Summertime Catsup

Summertime 2016, the livin' wasn't easy. Catfish weren't jumpin' and Dorothy Dandrige was nowhere to be found.

Besides The Big Move (see previous posts because I will never mention it again), the last few months have been filled, quite frankly, with plenty o' nothin', but nothin' wasn't plenty for me.I have no one to blame but myself. This is my pity party and I'll whine if I want to.

The high point was the opportunity to see my son Matt Silber perform his first ever stand-up set at Helium Comedy Club here in Portland. He had taken the Stand Up Comedy 101 course at the club taught by local comic Alex Falcone. The "graduation ceremony" involved performing in front of a live audience and quite frankly, Matt killed, as they say in the biz and I was proud as punch, as they say nowhere.

But other than that outing, I didn't venture very far and chose to be a shut-in for most of the season. Boo on me. I did manage to finish another play and made some headway on a long gestating project, but for the most part, I sat in front the TV so often, my ass skin nearly melded to the leather couch.

I caught up on a butt-load of movies, most notably THE BIG SHORT, SPOTLIGHT, DEADPOOL (almost too meta for its own good but when it worked, it was a nasty delight), CREED (a big and pleasant surprise), THE GIFT, a little British comedy called WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY, HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS (not as cloying as expected and actually very moving in places, mostly thanks to Sally Field) and, best of all, BONE TOMAHAWK, a horror Western with a script that ran circles around Tarantino's bloated  and disappointing HATEFUL 8. Add to the mix a slew of other comic book movies of varying quality-ANT MAN, BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON that I became numb after awhile.

What I found more enjoyable than those were my latest guilty pleasure, craptacular Lifetime movies, particularly those starring Eric Roberts. Here's a guy, a past Academy Award nominee whose career bumps should have propelled him deep into the Dreaded Depths of Despair, throwing caution to the wind and giving his all to wretched material, elevating them with performances so over the top, they are a joy to behold. Check out my personal favorite, STALKED BY MY DOCTOR, and believe me, you won't be sorry. (That is, unless, you're his sister, Julia.) Roberts has to be the modern incarnation of John Carradine. His IMDB lists 443 movie roles, with over 50 in post or pre production over the next year at this writing. A man's gotta make a living, even one as bat shit crazy as this one.

And last night, the Emmy award show proved to be more enjoyable than it has been in years, mostly thanks to host Jimmy Kimmel. While the wins for The People vs OJ Simpson were glorious, I couldn't be happier for my girl, Tatiana Maslany picking up the Best Actress in a Drama Series award. ORPHAN BLACK, represent!

So even though I am sicker than Cujo with some rabid flu I picked up in the last couple of days, bring on the autumn, baby! This illness will pass and it's time to dive headfirst into the best season of the year.

Emmy Nom-Noms

I've gone on record here (the equivalent of a tree falling in the forest with no one around) concerning my distaste for the Emmy Awards. With the bounty of excellent programming from just about every platform imaginable, the members of Academy of TV Arts and Sciences have attempted to atone for past sins and woken up to smell the K-cups if the recent nominations for this year's awards are any indication. It's still a circle jerk, but at least it's more of an inclusive wank-fest than ever before.It became a matter of "adapt or die". If there's anything Hollywood hates, it's to not be considered hipper than thou instead being the torchbearer of the old guard, that being the major broadcast networks who are about to lose that adjective any day now.

Though one wrong has finally been made right (the inclusion of Tatiana Maslany from ORPHAN BLACK in the Best Actress category), some glaring oversights cannot go unnoticed.

Where the hell is JUSTIFIED? This has been a critics' darling since Day One and its complete shut-out is baffling. While those that agree with me are mostly complaining about the lack of  recognition for stars Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Joelle Carter, I myself would have love to have seen an acknowledgment for Nick Searcy. As Raylan Given's boss at the US Marshall Service, Searcy gave a shop-worn character (the firm but fair boss) such a fresh coat of paint it seemed brand new.

Melissa McBride as Carol in THE WALKING DEAD had a stand-out year and should be the poster child.for Actresses of a Certain Age and their obvious potential. McBride brings such a quiet strength to Carol, making her a phoenix rising quietly from the ashes to become the strongest and most fierce member of that pack of post-Apocalyptic survivors, doing so with grace, subtlety and occasional cold-blooded honesty.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK has only a couple of acting noms this year-Uzo Aduba (Suzanne, the artist formerly known as Crazy Eyes) and Pablo Schreiber (Pornstache). No Taylor Schilling or Kate Mulgrew this go-around, which is unfortunate, but the absolute travesty is no love for the best performance given by any actor on television this last season, Lorraine Toussaint as Vee. Toussaint just ruled the roost as that devious, reptilian, yet seductive inmate of that wacky and tragic women's prison. It was a one season role so Toussaint is out for the count for next year and more's the pity for both the Emmys and the show itself.

BETTER CALL SAUL got plenty o' noms, possibly due to BREAKING BAD fall-out, though it could have come up a goose egg with a lesser show (AfterMash, anybody?) Bob Odenkirk really upped his game and it certainly shows, so good on him for his nod. Better yet is Jonathan Banks, repeating his role from BB, particularly for his character's back story episode Five-Oh, as good as the best of the Walter White saga. Ignored however is Michael McKean in a career defining performance as the agoraphobic (among other maladies) stricken lawyer brother of the main character. His scenes with Odenkirk have been heart-wrenching, occasionally recalling the Michael/Fredo scenes from GODAFATHER II.

There have been other shows that have passed over once again such as THE AMERICANS and RECTIFY, but overall they seem to be moving in the right direction. It was either that or head off the edge of that cliff they've been perched upon for the past decade.