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Today’s color is suspicious purple. (Why purple? It just looks suspicious.) Our troops in Iraq and civilians here are being forced to become more suspicious of everybody. U.S. soldiers attacking our own troops with grenades, Iraqis pretending to surrender before they open fire, it seems you can’t trust anybody these days. Then we have the electronic highway signs telling us to report suspicious activity. This Washington Post article tells the story of a reporter who was detained because he was curious about a metal box set up near the Jefferson Memorial. A tourist saw him looking at it and taking notes, so she called the police. When the reporter had the chutzpah to ask the cops about the box, they called for backup, seized his notebook, and gave him the third degree. I’m a believer in “better safe than sorry”, but it’s a shame we’ve been reduced to this.

For those of you who didn’t stay up to watch all of the Oscars or who just couldn’t watch every minute, here’s a recap of last night’s winners. I watched most of the ceremony, although I had to take an hour off to watch Six Feet Under. I’m glad I got to see Adrien Brody’s acceptance speech, which was the most surprising and moving I’d seen in a long time. Roman Polanski winning best director for The Pianist, the film for which Adrien Brody won his Oscar, was also quite a surprise. I really want to see Adaptation; Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep were nominated for their roles, and Chris Cooper won for Best Supporting Actor, supplying another moving acceptance speech. Finally, although I don’t necessarily with agree with Michael Moore, who got booed off the stage when he protested the war (although I agree with his assessment of the last election), I still admire him as a filmmaker and as someone who had the balls to say what he felt.

Update: ESPN’s Page2 has a damn funny recap of the entire ceremony that I just now read. Take a look…

I figured that this war would get good coverage on the Internet, and it appears to be true. The Command Post – A Warblog Collective is a very timely and informative blog updated every couple of minutes whose purpose is “to post news and links, with no personal commentary…in one convenient place, and not all over the web.” They’ve done a good job so far, and I like their graphic… 😉

Kevin Sites was doing a great job as a CNN correspondent/war blogger, adding a personal touch lacking in some of the news sites and blogs. However, apparently it was too good to be true, as he was “asked to suspend [his] war blogging for awhile” as of last Friday. Hopefully he’ll be back online soon…

Today’s Lyrics Of The Day are in honor of tonight’s 75th Academy Awards:

“Celluloid Heroes”

The Kinks – Everybody’s In Show-Biz (Ray Davies, 1972)

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star

And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are

There are starts in every city

In every house and on every street

And if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard

Their names are written in concrete

Don’t step on Greta Garbo as you walk down the Boulevard

She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard

But they turned her into a princess

And they sat her on a throne

But she turned her back on stardom

Because she wanted to be alone

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard

Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of

People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame

Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain

Rudolph Valentino looks very much alive

And he looks up ladies dresses as they sadly pass him by

Avoid stepping on Bela Lugosi

‘Cause he’s liable to turn and bite

But stand close by Bette Davis

Because hers was such a lonely life

If you covered him with garbage

George Sanders would still have style

And if you stamped on Mickey Rooney

He would still turn round and smile

But please don’t tread on dearest Marilyn

‘Cause she’s not very tough

She should have been made of iron or steel

But she was only made of flesh and blood

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard

Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of

People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame

Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star

And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are

And those who are successful

Be always on your guard

Success walks hand in hand with failure

Along Hollywood Boulevard

I wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show

A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes

Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain

And celluloid heroes never really die

You can see all the stars as you walk along…

You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard

Some that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard of

People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame

Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain

La la la la….

Oh, celluloid heroes never feel any pain

Oh, celluloid heroes never really die

I wish my life was non-stop Hollywood movie show

A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes

Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain

And celluloid heroes never really die

Czar’s Color of the Day feature inspired me to try out a Lyrics of the Day feature, an idea that has been knocking around in my mind for some time now. Please let me know what you think and whether you have any suggestions. Although I know my music, I’m so terrible with lyrics sometimes that I may cut myself off… 😉 Anyway, I didn’t post this song to be pro- or anti-war; the lyrics just seemed to be appropriate:

“Forever Young”

Alphaville – Forever Young (Alphaville, 1984)

Let’s dance in style,

Let’s dance for a while

Heaven can wait,

We’re only watching the skies

Hoping for the best

But expecting the worst

Are you going to drop the bomb or not??????

Let us die young or let us live forever

We don’t have the power

But we never say never

Sitting in a sandpit,

Life is a short trip

The music’s for the sad men

Can you imagine when this race is won??

Turn our golden faces into the sun

Praising our leaders,

We’re getting in tune

The music’s played by the madmen

Forever young, I want to be forever young

Do you really want to live forever

Forever – and ever

Some are like water

Some are like the heat

Some are a melody and some are the beat

Sooner or later, they all will be gone

Why don’t they stay young?

It’s so hard to get old without a cause

I don’t want to perish like a fading horse

Youth’s like diamonds in the sun

And diamonds are forever

So many adventures couldn’t happen today

So many songs we forgot to play

So many dreams swinging out of the blue

We’ll let them come true

Forever young…

Today’s color is slightly vibrant green. It’s the color of new life after a Spring rainstorm, but with clouds not fully letting the sun come through. The war in Iraq seems to be going well, but victory is only beginning, and there may still be some tough times ahead.

W could learn a lot from Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish. His thoughtful, eloquent, and moving speech to his troops in preparation for battle is the polar opposite of W’s bumbling, vacuous, “plain-talking” stupid, and above all, uninspiring efforts at oration. I won’t attempt to paraphrase the Lieutenant Colonel’s words because I can’t do them justice. Read the speech, marvel in its depth, and hope that all soldiers in Iraq heed its message and benefit from its wisdom.

WKYC reports that “A member of Ohio’s 5694th National Guard Unit in Mansfield legally changed his name to a Transformers toy.” That’s right, he changed his name to Optimus Prime. After a shitty start this morning, this just made my day! If it’s true, I think it could be the coolest thing I’ve heard in a long time.

Sports Illustrated reports that “Montreal Canadien fans booed during the playing of the U.S. national anthem before the New York Islanders’ 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.” Islander forward Mark Parrish says, “I came to the game pretty pumped up, but once I heard that it really got me going. So I guess I can thank them a little bit for getting me more pumped up.” In your face!

I really enjoyed Montreal when I visited there about 10 years ago, but even back then there was a vague sense of rudeness. I’d like to think that this scene at the hockey game was an isolated occurance not representative of the general populace, but I’m not so sure these days. For now I’ll just fan the flames of intolerance and stick with my original assertion: The French suck. 😉

X-Entertainment goes to new lengths of impulse purchasing in its acquisition of an unused Return of the Jedi Play-Doh Set. Of course, you can’t avoid playing with it (I know I’d have to), even if it means buying new Play-Doh to replace the 20-year old “mummified” clay found in the set. Han Solo in Carbonite looks like he came out pretty well, although Leia doesn’t look so good…