The Oscars: "The Artist" Speaks Louder Than Words

Image via WikipediaThere's a new landmark in Paris to go along with the Eiffel Tower.  It's "The Artist", the mostly silent black-and white film that won five Oscars at the 84th Academy Awards Sunday night.  That includes awards for Best Picture, Michel Hazanavicius' directing, and Jean Dujardin's acting.  The last silent movie to win the Best Picture Oscar was the first one, "Wings" in 1929.

In keeping with the French theme, "Midnight In Paris" won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Woody Allen.  In keeping with his own tradition, Allen did not show up to accept his award.

Nearly every major award, including the ones that "The Artist" won, seemed to be pre-ordained.  Not so with the Oscar for Best Actress, which went to Meryl Streep for inhabiting former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady".  But then again, it's never really a surprise when she gets nominated for nearly every movie she's in.  The last time Streep won for Best Actress was for "Sophie's Choice" back in 1982.

"The Artist" hearkened back to the days when movies were in black and white, and the transition was being made from silents to talkies.  Octavia Spencer became the fifth African American to win an Oscar, as Best Supporting Actress in "The Help".  Spencer has something in common with the first African American Oscar winner, which was Hattie McDaniel in "Gone With The Wind".  They both played maids.  This is progress?

Christopher Plummer won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in "Beginners".  At 82, Plummer became the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar.  But he'll still be better remembered for "The Sound of Music".

So how was the telecast?  It was over three hours long, but it didn't seem that way.  Billy Crystal, in his ninth stint as host of the ABC telecast (and first since 2004), was as predictable as the winners themselves.  Crystal did his usual Oscar schtick, inserting himself into clips from the nominated movies and singing a medley incorporating their titles.  It wasn't Crystal at his best, but he was better than any of the other hosts  that came along since the last time he did this.

Crystal made a couple of jokes about the Kodak Theater, which has been home to the Academy Awards for the last few years.  Kodak has filed for bankruptcy, and is thinking of taking its name off the building.  The Academy is reportedly in negotiations to move the Oscars to the larger Nokia Theater. 

If "The Artist" proves nothing else, it will become a catalyst for folks who want to check out this thing called silent movies.  May we suggest Turner Classic Movies, which is available on your cable or satellite provider.  In addition to running most of the greatest films in Hollywood history (and some not so great), TCM will sometimes carry silent films dating back nearly a century.  Most films are uncut, and are presented without commercial interruption.  If you are any kind of movie buff, this is your destination.

Wolves 2011-12: Thriving In a World Of "Linsanity"

Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Timberwolves are no longer the biggest joke in the NBA.  Not even a giggle.

At the All Star break in this lockout-delayed and truncated season, the Wolves are 17-17 and a couple of games from a playoff spot.  Yes, we said a playoff spot.  Nobody would have believed this a year ago, when they won 17 games all last season.

The Wolves' improved play has so far made general manager David Kahn look like a genius, and Target Center in Minneapolis is seeing sellouts once again.  Rick Adelman was brought in as coach.  Kevin Love is turning in another All Star season, with a new contract extension to go along with it.  Michael Beasley is playing so well that the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly interested in him.  Nikola Pekovic has come off the bench to deliver clutch baskets.  And Ricky Rubio has shown he's ready for prime time.

Notice we didn't say the Wolves were perfect.  They turn the ball over too much, and get way behind the other team early, necessitating historic come-from-behind victories.  Love stomped on Luis Scala of the Houston Rockets during a game, and was rewarded with a two-game suspension.  And Martell Webster made a spectacular dunk in the waning moments of overtime against the Denver Nuggets.  Unfortunately, they only award two points for dunks, and the Wolves needed three to tie the game.

It's been so long since anyone took the Wolves seriously that people now complain when a game of theirs isn't televised.  Their contract with Fox Sports North calls for 50 regular season games, and this is the first year the team decided not to go with a broadcast TV partner, citing high production costs and low ratings.  Thanks to their shortsightedness, negotiations are under way to get at least a couple of games on a broadcast station this season.

