Dear Committee of the 2004 Academy Awards: Where's Elijah Wood's Oscar?

For the past six years, we have had a three-way tie for the most Oscar-winning movies: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King (2003). These have each won eleven Oscars.
    However, a twelfth Oscar for The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King seems to be missing. This missing Oscar is for Best Supporting Actor.
    As you may know, no one in the cast received an Oscar nomination for the 2004 Academy Awards. This is understandable, since everybody was so mind-blowingly amazing and it would be impossible to pick just one nominee. However, I felt that one actor was a shoo-in for the Supporting Actor Oscar. This actor is Elijah Wood.
    Unbelievably, I have found reviews that are negative about Wood's performance. Those reviewers must have been watching a different Return of the King. Seriously, I don't see how people can criticize Wood.
    As far as I am concerned, Wood assumed what was by far the most difficult role to have: Frodo Baggins. I say this role is so difficult because any actor could put too much into the performance. There needs to be that delicate balance of emotion and believability, and considering what Frodo has to endure, that balance is especially delicate.
    I do not use this word lightly, so it means a lot when I say that Wood was perfect. I was only ten years old when I saw The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King for the first time, and I quickly noticed Frodo's deterioration throughout the movie. His emotional stability wavers more and more with each passing scene, and by the film's climax, his stability has completely vanished, and it has been replaced with madness and strain of will.
    Like I said earlier, any actor could easily take this deterioration and make it over-the-top in a bad way. But Wood avoided that completely. Frodo's gradual descent into madness and loss of hope is very clear in every scene, and I cannot help but feel crushing pity for him.
    Then, of course, are Wood's famous blue eyes. Wood uses those eyes to a full extent, and they add so much to Frodo's change. For example, take a look at this promotional poster.

 

    Look at those eyes! Look at them! Can't you just feel Frodo's despair and madness just by looking into those eyes?!

    To possess that kind of talent at such a young age (Wood was seventeen when he was cast as Frodo Baggins and twenty-two when The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King debuted in theaters) is unheard of.

    In short, Wood gave a once-in-a-lifetime performance as Frodo Baggins, especially in the last Lord of the Rings film. Why was he not nominated for an Oscar? Beats me.

    Although The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King has "officially" won eleven Oscars, I consider the movie the winner of twelve because of Wood. So if some time in the future, some movie wins twelve, I will calmly recall that The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King beat them to the punch.

Why Avatar Is a Waste of the Worldwide Dollar

If you have not seen Avatar but plan on seeing it soon, I recommend checking your brain at the door before you do so.

    While the visual effects are truly spectacular, Avatar is really not worth watching a second time. Allow me to state why.

     Like I said, the visual effects are stunning. If the effects are that mesmerizing in 2-D, I can’t imagine what it must be like to watch Avatar in 3-D. It must be quite the ride.

     Sadly, much like in Titanic, it seems that James Cameron spent the vast majority of the budget on the effects, and not enough money went to find good screenwriters and actors.

     A young paraplegic, Jake Sully, is sent to the planet Pandora to learn more about the Na’vi, the planet’s natives, before the greedy Colonel Miles Quaritch destroys the planet for its resources. After coming to know the Na’vi, Sully starts to question the decision to ruin Pandora, and Sully (who goes to the planet with the body structure of the Na’vi) decides to rebel.

     Sounds like a good plot, right? But leave it to Cameron to screw it up.

     First of all, I have something to say about the visual effects. The motion-capture animation used for the Na’vi was adapted/stolen from that used for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King. So yeah, if you liked the Na’vi, give credit to WETA Workshop, even if for some reason you're not a Lord of the Rings fan.

     There goes the one good thing about Avatar. Now for the rest.

