Here's the full transcript, worth seeing in text, because the actorly performance of the text makes it harder to understand the rationality of it. It feels like an emotional cascade. You get caught up wondering how does he feel and does he really feel what he is expressing and what is he really saying and is he coherent and is coherence necessary?
I’m full of so much gratitude now. I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room, because we share the same love...This speech will also end with "love" — "Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow" — and we just saw a montage of the nominated actors that ended with Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce) saying "Remember, truth may be vital, but without love, it is also unbearable." But the love in question at this point was:
... the love of film. And this form of expression has given me the most extraordinary life. I don’t know where I’d be without it. But I think the greatest gift that it’s given me, and many people in [this industry] is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless.Oh, no! It's going to be a political speech. The Oscars got off to a bad start with Brad Pitt — who won the best supporting actor Oscar — saying he only had 45 seconds to speak, "which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week" and maybe Quentin Tarantino could do a movie about the impeachment where "in the end the adults do the right thing." Tarantino has been doing movies based on historical events where the good guys win in the end, and the movie Pitt won his Oscar for is one of those movies, so his line was well-crafted, but I hated seeing one political side given precedence. The show was just starting, and he was telling half the country their perspective on the world is not valued. Ah, maybe not. His remarks are focused on the desire for witness testimony in the Senate, not the quest to be rid of the President. That puts him in the Susan Collins position, which isn't all that divisive. But it rubbed me the wrong way. Me — and I'm not a Trump voter — I'm just someone offended by the 3 years of disrespect shown to the people whose candidate won an election.
But Phoenix didn't go into partisan politics. In fact, he is trying to pull people together:
I’ve been thinking about some of the distressing issues that we’ve been facing collectively. I think at times we feel or are made to feel that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality.That's the opposite of divisive.
I think, whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender, one species, has the right to dominate, use and control another with impunity. I think we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world. Many of us are guilty of an egocentric world view, and we believe that we’re the center of the universe. We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakeable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.We're called back to nature, away from the disconnection. If we put milk in our coffee, there is — somewhere out there — a cow that was used. Phoenix doesn't go from there into a PETA lecture. He gets back to human life:
We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something; to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.That's almost right wing. It's at least inclusive of the right. The environment matters, but we can go for innovation and technology and find solutions. It's not about giving things up. Then comes another right-wing-friendly idea, personal responsibility:
I have been a scoundrel all my life, I’ve been selfish.This reminds me of Trump, last Thursday, going on about his impeachment acquittal: "We went through hell, unfairly, did nothing wrong, did nothing wrong, I've done things wrong in my life, I will admit, not purposely, but I've done things wrong." Oh, Trump couldn't confess "I have been a scoundrel all my life," but he did confess "I've done things wrong in my life."
I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. I think that’s when we’re at our best: when we support each other. Not when we cancel each other out for our past mistakes...A clear statement against the cancel culture.
... but when we help each other to grow. When we educate each other; when we guide each other to redemption. When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric. He said: "Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow."The brother, River Phoenix, died in 1993, when he was 23. He wasn't rescued or educated or guided. Joaquin Phoenix was 19 when he lost his brother, and now he resurrects that brother's spirit in a simple call for love.
A+
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202 comments:
1 – 200 of 202 Newer› Newest»"...he only had 45 seconds to speak, "which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week"..."
Neither did the House, you moron.
So brave of him to give an anti-abortion speech to that crowd.
The only way to produce a Society of Love is to kill all the Haters.
These people have no problem reintroducing wolves which probably induce one of the more horrific deaths on an animal. Dairy cows are very well taken care of, they are an asset their doctor makes house calls, don't have a 2000lb bull climbing on their back to inseminate. A feminists dream!
Chuck Schumer rejected a deal offered by Republicans that included Bolton’s testimony because the whole impeachment was intended to cover for Biden.
We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something; to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.
Phoenix should read “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” read the novel, not watch the movie. It’s a story of how communism uses communist kitsch, beautiful sentiments to yoke people under brutal oppression.
He reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer was allowed to design a car, the most marvelous car ever built, this car was full of marvels, but it bankrupted the company and put all of their employees out of work.
Wisconsin is America's Dairyland.
And River Phoenix did huge amounts of drugs and died of an overdose on the sidewalk outside a nightclub. If only he'd been drinking milk.
He was really good in ‘SpaceCamp’.
His speech might have ended on a much higher note than it began (the animal message only makes sense if you don't think about it too much), but it's still mostly nonsense that doesn't help his causes. When will these people realize that their hypocrisy cancels out their passion? (And like it or not, they are subjected to group punishment--those few smart actors of character are lumped in with the others. One bad apple does spoil the whole bunch.)
"The only way to produce a Society of Love is to kill all the Haters.”
Sometimes I think that killing all utopians might lead to peace, but us non utopians, not believing in the pretty words, don’t really have the stomach for it. Plus we would have to kill them as we see them, and once we started on this path, the first one we would see would be in the mirror.
Instead. If only he'd been drinking milk instead.
Award show attendees: Go for the molly instead of the coke and spread the love.
Here’s my favorite example of animal torture. A hen is trying to lay ten or twelve eggs so that she can sit on them and hatch them, she can’t stop laying until she gets that many or gets too old. Every day she makes a new start, every day we take it away. We should name them all Sisyphus.
I did not like “Joker” but it has already grossed $1 billion. I saw it as a crazy man killing people and I do not like that. I also don’t like comic book movies. And the story was very predictable.
Not to spoil the movie, there is one gruesome murder in the movie that I think will be copied. Movies are very influential in the culture and “Joker” will encourage more shootings. Some people want to do what Joker did in order to become famous.
And all this killing is from people who want to stop gun violence. Hypocrites.
Because movies are so culturally important, I made the theme of my script marriage. While pitching it, I have stated that fact.
What’s with A+ at the end?
I take it you haven't seen Joker. It is a movie about the dangers of nihilism masquerading as a cause (think Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives Matter). Most of the reviews were sadly uni-dimensional and wrong.
An actor gives his lines well and convincingly. Thematically they are interesting and thoughtful. Who wrote them I wonder?
From the land of self importance..............
Got Guilt?
Ever heard of agriculture? Eat bat stomach soup if you don't like dairy.