So how long will this last?  Whether they make the playoffs or not, the Minnesota Timberwolves have made pro basketball relevant in the Twin Cites again.  Now all they have to do is measure up to the NBA's better teams.

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Now a few words about the NBA's biggest story since the lockout ended:  the rise of Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks.  He has almost single-handedly put his team in contention with his last-second heroics.  Lin's been the subject of tons of media hype, including racist headlines since he happens to be Asian-American.  TV ratings for Knicks games locally and nationally have gone through the roof.  Lin has become a pop culture icon in New York.

Because Lin plays for the Knicks, the flagship franchise of the NBA, he gets to play in Madison Square Garden, which is one of the meccas of American sports.  And the New York-based media chronicle his every move.  We hate to throw cold water on all this "Linsanity" (a term he's trying to trademark), but . . .If Lin had been playing this well for, shall we say, the Memphis Grizzlies, would anyone care?

The Dome Stays In The Picture. For Now.

Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Vikings will stay right where they are for the 2012 NFL season.

The lease on the Metrodome (aka Mall of America Field) in Minneapolis has expired, though there's the nagging issue of two games in 2010 that weren't played there because a snowstorm brought down the roof.  The Minnesota Legislature has been in session for almost a month, with no workable stadium bill brought to the floor.  And there's no one single site anyone can agree on.

The Vikings passed on notifying the NFL of their intention to move, believing enough progress has been made on a stadium to make it unnecessary.  Truth is, they couldn't move even if they wanted to.  NFL commissioner Roger Goodell put the kibosh on any team moving to Los Angeles for next season, and has said he'd rather see the league expand to 34 teams.  (Expand where, besides LA?  London?  Toronto?  Timbuktu?)

As much as the Vikings would love to get a stadium bill passed this session, there isn't the urgency there once was now that pulling up stakes is no longer an option.  The Republican-controlled Legislature has other fish to fry, such as putting certain issues on the November ballot that they should have taken care of themselves.  Even Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, when he isn't dissing GOP legislators for the shoddy work they're doing, rates the stadium bill a tossup.

But that hasn't stopped new or existing stadium proposals from coming out of the woodwork.  Ramsey County (which includes St. Paul) still believes the Arden Hills site has a shot, but the Vikings rejected a financing plan that benefitted the county rather than the team.  A state senator from northeastern Minnesota has proposed a stadium for Duluth, which is three hours north of the Twin Cities.  Not only is it far-fetched--the NFL presumably doesn't want or need another Green Bay, but this proposal was probably meant to give hope to an economically-challenged region of the state.

The new front-runner takes the Vikings back to Point A (or close to it).  It's an area east of the Metrodome that currently includes a parking lot, a tech building and a power substation.  The Vikings seem to like this a lot better than bulldozing the Dome immediately, spending the next couple of years at the University of Minnesota while their new digs are being built.  Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak has been beating the drums for this new site.  Now all he has to do, once the agreement is in place, is to convince the City Council and the Legislature to sign off on it.  Neither are considered sure bets, to put it mildly.

Here's where we are now.  The Vikings are stuck in limbo, forced to play in a dome they no longer want to be in, and facing an uncertain future in Minnesota.  The stadium dream is slowly focusing into reality, but no one seems to have figured out a palatable way to pay for it.  And this is an election year, which means not much gets done in Minnesota's legislative branch.  Meanwhile an entire state, whether they're football fans or not, awaits the outcome of the game that would not end.

The Grammys: Saying Goodbye

Image via WikipediaThe 54th Grammy Awards had already been marked by the sudden death of Whitney Houston when the show went on from Los Angeles' Staples Center Sunday night.  Host LL Cool J began the CBS telecast with a prayer, followed by a video tribute to Houston, who won six Grammys during her career.  Later in the show, Jennifer Hudson performed Houston's classic "I Will Always Love You".

