Faulkner

I’ll admit, as a black man, that I don’t think he’s racist in the Scott Adams sense. I think he’s just dumb and one of those white dudes who thinks he has access to language he absolutely shouldn’t use. I *do* agree that the surge in popularity was in part due to racism. It’s a shame because I think he’s actually talented.

Morgan Wallen has sprung back from last year’s blacklisting and has scored his first No. 1 amid an album bomb of the Hot 100:

I remember hearing that, similarly to Grammys, there are a lot of factions in the Academy that demand parity in representation in the In Memoriam segment, which is limited due to time. Hence the number of publicists and executives who simply have no name recognition with the general public, which means a lot of famous people just won’t make the cut.

Yeah, the draw is kinda lame. They put the “Good Ones” all in one quarter instead of having the @ssholes evenly dispersed to ensure the most competitive final four. Lol I’m taking it way too seriously. But I’d love to see Eboni tangle with the Potomac women. It would also take the burden of representation off her shoulders as well as force her to be more open and vulnerable. My only fear would be the balance of the cast. Like if she were adversarial with Wendy, for example: Wendy has enough enemies among those women LOL. I’d love to see them spar a bit, though.

Especially in a world where Marc Daly, Russell Armstrong, and Jason Hoppy exist (or in Russell’s case, existed).

Not sure why Ken of all husbands made the Final Four of Worst Househusbands, given how devoted he is to his wife. Did Rinna and her bots rig the voting?

Totally. Bethenny was born to be part of a reality-TV ensemble. She flails when she’s the main event (like on her flop solo shows) or when she’s given too much power (which is true of all of these women, Nene and LVP included). But when she’s amongst these women, she had an effortless charisma. You can’t replace her with a Cindy Doorstop or a thirsty Leah. (Leah definitely did better than Cindy. But that’s the lowest of bars IMO.) They should have gone in a different direction entirely instead of trying to replace the irreplaceable. I think Eboni would have been better placed on another franchise. Too bad she’s NYC-based. I would say Potomac not because she happens to be black but she would have had a better give and take with the other cast members. And the Potomac cast would be empowered to call her on her bullshit (her Fox News background, etc.), and she’d be willing to call people on theirs. (Hopefully not just a rubber stamp under the thumb of Gizelle.) Let’s be real: Potomac is also the smartest cast of any of these franchises, so she would have been better matched.

The way they used Elyse early in the season was soooooo weird. Her dead-eyed presence at meals and events was barely explained. It was, “Who is this woman who doesn’t speak? Did they test her as a housewife, she failed because she didn’t contribute that much, and they couldn’t edit her out?” But then, boom, she became very much part of the action and she had this really interesting backstory. And she REALLY got under Ramona’s skin in a way that few people can. I feel like the producers lost their way after Bethenny’s departure. She galvanized that group and pushed them out of their comfort zones a bit. They tried to make Leah the new Bethenny, a truth-telling Greek chorus, but she was so obnoxiously transparent in her quest to be the new star. And Eboni was really set up to fail IMO. There was no way Ramona and Luann were going to survive being exposed in that way. And if people wanted them off the show, great, but that’s the only outcome that would have made sense in the current cultural environment. For me, the dynamics of these women had gotten stale, and COVID really exposed that further, since their lives were essentially on hold. Seeing them drink and fight was no longer fun.

Joe from Taiwan 🇹🇼

EEAAO won 7; AQOTWF won 4. Some love for Women Talking, Top Gun Maverick, The Whale, Avatar, etc., but Tár and Elvis were completely shut out. As was The Fabelmans. I also realized The Banshees of Inisherin won zip. Maybe I’m getting older but these award ceremonies are feeling more and more like slogs. They’ve always been boring, but this was torturous IMO. Even with some nice speeches.

Well, having Halle Berry co-present Best Actress paid off.

Social media is thirsting over Paul Rogers, the Oscar-winning editor of EEAAO. Totally agree. It was like a PowerPoint.

The only really memorable song. John Travolta looks 1000 percent better bald.

The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” performance with Stephanie Hsu and David Byrne reminded me of this:

That “Naatu Naatu” performance was like a shot of double espresso. So high energy.

Angela Bassett looked very unimpressed to see Jamie Lee Curtis win. Can’t blame her.