Well if you couldn't tell, last night's Oscar awards were produced this year by a gay man. I know, right, what gave it away - the Follies and Busby Berkley opening number with out-gay actor Neil Patrick Harris or the gorgeous sets?! Adam Shankman, best known for helming HAIRSPRAY and being a judge on So You Think You Can Dance joined the Oscar team this year as a producer this year and even though he openly criticized the GLAAD Awards last year for going 3.5 hours (from stage no less, whilst accepting his award - memorable comment: "My, we gays do really like to hear ourselves talk), the Oscar ceremony last night went just about that long.
If you're gay, you no-doubt caught the GLARING omission of two lgbt icons Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett in last night's In Memorandum section. WHAT?!
Farrah Fawcett starred in the film MYRA BREKINRIDGE written by that flamer Gore Vidal in a story revolving a famous transexual. She also starred in the scifi pict LOGAN'S RUN, which holds a special place in West Hollywood's heart since as we all know, if you turn thirty there and you're gay you might as well be dead. She also starred in Saturn 3 and Cannonball Run, but will always be remembered for her turn on Charlie's Angels, which was the way you could tell in those days if a little boy was going to be gay - if he feathered his hair and spun around like the girls; and if you were going to be a lesbian if you had that iconic poster of her on your wall (a few of my exes did!).
Bea Arthur was mainly a television actress, but she was also big on stage and who could forget her performance in the otherwise train-wrecky MAME. Her turn as Vera just made that film!
Anyway, now that we've properly included two icons, onto the Oscars. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were fantastic as hosts, probably because of their long history of conquering the kind of one-liners that long time Oscar writer (and out-gay man) Bruce Vilanch likes to write. Bruce got his start writing jokes for Bette Midler in the bathhouses...now it's the Oscars! The show also has a lesbian writer this year - Carol Leifer - who has long been rumoured to be the basis of the character Elaine on Seinfeld. You can catch her next week along with Sharon Osbourne and Cindy Lauper on the new Celebrity Apprentice, fyi.
Anyone who has ever enjoyed watching a behemoth ego get popped, certainly must have jumped for joy over watching Kathryn Bigelow beat out ex husband James...what's his name again?...even if they never saw the film. Then to see The Hurt Locker beat out Avatar? Seems like the Academy was dolling out a force feeding of hubris to Mr. Cameron.
It was especially ironic and somewhat touching to have Barbra Streisand hand out the best director award to Bigelow - first ever win for a female in this category - if you remember the hub bub with La Babs over Yentl and The Mirror has Two Faces.
Speaking of a funny girl, other highlights included Sandra Bullock beating out Dame Meryl Streep for the best actress statuette (she tried to lean over and kiss her again, but she said in an interview later that the dress wouldn't allow her to bend over!). Mo'nique won for best supporting actress then admitted in an interview to Barbara Walters that she channeled her older brother for the role, admitting she had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
I was happy to see one of my favorite films of the year, UP win for Best Animated Feature, and it was also great seeing Geoffrey Fletcher win for adapting the screenplay for PRECIOUS. It was also nice to see DISTRICT 9 included in some of the categories, since it had such a great friendship and twist at it's core and I thought it was clever and fresh. STAR TREK, while just bubble gum fare, probably deserved a nod just for not SUCKING (I really enjoyed it), but it was nice to see nods in their direction in some of the tech categories.
Other winners included Jeff Bridges for CRAZY HEART and Christoph Waltz for INGLORIOUS BASTERDS.
If you're gay, you no-doubt caught the GLARING omission of two lgbt icons Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett in last night's In Memorandum section. WHAT?!
Farrah Fawcett starred in the film MYRA BREKINRIDGE written by that flamer Gore Vidal in a story revolving a famous transexual. She also starred in the scifi pict LOGAN'S RUN, which holds a special place in West Hollywood's heart since as we all know, if you turn thirty there and you're gay you might as well be dead. She also starred in Saturn 3 and Cannonball Run, but will always be remembered for her turn on Charlie's Angels, which was the way you could tell in those days if a little boy was going to be gay - if he feathered his hair and spun around like the girls; and if you were going to be a lesbian if you had that iconic poster of her on your wall (a few of my exes did!).
Bea Arthur was mainly a television actress, but she was also big on stage and who could forget her performance in the otherwise train-wrecky MAME. Her turn as Vera just made that film!
Anyway, now that we've properly included two icons, onto the Oscars. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were fantastic as hosts, probably because of their long history of conquering the kind of one-liners that long time Oscar writer (and out-gay man) Bruce Vilanch likes to write. Bruce got his start writing jokes for Bette Midler in the bathhouses...now it's the Oscars! The show also has a lesbian writer this year - Carol Leifer - who has long been rumoured to be the basis of the character Elaine on Seinfeld. You can catch her next week along with Sharon Osbourne and Cindy Lauper on the new Celebrity Apprentice, fyi.
Anyone who has ever enjoyed watching a behemoth ego get popped, certainly must have jumped for joy over watching Kathryn Bigelow beat out ex husband James...what's his name again?...even if they never saw the film. Then to see The Hurt Locker beat out Avatar? Seems like the Academy was dolling out a force feeding of hubris to Mr. Cameron.It was especially ironic and somewhat touching to have Barbra Streisand hand out the best director award to Bigelow - first ever win for a female in this category - if you remember the hub bub with La Babs over Yentl and The Mirror has Two Faces.
Speaking of a funny girl, other highlights included Sandra Bullock beating out Dame Meryl Streep for the best actress statuette (she tried to lean over and kiss her again, but she said in an interview later that the dress wouldn't allow her to bend over!). Mo'nique won for best supporting actress then admitted in an interview to Barbara Walters that she channeled her older brother for the role, admitting she had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
I was happy to see one of my favorite films of the year, UP win for Best Animated Feature, and it was also great seeing Geoffrey Fletcher win for adapting the screenplay for PRECIOUS. It was also nice to see DISTRICT 9 included in some of the categories, since it had such a great friendship and twist at it's core and I thought it was clever and fresh. STAR TREK, while just bubble gum fare, probably deserved a nod just for not SUCKING (I really enjoyed it), but it was nice to see nods in their direction in some of the tech categories.
Other winners included Jeff Bridges for CRAZY HEART and Christoph Waltz for INGLORIOUS BASTERDS.
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