The thing about the Brad Pitt line was how nervous he seemed delivering it. He is such a good actor it was strange to see him with a voice that almost quivered.
The great thing about the voiceless is that they all agree with me.
Fuck him. Fuck hollywood. That's where any 'conversation' should start.
"There's only two drinks allowed on the Senate floor: milk and water. That must come from a Wisconsin senator, right?" Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters before noting that he was sticking to water.
Just as I clicked away, it looked like he was almost sexually assaulted by the presenter who was acting like she was in a limo on prom night with the king of the prom.
Brad Pitt is ignorant. If he actually knew anything, he would have put the blame where it belonged....on the Democrats and Shifty Schiff for NOT subpoenaing John Bolton. THEY were supposed to do the investigation....not the Senate. The House did not do their job, and they lost.
Yah but milk tastes good. Yogurt tastes good. Cheese tastes good...
"Got Guilt?"
Funny. But not as funny as "miso soup", which I'm still laughing about. Not to cross-pollinate here, which Joaquin would probably be against that.
I was flipping through channels and saw two or three minutes of a music in movies montage which was great. Kept flipping as it was winding down. Never made it back.
... but when we help each other to grow. When we educate each other; when we guide each other to redemption
There is no redemption doctrine in progressive ideology. I see this as a pleading with his peers to come into the light. He has become an outcast, whether he realizes it or not.
I applaud him.
Aunty Trump Chuck Schumer rejected a deal offered by Republicans that included Bolton’s testimony because the whole impeachment was intended to cover for Biden.
Yet, instead ripped the covers off of Biden exposing him in his embarrassing underwear, furry legs,hugging his comfort teddy bear and all the incompetentence, corruption, and lying that is Biden and his family.
I'm just someone offended by the 3 years of disrespect shown to the people whose candidate won an election.
Thanks for that...
and maybe Quentin Tarantino could do a movie about the impeachment where "in the end the adults do the right thing."
That movie has been made. It's a documentary.
"one species". I guess he doesn't like lions.
Propaganda has little concern with ostensible accuracy, only effectiveness in spreading the message. The message Pitt sent was that the GOP are rigged-game producing corruptocrats while decent, non-partisians like himself just want fair justice, no more no less.
I feel horrible for gays that this is the shit culture they stride like a Colossus over. Screwed again by the culture they made because of all the bigotry they had to face.
Your website is the first place I've even seen the Oscars mentioned. And that includes all four of my local news sites. They didn't even put it on the front page. So actually Brad Pitt was not talking to half the country. He was in a safe space talking to others exactly like him
I didn't watch the Oscars. I would not want to tune in to be lectured anyway. It seems like such a cocoon.
The reason Pitt longed for Bolton was that he thought Bolton would finish off Trump. He would have called for Bolton’s lying head if his testimony had been anything other than damaging to Trump.
We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakeable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.
I realize he was short on time but how come no empathy for cereal? As long as cereal killers are out there cereal isn't safe. Where'e the campaign to stop cereal killers? Where's the love?
Civility bullshit. No offense to bulls.
Well 45 seconds is longer than Pitt gives to the male prostitutes sent to his hotel room if their bodies are not flawless. Look it up
Blogger whitney said...
... So actually Brad Pitt was not talking to half the country. He was in a safe space talking to others exactly like him
2/10/20, 7:16 AM
Isn't that what the Oscars is, though? It's for themselves to feel self righteous? Unfortunately, it makes them feel like they have something of relevance to say. And these are actors. Actors! Whose whole job is repeating what someone else has told them to say.
I can't watch the Oscars any more.
"That's almost right wing."
That would no doubt surprise the speaker. I suspect most on the left don't ever listen to "right" ideas directly. They have a cartoon idea of the right formed by left wing (majority) media. Since they literally don't know anyone who does not proudly declare their leftism, most think people on the right sit around hating on blacks and plotting how to put brown kids in cages.
He wasn't rescued or educated or guided.
LOL.
"Joker" was a good show, the poverty aand perhsps nuttiness of it are similar to that of some of the Phoenix households; check where the kids were born.
River Jude Bottom
August 23, 1970
Madras, Oregon, U.S.
Rain Joan of Arc Bottom
November 21, 1972
Crockett, Texas, U.S.
Joaquin Rafael Bottom
October 28, 1974
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Libertad Mariposa Bottom
July 5, 1976
Caracas, Venezuela
Summer Joy Bottom
December 10, 1978
Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
"They would perform on the streets of Caracas, Venezuela, while handing out Christian flyers to passers by. The family set out for California in order for the children to enter the entertainment industry. In West Los Angeles, Phoenix and her siblings would perform on the streets for crowds of people. "
The parents changed their name from Bottom to Phoenix after they left the Christian cult.
Forgive the piling on but as someone who was once passionate about film and was excited about Oscar night viewing parties it was the first year I watched not a second of the show. I caught 45 seconds of the pre-game with that Johnny Weir/MC Hammer hybrid guy interviewing GMA people and concluded this is no longer for me.
I managed to see Parasite and 1917 for free. Goodbye film...
Best Oscar joke: How is it Parasite won when there was no host?
Hollywood liberals standing up for John Bolton's right to be heard. What a world.
One day even they won't take them seriously.
We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something; to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.
The Impossible Whopper!
"how nervous he seemed delivering it."
Fear of the stormtroopers that would surely come bursting into the hall to take him away, I'll bet. The eternal price of speaking Truth... to Power. <sniff!>
Brad Pitt is a lying, dog-faced pony soldier!
"Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk."
"I don't know why Phoenix considered "Joker" a good place to put his talent, then lectures us about our insufficient love for the living things of earth."
Why? Money. And fame.
Those who abhor the Leftist influence in the movies, yet pay to enjoy their product are simply enablers. You're less self-aware than the Leftists themselves.
Think about where your money goes.
I can barely watch the Oscar recaps. If they just told us who won, we'd be able to see with our own eyes the diversity of it all. Instead, we must be hit about the head about how diverse it all was, and how it was a year of diversity after controversy, and all the diverse people who won in this year that had been controversial about diversity.
Isn't anything just fun any more, and subliminally the message is received by us?
The thing that strikes me about cows is this: if we stopped using them for dairy and meat, wouldn't they cease to exist? Except maybe in India.
