They
by Siegfried Sassoon

The Bishop tells us: 'When the boys come back
'They will not be the same; for they'll have fought
'In a just cause: they lead the last attack
'On Anti-Christ; their comrades' blood has bought
'New right to breed an honourable race,
'They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.'

'We're none of us the same!' the boys reply.
'For George lost both his legs; and Bill's stone blind;
'Poor Jim's shot through the lungs and like to die;
'And Bert's gone syphilitic: you'll not find
'A chap who's served that hasn't found some change.
' And the Bishop said: 'The ways of God are strange!'


And now for something completely frivolous...
My friend Jess and I watched the Oscars over rye and gingers, Jess' amazing dip and Tostitos (I know, I know: we are two classy dames!) I am SO happy Nicole Kidman won! YAY! I could do cartwheels! And though I thought Daniel Day-Lewis (or Jack Nicholson--but wait! Haven't we seen him do that character before???) was a near lock, but I am very pleasantly surprised that Adrien Brody got it! Another yay! And, here's my prediction, that boy's got many Academy Awards in his future; he's only just begun. And what a doll he is to boot! If they gave out awards for acceptance speeches, his would've taken the cake. Truly heart-felt. And the plea for peace was tactful, not tacky.

You know, the Academy surprised me a couple of times tonight. They actually rose above the judgemental neo-conservatism they're famous for (and you thought they were famous because they throw a big party and give awards to their favourite guests!) Roman Polanski's Oscar and Eminem's are the examples here. I'm surprised Academy voters were able to separate the public from the personal (in Polanski's case) and present what I am sure is a most deserved accolade (I have yet to see The Pianist; I don't think it has come to theatres here yet.) As for Eminem, well, I'm just surprised. Not that "Lose Yourself" isn't a great song, but that's just not the sort of thing Academy voters usually go for.

Oscar, you've grown up. Happy 75th!

On a somewhat related note, there's one more favourite movie of mine that was neglected (yes, in addition to The Nasty Girl) when I made that list a couple weeks ago: Wonder Boys. LOVE that flick!