As one of the other writers pointed out, the story making the news recently is the one about Hurt Locker. One of the more zealous (and er over-enthusiastic) producers apparently crossed a line when he tried to steer Oscar voters towards his flick. I believe he might have urged them to consider HL over Avatar. Ouch. Yea, we'll see how that plays out. But this seems about the right time for mentioning other Oscar controversies, doesn't it?

The most noteworthy one is the stunt pulled by Marlon Brando. Actually, he made a strong statement with this move and well, he did have a point. Of course people will argue that there is a time and place for making stands. Yea, I'm not siding with any of them. In this particular instance, Brando sent someone in his place to accept his award. And the lady accepting his award took that opportunity to make a case about the ill treatment of Native Americans. Look, at least she was very courteous about it, as opposed to the rather impassioned one below.

The next one is about Michael Moore. Of course the man comes across as a bit in-your-face. It's not about whether you agree with him or not; Moore employs a bit of shock tactics to get his points across. It can be very blunt where you might cringe that he lacks a diplomatic touch. The speech in question is his outburst at the Oscars where he won an award for Bowling for Columbine. The man went on to comment about the election controversy and talk a bit more about going to war in Iraq. Actually, rather than wondering about Moore's fiery speech, I was more focused on the reaction of the crowd. Don't you just love the way some of the folks who initially clapped started squirming in their seats? It was a hilarious “Oh man, I hope they don't think I support those views just 'cos I was part of the standing ovation” sort of look.

Another one that made waves was Sean Penn's speech upon accepting the award for Best Actor in 2009. He made a point of speaking out against the number of folks standing outside protesting gay marriages. I remember how bad it got last year, with all sorts of folks coming out of the woodwork and ranting homophobic statements. For this reason, it is nice to find a celebrity stand up and make a statement.

This actually leads me to another much-talked about Oscar moment. This one wasn't topical in the same manner as the others. It was the award ceremony of 1958 when Mae West and Rock Hudson made one too many folks uncomfortable with their rather suggestive song. Er, watching this now, the song doesn't come across as shocking or steamy. Well, it falls into the cute category. The reason the gay rights speech reminded me of this moment was because of Rock Hudson's personal struggle where he had hide his own sexuality. Given his macho image (and stigma surrounding homosexuality) I am guessing that there were a number of PR moves to maintain his 'good' image. It makes you wonder if this little song and dance number was also damage control. It's sad to think that he had to hide who he was for so long and even sadder to think that folks are still not acknowledging equal rights for all (as can be seen by protests that triggered Penn's speech).