Oscars and Hattie MacDaniel, Heine, B5 rec

Oscars: I was happy for the films I had already seen, like The Cove or Up, was pleased for Christoph Waltz as I had liked him since Der große Reibach, was even happier for Katheryn Bigelow, and not "just" because of the gender breakthrough (took you long enough, academy!) - Near Dark, Strange Days, Blue Steel are all films I found very captivating to watch, and I'm going to see The Hurt Locker soon. But the moment I found most touching was when Mo'nique, in her acceptance speech, mentioned Hattie MacDaniel, and what she had to put up with "so I wouldn't have to". Because I remembered my last visit to Los Angeles, and how I heard, after visiting Rosedale Cemetary, that Hattie McDaniel - who won the Oscar for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind - was buried there, which broke the color barrier on the previously segregated cemetery. Originall, she had requested burial at Hollywood Memorial (now Hollywood Forever), located just behind Paramount Studios, but that cemetery was also segregated in 1952 and refused to allow the burial. Today, the later cemetary who rejected her last wish for racist reasons has put up a monument in her honour:



And this was Hattie McDaniel's acceptance speech:

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In other news, the amazing rozk has written an English version of the Heine poem Gedächtnisfeier which I posted yesterday, and it's here.

Also, new Babylon 5 fanfiction: Sisterhood offers a look at Delenn, her son David and a spoilery character, and is an amazing examination of Delenn's rejection of the Vorlons, the impact of the Vorlons on Minbari society and Delenn's relationships with her fellow Minbari.