"The Accountant Who Changed The World."

I'm thinking about accountants this morning — a propos of the Beattygate ploy of blaming the accountant — and wandered into this NPR piece:

Luca Pacioli was a monk, magician and lover of numbers. He discovered this special bookkeeping in Venice and was intrigued by it. In 1494, he wrote a huge math encyclopedia and included an instructional section on double-entry bookkeeping.

Thanks to the newly invented printing press, his book was mass produced and became a big hit. One of the first readers was Leonardo da Vinci, who at the time was painting The Last Supper. Pacioli's encyclopedia had a section on the mathematics of perspective painting which fascinated da Vinci.

"They were hanging out together.... I think they were probably lovers. They certainly spent a lot of time together, and definitely Luca Pacioli was there in the church when Leonardo da Vinci was there in the actual church when Leonardo da Vinci was painting The Last Supper," said [Jane Gleeson-White, author of "Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance"].

I know. Hollywood already made a movie called "The Accountant." It was not, however, about this monk.

The Hollywood plot thickens.

I'm not letting go of my conspiracy theory, because it's a conspiracy theory about movies, and movies are full of conspiracy theories. If there's one thing I know from watching movies, it's that if there's one person who thinks something is not what it seems, it's that one person who's right.

The new evidence I'm seeing today is about how bitterly Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway fought, before the big Oscars show, about who would get the honor of saying the name of the Best Picture winner.

Warren Beatty gave Faye Dunaway what she demanded during rehearsal ... the honor of reading the winner of Best Picture, and he watched as she failed in spectacular fashion.

Sources who were present at Saturday's rehearsal tell us, both Faye and Warren wanted to announce the winner and went back and forth, but eventually Warren backed off and Faye got her way.

That shows a motive on the part of Beatty to stage an elaborate prank. (Here's my original post on the subject, which I sat down to write as a satire about Hollywood egos and race and wrote myself into halfway believing.)

And I see that there's been a big effort to pin the blame on the accountant. Yes, the fall guy. Would you believe the accountant-did-it parry in a movie plot? But let's say it was the accountant screwing up. Then why should we believe any of the vote counting and reporting? The Academy uses Price Waterhouse to vouch for the security and legitimacy of the vote. Is that all just theater? Why are we watching a bunch of insiders pass statuettes around? It's a complete con. If the accountant theory is true, let's just turn our backs on the Oscars from here on out.

"Two people knew instantly that ‘La La Land’ didn’t win. Why did it take so long to announce?"

A good question.

Can the answer be: The whole thing was intentional theater?

I thought that Oscars mixup was some kind of political performance art.

I didn't watch the Oscars last night, and I'm sorry I missed the real-time WTF fun. I saw the news on my iPhone in the middle of the night, then slept on it before reading the details and seeing video.

As the NYT explains it, I don't think it was fake news: There's video, and there's a transcript of what happened. We've got Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway on stage and presenting, and the only reason I can think of why they'd give those two the honor of announcing the most important award is: White Privilege. Rich, old, white people. They rule America and they rule Hollywood. And of course, the white movie "La La Land" wins in their world. All the white La La people file up on stage to take the naked-man statuette, and they start blah-blahing about their la la-ing, and then it's: Oh, no, white people! There's a revolution! The real winner is "Moonlight," the black movie. All the black people come up on the stage. Yay! Victory! Things are not what they seemed! What you thought happened didn't really happen. Who you thought won didn't really win! Wake up from your nightmare! If only President Donald Trump were only a nightmare. Ha ha. La la. Blah blah.

Now, I know Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were Bonnie and Clyde. This here's Miss Bonnie Parker. I'm Clyde Barrow. We rob banks. American outlaws. To put those 2 together is to wink: the rules don't apply. And Warren Beatty has some political wit. (Isn't Trump a bit like Beatty's Bulworth?) So Beatty hesitates over the card, then hands it to Dunaway and she finally says "La La Land." The NYT reports that Beatty says that the card they looked at was the card for the Best Actress award, which said "Emma Stone/La La Land." That's an explanation for why they said "La La Land" for Best Picture? Obviously, that would be the wrong card, though it is a (feeble) excuse for saying "La La Land." It's the only name of a movie on the card.

I said I thought the NYT did a good job of reporting, using transcript and video. And they've got a quote from Beatty:

“I opened the envelope, and it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny. This is ‘Moonlight,’ the best picture.”

I trust that he said that, but I don't know that he's not lying. He might have wanted to make the big political gesture. He might have thought it's justified because the world in which Donald Trump is President is not a normal world. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. You can do it and you can lie too. It's art, and it's poetic justice. White people — unhand that Oscar. Donald Trump — ungrab that pussy. Unbreak America's heart!

Warren Beatty for President.