WELCOME

If this is your first visit, welcome to my blog of memories and observations. If you wish to be notified of new posts, enter an e-mail address above, and click on "Submit." As we move through a seventh year of this venture, I thank all who have made regular visits, as well as fellow bloggers who have found Stomp Off worth linking to. Doing this sort of thing is time-consuming, but I try to post fresh material at least once a week—let me know what you think. There is a Commentary option at the end of each post and a Guest Book can be reached by scrolling down and clicking on the quill image. I welcome your observations, reaction and/or suggestions in either spot—or both. As for blog content, the most current posts are on the home page, starting at the top. Earlier items are listed by month, year and title in the archive index. To zero in on a particular key word or subject, use the search option that is located directly beneath the blog's masthead. Most images can be enlarged with a mouse click, and there are links to some of my favorite blogs, etc. Since visitors have come from 150 countries, a translator with numerous languages is located below. You can at any time revert to English with a click at the top left of this page:

Search This Blog

2/28/08

Somniferous Oscar show



Monday, February 28, 2011

I thought Sunday night's Oscar Awards show was the most boring I have ever seen—and I have watched them for many years. The hosts were awful, he looked like he really didn't want to be there, she...well, what was that dreadful song she did so dreadfully?

The kids from Staten Island were pleasant, but the did not live up to the hype given them on New York stations. It was nice that Randy Newman won, but that song was weak compared to his earlier work, which I still love. Apropos love, there was Lena Horne, but YouTube amateurs could come up with a better tribute than the one they threw in there.

An afterthought—although it should not have been that: I was very pleased to see "Hævnen," a Danish film by Susanne Bier, receive the coveted statue. I have yet to see the film, but its on my list. Many years ago, when I lived in a downtown Copenhagen back house—past the garbage cans, three flights up, and a few blocks from the royal palace, Danish films were mostly ignorable. They had gone from Carl Dreyer's cutting edge (so to speak) "Joan of Arc" (starring Asta Nielsen), in the twilight of the silent era, to reach a nadir with "De Røde Heste" (the red horses) a film that starred—among others—a young actor with whom my mother had a brief fling, but that's all you need to know about that wasted celluloid. I lost interest in Danish films until 1987, when an Oscar went to, "Babette's Feast". It is based on a book by Isak Dinesen and it is as enjoyable today as it was  24 years ago. I get hungry just thinking about it.

Just my 2¢ worth.