has happen to him. He was one of the most charismatic actors of his time and could have won Oscars already. He will win this one and he should. It was great performance

Who Should Win- Chadwick Boseman

But lets talk about Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal. His portrayal of a heavy metal drummer going deaf and being in denial was brilliant. Any other year, I'd fight anybody about this. But this year sorry Riz.

Best Actress

Who Will Win--I think Viola Davis has a lock on this . She is the new Meryl Streep. She can do anything and her portrayal of Ma Rainey was yet another fearless acting job. The only way she doesnt win is if the old white Academy was turned off by a buxom gold teethed brave black woman telling them what to do.

Who Should Win-- Viola Davis

But like Davis, Frances McDormand dont give a fuck what you think of her. Her portrayal of a homeless van living woman in Nomadland was genius. Very few actresses could have pulled it off as easily as she appeared to do. If she does win, I wouldnt be surprised. 

Best Picture

What Will Win--Nomadland

Nomadland is a generational movie. If you're older I think you can appreciate this more than younger folks. For example , Max thought this movie was a big Meh. Why does someone choose to live like this? To us older road trip folks, why wouldn't a person choose this lifestyle? Other than lack of courage or a desire for order in your life, who wouldn't like to travel the nation as free as you can be? The use of real life nomads made this even more real and I loved every second of it.

What Should Win-- Nomadland

But lets talk about Sound of Metal. This movie about the heavy metal drumming nomad with a bad hearing loss was as interesting a movie as can be. Its the only movie I watched twice. The 2nd time made it even more brilliant. Riz Ahmed going to the deaf rehab center, being in denial, getting "fixed" in an attempt to get back his old life and his ultimate acceptance really got to me, especially the 2nd viewing. The last movie I watched twice was Moonlight. This one is similar. We all know what happened with Moonlight.

Enjoy. It will be watched by hundreds

Red State Racing!

 

Hey its been a long month. 2021 is arguably better than 2020 but not yet. I am fully vaccinated as is virtually everyone I know. I still wear a mask in public but a trip to rural Nebraska on Friday showed me a whole different world that I really want no part of. I hadn't seen a live horse race in 6 years since the old Lincoln Race Course closed down and being off work allowed me to take a 2 hour trip to Central Nebraska and a run down horse track called Fonner Park. 

Fonner is probably the finest track left in Nebraska as the powers that be in leadership roles in this ass backwards state attempt to take us back 100 years to a time of hardship and Calvinism. While the Governors and legislators live in luxury the rest of us are required to submit to a state full of guns, Jesus and nothing much else. But Fonner Park remains. And as long as it does, I will go.

The fans of this dying sport are few but rabid. They show up. The last time I was at Fonner was 25 years ago. Lincoln is much closer but that track is no longer. Omaha's track is a tiny little crowded building with no barns and about two weekends a year which brings out everybody in town making it an unbearable situation to this claustrophobic fan so I dont go.

The fans in rural central Nebraska were many. Not packed but there had to be a couple thousand. I was masked and looked at like I was a space alien. 99% of the people wore no mask, drank like fish, and screamed and yelled like it was 1999. No pandemic, no danger, no cares. It was uncomfortable as hell, But I am vaccinated and more than 2 weeks out so I stayed. I was surrounded by people who all looked like they'd proudly stormed the Capitol back on January 6th. Picture that crowd of rabble. This is what it looked like here. Maskless men in baseball hats, goatees, and who looked like waving a T***P flag would be right up their alley. The women the same. Rural aint my bag man.

The races themselves were entertaining to me even though they consisted of broken down elderly horses running for their lives. Its my jam. The cruelty of the sport notwithstanding, not one horse broke down, not one horse collapsed, not one horse ran into trouble. It was a good day. 

Except for the red state denial and lack of humanity. I liked the horses better .

Another "Normal" Week!

 Ya know this has been a week that normally would be something talked about for years. But this crazy shit happens every freaking day in 2021 America and I for one just want normal still.

The trial of the century is happening. A cop, a killer, a cold blooded killer is on trial in Minneapolis for the murder of a man named George Floyd. A murder everyone saw. A murder that nobody can defend with the exception of racists and morons. And it is excruciating to watch.

Everyone has seen snippets of the 9 minute 26 second video of a police officer slowly killing a man while smirking at a crowd of bystanders pleading for the mans life. But very few had seen the entire video played beginning to end without interruption. You had that opportunity this week. It was the worst thing Ive seen perhaps ever. It wasnt a bad police shooting, it wasnt a terrorist slicing some journalists throat. it wasnt some racist punching someone. It was 9  minutes of a slow torturous death perpetrated by a human being sworn to serve and protect. George Floyd was not only murdered, he was tortured first and then murdered. I will never be the same.

The testimony of guilt stricken witnesses, the testimony of police superiors stating this is not defensible, the testimony of  EMT's shocked at the hostility of Minneapolis cops preventing them from helping, the testimony of decent folks baring their souls on how they lay awake at night regretting how this entire murder could have been prevented. The tears, the regret, the anger and of course, the utter stupidity of defense lawyers attempting to portray these people as being an angry mob of black radicals interfering with police business. 

The defense of this act of cold and calculated homicide isnt going to work. This cop is going down hard. Even in 2021 America where Blue Lives Matter turned out to be nothing but racist  bullshit when it came to "patriots", this cop is done. There isnt a decent human being who cannot see the despicable lack of humanity that happened in the 9 plus minutes. 

But then again, decency is becoming rarer and rarer in this day and age. 

Another gun enthusiast exercised his 2nd Amendment privileges right this week in California by coldly chaining a gate closed, walking in to a building and murdering 4 innocents, including a 9 year old child. This is news you say? For fucks sake it happens 5 times a week anymore. We have proven that we dont care who these maniacs kill, even 6 year olds or 9 year olds over the last few years. As long as everybody, including the mentally ill and the just plain evil have unfettered access to mass killing weapons of war. The video of Congressional hobbit Lindsey Graham firing a weapon of mass destruction may have the been the most absurd video of the year. I am so sick of it. And of him.

Major League Baseball has pulled its All Star Game from the city of Atlanta since Georgia has decided to go all Lester Maddox and take an axe handle to those pesky black folks who vote. Georgia, who gave us the Senate, started a fight with those people who stood inline for hours and voted not the way the Orange Monster wanted. Passing a voter suppression law that will make it even harder for what happened in 2020 to ever happen again. Basically its a only whites can vote law to ensure that backwards ass hillbillies dominate Georgia politics as has been done for 150 years. I'm not sure what's worse though, The fact that this was passed or the fact white people just cannot be trusted to do the right thing. 

Other states are now trying it. Iowa, Texas, Floriduh, Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Tennessee, Louisiana all seem to want Republican gerrymandered legislatures to be able to just scream voter fraud and overturn elections simply because the wrong folks voted. The fact this even is an issue shows the desperation of a party of fools dominated by a fascist con man. 

Years ago I wondered what would happen once white people's share of the vote went down to a point where they no longer decided elections on nationwide scales. Now I know my answer. 

Its full blown panic. 

Pull other shit out of these states. Hit em where it hurts. Cancel the culture until it doesn't even exist any longer. The culture sucks. Its based on hate, ignorance and meanness. Cancel it all as far as I am concerned .

NOW