Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Thank God, The NYT Reads Feiler Faster
Tuesday, January 30, 2007

First it was EW, now it's the NYT. It seems everyone is reading Feiler Faster these days! And just in time. Our plan to scrap the standard-issue, laundry-list, thank-everybody-who-takes-ten-percent-of-your-paycheck thank you speech from the award show podium, first lambasted here after the Golden Globes, is coming under attack again, this time from Caryn James is the New York Times:

As the awards season lumbers toward the Oscars, you can almost envision what might happen when the Academy Awards are finally given out on Feb. 25. Forest Whitaker will fumble for words and mumble; Eddie Murphy will robotically deliver his list of industry thanks; Jennifer Hudson will work in a hokey use of the word “dream”; and Helen Mirren will pay tribute to the actual queen. Because this season has already brought three televised awards shows without a single surprise in the acting categories, the winners’ acceptance speeches have been hemmed in by an unusual problem: The same old people to thank and too many opportunities to do it.

This year’s predictability adds a feeling of déjà vu to what was already a dismal situation. The acceptance speech is a weird hybrid, part private thanks to Mom, Dad and spouses, part professional thanks so agents and managers don’t get mad, and part performance. But even as the shows have become more polished and star-laden, most winners maintain the silly illusion that they are addressing a room full of people and not a huge, fidgety television audience. The speeches have been especially repetitious at this year, as the same lines have ricocheted from the live Golden Globes on NBC two weeks ago to the Broadcast Film Critics Awards, and most recently the Screen Actors Guild Awards shown live on Sunday.

A few more tirades like this and we might actually get to hear some real "ums" from the stage of the Academy Awards.

Labels: Pop Culture

Posted by B Feiler at 4:52 AM
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