Oh, what a bunch of cow pies. Mr. Phoenix needs to do and not talk. There are plenty of people in the 3rd world who could live so much better if he would give a large portion of his money to them. Instead, he talks about Cows. I like Cows, but they get milked in exchange for food and safety from predators. They seem pretty happy - given they're cows.
Do you know what Oscar speech I'd give an A+ to? "I am extremely grateful I live in a time and place where people can pay enough money to watch me play pretend that I can rake in an obscenely high salary. In another time and place the best gig I could have hoped for would have been to be the king's fool."
I realize he was short on time but how come no empathy for cereal? As long as cereal killers are out there cereal isn't safe. Where'e the campaign to stop cereal killers? Where's the love?
If Meat is Murder, Salad is SLAUGHTER!!!
poor innocent plants don't have legs; they can't even run away when you come to Slaughter them. The Fact of the matter is:
Cows are WORSE than killers! They Maim the innocent grass, by RIPPING their bodies apart.... Just to Feed their Faces!
Stop the Slaughter! STOP The Eating of Innocent Plant Life!!
My favorite professor in college was also named Joe Quinn, but not from Phoenix.
Without a doubt, most of the actors and actresses who, by the way, make their living pretending to be someone that they are not, have this idea that they are important and knowledgeable about life, then, they open their mouths, and from those mouths some of the most idiotic statements flow. Shame on people who honor these idiots.
When I surfed by, an enormous white woman in a black parachute was trying to sing like a black woman, and failing.
Nothing was stopping Bolton from talking if he wanted to do anything besides sell books.
They should re-name the whole Schitt-show - 'Now Hillarywoodland will Lecture you for 3 hours as they accept a golden statue show.'
I didn't watch but Brad Pitt knows that Bolton holds the keys!
Apparently, Althouse is grading the Oscars on a curve.........
he actually rehearsed that speech, good grief these people are tedious, then there's the Obama sinecure development company that praised karl marx, as he had continued the deinsdustrialalization of America, you don't think there's anything special about this country, brad, go live somewhere else,
Pretty soon, the Oscars will go the way of the Daytime Emmys...You will only be able to watch on the Computer. The ratings keep falling, and the idiots keep spewing their hate for America. Bye Bye Dumb Actors and Actresses. The more they open their mouths spewing Democrat talking points, the more America tunes them out.
If people didn’t drink the milk, we wouldn’t need the cow, so therefore she’d be killed. Is that so hard to figure out?
And the only proper way to drink coffee is black and thick. No sugar! That’s how you learn to drink it in the wee hours of the morning when you’re debugging software. The alternative to being professional about debugging your code is to foist crappy, buggy software on the public, for instance the Obamacare rollout, the app used for the Iowa Democrat caucuses, any and all Microsoft products back in the day.
Tarantino is the adult in the room? Or maybe Joaquin just means Tarantino makes movies about the adults in the room. I think Tarantino always looked to Weinstein as the adult in his room. The movies that Tarantino made with Weinstein were his best. It's a shame Tarantino can't make any more movies with Weinstein.
true, but the staff they hired to run the machines, also needed to be debugged, heck they couldn't even properly steal an election,
Tarantino is the adult in the room? Or maybe Joaquin just means Tarantino makes movies about the adults in the room. I think Tarantino always looked to Weinstein as the adult in his room. The movies that Tarantino made with Weinstein were his best. It's a shame Tarantino can't make any more movies with Weinstein.
Wolves feel entitled to attack a cow and eat it alive.... then play with and torture her baby... Then they kill the calf and leave it lying there.
Mitt Romney did not cancel himself.
Trump saying he's "done things wrong" is not the same as saying he's "done wrong things." Always a weasel.
the thing that saved the dark knight and it's sequel, is the fact there was a counter imperfect to such evil, films like joker and birds of prey, have no heroic counterpoint,
I watched the speech live.
My first thought: This could easily be interpreted as pro-life; he needs to clean that up.
My second thought: we, as a species, think nothing of exploiting worms to catch fish.
My third thought: the play of emotion on this guy's face as he works his way through this philosophical dribble is a wonderful display of why he won the best actor Oscar.
A Chik Fil A ad? Cows need help and love, but they are also designed to supply man with milk , cheese, and rib eye steaks.To fell superior in Love by letting milk cows roam free is about as stupid a thought as has ever escaped from an actor's lips.
joker, succeeded by some degree of masochism, but birds of prey and suicide squad, did not because you wouldn't want to spend time with sociopaths,
Biden and Hillary are vastly wealthy not due to anything they created - NO - They are vastly wealthy because of their lifetime government connections.
Wholly scandalous and yet the democrat faithful have nothing to say about it. Trump is the real villain.
I find foreign films are much better than what Hollywood puts out these days. Less worry about cows.
In Harmony, Cecile France (2015)
The ratings for the SOTU speech were down. I presume that's because no Democrat wanted to watch Trump revel in his success. For similar reasons I stay away from the Oscars, but the ratings are such a debacle that lots of other people are staying away......I don't boycott Hollywood's product, but it's hard to watch them congratulate themselves for making a lot of money doing glamorous jobs better than other wealthy people.....Do you think it's even remotely possible that one of them would dare criticize China's handling of Muslims, virus victims, or Hong Kong protesters? well it is possible, and that's why you never see Richard Gere on Oscar night.
well parasite, this Korean horror family saga swept many of the awards, what does that tell you?
@ William
The SOTU ratings don't include streaming or CSPAN.
PARASITE is a great movie...satirical slapstick, hilarious, and stinging. Even Americans, most of whom will not sit still for a subtitled foreign movie, can enjoy it.
The damned Academy gave best director and picture honors to a Korean film! That’s not the kind of diversity they’re supposed to embrace. A bunch of lying dog faced pony soldiers if you ask me. (In Cockney rhyming slang “pony” = “pony and trap” = “crap”).
Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph were the high point — especially Rudolph’s delivery of the line “”You can leave your hat on”.
Being a woke woman, I drink my coffee black. Did it occur to these cretins that, if we didn't milk, shear or eat these beasts, they wouldn't exist? Or does he think there would be wild herds of Holsteins roaming the prairie?
Last weekend, I was meandering up the Pearl Street Mall after dinner and right in front of the court house I could see a group of protestors. (I thought - on ho - here is comes - a bunch of anti-Trump crap) but it wasn't anything to do with Trump.
