Hopkins trashes Oscar nomination process of "ass-kissing"

Extreme sports, extreme sycophancy, extreme bullying....extreme....anything!
We love the drama of extremes!
We hate the boredom of the reasonable, the thoughtful, the mature and the compromise...they all lack sex appeal!
There is a serious case to be made for the public discourse having devolved into bugles and drums...both very loud, both deafening and both empty of musical content.
If you want a quote to make it to the latest editions, make it venomous, make it poisonous!
Today we learn that 110,000-plus Texans have signed a petition to secede from the Union! It could be much ado about nothing, another bleet from another bugle, from another corner of the country poised between heroism and racism.
Following the presidential defeat of Romney and the Republicans, Governor Haley Barber tells his Republican governor colleagues, "The Republican party need a proctology exam....that means I think we have to look everywhere!"
Surprise! It made the twitter universe, the blogosphere, the facebook hitparade!
Anthony Hopkins, however, is a serious actor, with a fully operating intellect, and he knows that his contempt for the "sycophancy" that attends, even sustains the Oscar nominations, is as garish and without ethical or moral substance as the political operation of the United States which has been virtually bought by the lobbyists....except that, on November 6, it was the President, sustained mostly by contributions averaging $58 per person (hardly a sum that would bend presidential power in its favour!) who, like David slew the Goliath Romney/Ryan.
And, with any luck, Hopkins' view will also unravel the Oscar nomination process of "kissing the asses" of whoknowswho?
Are we complicit in raising one or more generations of "extremists" in terms of their narcissism, their fragility, their malingering, and their insatiable appetite for extremes in most of their developing "tastes" in clothes, food, sports, language, and expectations....
What a pity when they find that life is lived in the middle of the road, in the pursuit of the reasonable, in the path of forerunners, teasingly stepped just over the line of conformity...only for them the conformity line must envelop the extremes of the "act" and not the substance....
Let's hope Hopkins' words, thoughts and values penetrate this pseudo-drama!


By Lauren O'Neill, CBC Community Blog, November 20, 2012
With the Oscar race now underway, Hollywood types are working hard to secure their own Academy Award nominations, invitations, and maybe even a statue come February.

But not Sir Anthony Hopkins.
"People go out of their way to flatter the nominating body and I think it's kind of disgusting," said the legendary actor in a recent interview with Christopher Rosen for the Huffington Post.
Hopkins won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Silence of the Lambs in 1991, and this year critics are predicting he'll be nominated in the same category for playing Sir Alfred Hitchcock in Sacha Gervasi's Hitchcock, set to be released this month.
When asked for his thoughts on the film's Oscar buzz, Hopkins told Rosen he wasn't aware of any and went on to decry the process of Oscar campaigning - the organized efforts of studios, publicists, and stars themselves to influence Academy members each year.
"You know, kissing the backside of the authorities that can make or break it; I can't stand all that. I find it nauseating to watch and I think it's disgusting to behold. People groveling around and kissing the backsides of famous producers and all that. It makes me want to throw up, it really does. It's sick-making. I've seen it so many times. I saw it fairly recently, last year. Some great producer-mogul and everyone kisses this guy's backside. I think, 'What are they doing? Don't they have any self respect?' I wanted to say, "F*** off."
And Hopkins isn't alone.
Earlier this year, Joaquin Phoenix expressed similar feelings in a Q&A with Interview Magazine. The actor is widely considered to be another contender in the Best Actor category for his role in The Master.
"I don't want to be a part of it. I don't believe in it. It's a carrot, but it's the worst-tasting carrot I've ever tasted in my whole life. I don't want this carrot. It's totally subjective. Pitting people against each other ... It's the stupidest thing in the whole world," he said.
There has been much debate in recent years over the relevancy of award shows like the Academy Awards.