Little glamour at the Oscars

I only caught the presentation of the first Academy Award before leaving for a church meeting this evening. I returned in time to see the presentation of the awards for Best Director and Best Movie.

Unfortunately I also saw Chris Rock trying to pretend that he belonged on stage as the evening's MC. He failed to convince many people. He was loud. He was abrasive and he wasn't funny. His repeated comments regarding Jude Law reminded me of David Letterman's disastrous attempts at trying to milk a laugh from "Uma & Oprah." When the cameras panned the audience they appeared to be smiling for the sake of decorum only. The only thing that could have possibly helped Mr. Rock tonight would have been a prompter holding up signs letting the audience know when to laugh. Maybe a laugh track might be considered in the future to at least give the illusion that something funny is taking place.

The glitz and glamour of Hollywood has always been a carefully-crafted yet fragile public relations illusion. Why the "Academy" would want to risk dismantling its aura of pseudo-intelligence, beauty and class is beyond me. Then again, perhaps Chris Rock IS what the Hollywood elite are all about these days.