It was a few people wearing masks standing in a circle with their backs to each other facing out. They were holding screens running footage of industrial pig and cow factory "farming".
It showed the cruelty of how these massive places treat massive numbers of animals. Abuse, really. Horrible. After a dream I had some years ago, I won't eat pork unless I know it is locally sourced from a family farm.
Cookie reports: PARASITE is a great movie...satirical slapstick, hilarious, and stinging. Even Americans, most of whom will not sit still for a subtitled foreign movie, can enjoy it.
A unique film. I watched it a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. The acting is good and the twisty plot well crafted. But I do suspect the competition was pretty sparse.
and yet another awards show when Voldemort, Weinstein, isn't referred to, then again he probably wouldn't have much of a career without him,
Drugs do bad things when abused. They can kill you at age 23 and they can foul up you brain for the rest of your life. Witness the Phoenix brothers..
your
"Even Americans, most of whom will not sit still for a subtitled foreign movie, can enjoy it.”
Why don’t you move to whatever country it is where de volk live up to your lofty standards if you hate your fellow Americans so much?
“Chuck Schumer rejected a deal offered by Republicans that included Bolton’s testimony because the whole impeachment was intended to cover for Biden.”
I would suggest that that is backWards, and that the plausibility of Biden’s candidacy correlates well with the impeachment. The goal was the impeachment. Has been from before this Congress was elected in 2018. That is why so much money was thrown at the election - to buy the House in order to destroy Darth Trump by impeaching him. Keep in mind that the Ukrainian phone call was the day after Mueller testified in the House, and Wadler so beclowned himself conducting the hearing. I think that the original intent of all concerned was for the Mueller investigation to pass all of their dirt on Trump to Wadler and the Democrats, who would then use it for impeaching Trump. Except AG Barr got confirmed before the House Democrats got organized, and immediately shut it down, having long completed its official goal of determining that there hadn’t been any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians (not bothering to look at whether there was collusion with the Crooked Hillary team, because, of course, there was). Barr wouldn’t let the Mueller team pass anything off to the House Dems, and the July hearing showed that Mueller himself was too senile to have been anything more than a nice front for the hand picked team of rabid Dem operative and Clinton fan prosecutors. Thanks to Schifty’s ambition, the pre impeachment investigation jumped from Wadler’s Judiciary to Schifty’s Intelligence committees. And that logistically meant the NSC.
Bottom line here is that Biden’s candidacy had to remain viable, if Schifty and his HPSCI staffers were going to fabricate an impeachment based on Trump’s call with the Ukrainian President, and that was because Biden and his son and their corruption were the hook that they were using to make Trump look bad. Because Biden was the Dems’ leading candidate, his mentionin the call could be painted as Trump misusing his Executive Power for personal gain. But after that failed in the Senate, and Biden’s candidacy was no longer needed by the House Dems in their impeachment, Biden’s candidacy has been allowed to collapse. He never was viable, given his mental state, and most political people knew that. But his popularity remained stubbornly high, despite more and more Senior Moments, more and more evidence that he was just not up to the job mentally. After the impeachment vote, when it was no longer necessary to prop Biden up in first place, and his popularity went into free fall.
Which brings up an interesting thought experiment. VW hat if the Republican Senators had been able to successfully some of their witnesses for the ones that Schumer and Schifty wanted to call (that was one of the apparent roadblocks, that Schumer was demanding witnesses for the minority Democrats, but not for the majority Republicans). Assume that Schumer got Bolton, and the Republicans got the ICIG and the “whistleblower”. The trial gets pushed off into late spring, and they have to keep Biden propped up to make their impeachment case viable. If his candidacy crashes, the impeachment crashes along side it, as now being essentially moot. But that would mean rampant cheating, and ultimately assigning a lot of delegates to Biden. Would have been hilarious.
"I find foreign films are much better than what Hollywood puts out these days”
Yeah, they are not pushing partisan US politics.
Or recycling the same “old reliable” plot lines.
"Mitt Romney did not cancel himself”
No, he showed himself to be a quisling for the Democrats who were hiding their vast graft machine. He showed himself a moron.
Mitt Romney’s campaign inner circle was mixed up with the influence peddling scheme of powerful American politicians and Burisma. Quelle Surprise that he was upset that it was being looked into.
Dems know that Bolton's testimony would have proven Trump guilty, because no matter what he would say, they'd spin it that way. They also know that every newly discovered box of ballots will go their way.
Maybee: I now see your comment preceded mine. Oh, well...;-)
"We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby... Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal."
To paraphrase Joey on Friends, this is just a moo point. It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.
A+???
Anybody who suggests we not eat cheese and meat, not drink milk, and not use animals for our own needs starts with an F- and cannot go up.
and Bolton had worked for victor pinchuk, in the recent past, another Ukrainian oligarch,
I think it's commendable that Hollywood has gotten away from the sexist practice of giving young, beautiful women awards or even inviting them to the red carpet. They're not technically eyesores, but they're not Greta Garbo or Marilyn Monroe either. When they sport decolletage, you're not rooting for a nip slip.
"Blah, blah, blah."
Phoenix is paid to pretend on camera. He's really good at pretending (so I'm told), so he is paid vast sums of money and given pretty little gold statues.
None of that means that I should give what he says any more credence than to what the ex-con who lives next door says. (And yeah, I really do have an ex-con--several, in fact--living next door.)
Matter of fact, I give what the next-door ex-cons say quite a bit of credence. Those guys know stuff.
Blogger Robert Cook said...
Trump saying he's "done things wrong" is not the same as saying he's "done wrong things." Always a weasel.
Get the beam out of your eye.
Everyone’s done wrong things. But he’s making up for them now. Those who now have jobs that didn’t for a long time.
With the Kung Flu, some of every country’s weaknesses will be exposed.
"The trial gets pushed off into late spring, and they have to keep Biden propped up to make their impeachment case viable. If his candidacy crashes, the impeachment crashes along side it, as now being essentially moot."
Well I agree with most of what you say, but not this. The D's would have claimed they wanted to remove Trump for what he did in the past, not what is happening now. After all, the delay of the Ukrainian aid had no impact, and Ukraine never did anything in response to Trump's request. But we still got impeachment. Or has Romney hysterically put it "Trump was trying to delay aid to at ally at war with Russian invaders"
even though Russia and Ukraine are NOT at war.
