A great Oscar night

The sixth time was the charm for America's greatest director. Marty Scorsese was finally awarded by the Academy tonight with an Oscar. It's about time. It was great to see him bask in the glory, to hollers and shouts from the audience. Once he reached the stage, he was smiling from ear to ear. He only had a moment to soak it all in backstage, though - The Departed won Best Picture moments later.

I haven't seen The Departed yet, but as I watched Scorsese on stage, I kept thinking of Goodfellas, and how he deserved an Oscar for that movie.

It was also wonderful to see Melissa Etheridge win for her song "I Need to Wake Up" from Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. I noticed a few things when Etheridge won. First, she kissed her partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels. Then, when she reached the stage, she referred to Michaels as "her wife." That was a cool moment, and undoubtedly an important one to many gay people. It's a signal that progress is being made, but we've still got a long way to go before gays are treated like any other American in the courts and in society.

Scorsese on Sesame Street

Since I'm in a YouTube mood tonight, I had to share one more with you. This one is a parody of a collection of movies by Martin Luciano Scorsese, the man who I feel is the greatest living American director, and certainly one of the best of all time.

Warning: This parody is, shall I say, colorful and explicit, so be careful if you are listening at work. Like most of Scorsese's films, this video clip takes liberties with the English language.

I know, I'm temporarily breaking my vow of cutting down on the profanity on the blog with this post, but hey, it's Scorsese's movies we're talking about here. Mob movies. Murder. Mayhem. No mobster ever said, "Oh sugar! Would you knock that stuff off!"

If you've seen the classic Scorsese films Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino, you will have a true appreciation for this. (Especially if you like all of these movies, as I so.) I will go to my grave believing that Goodfellas is the best mob movie ever made; the Academy robbed Scorsese of Best Picture for his masterpiece, awarding it to Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves instead. That's not a typo, but it should be. The Godfather I & II are both tied for a very close second on my mob scale, and Scorsese's epic movie about the mob in Las Vegas, Casino, is very underrated and also one of my favorite movies ever.

Anyway, watch this, laugh, repeat.

Now go home and get your fuckin' shine box, Oscar!