Hollywood

Iron Man, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the armored superhero, enjoyed a $100 million dollar opening weekend.

Comic-book fanboys should rejoice at this weekend's box office numbers, while moviegoers who either dislike superhero flicks outright or (like yours truly) enjoy them only in limited doses should be wringing their hands over Iron Man's haul. Coming at the beginning of a summer already glutted with superhero fare of various sorts, the film's success promises to cement the comic-book movie's Hollywood hegemony for years if not decades to come.

The 80th Academy Awards looked away from American politics and toward the rest of the world.

This year's Academy Awards were noteworthy for their absences: The broadcast focused on the world abroad rather than domestic accomplishments, and the speeches avoided the tired political diatribes that have lately become Oscar staples.

Most commentators note that the four main performance Oscars (given to an Irishman, a Frenchwoman, a Spaniard, and a Scot) and several technical awards belonged to artists from across the Atlantic.  More telling, however, were the selections for best film, director, and documentary.  Instead of recognizing There Will Be Blood -- the weighty "epic American nightmare" -- the Academy chose the Coens' No Country for Old Men, a nightmare to be sure, but of an America unfamiliar to those of us outside the West Texas psycho-killer demographic.  And in the documentary category, the Academy passed over films on the health-care system and Iraq War, instead embracing Taxi to the Dark Side, a little-seen -- but still better-grossing than Paris Hilton's latest effort, The Hottie and the Nottie -- rumination on torture in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Gharib.

Excepting Jon Stewart's monologue, political commentary was sparse.  Presenters were silent on this year's election, but they appealed repeatedly to "hope."  Although the Vatican claimed that Oscar prized films "with no hope for the future," it seems that Hollywood remains hopeful enough about November's prospects that it chose to keep mum on American politics.  Or perhaps after the last two elections, Hollywood has finally learned that voters care even less about Paris Hilton's political views than about her views on hotties.

The Writers Guild of America has ended its strike

Now thousands of writers -- not to mention thousands of gaffers, stuntwomen, best boys, make-up artists, bikini waxers, actors, costume designers, lunch-truck operators -- are headed back to work. Says Jonathan Handel, associate counsel for the WGA: "They successfully faced down six multinational media conglomerates and established a beachhead on the internet." Which is true. But will that be enough? As creative professionals, the writers represent an unusual slice of unionized labor: very well-paid, difficult to replace by maquiladoras or the Chinese, often drawn from privileged backgrounds. Yet they remain vulnerable for the same reasons GM's unionized workers are vulnerable: they are in an industry that is dying fast. As viewers turn to video games, user-generated content, and other active alternatives to the passive consumption of one-liners and soap opera pap, Hollywood will have to get smarter, leaner, and more flexible to survive.