Romney is the only R out of 243 Republican Senators/Congressmen to vote with the D's on impeachment/removal. Let that sink in.
That group wants to get rid of cows because of global warming.
I’ll know they’re serious when greater LA bans cow cheese and milk from stores.
Maybe they should just tax those at 100%.
Schlapp at CPAC had a hilarious take on Romney, complaining that in 2012 he showed up and claimed to be "Extremely, Servery Conservative" but blew them off after he lost to Obama. "He used us" said Schlapp. Well, duh! Of course, Schlapp didn't oppose Romney getting the Utah senate nomination in 2018. He only opposes people like Malkin or Coulter.
—The damned Academy gave best director and picture honors to a Korean film! —
Asians get more respect on the West Coast than they get at Harvard or Yale.
I wonder if he's pro-life?
I get that he (Phoenix) feels that way about animals. Fine.
BUT...until he becomes a total VEGAN, (not Vegetarian), gives up wearing or using anything with leather or wool o silk in it (caterpillars count too!!!)...just to start with.... he can STFU and stop lecturing the rest of us.
We watched "Death Wish" last night. I wonder if it is becoming popular again in NYC?
Facepalm:
https://mobile.twitter.com/hoyarkive/status/1226661672573689862
Phoenix's speech was much better than his Golden Globes speech. Of course, he was less drunk/high at the Oscars.
Pitt's speech seems so misplaced. He's very bad at emulating a political animal — it's not in his nature. He should leave that shit to Patricia Arquette. Just be pretty and keep up the "aw, shucks" act.
He's an Ozark boy who's lost his way. I do think it's nice that he regularly takes his mother as his date for these shows.
Honey badger don't care.
Pitt's speech was written by democrat speech writers.
BUT...until he becomes a total VEGAN, (not Vegetarian), gives up wearing or using anything with leather or wool o silk in it (caterpillars count too!!!)...just to start with.... he can STFU and stop lecturing the rest of us.
What a snippy self-approving narrow minded little lecture. LO fucking L, it was funny.
"He has been a vegan since the age of three"
Someone living in the Hollywood Hills talks about 'the natural world'.
Althouse>>"Oh, no! It's going to be a political speech. The Oscars got off to a bad start with Brad Pitt...the movie Pitt won his Oscar for is one of those movies, so his line was well-crafted, but I hated seeing one political side given precedence."<<
If you hate hearing political speeches and seeing one political side given precedence, you don't watch The Oscars. Who doesn't know that?
"His remarks are focused on the desire for witness testimony in the Senate, not the quest to be rid of the President."
--
Uh huh(cough, cough)
I think he was inspired by T-Swift.
"Why don’t you move to whatever country it is where de volk live up to your lofty standards if you hate your fellow Americans so much?"
Do you dispute that most Americans do not want to watch subtitled foreign movies?
Meanwhile, Schitt (stomping feet) says Bolton will have to answer for not submitting affidavit.
Listen, you lying dog-faced pony soldier, buy the damn book!
"A+"
Yup, like any sentient male, he knows how to suck up to female profs. Well played!
Cookie reports: PARASITE is a great movie...satirical slapstick, hilarious, and stinging. Even Americans, most of whom will not sit still for a subtitled foreign movie, can enjoy it.
Florida Man Cookie the pompous ass (who lives in New York btw) never fails to deliver the goods.
In fact, increasingly, it seems as if more and more Americans do not want to watch any movies that are not super-hero movies or unending extensions of the STAR WARS "saga."
Whatever you may think of Joaquin's comments, and whatever you may think of the circumstances of River's death, I'm here to tell you: I find River dancing with Mary McDonnell in "Sneakers" nearly too sad to watch. But watch it anyway; it's still the best cyber caper film ever made.
Robert Cook said...
"Why don’t you move to whatever country it is where de volk live up to your lofty standards if you hate your fellow Americans so much?"
Do you dispute that most Americans do not want to watch subtitled foreign movies?
Don't know about "most Americans," but I watch subtitled foreign movies. Hell, I watch subtitled English-language movies, because the sound is frequently so muddy that I can't make out the bloody dialog.
"Not when we cancel each other out for our past mistakes... A clear statement against the cancel culture."
And what a great statement it is! So clear!
Would have been even clearer with a few examples. I'll take an Althousian example: so, Joaquin, shall we uncancel Roseanne?
And of course, the "each other" is moral equivalence BS: how many progs have been canceled by conservatives?
And nobody has more of an insight into the tastes and desires of "most Americans" than a NYC transplant from Florida convinced of his own high-brow nature.
Blogger Seeing Red said...That group wants to get rid of cows because of global warming.
--
The methane/fart collectors were deemed inhumane.
Will J.P. adopt a cow since they will be unemployed and homeless?
Hell, I watch subtitled English-language movies, because the sound is frequently so muddy that I can't make out the bloody dialog.
YEP!!!
I got tired of watching Peaky Blinders and constantly going "What!!?" "What did he say????" Got so frustrated that I had to turn on the subtitles. Not only do they mumble, they use obscure and antiquated (to me as an American) British
slang.
Keep YOUR "queer rights" away from MY kids and we'll get along famously.
But FORCE YOUR "queer rights" on MY kids, well, then. We're going to have a problem.
Robert Cook said...
"Why don’t you move to whatever country it is where de volk live up to your lofty standards if you hate your fellow Americans so much?"
Do you dispute that most Americans do not want to watch subtitled foreign movies?
Do you dispute that you are a condescending asshole that believes in a murderous ideology that is responsible for killing millions of people?
Roy Jacobsen said...
Don't know about "most Americans," but I watch subtitled foreign movies. Hell, I watch subtitled English-language movies, because the sound is frequently so muddy that I can't make out the bloody dialog.
I watch Chinese movies with subtitles.
The ones with Cantonese subtitles are particularly annoying.
The Oscars got off to a bad start with Brad Pitt — who won the best supporting actor Oscar — saying he only had 45 seconds to speak, "which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week" and maybe Quentin Tarantino could do a movie about the impeachment where "in the end the adults do the right thing."
