I accidentally got sucked into a few moments of the 78th Annual Academy Awards broadcast last night... and I'd like to give a big shout-out to God that I happened to be watching when Queen Latifah opened the envelope for Best Original Song. I have to think that the ensuing shenanigans were by far the most entertaining of the evening. And by entertaining, I mean hysterical.
Fresh off a drive-by assault on the the green-room cheese spread, Her Majesty took the potium, then swallowed aggressively as she unsealed the envelope, curtailed a belch and began to read aloud. The first magical sentence out of her mouth would ignite chaos for several minutes to come:
"It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp!"
Then, all hell broke loose.
Enter the Three 6 Mafia (and posse). Armored in the standard-issue Oscars garb of throwback basketball jerseys, shiny gold things (read: teeth) and water-resistant work boots, the hip-hop trio bounced giddily about the stage, thanking everyone from Mom to Big Daddy God in an inspired, bleep-laden acceptance speech. Unadulterated MTV Video Music Awards-style raucousness.
Meanwhile, stage left, a gleeful Jon Stewart watched his first Oscars script write itself before his very eyes.
Of course, you couldn't help but be happy for the guys (and lord knows they were happy for themselves). How refreshing to actually see some genuine elation from an artist who just captured one of the highest accolades in showbiz. And where contrived, arrogant rants are the acceptance-speech norm -- the two Were Rabbit dudes came prepared with little bowties for their Oscars, for Christ's sake -- it was certainly a nice change of pace to experience the healthy helping of pride and excitement (and testosterone) that was the Three 6 Mafia show.
Stewart himself said it best when he returned to the podium: "THAT'S how you accept an Oscar!"
"I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't stand still," Jordan "Juicy J" Houston (left) said backstage. "I had to run somewhere. I started to run somewhere. People thought the police was probably chasing me somewhere."
Hmm...
testing out the comments function. if anyone ever reads anything on here, post me a comment to say hello.
Posted by: jim | March 07, 2006 at 08:31 AM