The Oscar Crew doesn't care and neither should you.

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Hello, everyone! There's a hashtag on the internet, #Oscarssowhite, and you're probably wondering what does this have to with anything retro.  However, it is very relevant because since the Academy Awards or the Oscars was created on May 16, 1929, it has been very white with a sprinkle of color and even if black or other POC wins an award, the character is usually stereotypical such as a slave or the help. I am wondering in this day and age if the Oscars are still relevant because it continues to be tone-deaf and out of touch with reality.  

Hattie McDaniel

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The first black person to win an Academy Award was Hattie McDaniel for her portrayal of Mammy in the movie, Gone with The Wind in 1939.  She won for Best Supporting Actress.  Now, by today's standards, this would not be acceptable to black people, after all, we're much more than just servants or slaves.  However, as I mentioned earlier, this is a recurring theme in the Academy Awards; either you're the help or slave and you'll get an Oscar.  At that time, it was a great win for African-Americans, even if acting roles at that time were limited, especially in a time of Jim Crow.  The same award was won by Whoopi Goldberg in 1990, 51 years later for her portrayal in the movie, Ghost. Other black actresses who won Best Supporting Actress (Best Actress in a Supporting Role) are Jennifer Hudson, 2006, Mo'Nique, 2009, Octavia Spencer, 2011, Lupita Nyong'o, 2013, Viola Davis 2016, and Regina King, 2018.  For Best Actress, it was even more dismal as Halle Berry is the only African-American woman to win the award in 2001.  That same year, however, Denzel Washington became the second black man to win Best Actor.  The first was Sidney Poitier who won for his role in Lillies of The Field,  in 1963.  Jamie Foxx and Forrest Whitaker also won their awards in 2004 and 2006 respectively.  Best Supporting Actors winners were Louis Gossett Jr, 1982, Denzel Washington, 1989, Cuba Gooding Jr, 1996, Morgan Freeman, 2004 and Mahershala Ali, in 2016 and 2018.  Best Picture went to Steve McQueen in 2013.  

Rita Moreno

(www.wikipedia.com)

Latino winners were also far in between unless you're talking about cinematography and the Best Director.   Jose Ferrer was the first Latino and the only Latino to win Best Actor in 1950 in the movie, Cyrano de Bergerac. Anthony Quinn and Benicio Del Toro won for Best Supporting Actor, 1952, 1956 and 2000.  No Latina has won for Best Actress,  however, Rita Morena has won for Best Supporting Actress in 1961's West Side Story a historic win for the Latino community.

Umeki Miyoshi

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Asian winners are also few and far in between. Miyoshi Umeki won her Best Supporting Actress in the movie Sayonara, in 1957, while Cambodian-Chinese actor Haing S. Ngor won for Best Supporting Actor for the 1984 film, The Killing Fields.  Ang Lee won for Best Director in 2005 and 2012.  

Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to win Best Director in 2009 for the film, The Hurt Locker, while many women won for Costume Design, including Ruth Carter, the first African-American woman to win in 2018's Black Panther.  

Overall, the awards ceremony is notoriously pale and this year is no exception.  Movies such as Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems wasn't even nominated for anything and I heard that it was a great movie. Another film that wasn't nominated, Queen and Slim which was surprising since the Academy seemed to enjoy seeing black pain such as slavery and abusive relations, shown in films such as Monster's Ball, Precious and 12 Years a Slave.  

There were a few bright spots though.  Cynthia Erivo, a black British actress was nominated for Best Actress for her portrayal of Harriet Tubman, a former slave who risked her life to save her people from slavery.  Again, the only way for a black woman to be nominated is to act like a slave or the help, or in Whoopi's case a cheerleader of sorts.  Korean director, Bong Joon Ho is nominated for Best Director, Best International Film and Best Motion Picture of the Year, for his film, Parasite, which was very good and worth the hype.  I hope he wins at least Best Director but we all know how the Academy rolls. For Best Animated Short Films, Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver are nominated for the film, Hair Love, which is about a black girl and her father's love for natural hair.

Is the Academy Awards still relevant today? It's a complicated question.  Humans, in general, want some sort of validation, a recognition for their hard work.  It is even more so for black people, other POC and women. Don't get me wrong, there are other awards shows that support and reward their work but awards shows such as the Oscars and even the Grammys are still seen as the pinnacle of success.  However, the Academy Awards have proven time and again, that they couldn't care less.  They might give you an Oscar every now and then but they're basically rewarding themselves in the long run.  The institution is still white and male, even if they claimed to be liberal and open-minded, which is rather ironic as clearly it was shown otherwise.  The ratings have been dismal lately and this year there's no host.  Who wants to sit for three hours watching this mess?  Plus it's boring.  But I would be watching for fashion and that's it.  I hope that the film Parasite wins some awards, other than that, I couldn't care less.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/entertainment/when-the-oscars-were-not-so-white-a-history/2016/02/25/cf632cc8-db47-11e5-8210-f0bd8de915f6_video.html

Sanitizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Next week Monday will be Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to celebrate Dr. King's achievements.  It's celebrated every third Monday in January.  It was signed into law by President Reagan in 1983 in some States but in other States, it wasn't implemented until 2000 (Wikipedia).  Dr. King was a civil rights leader who spoke up against the atrocities black people faced in the United States, especially Jim Crow.  Now we all know that Dr. King fought for equality for black people but after he died (or rather assassinated), he became an icon for togetherness, freedom and equality for everyone.  Isn't that a good thing, you might ask.  Sure, but sometimes I felt that his other messages have been lost and many wheat people often quote Martin Luther King Jr's phrase, "Judge not for the color of my skin," when they're clearly in the wrong or are called out for their racist tendencies.  In fact, in a 1968 article, 75% of the population disapproved of his actions and mind you, he just passed away.  He even had a poor approval rating before his death, especially with his focus on the Vietnam War and the continued disenfranchisement of African-Americans.  Some states such as Arizona and  New Hampshire didn't even celebrate the holiday until 1987 and 1991 respectively.  So it was rather interesting that they chose to celebrate the sanitized version of Dr. King instead of acknowledging the revolutionary fight he started before he died.  I wondered what Dr. King would say if he was alive today.  The income gap between whites and blacks is worsening every year, birth mortality rates among black women are disturbingly high and race relations have been deteriorating ever since.  He would be disappointed that's for sure.  So we as a people have a lot of work to do in order to achieve equality in this country.  So instead of running around screaming, "let freedom reign," it's time for us to be honest and try to get rid of the disease in this country and that disease is racism and the mainstream society needs to acknowledge that.   Only then, we'll let freedom reign. 

Mary J. Blige

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Happy birthday Mary!! Mary is 49 y'all!  The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Queen of R&B, etc. How time flies!  I remembered back in the day, listening to some Mary, reminiscing about the ups and downs of life, not realizing at the time, she was going through hell herself.  Life imitating art. 

Mary J. Blige was born on January 11th, 1971, in Yonkers, New York to Thomas Blige, a jazz musician and Cora, a nurse.  She also has an older sister LaTonya and brother, Bruce Miller.  Mary also spent time in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Mary went through hellish teenage years.   She was molested by a so-called family friend and even endured sexual harassment from her peers in school.  That would explain why she turned to alcoholism, drugs and even had sex, trying to forget the experiences she had.  These experiences also played a major role in her songs later on.

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Mary's singing career started at a recording booth in Galleria Mall in White Plains, NY, eventually ended up with Uptown Records, under Andre Harrell who met with Mary in 1989.  Gotta give props to her mom's boyfriend for helping her achieve her dreams.  In 1992, she made her first album What's The 411? Produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs or Diddy or whatever he called himself these days, the album reached multi-platinum, with hits such as Real Love and You Remind Me, among others (Wikipedia).  What makes this album so remarkable was her style of singing which was much grittier than say, Anita Baker or Aretha Franklin.  Mary even combined hip-hop and R&B to create a new sound.  Yet it was powerful and in many ways relatable to listeners. 

While she enjoyed the success of her first album, her personal demons continued to fester.  She continued with her drinking and smoking cocaine while creating successful albums in the process.  I guess the saying goes, money can't buy happiness.  And I believed that Mary didn't have any support in the industry hence the cocaine and alcohol use.  Plus, her experience with sexual abuse didn't help matters either.   

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Mary decided to turn her life around and appropriately named her 2001 album, No More Drama, which should her growth and taking ownership of her life.  She was even married to Kendu Isaacs in 2003, who was also her manager but they divorced in 2016.  With the divorce came the drama, almost making Mary broke.  Still, she was able to find success in her music and even in movies.  Her latest movie was Netflix's Mudbound, where she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (I don't understand why they just can't say, best-supporting actress) and Original Song in both the Golden Globes and The Oscars in 2018. 

Mary is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.  She went through hell in her personal life yet managed to succeed.  That's why she's so relatable.  She experienced trials and tribulations and expressed herself in her music, allowing herself to be vulnerable in the process.  Her hard work also paid off.  She has won Grammys, plus other awards.   So happy belated birthday Mary, and I wish you more success in the coming years!!

War for the New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!! How is the New Year treating you?  The new year started with a bang, literally.  Unless you're living under a rock, the U.S President decided to provoke Iran and the country naturally responded in kind.  Everyone is freaking out, talking about World War III.  Thankfully, it has been averted but I wasn't expecting such bacchanal to start so early and the year barely started.  Well, you can't expect anything less from Trump, he always makes reckless and dangerous decisions.  Anyhoo, Bob Marley made this song a long time ago but this is still relevant.  Enjoy and pray for peace in the world.