Oscar consolation prize

Since I last wrote…

Saturday evening I attended the LGBT Comedyfest in Dearborn. It was put on by the same organization that puts on Motor City Pride in June. Four comedians each did a set of at least a half hour for a show 3 hours long (an intermission and raffle also in the mix). Two of them were gay, one a lesbian, and one a transgender woman. They gay guys were only mildly funny. The lesbian at the end of the program and the transgender at the start were hilarious!

I’ll only share one joke – many of the rest were decidedly purple – and this one isn’t LGBT specific: When I was young I told my Sunday School teachers I was sure Jesus and Frosty the Snowman were the same person. I even had proof! They were both born in winter. They both died gruesome deaths. They both said they would come back.



Last night I watched the Oscars. I managed to do live-stream it, though at times the image froze. I sometimes missed a joke. Full list of winners here. My thoughts:

* The gay love story Call Me By Your Name won for best adapted screenplay. It didn’t get Best Picture (Shape of Water did, a good choice). It didn’t get Leading Actor (Gary Oldman did). It didn’t get Original Song (Coco did, though I thought a couple of the other nominees were better). So four nominations, one win (the consolation prize).

* Frances McDormand got Leading Actress and did a wonderful acceptance speech.

* I had written that of the five live action short films three were quite violent. None of them won. The award went to The Silent Child, the sweet film about trying to get a deaf girl into school. The producer, who was also the star, signed as she said her acceptance speech.

* The animated short film went to Kobe Bryant for a film about his love for basketball. I had dismissed this one as a puff piece with all the others much more innovative and interesting.



Since streaming went fairly well I now face a question. Do I keep my TV? I bought it in 1982. If the TV goes, so do the VCR tapes. Many of those were recorded for me when I lived in Germany 27 years ago.



On to other little things:

When I lived in Cologne, Germany I saw the Carnival Parade. It is held just before the start of Lent, which is supposed to be somber. But before Lent starts Germany has a five day party and the parade is a part of it. Some of the floats in the parade were quite political and heavy on the satire.

The Carnival Parade in Düsseldorf rivals the one in Cologne for political commentary. This year it included a float featuring the nasty guy and the Russian bear that is decidedly X-rated. But I’m sure you’ll want to see that for yourself, so click here. The link also has floats satirizing Angela Merkel and Theresa May.


Amy Ludwig VanDerwater wrote a poem about what would happen if teachers carried guns. Jyn Erso included it in her Twitter feed.