Random Thoughts — Page 535

Ask and ye shall receive, a Benji remake for 2017.
Benji 2017 - IMDB

Attention Jay, clean up required in the underworld random thoughts isle. I forgot about the underworld being moderated now. Message received and understood webmaster.

When it comes to music, I can force myself to enjoy something that I don’t. In an effort to broaden my taste in music I’ve been listening to a lot more rap, but I think I’ve gone too far. I’m starting to enjoy things that are just utter pieces of trash.

Jeebus said:

In an effort to broaden my taste in music I’ve been listening to a lot more rap

Shouldn’t you be listening to music, though? 😛

It depends what kind of rap… Beastie Boys & Run DMC are good kinds of rap.

Yep. There’s a big difference between rappers like Nas and rappers like Young Thug.

Sougouk said:

It depends what kind of rap… Beastie Boys & Run DMC are good kinds of rap.

Also,

A Tribe Called Quest
DJ Format & Abdominal
Binary Star
Blackalicious
Boogie Down Productions/KRS One
Chali 2na
Del the Funky Homosapien (first 4 albums)
Deltron 3030 (first album)
Dilated Peoples
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (first 3 albums)
DJ Shadow
Eric B. & Rakim (Paid in Full)
Gang Starr (Step in the Arena)
Guru’s Jazzmatazz
Hieroglyphics
Jurassic 5
Kool Keith (not for everybody)
Lyrics Born
Mighty Underdogs
Mos Def
People Under the Stairs
Quannum
Ugly Duckling
Ultramagnetic MCs
Wu-Tang Clan

^ Of course the classic era of Rap was a lot better than the mainstream Rap of today. I do like a variety of music, though I can’t stand POP Radio music, it’s all manufactured drivel.

Sougouk said:

^ Of course the classic era of Rap was a lot better than the mainstream Rap of today.

^ Back in my day, we’d listen to Old Grey Mare and like it!

It’ll be March in three days, yet there are at least two houses in my neighbourhood who still have their Christmas lights up.

Supposed to be unlucky. You now are within your rights to collect dog poo-doo in a paper bag set alight on the offenders door step now.

No.

I wrote myself into about three short stories when I was a teenager. Two were just blatant wish fulfillment fantasties, but one would probably serve as a great treatment for a schlockly Ed Wood-type sci-fi movie (once all the names were changed to protect the innocent).

Warren Beatty, you are a jackass! I am willing to bet you were either drunk or high or combination thereof.

edit: Daye Dunaway is also an idiot since she is the one that actually said La La Land had won.

I expected Moonlight to win, but I’m being told it was a shock. I don’t understand, had the ceremony taken place in early January instead of late February, La La Land would have won. As time went on, I saw a lot of hype for Moonlight leading up to the ceremony that it became expected. The switcheroo was a shock, though. But calling the win “monumental” is a bit over-the-top.

Handman said:

I expected Moonlight to win, but I’m being told it was a shock. I don’t understand, had the ceremony taken place in early January instead of late February, La La Land would have won. As time went on, I saw a lot of hype for Moonlight leading up to the ceremony that it became expected. The switcheroo was a shock, though. But calling the win “monumental” is a bit over-the-top.

Definitely a shock. The buzz for Moonlight has been building since before it was released, but La La Land has always been the frontrunner, and surprises rarely, if ever happen for Best Picture. In this case, it was just a matter of La La Land backlash taking over.

I think the “monumental” element is more when you just look at the fact of the matter. La La Land is a classic BP winner. I can’t think of any other winners remotely like Moonlight.

Remotely? 12 Years a Slave?

Handman said:

Remotely? 12 Years a Slave?

Because they both have black people in them? I didn’t want to go there but that’s the only similarity.

Considering #OscarsSoWhite, sure. I don’t know what the big deal is, considering many thinkpieces were written saying it would lose just because it was a mostly black cast.

I can’t help but wonder if Moonlight were centered around a white gay teenager would it receive more praise than it is now?

What does it mean, “I didn’t want to go there”? The racial politics is pretty much the big conversation in Hollywood right now. 12 Years a Slave won on racial politics alone, as some of the people who voted for it hadn’t even seen it.

All the same, two Oscar voters privately admitted that they didn’t see ‘12 Years a Slave,’ thinking it would be upsetting. But they said they voted for it anyway because, given the film’s social relevance, they felt obligated to do so.”

Ellen Degeneres said:
“Possibility number one: ‘12 Years a Slave’ wins Best Picture. Possibility number two: You’re all racists.”

So what’s the big deal in bringing up two films about race? I’m not saying anything about the actual quality of the films, this is just the mentality of Hollywood at the moment.

The thing is that #OscarsSoWhite isn’t because the Oscars only look at white movies, it’s because there just aren’t that many movies being made about minorities (or any that get any attention). To the same point, it’s not that the Oscars don’t ever reward black films, it’s just that there’s rarely ever a chance to (and on the other hand, it’s not like every time they get a chance to they jump at the opportunity). Many people might point to the diverse set of nominees this year and say “hey, the Oscars are trying to improve,” but it’s just that this year happened to have more diverse films in general. Next year we could very easily slip back into 20 white acting nominees. The Academy doesn’t really have much of say in how this breaks down, honestly, it’s a systemic issue in the film industry, not a problem with racist Academy members.

The question of whether Moonlight would get more praise if it was a white teenager is, really I don’t even know what to say about that. That’s one of those hypotheticals where you’re changing the fabric of the film to much to ask it. I don’t know if anyone could say either way with any certainty if it’d get more praise.

I say I didn’t want to go there because there’s so much more to films than the simple surface level “what color is the cast,” and I think the decisions that go into what gets the Best Picture Oscar are a lot more complicated than that as well.

Moonlight is atypical for Best Picture because of all its other qualities. First of all, I think the argument that 12 Years a Slave won only for racial politics is absurd, because the film is a masterpiece regardless (and the Ellen joke is just that: a JOKE; I shouldn’t have to explain it). But Moonlight is about race in a completely different way than that film. I don’t think Moonlight was remotely like 12 Years a Slave at all. That film was about black history and the atrocities they’ve faced. Moonlight is a far smaller and more personal film about racial identity today, the issues of racial oppression are of course there but not in any direct or explicit way. So maybe it’s not “monumental” for a film dealing with race in the most general of terms to win but it definitely is monumental in every other way. I can’t really think of any other winner that deals so intimately with the personal identity of a single character in this way.

I don’t know if you’ve seen Moonlight, but I’ll just say, as someone who has seen all 90 Best Picture winners, it is nothing like the rest of them.

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