     First, the subtitles, for some reason, bother me beyond belief. I believe that the subtitles are typed in Papyrus font, which is really elegant and old world-ish. I like Papyrus, but the subtitles are way fancier than they should be. Even they add to the over-the-top feel of the whole movie.
    Second, people have criticized Avatar as being nothing more than a high-budget Pocahontas. And heck yes, that is true. Apart from the characters' names, there is no distinction between those two movies' plots.
    Third, the English-speaking skills of one of the Na'vi, Neytiri (Sully falls in love with her), is glaringly inconsistent. The first time she speaks follows an incident in which she had to kill animals that were attacking Sully. Her lines are something like "They no have to die." In the very next scene, in which Neytiri is introducing Sully to her fellow Na'vi, the fellow tribespeople start quarreling about him. When Sully asks what they're saying, Neyitri says, "They are trying to decide whether or not to kill you." And it's like that throughout the movie--broken English one scene, perfect English the next.
    Fourth, the resource on Pandora is an element called “unobtanium,” which seems like an obvious take on the word unobtainable. They could have created a name that was more clever, or at least not as glaringly symbolic.

    Plus, naming the element "unobtanium" is illogical when you think about it. The average human would take one look at the element's name and say something like, "Oh, it's not obtainable. Let's not waste our time trying to obtain it."

    But, of course, if the characters of Avatar had that line of thinking, the movie would be over within a few minutes.

    Fifth, the Na’vi somehow manage to keep their hair in perfect braids, despite all the crazy stunts they pull. I’m serious. After an extremely epic battle that involves flying all over the place, not a single hair was out of place. If you have seen Avatar, watch it again and take note of that.

    Sixth, almost none of the characters are very sympathetic. Sully is supposed to be the strong unlikely hero, but I did not have that impression of him. I won’t say he was a whiner, because he wasn’t, but I just found it difficult to sympathize with him. Also there is no way that any human can be as evil as Quaritch. And I can be pretty cynical about humans, so for me that’s really saying something. 

    Also, Neytiri wants to be a strong, noble heroine, but again, she does not come off like that. She came off as an emotionally unstable whiner. When Sully reveals the humans' plan to destroy Pandora, Neytiri's reaction does not feel real. It's more like "I loved you! I trusted you! You've betrayed me!" etc. than it is "How can your kind be so heartless?!"

    Seventh, the only character I really like dies. That character is Dr. Grace Augustine, played by Sigourney Weaver. The character, like all the others, is more a cliché than a human, but Weaver gave her at least a bit of a human side. Poor Weaver. What a waste of such a talent.

    Eighth, the cast does not stand out. The actors cannot help that they all play stock characters, but the best actors make do with poor material. Weaver is really the only one who tries to develop her character, but even she can't take the development that far.

    Ninth, Avatar takes forever to end. During the last battle, I seriously found at least half a dozen times in which I thought that Quaritch was going to die. It eventually became something like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," and I almost did not believe it when Quaritch actually died.

    Tenth, the message is quite a paradox with the events. The film clearly says, “We must preserve the Earth!” Pandora does get saved in the end, but the entire planet practically blows up in the process. Yeah, Sully, you saved the Na’vi, but it’s gonna take a long time for the planet to actually become a healthy oasis again.

    Finally, the script was God-awful.

    The film’s message, like I said earlier, is clearly the importance of environmental conservation. It’s nothing we haven’t heard. The message, though, doesn’t bother me. It’s the delivery, which is completely unoriginal. It’s basically Sully, Augustine, and the Na’vi screaming, “Save the Earth! Save the Earth!” and Quaritch screaming, “No I won’t! No I won’t!” The best word to use for the delivery is preachy. It's something we've all heard a million times, and the message is not told in an original way.

    Also, it’s because of the script that the characters are nothing but clichés. They are all stock characters, and only Weaver’s Augustine strays a bit from the clichés.

    Without the visual oohs and ahs, nobody would have sat through the film. Don’t let the effects distract you. They are just covering a mediocre story.

    Wait. Hold on a minute. I just thought of something bad about the visual effects. Perhaps Cameron used the oohs, ahs, and booms to insult the viewer's intelligence.

    Picture the following dialogue between Cameron and visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri.

CAMERON: Joe, I need to talk to you.

