You are what you are

Let others watch the Academy Awards. Here I am glued to a PBS documentary on Liberace.

What a character. Moreover, the gilding was the lily with him. His piano skills, even to my tin ear, were meh. His clothes were too much. His jokes, too corny.

And, oh man, I can't believe how totally gay he was. It was so writ large and just out there. But there was this total blindness to it; I wonder if part of it was because so many of his middle-aged and older fans from middle america just didn't know what to look for when it came to queer culture. Even the bits they might have known (green on Thursdays, perhaps?) were so overblown it was almost ad absurdia. Especially over the years, his outrageousness grew. It was almost like he was daring people to realize he was gay, and when they didn't, he was just like, "Look! It's a gold lame suit with sequined shells and a cape in pink with frothy paillets and pearls and embroidery and a collar shaped like a shell! That doesn't phase you? I don't know how much more obvious I can be, people."

Part of me wonders if, in twenty years, people will look incredulously at the Michael Jackson's fans who proclaim his innocence because by then, more information about how child molesters operate will be common knowledge. Because, let's face it, the signs are there, and are also writ so large as to be absurd.

Boy, these people really think the Oscars are important, don't they?