Facebooking the 2016 Oscars

Some people live-tweet events such as the Oscars. This year I posted a running commentary on Facebook. Here it is:

Opening monologue

I guess Chris Rock is giving a speech rather than telling jokes this year? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

"Writers, we know that you are the true backbone of the industry, and we love you for it. We also think you're all extremely hot."

So true! ‪#‎WritersSoHot‬

Commercial break! Debuting next week on ABC: The Real O'Neals. Finally, an Irish American family gets a turn in the spotlight. ‪#‎diversity‬

After #Blackish, #FreshOfftheBoat, #Empire, and #DrKen, it's about time someone featured a white family.

Kind of awkward to bring out Stacey Dash since everyone knows she's a Fox commentator and apologist for white supremacy. What's up with that? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Response: awkward silence from the audience.

Pretty average ‪#‎Oscar‬ show so far. Obviously they decided to make it mainly about diversity. Slamming the issue with a sledgehammer rather than slicing it with a scalpel.

Moving along

Jared Leto makes the first merkin joke in Oscar history.

Consider the Merkin: A Brief History of Pubic Wigs in Hollywood

Guy thanked his one-week-old daughter. Not sure what her role was in the years-long production of Mad Max: Fury Road.

The "thank you" crawl beneath the award winners is a good idea. Everyone gets thanked on-screen and the winner can focus on thanking the key people. Or saying something distinctive and memorable.

At least the show is zipping along nicely. None of Neil Patrick Harris's middling stunts.

Let's cut to Sofia Vergara every so often! She's pretty...and Latina! ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

We get to see some Indians on screen--usually savage warriors--whenever they play the standard clips from The Revenant. Yay? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Giving Andy Serkis recognition for, well, anything is a novelty.

So far nothing that qualifies as a memorable moment. ‪#‎OscarsSoBland‬

Picking up the pace

Really? Selling your daughter's Girl Scout cookies? Is that supposed to be funny and charming rather than crass and competitive? ‪#‎OscarsSoMercenary‬

The interview segment straight outta Compton was cute. ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Louis CK was good. All the awards should be presented like that--with smart and seemingly spontaneous riffs.

Leonard Nimoy got the final spot in the "In Memoriam" montage! ‪#‎SpockLives‬ ‪#‎OscarsSoVulcan‬

Vice President Joe Biden! Another white guy! What film was he in? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Cue the conservative Twitter outrage over the domestic violence segment. How dare the Oscars talk about the real world? It's only movies!

Unlike the Stacey Dash bit, that will go on the show's highlight list.

Pharrell has hair? Who knew?

Sacha Baron Cohen was entertaining. Thus proving my point re Louis CK.

Alejandro González Iñárritu mentions his Native American cast! ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Where's Sean Penn to make a follow-up joke about immigrants?

Not sure why the show is over three hours. It's not as if they padded it with a lot of unnecessary bits. ‪#‎NeilPatrickHarris‬ ‪#‎OscarsSoLong‬

The big awards

Gender confirmation surgery! I haven't heard that term before. ‪#‎OscarsSoFluid‬

Forrest Goodluck featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor clip! ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

DiCaprio won because of the kid!

"Climate change is real," says Leo. Cue the conservative numbskulls still raging over Lady Gaga and domestic violence.

Another one for the highlight reel. DiCaprio uses his speech time effectively.

2016 Oscar Winner DiCaprio Dedicates his speech to Mother Earth and Indigenous PeopleLeonardo DiCaprio used his Oscars speech to address climate change. He urged the audience to “support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who’ll be affected by this”.

"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production had to move to the southern tip of this planet just to find now. Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.

We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of under privileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children's children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.

I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted, I do not take this night for granted. Thank you so much."Glad to see Spotlight won Best Picture. Just because I hate it when a film gets "momentum" and sweeps.

Sorry, The Revenant. Better luck next year.

Thus endeth the Oscars. A few good moments in the second half, but still nothing special. ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬

And Fight the Power plays over the final credits.

Journalism wins

A few final tweets:

Retweeted Kate Sheppard (@kate_sheppard):
I haven't seen any of these movies but hey, nice to see attn paid to sexual assault, climate change, and need for investigative journalism.

Retweeted Dave Pell (@davepell):
The message of Spotlight.
The media helps to protect us. Stop maligning it.

I forgot that conservatives also will rage at the Girl Scouts. Damn liberal feminist atheist girls!

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.