LETTERI: Sure, Jim. What is it?

CAMERON: I've been thinking. My script sucks. I know it sucks, but I don't want to waste any time or money on fixing it.

LETTERI: So what do you want me to do about it?

CAMERON: What can we do to distract our audience from the bad script?

LETTERI: Hm ... I've got it! What if I spend all the money in our budget on glamorous oohs and ahs and, of course, things going "boom"?

CAMERON: [pause] I like it! Think you can do it?
LETTERI: Hell yes, I can!
CAMERON: Awesome!

[CAMERON and LETTERI high-five each other]

    You see my point? The visual effects definitely overpower the story, or lack thereof. Cameron could have toned them down a bit.

    Huh. So I guess I can't find anything good to say about Avatar after all.

    Please examine your brains before you watch Avatar, and make sure they are working properly. If you want a movie with a good, solid plot and great, but not overpowering, special effects, go watch The Matrix or, even better, a Lord of the Rings movie.

AP Government Report

Earlier this month I went to a hearing at the Bedford County Board of Supervisors. Congressman Tom Perriello hosted a hearing about the state of rural veteran healthcare. Sadly, healthcare options for rural veterans are extremely poor. Congressman Perriello noted that unemployment for veterans is an "astronomical" figure - more than twenty percent.

Tom Perriello (left) talks with speaker Michael Mitirone before the hearing begins.

Carroll Thackston, the mayor of South Boston who has forty years' experience in the Army and the National Guard, said that many rural veterans have to travel as far as Richmond for treatment. Another speaker, Howard Chapman, said that many rural veterans have access to neither telephones nor transportation. This obviously makes healthcare nearly impossible.

Perriello listens as Carroll Thackston speaks.

Many speakers suggested Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, or CBOCs. CBOCs would run like more local VA hospitals (Dept. of Veterans' Affairs). However, CBOC technology has become largely outdated, and a lot of government money is needed to keep them running.

I have video of three of the speakers. The first is Carroll Thackston. I'm not sure how good the sound quality will be, but I'm posting the speech excerpts under each video.

"As a former Adjutant General of the Virginia National guard, I have deep concerns about the coming impacts on the VA system as a result of the extensive use of National Guard combat and combat support units during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. During my tenure as Adjutant General, in spite of actively seeking overseas operations for our ten National Guard Divisions, the Guard was more or less relegated to Homeland Security for domestic crises. That is not the situation the Guard finds itself in post 9-11."

"When you consider the demands being put on the Department of Veterans' Affairs by that intense combat environment and multiple tours of duty, combined with the effort to increase VA medical care eligibility for veterans, I believe the VA will be required to expand its network of healthcare facilities to meet those increased demands. News reports last week indicate that the VA is adopting new rules regarding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that will, in my opinion, drastically increase the clinical workload for the VA. Reports cite a 2009 Rand Corporation estimate that 'nearly 20 percent of returning veterans, or 300,000, will have symptoms of PTSD or major depression.' It will be interesting to see those new estimates updated to reflect the new rules announced last week."

The next speaker I have is Daniel Boyer. He also has experience in the Armed Forces, but I'm not sure which branch he's served in, nor how much experience he has.

"Access to VA services in rural areas is always a primary concern, and that is no different in our region. From my hometown of Galax, VA, we have the Salem VA hospital that is approximately 100 miles to the northeast. Also located in our region is the Johnson City, Tennessee, VA hospital that is approximately 125 miles to the west. Either of these can be quite a journey, particularly when a veteran has two non-contiguous appointments. It can be a frustrating process for a veteran to travel long distances for multiple appointments spread throughout the day. We are very thankful for our Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Hillsville, and we believe that the addition of a second CBOC in Marion, although limited to three days a week, will provide even better assistance. There is clearly a need for the VA to open more clinics in rural areas, and the onus is on VA to find solutions for our veterans, whether it be through additional private contracting, private-public partnerships, collaboration at multiple levels of government, or other creative means to make sure veterans are getting the care they deserve."