Most of the rest of the ceremony was in tribute mode, a reminder of how much music had lost in the past year and will lose in the future.  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed, but without Clarence Clemons.  Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt saluted Etta James with "Sunday Kind of Love".  The Beach Boys marked their 50th year as a band with the help of Maroon 5.  Glen Campbell, recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, gamely got through his own tribute with the help of The Band Perry and his backup band.  Tony Bennett got a Grammy for his duets CD, which included a song he did with Amy Winehouse.  The only legendary performer who had any kind of spirit on stage was Paul McCartney.

Of course, there was also the business of handing out awards, which seem to be fewer and fewer every year as the Grammy telecast emphasizes performances.  Adele, to no one's surprise, took home six trophies.  That includes Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Rolling In The Deep", and Album of the Year for "21". 

Adele also performed for the first time since throat surgery forced her off the stage last fall.  The song was "Rolling In The Deep" which, like "21", dominated the record charts last year.  The more you listen to "Deep", the more you think of another song in the "woman scorned" category:  Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know".  Only less profane and sexually explicit.

One surprise winner was Bon Iver as Best New Artist.  He was supposed to perform at the ceremony, but backed out when Grammy officials tried to pair him with another artist.  He noted in his acceptance speech how "uncomfortable" he was about receiving the award.

For three and a half hours Sunday night, the Grammys were like watching a televised wake with occasional bits of weirdness from Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Foo Fighters.  It reminds us that while music may be eternal, the people who make the music are not.  Enjoy them now while they're still with us.

Giants Win Super Bowl In "Peyton's Place"

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe New York Giants and Eli Manning are now 2-0 in Super Bowls against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, winning the 46th edition at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (dubbed The House That Peyton Manning Built) 21-17.

The Giants weren't supposed to be here, having had a mediocre 9-7 season resulting in just barely winning the NFC East title.  But then they ran the table in the playoffs, beating Atlanta, Green Bay and San Francisco to win the conference.  The Patriots had a slightly better season, finishing 13-3 to win the AFC East.  They rolled past Denver in the playoffs, and would have lost the AFC championship to Baltimore had the Ravens made the last-second field goal.

The winning score came on what will forever be remembered as the "reluctant touchdown".  See, the Giants wanted Ahmad Bradshaw to stop just short of the goal line after Manning drove over eighty yards with the team trailing by two, so they could waste more clock and kick the winning field goal with almost no time left.  Bradshaw scored six anyway, the two-point conversion failed, and Brady got his chance to be the hero with under a minute left.  It didn't work.  Brady heaved a 50-yard pass into the end zone that fell incomplete.  Giants win.

For Eli Manning, who won the Super Bowl MVP, he's now one up on brother Peyton in winning the Big Game (they've won three between them).  But who knows if Peyton will get another chance?  He hadn't played all season because of a neck injury, and his Indianapolis Colts tanked without him.  Now Colts management is planning to draft for Peyton's eventual replacement, quarterback Andrew Luck of Stanford.

For Tom Brady and his coach Bill Belichick, they have won three Super Bowls together in the last decade and have lost the last two.  Their legacy is secure, even if their methods have not endeared them to folks outside the New England area.  Or the fact that Brady is married to a supermodel.

As for other aspects of the modern-day Super Bowl that make it as much a cultural event as it does a football game:  Madonna, the once-daring chanteuse now considered safe as milk by the NFL, was this year's halftime show headliner.  In spite of that, she put on a great show and had no need for guest stars Nicki Minaj and Cee Lo Green (who was probably there to remind one and all that "The Voice" follows the football game on NBC).  The Material Woman especially didn't need M.I.A giving the Unholy Finger to a worldwide TV audience, but there it was.  Whatever M.I.A.'s intent was, she certainly succeeded in making a name for herself.  This is just a warmup for Madonna's concert tour, which means she'll be taking a break from directing movies and dissing Lady Gaga for being too much like her.

The commercials?  The bullets, please.