Like BleachBit said; there's a lot of speculation that the speech was written by someone at Fenway Strategies, which was founded by Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor.
It's also been speculated that he may be getting help from director David Fincher.
Either way; it's been pointed out in a couple of things I've read that a speaker (and speech writer) needs to 'know the room' to be a success. I tend to think that's what's happening here; he's playing to the audience.
Which says a Hell of a lot about Hollywood. Of course, I may be prejudiced because I like Brad Pitt as an actor.
Roy Jacobsen declares: Don't know about "most Americans," but I watch subtitled foreign movies. Hell, I watch subtitled English-language movies, because the sound is frequently so muddy that I can't make out the bloody dialog.
So do I! Why is it that most DVDs have the background music at eardrum-shattering levels but the dialogue barely audible?
Cook. Do you dispute that most Americans do not want to watch subtitled foreign movies?
I don't know about "most" Americans, but I really enjoyed watching Babylon Berlin with subtitles. It helped me with my German as the actors were speaking in German (duh) and the subtitles helped to clarify. I could even stop and go back and play it again for words that were unfamiliar to me.
Subtitles only...not voice dubbing. That was extremely annoying when I accidentally switched that on. Gah.
Excellent show in any language!
"I think we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world."
Joaquin Phoenix's ideas regarding the cow and calf come out of that disconnection, don't they? Our ancestors in the hunter-gatherer culture did not have much time for such thoughts.
Oh you rubes just wish you could earn the right to accompany Cookie on a two day Antonioni marathon at Manhattan's finest art house followed by his pontificating on the finer points of John Cage. After that he will quote from his collected works of Noam Chomsky well-dogeared in his Lower East Side library. You all just WISH you could be as sophisticated as Cookie, but you know you'll never be!
In my youth the Oscars were "must see" TV. For about 20 years I have skipped them almost entirely.
They didn't nominate most of the movies I enjoyed. Their choices seemed contrived (Oh LOOK, and English period piece -the COSTUMES! The ACCENTS!)
And the final nail.... politics. Mean spirited and personally insulting.
Secret guilt, I loved Joan Rivers and her humor. So I watched "Fashion Police" until her death. So I suppose I saw flickers of the Oscars.
1 Joker was not about violence but the difficulties of mental illness w/o insurance.
2 Parasite was two movies. The first, delightful; the second, brutal.
3 Climate change is about forcing citizens to become bike-riding vegans.
Phoenix: We need to impoverish the masses living in Africa and India and China. But LOVE!
AA: He talked about love. A+.
These people are silo-dwelling, narcissistic, post-American assholes. Why give them a thought?
Although: https://www.dailywire.com/news/ricky-gervais-blasts-hollywood-with-jokes-he-would-have-told-if-he-hosted-the-oscars
The Trump supporters I know are out for blood in 2020.
Andy Kessler's column today in WSJ (President Donald J. MacGuffin) is on to something.
Mock, the streaming channels have too-loud music, too.
Excellent show in any language!
It may not have been historically accurate, but I wished they'd bathed a few times. Thank goodness it wasn't filmed in Odorama.
Ralph L - references to Polyester will get you everywhere! I can't recall better on-screen chemistry than that between Divine and Tab Hunter.
"Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow."
Marianne Williamson approves.
Robert Cook said...
In fact, increasingly, it seems as if more and more Americans do not want to watch any movies that are not super-hero movies or unending extensions of the STAR WARS "saga."
The amusing thing about this ignorant comment is that movie theaters near where I live, admitted not in the enlightened zones of cop killing NYC, are having festivals of classic movies like "Breakfast at Tiffanys." I have a DVD collection of 1930s and 1940s movies. Those movies had real solid roles for women, by the way.
Who's going to break it to Pitt's speechwriter that it was 45 seconds more than the House gave to Bolton as well?
Michael K:
I never to cease to marvel at provincial NYC pseudo-sophisticates and their laughable self-regard. One of my good friends who lives in the small poor border town of Pharr, TX has the largest private library of Criterion Collection DVDs I've ever seen and could easily school faux highbrows like Cookie on film.
mockturtle said...
Maybee: I now see your comment preceded mine. Oh, well...;-)
We make such a great point!
According to the Twilight faith, and Pro-Choice religion, backed by diverse progressive liberal sects, everyone has a right to define the universe unto themselves. People... persons "=" cows. Sure, why not.
"Oh you rubes just wish you could earn the right to accompany Cookie on a two day Antonioni marathon at Manhattan's finest art house followed by his pontificating on the finer points of John Cage. After that he will quote from his collected works of Noam Chomsky well-dogeared in his Lower East Side library. You all just WISH you could be as sophisticated as Cookie, but you know you'll never be!"
Hahaha! Not even close.
“I'm just someone offended by the 3 years of disrespect shown to the people whose candidate won an election.”
You think there’s disrespect now? Just wait until they win.
The only way to produce a Society of Love is to kill all the Haters.
Logically, yes. Diversity breeds adversity. Political congruence is exclusive. Conflation of logical domains normalizes progressive corruption. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Posterity a.k.a. babies a.k.a. Fetal-Americans are conceived on Earth. #HateLovesAbortion
As someone with extensive professional experience cleaning up concentrated animal feedlots and dairies and treating slaughterhouse and rendering plant waste, I would tend to agree with what Joaquin Phoenix has said. You people really don't want to know how the sausage is actually made. In the future after we find out how actually sentient all those other creatures are, we will be looked down upon as The last vestige of specieist genocidal maniacs.
"I never to cease to marvel at provincial NYC pseudo-sophisticates and their laughable self-regard. One of my good friends who lives in the small poor border town of Pharr, TX has the largest private library of Criterion Collection DVDs I've ever seen and could easily school faux highbrows like Cookie on film."
More fun. But...does this refute my comment that most Americans do not want to watch foreign films with sub-titles?
“ ‘We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakeable.’ ”
Now do abortion.
"...classic movies like 'Breakfast at Tiffanys.'"
I've never seen it. Maybe it's good, maybe not. It does feature Mickey Rooney playing a grotesque caricature of a Japanese character. I have seen clips of that. Not good.
“ ‘But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.’ That's almost right wing. It's at least inclusive of the right.”
Except that Trump supporters aren’t sentient. We’re all bitter clingers, deplorables in someone’s basket.
