Watching from the sidelines

Renly could never have anticipated that he, an unknown figure, would actually be called out?

In a star-studded event like the Golden Globe Awards, it would be impossible to mention everyone. In such a precious moment, Ricky had even taken a shot at Renly. This was indeed quite rare.

Ricky not only mocked Renly's insufficient skills, implying that his nominations were solely due to connections, but also indirectly ridiculed the sycophancy of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Johnny Depp's "The Tourist" and "Alice's Dream Wonderland" both had questionable production quality. Getting two nominations for these works was indeed difficult to accept. Just like Ricky had previously ridiculed the nomination for "The Tourist", he was now implying that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave Renly two nominations to please Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

At a deeper level, Ricky's statement that he hadn't seen "Buried" conveyed his doubt that the twenty-one-year-old Renly could deliver an outstanding performance. The mockery of being fourteen years old was significant in this context.

In the past half year, Renly's rise had been remarkably swift. First, the Emmy Awards, and now the Golden Globe Awards. The continuous praise seemed like a lie—a rumor of "a well-grounded parachute"—echoing throughout the industry.

Ricky's banter made Tom and Steven both show impatient expressions. They had evidently grown tired of this British man's relentless talk. However, Renly found it quite amusing. In a night dedicated to entertainment, why take things too seriously? The one who takes everything seriously is the one who loses.

Rather than getting angry, Renly raised his hands, politely applauding Ricky. This small gesture eventually got Ryan and Jennifer to crack up. Thankfully, their laughter was subdued enough not to attract too much attention; only their companions at the table noticed.

Tonight's car crash was indeed spectacular.

Seeing the tepid response from the audience, Ricky disdainfully pursed his lips, expressing dissatisfaction with the lack of humor among Americans. "Shall we get on with it? Our first presenter is beautiful, talented, and Jewish, apparently! Mel Gibson told me that. He's obsessed"

In 2006, Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving and verbally attacked Jews on the scene, leading to accusations of racial discrimination and condemnation. Unexpectedly, he was then exposed again for making extreme remarks against Jews at a private party. This was coupled with his slander and criticism of Jews during "The Passion of the Christ", entangling him in a series of racial discrimination scandals that he couldn't extricate himself from. His directorial career was thoroughly shattered.

Four years had passed, and Mel had almost disappeared from public view. No film project dared to use him.

Earlier this year, another scandal involving Mel had emerged. He reached an agreement with Los Angeles prosecutors, admitting to charges of domestic violence and applying for probation to avoid imprisonment.

If one were to trace back, Mel's earlier scandal involved infidelity within his marriage. He left his wife of twenty-eight years for Oksana Grigorieva. However, the relationship lasted less than a year. Soon after giving birth to their daughter, Oksana announced their separation due to Mel's domestic violence.

In order to fight for custody and alimony for her daughter, Oksana exposed a recording tape. Mel was accused of domestic violence, death threats, and displayed strong gender bias and violent tendencies. Unable to defend himself, Mel found himself trapped. Thus, an agreement was reached.

Three days before the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, WMA, which had collaborated with Mel for over thirty years, announced the termination of their partnership.

With one sentence, Ricky had thoroughly darkened Mel's recent scandals, and then he raised his voice to say, "Please welcome Scarlett Johansson."

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned awkward, freezing Ricky's delivery. Was there something wrong with his logic? Was he mocking Mel, or was he mocking Scarlett?

When Scarlett walked onto the stage, her expression was visibly tense. She even glanced at Ricky. Such absentmindedness was already inappropriate at an awards ceremony, especially with Natalie as the first presenter. However, Scarlett took a deep breath, composed herself, and began to fulfill her duty as a presenter by announcing the winner of the Best Supporting Actor award.

In the face of such an eerie atmosphere, was this really the harmonious Golden Globe Awards?

Jennifer struggled to hold back her laughter, finding it quite challenging. She lowered her head and sneakily cast a glance at Renly, seemingly asking: Is this normal?

A smile appeared between Renly's eyebrows. He lightly pursed his lips, indicating his ignorance. Then, the two of them turned their heads—one ahead of the other—towards Ryan. After all, Ryan was the most experienced among them.

Feeling the weight of their intense gazes, Ryan sported an innocent expression. Expletives were already at the tip of his tongue, but he quickly realized that swearing wouldn't be appropriate in the current setting. He forcefully swallowed his words, widened his eyes, and shook his head helplessly, indicating his innocence.

