3/01/2004 12:18:00 PM

the oscars flash on the screen to my right, billy crystal's jokes so empty, it seems.

you know, i remember exactly what i was doing right now a year ago, at this hour when the tilted planet was aligned just so....

don't you remember the urgency, the unsettled expectation, the concern and worry that infused last year's awards? what happened to all of that? how numb have we become as the year(s) tick(ed) by? news of death "over there"... (is) taken in with a pained cringe, and then a hardening almost stiffness. of course. this is the way the world is.