"Closely tied to TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury] is our concern with proper diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions. We applaud VA for raising awareness on mental health issues and for working to reduce the stigma attached to seeking mental health treatment. We urge the Congress to provide continuous oversight of VA mental health programs to ensure the need for counseling and other types of treatment is being met here and in all rural areas of the country. At the Salem, VA, facility alone nearly 2,500 veterans have received diagnoses that may be caused by PTSD. One concrete step that could be taken to ensure all veterans who struggle with mental health conditions receive timely and professional care is to staff our rural CBOCs to provide inpatient mental health counseling and other specialty services."

"The VA's suicide hotline is an effective tool for those who call, but we should work to ensure every veteran who is at the end of his or her rope know there is a helping hand. Again, it comes back to outreach. These programs must be visible in the everyday lives of veterans. We know this is especially challenging in highly rural areas and we hope the VA will redouble their efforts with regard to rural outreach - not only for the suicide prevention hotline, but for all their programs."

"The Independent Budget said it best when it stated that 'health workforce shortages and recruitment and retention of health-care personnel are a key challenge to rural veterans' access to VA care and to the quality of that care.' The VA must aggressively train future clinicians to meet the unique challenges rural veterans face. The VA already has existing partnerships with over a hundred schools of medicine in the United States. To not apply them, and expand upon them if needed, would essentially squander their vast resource. We cannot allow that to happen."

The final speaker I have is Lynn Tucker. She is the mother of three Iraq veterans: Ben, Jonathan, and Clay. Ben suffered a Traumatic Bran Injury (TBI) following a dirt bike accident, and since that it has become almost impossible for the family to find healthcare. Many of the VA workers they have contacted are incompetent, or they just don't care.

"In October 2006 Ben returned home after almost a year in hospitals and was totally dependent for all his care as he had no voluntary movement and was fed by a gastric tube. He was eligible for fifteen hours weekly with the VA Home Health Aide Program. Due to his rural location, locating and retaining certified nursing patients with the selected VA vendor was often impossible. Months would pass with no nursing help and no help from the VA in locating a vendor with nurses willing to drive the extra distance for a rural client. Just this last year we were able to retain a reliable and caring nurse through the VA when a new vendor was selected. With Ben's monthly VA disability payments another CNA [Certified Nursing Assistant] was employed after a period of four months with no nursing help. Overall low payroll compensation with the added expense of additional driving discourages CNAs from accepting rural clients."

"Veterans often have to wait for needed medications to be refilled. Just this past month, Ben needed renewal for a medication that took over twelve days to resolve. The CBOC in Danville received my request by fax and the receipt was confirmed by a nurse. Three of the medications arrived in the mail, but the one in question was not on Ben's prescription list in My HealthVet. I called the CBOC and left a message for the nurse line. No one called. Inquiries confirmed the message was retrieved off the voice mail, but no action was taken. Finally the nurse called to say we needed to contact Richmond for approval. In all it took twelve days for the CBOC to tell me to call Richmond. Consider this: If you needed medication for your hypertension would you be willing to forgo that for twelve days? Is that not harmful to your health? Living in a rural area with the nearest pharmacy thirty minutes away and the nearest VA pharmacy an hour and fifteen minutes away, this problem is compounded. Simple communication would have alleviated the wasted time, energy, and driving to fill this prescription."

"As a taxpayer and citizen of the United States of America, it is striking how we take for granted the lives of those who voluntarily put their lives on the line. Ben, Jonathan, Clay, and all veterans enlisted without knowledge of the outcome. They made a commitment to their country. Where is their country now? Where will their country be when all the veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan? Will they, too, be burdened with forms, phone calls, red tape, and delays? Will they, too, be turned away and not cared for? We cared to send them."

I also learned a lot about Perriello from this hearing. Perriello seems really concerned with the state of veteran healthcare, and if he is reelected, this will probably be a top priority for him.

If you want more information, you can visit either www.wdbj7.com or www.newsadvance.com and search "Tom Perriello."