So here it is. The last strip before we head into the triple digits. I’d like to think that it was all part of some grand design that I was able to synchronize the coming of my 100th strip with the aftermath of the largest night in Hollywood, but just like everything else, it’d dumb luck.

I’m not planning to make a big deal out of my 100th strip. There’s already been enough hullabaloo going on around here anyway. Instead, I plan on quietly observing the occasion by staring blankly at a wall and wondering how am I so fortunate to have an audience that is interested and supportive of what I do so that there could even be a 100th strip. Wow.

By now the war with Iraq has gone into full-swing and it’s starting to affect things at home. One of the more interesting developments in the entertainment world is that Oscars producer Gil Cates has decided to scrap the pre-show and red carpet treatment before the show.

I’ve heard some people complain that this is giving in to terrorism because they are essentially handicapping a large portion of why people watch the Oscars in the first place. They say the Oscars are an “American institution” and they are diluting it. Would they do something like this to the Super Bowl?

To which I say, “Phooey.”

The Oscars are little else than an industry circle jerk where very few of the deserving pictures actually walk away with any recognition. It’s an event based less and less on the strength of individual artistic achievements and more and more about who’s wearing what and how hard a publicist campaigns for that little gold statue.

Certainly among award ceremonies, the Oscars are the zenith of the genre. But you’d be a damn fool not to admit that, at the end of the day, what the Oscars boil down to is mindless entertainment – the results of which bear very little in terms of what movies will be made in the future versus the steady stream of dreck we’re shoveled each year.

I say good for Gil Cates for showing a little backbone and instilling a little class into the ceremonies. Yeah, it would be nice to see what people are wearing or to watch the show without this ominous cloud looming overhead. But to keep on like nothing’s happening? That’s like taking everything the rest of the world hates about America, packing it into a tight, little ball and smearing it across the face of our detractors not to mention those who are fighting this war so far away right now. It’s like saying “See all the glamor! See all this drama! See what you DON’T get to be a part of?! Nyyahhh!!”

I’m not too sure if I’m even going to watch the Oscars with much interest. If I didn’t need material for the strip, I probably wouldn’t watch them at all. As things are now, I am simply not interested in watching a bunch of overpaid actors spout off on a global crisis that is, quite frankly, beyond their sphere of influence. Whether they support it or admonish it, no one can really take you seriously because you make about 100 times more money in a fiscal quarter than most of us will see in a life time. Sit down.

I’m not against actors having opinions, but don’t be so trite and predictable to assume that we’re tuning in to the Oscars to hear your version of things. Write a friggin’ newsletter if you really feel the need to speak out. Don’t use a venue like this to hog the spotlight.

Hey, I’d love to give my opinion about the state of the world to one of the largest global television audiences, but no one invited me. Don’t abuse your station in life. Don’t wear out your welcome. Make the funny faces and wear the prosthetic noses. That’s what we pay you for.

[/end rant]