did you just see michael moore?

[AJWatson3]

I didn't catch the MMoore speech, but am glad to see he won for "Columbine"... it was a good flick that got some people thinking about issues.

About who the "we" he was referring to is probably the 20% of the population that doesn't believe we should be at war (and the 51% of the people who didn't vote for Bush on one level). While it is a minority of the country it still more than 60 million people. Now I doubt that every single one of them is in agreement with all he says, but he used his platform to get his opinion out... same as Marlon Brando once did and George C. Scott also. Hollywood will always have political ties and Oscar night is one of their biggest opportunities to pass on their views to the rest of the world.

[Glenn X]

Originally posted by Soliloquy

While Moore's tirade isn't worth dissection, the crowd's reaction is. The first section, about the 2000 election, received loud applause. The section on duct tape and orange alert received a mix of cheering and jeering and by the time he finished with his references to the Vatican and the Dixie Chicks, he was drowned in a chorus of boos.

During most of this the camera showed not Moore, but the audience. In a move that must have tied Gil Cates and ICM in negotiations for a week, the producers went out of their way to show America that the stars weren't clapping. Harrison Ford sat with his arms folded, Calista Flockhart angrily pursed her lips, and Adrian Brody looked on condescendingly. For the most part, those seated on the orchestra level sat on their hands.

So who was booing Michael Moore? The people in the balconies. At the Oscars, the orchestra level is reserved for the glitterati and the upper tiers for the riff-raff. So only "normal" people were booing Moore. Which begs the question, why didn't the stars boo him? Why simply sit there, the equivalent of voting "present" on a resolution in Congress? Clearly, the answer is that they wanted to cheer. Just not as much as they want that seventh house in Maui.

I knew it. I f*cking knew it.

When the Oscars used to be held at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles, the movie awards show did the same thing in terms of seating. They'd set aside a certain number of seats for "regular movies fans" to attend the festivities.

So when that chorus of boos came raining down on Moore's big fat head and all Gil Cates (the Oscar telecast's director) had to show for cutaways were shots of movies stars smiling nervously, arms folded, or, in some cases, glancing back over their shoulders at where the loud booing was coming from, I just knew that Moore was getting it from "the peanut gallery," not from any "self-respecting" movie star who likely "wanted to cheer [Moore on]. Just not as much as they want[ed] that seventh house in Maui."

[OrangeSkin]

I was glad to hear the chorus of boos. Of course it was from the peanut gallery, but it would've been infuriating had EVERYBODY sat there in silence. It made me feel good to hear people standing up for the president.

Props to Adrien Brody, who was the only person to express support for the troops. He should be a bona-fide movie star, up there with the likes of Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis within the next couple of years.

And I didn't have a problem who expressed their views tastefully, namely that Mexican actor who said Frida would be anti-war if she were still alive.

I don't think people would be so up in arms about Moore had he not come across so shrill and brash. Something in his tone was just really grating.

Perhaps he should've thanked the troops who were being beaten at THAT VERY MOMENT so his sorry as$ can even make his sorry as$ documentary and win his sorry as$ Oscar.