"Parasite" Makes Oscar History, And Other Weirdness

In a year when people complained about the lack of women directors and actors of color nominated for the Academy Awards, the 92nd edition Sunday bestowed four of its Oscars to a South Korean film called "Parasite".

"Parasite", a dramatic study of class discrimination between a rich and poor family that critics went nuts over, won Oscars for Best International film, original screenplay, and a directing nod for Bong Joon Ho.  Most importantly, it was the first non-English speaking film to win for Best Picture.

Of the other major categories, Joaquin Phoenix took home the Best Actor Oscar for "Joker".  He was much more interested in talking about animal rights, his late brother River, and other things than his role in yet another R-rated comic book movie in his acceptance speech.

Renee Zellweger won her Best Actress Oscar for channeling Judy Garland in a film depicting the last year of her life, then told the audience that maybe Garland deserved more from the Academy than an honorary statue as a teenager for playing Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"?

Brad Pitt won a Supporting Actor Oscar for "Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood", remarked that the Academy gave him 45 seconds to say his thank-yous, which is more than John Bolton got during the Senate impeachment trial.  Then Pitt used more than his 45 seconds because he's Brad Pitt.

Like Zellweger, Laura Dern waited a long time to earn an Oscar after years in the business.  She won a Supporting Actress honor for her role in the Netflix movie "Marriage Story".

The second consecutive hostless Oscarcast ran three and a half hours on ABC, which drew 23.6 million viewers, the lowest total ever.  They should have known that following the Golden Globes, Grammys and the Super Bowl on consecutive Sunday nights must have contributed to all that viewer fatigue.  Other insights:

• There must have been a good reason why Eminem was brought out to perform "Lose Yourself", a 2003 song that was included in the film "8 Mile".  ABC bleeped out half the lyrics.  Some audience members were confused, but got into it.  Maybe it's because the nominees for Best Original Song weren't exactly memorable?  Bernie Taupin, Elton John's longtime lyricist, won for "I'm Gonna Love Me Again".  It came from "Rocketman", John's biopic, which he performed on the show.
• The Oscars and other awards shows seem to have contracted the disease of presenters presenting other presenters, which is another outgrowth of not having a host.
• Former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle are also Oscar winners.  Their production company was responsible for "American Factory", which won for best feature-length documentary.

A "Perfect" Acquittal.

The United States Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump on two counts of impeachment, both on party-line votes (if you don't count Mitt Romney).  On Article 1, which is Abuse of Power, the verdict was 52-48 not guilty.  On Article 2, which is Obstruction of Congress, it was a 53-47 not guilty vote.

It was all a foregone conclusion.  When you have a Senate trial presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, you should have expected better than a glorified mock debate between Democratic House managers (led by Rep. Adam Schiff) who argued Trump's guilt and White House attorneys who, not unlike Don Draper, tried to sell the Senate (and TV viewers) on the idea that the President did nothing wrong in convincing Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son's alleged involvement in an oil company there.

Of all the scandals Trump had allegedly been involved with before and during his presidency, the Democrats decided to try him on Ukraine.  That's like trying to nail Al Capone for tax evasion, or O.J. Simpson for robbing a Nevada casino instead of murder.

As it turned out, Trump shut it all down.  No testifying from witnesses who worked for him.  No incriminating documents, even if all that was illegal or constitutionally questionable.  Even John Bolton, the former National Security Adviser whom everyone wanted to hear from, would rather be cashing checks from a book deal than testifying.  So no witnesses and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell keeping his fellow Republicans in line (again, if you don't count Romney) saved Trump from being the first President to get thrown out of office without the voters' help.

Now Trump stands alone.  Impeachment (which he has long considered a hoax) may have earned him nothing more than a slap on the wrist.  He got the benefit of Republicans who behaved like clueless, yet protective, parents trying to discipline a rebellious child who thumbs his nose at society.  Not for nothing was Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday turned into a partisan reality show farce, which made House Speaker Nancy Pelosi so disgusted that she tore up her copy of the speech.

Now that the impeachment drama (of sorts) is over, it's time to turn our attention to the 2020 elections.  Trump is enjoying the best poll numbers of his presidency (which isn't saying much).  The Democrats aren't having much luck in deciding who their front runner is, especially after a monumental screwup in tallying the Iowa caucus votes.  As of 2/5, with 97% of the precincts finally rolling in, CNN reports that Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are running neck and neck for the lead in the state's delegates.

Trump is the 800 lb. gorilla in American politics.  He thinks he can do no wrong, because his enablers and supporters have made sure nothing ever will.  But even King Kong has to come down from the Empire State Building sometime. We'll have a better idea come November.