Rats and chipmunks

While watching the Oscars I noted that whereas movie stars were once handsome (Cary Grant, Gregory Peck) or manly (John Wayne, Spenser Tracy, Humphrey Bogart) white American male movie stars these days all look like rats. Those that don't have that baby face thing going on and, consequently, look like chipmunks. Leo DiCrappio - rat, Sean Penn - rat or weasel, Ben Affleck - rat, Tom Cruise - rat. Brad Pitt was a chipmunk and is now a rat, sometimes a mangy one. Ethan Hawke - another chipmunk to rat evolution. Tobey McGuire - a very sweet chipmunk.

African-American movie stars do not resemble rodents. Both Jamie Foxx and Don Cheadle are fine looking men. Denzel Washington and Lawrence Fishburne - handsome! Will Smith - adorable! Samuel Jackson - manly. (On another note, is it just me or is Spike Lee's neck getting shorter? His head appeared to have sunk into his body.)

The British fare much better, either excellent actors whose looks (and choppers) are beside the point or handsome in the gamekeeper kind of way, like Clive Owen, or foppish and charming, like Hugh Grant. School boys who don't look like chipmunks.