"Is there a festival showing of 'Berlin Alexanderplatz' in NYC anytime soon, Mr. Cook?"
I don't know and wouldn't care. I'm not a follower of Fassbinder. But...does your question refute my prior comment?
"Do you dispute that you are a condescending asshole that believes in a murderous ideology that is responsible for killing millions of people?"
Yes.
Oh SDaly, we all know Cookie hosts the East Village Fassbinder retrospective every year and then discusses his critique of capitalism with Tom Verlaine over cappuccinos.
The Oscars got off to a bad start with Brad Pitt — who won the best supporting actor Oscar — saying he only had 45 seconds to speak, "which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week"
It's funny that the Left always hated Bolton...until now, because they thought he was useful in bringing down Orange Man.
Pitt was very good in that movie and I'm glad he won. But like most actors, they really need other people to write their lines for them.
A tisket, a tasket,
Deplorables in a basket.
"It's funny that the Left always hated Bolton...until now, because they thought he was useful in bringing down Orange Man."
It's not funny, but disturbingly all-too-typical. Bolton remains a shit, as he always has been. That he might have refuted Trump's account of matters or spoken critically of him does not make Bolton any less a shit, much less a hero. This all amounts to squabbling among the rulers of America.
"As you can see in that short quote, he's expressing effusive empathy for his fellow creatures"
Except for unborn humans. He's cool with killing a million a year. Because progress.
"Oh SDaly, we all know Cookie hosts the East Village Fassbinder retrospective every year and then discusses his critique of capitalism with Tom Verlaine over cappuccinos."
Hey! I did see Verlaine walking down the street (on 8th Street?) 10 or 15 years ago. He looked a tad puffy-faced. That's the extent of our fraternity.
Who is Tom Verlaine?
Never mind, I'll Google the name and find out.
I'm a Midwesterner, I don't know that kind of stuff. *sigh*
Uh oh Cookie made bail!
Those who abhor the Leftist influence in the movies, yet pay to enjoy their product are simply enablers.
You are correct. Which is why I haven't set foot inside a theater since Saving Private Ryan.
These people simply don't exist in my corner of the world. Wouldn't even know the show was on last night if not for the coverage this morning.
Thank God for Hollywood. I don't think a lot of those people could support themselves in any other field. What else would you hire Joaquin Phoenix to do? Nothing important, if you ask me. Hollywood enables, coddles and often highly rewards the mentally compromised. Not many other industries can do that.
"Uh oh Cookie made bail!"
How do you know I'm not typing from the jailhouse computer?
SDaly: good and accurate knowledge. Spring quarter 1982 I had enrolled in New German Cinema taught by a visiting professor from Germany who had literally just wrote the book on Rainer Werner fassbinder. fortunately we saw tons of other movies from tons of other German directors all of whom I like 10 times more than Fassbender who literally died from a drug overdose 2 days after we completed our final exam for the class. As you might guess I'm a Verner Hertzog fan. Have you ever seen Aguerre the Wrath of God on a big-time movie screen? The only thing I really like about Fassbender films was they frequently featured Hannah Schygulla. Margarita von trotta the hardened radical feminist filmmaker was much less tedious.
Her husband Volker schlondorff made a great movie about Beirut in the 70s with Hannah plus a young Bruno Ganz of Hitler meme. Of course Vim Venders is fantastic.
Jean Marie Stroub kicked off New German Cinema with his eponymous interpretation of Bolls play Billiards at Half-Past Nine with Not Reconciled.
Being up there at that podium would make anyone feel that they need to say something important, but some people just don't have anything. I think a simple "thank you" is good enough. Expression of gratitude is called for. You're one lucky SOB to be there, and that should be obvious to you. Admonishing others less lucky is just lame.
"a two day Antonioni marathon at Manhattan's finest art house followed by his pontificating on the finer points of John Cage. After that he will quote from his collected works of Noam Chomsky well-dogeared in his Lower East Side library."
In its way, this is just as dated as a Althouse's endless Bob Dylan references.
I agree with Cook's main point, that it is hard to get our fellow citizens to watch subtitled films. This is not just true of the deplorables or the aged, and I do not believe that he was suggesting this. I had to drag my children along to watch Roma, a very accessible foreign film. The endless superhero films have created expectations of films that seem to have killed off much of the potential audience for art films. Film as an art form is on its last legs. A good art film every few years is the new normal.
I did not think Parasite was particularly good. Of the films I saw that were nominated I would have given the award to 'Once upon a time', which was a better than average Tarantino movie, with a much better than average cast.
Howard said...
Have you ever seen Aguerre the Wrath of God on a big-time movie screen?
I did. It was an experience.
Is the theatre dead?
I don't think anyone in the world prefers to watch subtitled films. Sometimes there just isn't another way. Dubbing, commonly done to American movies in almost all markets including sophisticated France, is distracting and destructive of the material. But film is not truly meant to be read.
" Have you ever seen Aguerre the Wrath of God on a big-time movie screen?"
Yes! And I place it #2 behind the greatest movie ever made. Have you ever seen it? On a big-time movie screen? And by big-time movie screen I'm not talking about just any old big-time movie screen. I'm talking Cinerama
And Billiards at Half Past Nine is a novel, not a play. Otherwise A+ on the New German Cinema mentionitus.
Wouldn't the killing of 1 million innocent living unborn of our own species in our own country every year be at least as worthy of your rare speaking opportunity as some of this bullshit? I still would not want them to use this venue for it, but it should be a more important issue than cow's milk, or scoring a cheap political point. Then again, the balls it would take to address the unfortunate facts of abortion wouldn't fit on that stage.
Could a actor in that position simply say: "People, can we try to reduce the number of abortions. We should all want less of them, or at least limit them to earlier ones, shouldn't we?"
Career ending.
"In its way, this is just as dated as a Althouse's endless Bob Dylan references"
That was the point, nimrod.
Aguirre on the big screen is great especially if the sound system is big enough for the awesome Popol Vuhl soundtrack. I like Stroszek better as far as Herzog goes.
Jack Klompus said...
That was the point, nimrod.
No it wasn't. You could have made the attempt to mock Cook's supposed elitism with less dated references. It was Cook's supposed elitism that was at issue not his out-of-datedness, which was not in evidence, he was discussing a contemporary film.
the unfortunate facts of [elective] abortion wouldn't fit on that stage.