• NBC promoted the heck out of "The Voice" (an "American Idol" ripoff) and "Smash", which is really "Glee" on Broadway.  They don't have much to offer other than that.
• The most depressing ad has to be the one for Chevy Trucks, in which they somehow survived the Mayan Apocalypse and Ford trucks didn't.  Don't even go there, General Motors.  If you ever find yourself cash-strapped again . . .
• Budweiser's ad celebrates the end of Prohibition.  Um, you might want to explain to younger viewers (over 21, of course) what Prohibition was about, if Ken Burns didn't already do that with his recent PBS special.
• More ads for movies featuring comic book heroes and mass destruction.  The kind you won't see nominated for awards.
• Clint Eastwood giving the nation a pep talk in his "halftime for America" ad for Chrysler.  Thanks, Clint.
• The only ad that was worth anything was the one for Pepsi, with Elton John as a king and Melanie Amaro as a commoner belting out "Respect".   For those of you who don't watch "The X-Factor" (which Pepsi sponsors), Amaro won the show's big prize.  Now we hear that Simon Cowell has cleaned house, dropping fellow judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, as well as the guy who hosted the show.  His name escapes me.
• KARE, the local NBC affiliate, weighed in with an ad featuring their news anchors putting on their "game faces", with the help of former Minnesota Viking John Randle.  They all looked like raccoons.  Or was the Lone Ranger missing a mask, kemosabe?  Now, if they only put this much effort into their newscasts . . .

All in all, this was one Super Bowl that was better as a football game than a TV show.

Football (and TV) The Way It Was

Image via WikipediaInstead of the usual Super Bowl preview, we thought we'd go back nearly 50 years to December 23, 1962.  Thanks to the magic of You Tube, we recently got to view the original ABC telecast of the American Football League's championship game between the Dallas Texans and Houston Oilers, with Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman calling the action.

The Texans won the AFL title 20-17 on a 25-yard field goal by Tommy Brooker, with nearly three minutes gone in the second overtime period.  Before that, it was a tale of two games:  Dallas scored their 17 points in the first half, and the Oilers scored their 17 in the second half.  It remains the longest championship game in pro football history.  By comparison, we have yet to see a Super Bowl game end in overtime.

Usually, our football history comes through the prism of NFL Films and its well-made-if-orchestrated highlights package.  Tapes of TV broadcasts--the way most of us saw these games--are either lost or locked in a vault someplace, never to see the light of day (For example, coverage of the first Super Bowl, which was seen on two different networks).

But this game wasn't.  Somebody actually took the time to upload much of this particular AFL championship game (minus commercials) to You Tube.  Compared to today's coverage, this one looked like a cable access production.  Here's what we learned from it:

• The goalposts were at the goal line, not the back of the end zone.
• There was no instant replay, end zone cameras, virtual first-down lines, or plugs for network prime time shows.  But there was a hulking hand-held camera patrolling the Dallas sidelines, mostly getting shots of coach Hank Stram.
• Jack Buck was used as a sideline reporter.  Years later, he would team with Stram on CBS Radio's coverage of "Monday Night Football".
• The halftime entertainment was provided by a local marching band.
• Gowdy, in promoting ABC's telecast of the Orange Bowl game between Alabama and Oklahoma (then coached by Bear Bryant and Bud Wilkinson, respectively) on New Year's Day 1963, mentioned that President John Kennedy would be attending the game.  You're not going to hear that today after what happened to the President less than a year later.  In the state of Texas, no less.
• When it came time for the overtime coin toss, Buck was there at midfield with the referees and the team captains.  Dallas won the toss, but Texans captain Abner Haynes mistakenly elected to kick to the Oilers.  Houston didn't score, so no damage was done.
• Gowdy also mentioned during the telecast that the city of Houston had approved the building of a domed stadium, while Boston was considering one with a retractable roof.  That Houston stadium became the Astrodome, and the Oilers played there for many years.  Boston never built their dome, so the Patriots bounced around the city during the AFL years until they got their own stadium in Foxborough.
• The game was played at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, where more than 37,000 squeezed into the tiny (by today's standards) venue.

Postscript:  The AFL lasted ten seasons before merging with the National Football League in 1970.  The Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963.  And the Oilers became the Tennessee Titans in 1997.