This was a great piece, STV, and sadly we won't be seeing this type of Hollywood analysis on this site next week. God, I'm so very bitter. That said...
This year I was only excited about the Oscars show--I was dreaming about musical medleys, hot pants, and glitter. In the end I got that and more. The movies didn't get me hot and bothered this year. I loved Milk, but I didn't think it would win as many awards as it did, which was a pleasant surprise. At the same time, Benjamin Button won a few categories that I thought the Dark Knight deserved. I don't think we should reward bloated Studio Oscar bait like Benjamin Button, and I'm perfectly fine with indies taking the awards if they're good. What I think resonates most is a good show, and this year was one of the best I can remember.
I am going to miss your intelligent and informative posts, Mr. VanAirsdale. Looks like you have managed to dumbfound the Gawker commenters!
BTW, I just found this -
"And here's something else: on Sunday, in the late afternoon, Snark died. The website defamer.com, which prided itself on miserable comments about Hollywood, went out of business. It was merged into its mothership, Gawker.com, a site that that has long presented itself as the web version of the long defunct Spy magazine.
One of my favorite writers, David Denby, of the New Yorker, recently wrote a whole book on the subject of Snark. What's interesting is that snarkiness is not going to go over in the era of Obama, or in this economy. That's why Defamer is gone. I predict that other Hollywood-bashing sites - all of which pounced incorrectly all over the Academy Awards how last night because they weren't invited-will be gone soon. The absolute worst is one run by former New York Times writer Sharon Waxman. As usual, Waxman just doesn't get it. Go ahead, bite the hand that feeds you, Sharon. Soon you'll be out of another job."
@SunnydaZe10: I don't see Defamer as ever having "bashed" Hollywood, or been on the outside looking in. They've just pointed out its foibles and ugliness in a humorous way, while always championing what they liked.
The reason Defamer was great for so long was that it had an editorial vision with Mark Lisanti. It's come back strong recently with the writing of STV, Kyle Buchanan, and Seth.
02/25/09
02/25/09
02/25/09
This year I was only excited about the Oscars show--I was dreaming about musical medleys, hot pants, and glitter. In the end I got that and more. The movies didn't get me hot and bothered this year. I loved Milk, but I didn't think it would win as many awards as it did, which was a pleasant surprise. At the same time, Benjamin Button won a few categories that I thought the Dark Knight deserved. I don't think we should reward bloated Studio Oscar bait like Benjamin Button, and I'm perfectly fine with indies taking the awards if they're good. What I think resonates most is a good show, and this year was one of the best I can remember.
02/24/09
BTW, I just found this -
"And here's something else: on Sunday, in the late afternoon, Snark died. The website defamer.com, which prided itself on miserable comments about Hollywood, went out of business. It was merged into its mothership, Gawker.com, a site that that has long presented itself as the web version of the long defunct Spy magazine.
One of my favorite writers, David Denby, of the New Yorker, recently wrote a whole book on the subject of Snark. What's interesting is that snarkiness is not going to go over in the era of Obama, or in this economy. That's why Defamer is gone. I predict that other Hollywood-bashing sites - all of which pounced incorrectly all over the Academy Awards how last night because they weren't invited-will be gone soon. The absolute worst is one run by former New York Times writer Sharon Waxman. As usual, Waxman just doesn't get it. Go ahead, bite the hand that feeds you, Sharon. Soon you'll be out of another job."
02/24/09
02/24/09
STV, in honor of you, I'm gonna watch Funny Games, and I'm gonna fucking hate it.
02/25/09
The reason Defamer was great for so long was that it had an editorial vision with Mark Lisanti. It's come back strong recently with the writing of STV, Kyle Buchanan, and Seth.
02/26/09
I hope you are proud of yourself.