Much has happened in the past 24 hours and even more will happen in the next 24 but here I stand in the eye of the storm, the middle, no man's land. Let me just use this time in the eye of the storm to reflect on what has already happened and get prepared for what is yet to come
First off, yesterday was kind of a big deal.
I don't know if you heard but we inaugurated our first African-American president. Millions (yes, millions) gathered in the Mall in Washington D.C to witness the historic event, including the eyes of every nation, billions more on the television and Internet and every major media organization that exists on the planet. So how did I watch it? Just like your everyday 18-year old American male in college probably did: by having the TV turned to CNN and taking a cursory glance every now and then between my college-like activities. My college-like activities that morning just happened to be stripping down and gathering my shower caddy for my morning shower before class.
Barack began his speech around noon and I witnessed a good ten minutes of it before I was off to the showers. When I returned, he was just wrapping up. College is college, I suppose and my P Sc 100 class certainly didn't care how sexy or amazing Barack Obama was, it just wanted me there to learn about the Universe. When my children ask me what I was doing at the moment our first black president (we will probably have a consecutive streak of 3 more old white guys by then) gave his inaugural address, I will just have to tell them that I was getting ready for class then ask them how they thought I paid for this house if I spent all my time CNN when I should be getting ready for class. I will then light a $100 bill on fire with my cigar and tell those kids to get back to sweeping the chimney.
But in all seriousness, I did not see enough of President Obama's speech to pass any judgements on it and I know several other local bloggers attended the Inauguration live and in person and should have wildly more insightful things to say than I do. All I can say is that the consensus I seemed to be hearing on Cable news networks and online is that Barack gave a speech that was far more pertinent to our time and the current struggle we are going through than it was a reflective speech that talked about the struggle of the past or our legacy in the future. If that indeed was the case, then I can only say "kudos" to Barack. Monday was a day to reflect on the past and today is the day to think about the future, but Tuesday was all about the N-O-W.
More "kudos" go out to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert who proved that their importance and their place in the media will not die out with George W. Bush's era in office. Jon Stewart did the previously unthinkable and compared Barack Obama's inaugural speech to George W. Bush's and noted the similarities. There was a hilariously awkward moment when the audience wasn't sure whether they should laugh or cry and "White House correspondent" Jason Jones begged Stewart not to ruin this moment for him while Jon Stewart apologized profusely for doing his job. Brilliant. Also brilliant was Stephen Colbert's reaction to the preciousness of the inauguration in which his conservative, blow-hard persona was won over by Obama's speech, the adorableness of his little girls, and the rhyming passages by the lovely old black preacher-man. You know what, I can't do it justice. If you haven't seen it, just go watch it.
But enough about the past, regardless of how awesome and racially harmonious it may be.
Tomorrow brings the day that I have been waiting for for the better part of a year. Tomorrow we finally get to hear the Academy announce the Oscar nominations. Oscar noms, baby Oscar noms. The more I think about it, the more I am worried that I got every single nomination wrong in my original predictions. Entertainment Weekly's Oscar genius Dave Karger seems absolutely convinced now that Clint Eastwood is going to get a Lead Actor nomination for Gran Torino and even thinks that he has a shot at winning it. I just assumed that Gran Torino was too little, too late for the Academy but everyone else's insistence he will be nominated is beginning to worry me.
I also thought that the same Academy that gave American Beauty an Oscar for Best Picture would certainly give a nomination to Revolutionary Road over the overtly political Milk but Karger thinks that Revolutionary Road may not even get any acting nominations. Now THAT would surprise me. Oh well, too late to change my picks, I just have to pray I was right (I am the kind of guy lame enough to pray I was right on Oscar nominations, trust me)
I guess that's all...but I get the feeling I am forgetting something. Isn't there some show or something coming back on tonight. I could've sworn it was the one where at the end of every episode the screen abruptly cuts to black and then the text reads......
L O S T
2 comments:
If your PSc professor is Dr. Statler something tells me he wouldn't have minded if you were late to his class because you watched the inaugural address.
Dr. Boettcher
He's a German dude. He actually probably wouldn't have minded. But I think Obama's election sunk in for me on November 20th and the Inauguration was just emotionally redundant for me.
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