Honestly, not only Ryan, even Tom Hanks, a veteran in the industry for thirty years, currently looked bewildered. Tonight, Ricky had certainly made numerous enemies. Every personal attack seemed out of place and involved serious gender and sexual orientation discrimination.

Tonight's awards ceremony was destined to be an extraordinary spectacle. Unfortunately, Renly was a part of it, but fortunately, he was also a bystander.

From the moment the awards were announced, there were no surprises but also a string of unexpected occurrences.

The lack of surprises was due to the prominent candidates prevailing during the awards season; their victories were unsurprising. The unexpected occurrences, however, were due to the Golden Globe Awards deviating from their usual path. They abandoned the entertainment-first mentality of end-of-year revelry. The cake-sharing model, which used to be everyone's expectation, disappeared, replaced by a strong lineup of contenders.

In the supporting role category, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo from "The Fighter" led all the way, easily claiming their trophies.

In other categories, "The Social Network" showcased absolute dominance, winning Best Original Score over "Inception" by Hans Zimmer, Best Screenplay over works like "127 Hours", "The Kids Are All Right", and "The King's Speech", and Best Director over strong competitors like "Black Swan", "The Fighter", "Inception", and "The King's Speech", securing three awards in an unequivocally dominant manner!

The Golden Globe Awards differed from the Oscars; there was no technical department. Apart from directors, actors, and screenwriters, there were only four awards for Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Animated Film. In other words, so far, "The Social Network" was eligible for every category in which it participated—hitting the bullseye every time—except for Best Original Song, as the movie lacked a theme song and therefore didn't contend in that category.

The anticipated showdown didn't materialize. "The Social Network" outshone "The King's Speech", as well as the highly anticipated "The Fighter" and "Inception". The former was an artistic masterpiece, while the latter was a commercial success. Yet, neither could pose a significant threat, as they became part of coronation ceremony of "The Social Network".

In the film department, "The Social Network" and "The Fighter" swept the five awards already presented. This situation made people wonder: was this really the Golden Globe Awards?

Not only that, the four major awards in the lead actor and actress categories were similar. Nearly all the suspense had been extinguished early on, and the winners' results didn't resemble those of the Golden Globe Awards; they seemed more like the Teen Choice Awards.

In the Best Actress category, Annette Bening and Natalie Portman emerged victorious, respectively winning the Musical or Comedy and Drama awards. If Annette's victory was well-deserved, then the competition between the two actresses from "The Kids Are All Right" resembled an internal battle. However, Natalie's victory, despite being mired in negative news, over Nicole Kidman from "Rabbit Hole" and Michelle Williams from "Blue Valentine", was somewhat disappointing.

In the Best Actor category, the victories of Paul Giamatti and Colin Firth remained unchanged. In the Musical or Comedy category, other competitors' strength was feeble, allowing Paul to win easily. In the Drama category, the result was expected by the masses but still managed to disappoint.

Before the awards ceremony, news of the "Four Young Actors Confronting Colin" had been widely discussed. Each of the four actors had their strengths and weaknesses. Jesse Eisenberg from "The Social Network" benefited from the film's success and was a huge hit during the awards season. Ryan from "Blue Valentine" had been the leader of the young generation of actors who had been promoted by the Academy over the past four years, at just thirty years old. James Franco from "127 Hours" successfully transitioned from an idol star to a serious actor, and among all the competitors, he undoubtedly had the highest audience recognition.

In this mix, Renly, with the shallowest credentials and the lowest fame, delivered one of the most remarkable performances of 2010 in "Buried". Purely in terms of acting ability, he had positioned himself at the forefront among the four young actors. He launched a powerful challenge against Colin, though constrained by the limitations of the film itself—being the lowest-grossing nominee for Best Actor in a Drama. Nonetheless, his previous Emmy Award accolade was sufficient proof of his recognition within the Academy's ranks.

In other words, all four young actors had the opportunity to compete. However, the results of the Golden Globe Awards showed no ripples of excitement. Even the suspense was lacking, bearing witness to Colin's coronation ceremony.

Such a Golden Globe Awards was both expected and unexpected, dulling the entertainment spirit. Could it be that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn't intend to divide the cake this year? Were they instead aiming to replicate the Oscars awards ceremony?

Even more puzzling were the television category awards, where the stunned reactions from the audience were relentless, pushing tonight's controversies to their climax.