Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area. We’ve got high wind warnings in effect, and we had some small branches come down, but nothing worrisome (the day is early). Hopefully the power is on when we return.

It’s been quite a few years since I paid any serious attention to the Oscars, but last night was a little different. It was personal. We know the family of one of the guys up for the best adapted screenplay - and he won.

I’m not talking Spike Lee, which would be cool since we’re both from Brooklyn and all, but Charlie Wachtel who worked with Spike to get it done. We know his mom (who was there as his date).

I’m so happy for all of them, and it’s a shame that the movies that deal with racism that win all seem to be of the same genre - tackling racism from the white guy perspective, instead of the actual victims. BlacKkKlansman was relevant then and it’s relevant now. It’ll have lasting power in a way that Green Book wont. That will be one of the great oversights. Even Roma would have been a better option, and no one saw that movie either (mostly because Netflix couldn’t/wouldn’t do a movie theater distribution).

But one could make an argument that the best movie of the year was Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, and it wasn’t up for best picture. It got to deal with racism, multiculturalism, and issues that are all over society in a way that a traditional live action film can’t, and it handled animation in a way no one has approached it - taking different animation genres and mixing them together seamlessly and coherently.