Have you seen the list of Oscar nominations? It's not pretty. Brokeback Mountain, a story about a gay relationship between two cowboys, got eight nominations, including Best Picture. Felicity Huffman received a best actress nomination for Transamerica, in which she portrays a man who is about to undergo a sex-change operation. Good Night and Good Luck, George Clooney's movie about Sen. Joseph McCarthy (which Clooney reportedly made in response to Ann Coulter's book Treason), received six nominations. The complete list is here:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/31/D8FFMNQ00.html

Hmmm. Does it sound to you like Hollywood has a liberal agenda? "Duh", right? I've always been something of a film buff, so I usually sit through the boring Oscar broadcast every year. But I don't think I will put myself through it this year. Something about the list of nominees gives me the feeling that there will be more Hollywood liberalism on parade during this year's ceremony than usual, and it may be more than my stomach can handle. This statement by Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee is already making me gag:

"I didn't know there were so many gay people out there. Everywhere, they turn up. More importantly, I think I'm amazed how people everywhere have had the sensitivity to want to get into the complexity of the issue, the probability of love, the illusion of love, all those things. It's not simple things you can categorize as right or wrong."

Spare me. I have the feeling that Brokeback Mountain will be the big winner this year, for the same reason that Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby won top prize last year. Hollywood has contempt for traditional values, and giving its top honors to movies about euthanasia and gay cowboys is their way of thumbing their noses at mainstream America.

For what it's worth, my personal pick for best picture is probably Crash. I usually despise movies that preach about racism, because Hollywood practices its own brand of elite racism, and it is hypocritical for them to sermonize to us about it. Do you remember the 2002 Oscar ceremony? The two lead acting awards were won by black performers (Denzel Washington, Halle Berry), and Sidney Poitier was given a lifetime achievement award. It was clearly Hollywood's attempt to throw a bone to the black community so that blacks would stop accusing Hollywood of racism. Having said that, Crash is a well-made movie that effectively presents many different viewpoints on race relations. It is meatier and more perceptive than most modern movies.