Under a cloak of privacy, behind walls, the fifth choice, Pro-Choice, the wicked solution, with precedent... again, and again, and again.
Cookie: While I may often disagree with your positions, I like you. And you have my respect, as well, not that it matters. ;-)
I hope Mr. Phoenix doesn't swat mosquitoes!!! Or flies! Or step on ants! After all, it's so wrong for humans to consider themselves dominant over other species!
The reason that Planned Parenthood et al are not featured in theaters is because visual, graphic depictions facilitate emotional, close connections, which would be a burden to normalize reducible (e.g. Pro-Choice), reusable, recyclable (e.g. clinical cannibalism), and, in fact, disposable, human life. The Pro-Choice Chamber, and Democrat party, as well as people aligned in principle, would affirmatively suppress or marginalize it. So, instead, we hear about the nuance of the Chinese communists' one-child, the diverse origins of organ harvesting, etc.
I never to cease to marvel at provincial NYC pseudo-sophisticates and their laughable self-regard.
Yes, very urbane. That said, they should reduce, reuse, and recycle urban jungles... heat islands (the real greenhouse effect that constrains circulation), which are first-order forcings of [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] global... local, perhaps regional, cooling... warming... change (according to the [sociopolitical] consensus).
I hope Mr. Phoenix doesn't swat mosquitoes!!! Or flies! Or step on ants!
I'm getting a kick from seeing so many of you Althousians, most y'all, probably, inadvertently express your jealousy of rich, lucky people by pretending the rich lucky people are stupid and evil because their politics aren't exactly the same as yours.
The bunch of you equivalent to those self-centered fake college-kiddy activists and their lock-step PC "cancel culture".
Yes it was my point, you pretentious dolt. The mockery of someone who fancies themselves a sophisticate while putting down an entire swath of the population outside their urban bubble for supposedly having mediocre taste is well-deserved and served well with obscure avant references of any age. Fine, next time I'll claim he's a fan of Einsturzende Neubauten and Michael Haneke. Is that appropriate, oh wise one with the philosopher avatar?
I'm getting a kick from seeing so many of you Althousians, most y'all, probably, inadvertently express your jealousy of rich, lucky people by pretending the rich lucky people are stupid and evil because their politics aren't exactly the same as yours.
Fernandistein, my nephew is an investment banker for PETA and other animal rights groups and his ideas are extreme. I challenge him in the same way I challenge Joaquin Phoenix in this matter. If it's wrong for one species to dominate another, then we have to quit killing insects, don't we?
Not Cinerama, no. I saw Aguerre the wrath of God at the Arlington theater in Santa Barbara California. The interior of the theater is a faux open aire Spanish plaza with fake stars on the ceiling.
What's your favorite film, Meade? I hope it has subtitles because I only watch movies with subtitles.
I've seen three Korean movies to date and enjoyed every one. My favorite, though, is Shadow, 2019.
Jack Klompus said...
pretentious dolt
You have immediately resorted to insult twice now, despite making a less than exemplary showing for yourself in this thread.
The mockery of someone who fancies themselves a sophisticate while putting down an entire swath of the population outside their urban bubble for supposedly having mediocre taste is well-deserved and served well with obscure avant references of any age.
If you knew the first thing about Robert Cook you would know that he was not doing this. He was lamenting the loss of an audience for foreign art movies, something I agree with, and that is broadly acknowledged. The average age of the audience at my local art house cinema seems to be north of 75. I grew up on art house film but I generally can't get my kids to watch them without some emotional blackmail, although they did like Parasite. Taking such extreme offense to a general comment is inappropriate. The steady dumbing down of our culture is not in anyone's long-term interests.
Someday, with sufficient computing power, we may be able to order "computer, beefsteak, medium rare" and have it be the real thing in composition but not from an actual animal. That Star Trek day (you know that's what Worf would get) is not here yet. Should PETA persuade the world to be Vegan, all the domesticated animals would go the way of the buffalo (probably worse as they don't have unique look). If the PETA people think cattle would just live their lives on the range they are stupider than I thought.
You can't have a ethical construct with non-sentient creatures. However, there are perhaps ethical considerations. By domestication, humans have promised animals a more sheltered life from the wild with a more specific end goal than in the wild. You might persuade me that factory farmed animals can be held in unethical circumstances but I will not be persuaded that we should not harvest their product.
"Cookie: While I may often disagree with your positions, I like you. And you have my respect, as well, not that it matters. ;-)"
Thank you, mockturtle. I really do appreciate your friendly words.
I must admit when I read the headlines today of "Joaquin Phoenix slams artificial insemination of cows and milk in coffee in Oscar speech," I rolled my eyes and sighed. I imagined some loon-ball lefty diatribe decrying the rest of humanity as cruel, heartless monsters, shredding anything that was good a decent in the natural world. I was disappointed because I like Joaquin Phoenix as an actor. I think he gives great performances with a lot of consideration and depth for the roles he plays. It generally does not affect me if an actor or performer or artist holds different politics than me, or different values, but it does bother me that person gets preachy about it and appears contemptuous of those who don't share those same opinions.
But thankfully this was not one of those speeches. The tone was not one of condemnation and derision, it was one of hopefulness and unity. And the PETA stuff was really just small tangent of this speech. What he was really doing in his speech was calling on people to approach situations with love for their fellow man (and I suppose other sentient beings) and if you are trying to persuade them to change their ways it is not because you think they are awful, wicked, and terrible, but because you think they would be better off and would be better people behaving in another manner.
It is interesting in his penultimate paragraph that he uses the language of redemption, because his speech had a somewhat Christian vibe to it. Jesus did not care what you did in the past, all we're welcome to him. What he cared about was what a person would do in the present, and what they would do in the future. And this wasn't just about helping out your fellow man, it was about uplifting oneself. It was about personal redemption, about salvation.
So grading his speech as a speech at an awards ceremony that is an exhortation for people to act in a better way, I would give it an A+ as well. He came off as earnest without being divisive. Overall grading it as purely a speech at an awards ceremony I would give it a B-, because those speeches are best when they express gratitude, humility, and desire to share the glory with the numerous other people who played roles in getting the final project done.
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