Also in this Issue
- The Wild Rover Honorary Oscar winner Blake Edwards did it his way (Film)
- More articles from this issue...
More Film Articles
- Punch Drunk, No Love Meg Ryan goes toe to toe with mediocrity (Feb 18, 2004)
- It's All About Me! Asia Argento--daughter of Dario--does her daddy proud (Feb 18, 2004)
- They Lost It At The Movies Bertolucci blows a kiss to the French new wave (Feb 11, 2004)
- Steep Price To Pay 'Touching the Void' comes close to nothing you'd want to experience (Feb 11, 2004)
- Conflict Of Interest: One Film, Two Takes (Feb 4, 2004)
- Last Tango In Utah Searching the slopes for signs of independence at the Sundance Film Festival (Jan 28, 2004)
- Better Red Than Misled 'Morning Sun' sheds light on China's revolutionary red guard (Jan 28, 2004)
- Let It Bleed 'Bus 174' rolls up a news vehicle of white bronco proportions (Jan 21, 2004)
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The Dream Dump Made Divine
In the prototypical Hollywood-as-gilded-Gomorrah novella The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West calls Tinseltown the "Sargasso of the imagination": "Just as that imaginary body of water was a history of civilization in the form of a marine junkyard, the studio lot was one in the form of a dream dump."
That might be laying it on a little thick. But watching the Academy Awards some years leaves one half-expecting the boredom-fueled apocalypse that ends West's book. How else to explain the Oscar triumphs of Gladiator, Out of Africa, and the legendarily lugubrious 1968 musical Oliver!?
One of the prime advantages of Hollywood 2004, the latest edition of the Twin Cities' annual Oscar night fete at the State Theatre (doors open at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday), might be the opportunity to observe the Academy Awards from a safe distance. But that's not to say the oldest and largest Oscars celebration outside of Hollywood isn't a worthy event in its own right. In addition to desserts donated by local restaurants, a silent auction, and a full slate of entertainers, partygoers can watch the Oscar telecast on a full-size movie screen. Plus, unlike the real Oscars, Hollywood 2004 is for a good cause: Since it started 17 years ago, as an informal get-together in someone's living room, the event has earned more than $1 million for the Minnesota AIDS Project and associated charities. (Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Visit www.hollywoodevent.org/tickets for more info.)
As in years past, the host is the redoubtable Miss Richfield 1981, the inner-ring suburb's answer to Joan Collins. If Miss Richfield looks like she might blend in more easily on Sunset Boulevard than at the State, know that she has, in fact, been shopping her talents recently on the West Coast. Maybe that's no surprise: After all, even Nathanael West gave up and became a screenwriter in the end.
About Peter Ritter
From the Archive
- Steep Price To Pay 'Touching the Void' comes close to nothing you'd want to experience (Film - Feb 11, 2004)
- The God of Small Things Steve Kiwus's six-inch plastic universe (Art - Feb 11, 2004)
- Venus In Blue Genes If God didn't create a glowing dog, why can't art? (Art - Feb 11, 2004)
- Ryan Kelly Battles the Giant Robots A comic book artist takes on America's military machine (Arts Feature - Jan 28, 2004)
- Eat My Killographic Wilding with the Simpsons and bashing heads with the LAPD (Gaming - Jan 28, 2004)
- Just the Facts? A national antiabortion movement infiltrates the state's health department (News - Dec 24, 2003)
- Wheeling and Dealing Sticky details for the Sears complex (News - Dec 17, 2003)
- War Games Fighting Spielberg's battles from your bean bag (Gaming - Dec 10, 2003)
- More articles from the Peter Ritter Archive...
