horses coming in in all directions, white, shining, silver studs with their nose in flames.

So, the Oscar Noms are out.  And we're back to our regularly-scheduled Oscars: crappy, mundane, and appealing to the saccharine better angels of our nature.  Remember last year?  When there were movies like No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood and The Assassination of Jesse James and 3:10 to Yuma and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in the running for awards, and even the standard fare was the fairly un-standard Atonement?  Remember how great that was?  Well, no more.  I mean, look at that Best Picture list.   It's about as propagandistic as the Oscars get. 

I suppose in some ways this old way is better, because actually having a horse in the race last year was too tense for my taste.  I think the best movie I saw this year was Synecdoche, New York, and of course it's not nominated for anything, because that's the kind of movie that scares the Oscar committee.  Actually, no, I have one horse - Encounters at the End of the World, for Best Documentary.  That's a tie with Synecdoche, New York for my favorite movie this year.  But Encounters won't win for the same reasons Synecdoche wasn't nominated: too existential, too lacking in a conventional narrative, not "life-affirming" enough. 

So I guess I'll be watching for the dresses again. 

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On the homefront:

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Good news 1.  Apparently Obama's going to close down Gitmo Bay.  Amazing, right?  I thought so. 

Good news 2.  Caroline Kennedy is Outie McOuterson.  For the record, I don't care if it's illegal housekeepers, taxes, a sick uncle, or the stench of nepotism.  I would be happy enough never hearing from anyone with the surname Kennedy ever again.  Ever. 

Good news 3.  None.