Primetime Emmy Awards 2013

The list of nominees for the Emmy Awards 2013 is up, and so is my excitement level! Below you can see the list of nominees in all major categories as presented by the http://www.cbsnews.com website (the full list of nominees with all categories can be found on the http://www.emmys.com website), as well as what my pick is for each of these categories. My pick represents my own personal choice and my decision behind it could vary depending on performance, cast, or my own feelings toward the show. If you’d like to discuss any of my winner picks, feel free to drop me a comment. And yes, I’m well aware quite a lot of these will not be as I want them to be, but that does not mean they’re less deserving of the award.

 

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences – 65th Primetime Emmy Award Nominations

• Outstanding Comedy Series:

“30 Rock” (NBC)
“The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
“Girls” (HBO)
“Louie” (FX)
“Modern Family” (ABC) — The Phantom Child’s Choice
“Veep” (HBO)

• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:

Jason Bateman, “Arrested Development”
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:

Laura Dern, “Enlightened”
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”

• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:

Adam Driver, “Girls”
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, “Modern Family”
Ed O’Neill, “Modern Family”
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Bill Hader, “Saturday Night Live”
Tony Hale, “Veep”

• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:

Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”
Jane Lynch, “Glee”
Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”
Merritt Wever, “Nurse Jackie”
Jane Krakowski, “30 Rock”
Anna Chlumsky, “Veep”

• Outstanding Drama Series:

“Breaking Bad” (AMC)
“Downton Abbey” (PBS)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO) — The Phantom Child’s Choice
“Homeland” (Showtime)
“House of Cards” (Netflix)
“Mad Men” (AMC)

• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series:

Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Hugh Bonneville, “Downton Abbey”
Damian Lewis, “Homeland”
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom”

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series:

Vera Farmiga, “Bates Motel” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Michelle Dockery, “Downton Abbey”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
Connie Britton, “Nashville”
Kerry Washington, “Scandal”

• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:

Bobby Cannavale, “Boardwalk Empire”
Jonathan Banks, “Breaking Bad”
Aaron Paul, “Breaking Bad”
Jim Carter, “Downton Abbey”
Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”

• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:

Anna Gunn, “Breaking Bad”
Maggie Smith, “Downton Abbey”
Emilia Clarke, “Game of Thrones”
Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife”
Morena Baccarin, “Homeland”
Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men” — The Phantom Child’s Choice

• Outstanding Miniseries or Movie:

“American Horror Story: Asylum” (FX)— The Phantom Child’s Choice
“Behind the Candelabra” (HBO)
“The Bible” (History)
“Phil Spector” (HBO)
“Political Animals” (USA)
“Top of the Lake” (Sundance Channel)

• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie:

Michael Douglas, “Behind the Candelabra”
Matt Damon, “Behind the Candelabra”
Toby Jones, “The Girl”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Parade’s End” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Al Pacino, “Phil Spector”

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie:

Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story: Asylum” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Laura Linney, “The Big C: Hereafter”
Helen Mirren, “Phil Spector”
Sigourney Weaver, “Political Animals”
Elisabeth Moss, “Top of the Lake”

• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie:

James Cromwell, “American Horror Story: Asylum” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Zachary Quinto, “American Horror Story: Asylum”
Scott Bakula, “Behind the Candelabra”
John Benjamin Hickey, “The Big C: Hereafter”
Peter Mullan, “Top of the Lake”

• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie:

Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story: Asylum” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Imelda Staunton, “The Girl”
Ellen Burstyn, “Political Animals”
Charlotte Rampling, “Restless”
Alfre Woodard, “Steel Magnolias”

• Outstanding Variety Series:

“The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central) — The Phantom Child’s Choice
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)
“Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC)
“Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

• Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program:

Ryan Seacrest, “American Idol” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Betty White, “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers”
Tom Bergeron, “Dancing with the Stars”
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, “Project Runway”
Cat Deeley, “So You Think You Can Dance”
Anthony Bourdain, “The Taste”

• Outstanding Reality-Competition Program:

“The Amazing Race” (CBS)
“Dancing with the Stars” (ABC)
“Project Runway” (Lifetime)
“So You Think You Can Dance” (Fox) — The Phantom Child’s Choice
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
“The Voice” (NBC)

• Outstanding Reality Program:

“Antiques Roadshow” (PBS)
“Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel)
“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” (Food Network)
“MythBusters” (Discovery Channel) — The Phantom Child’s Choice
“Shark Tank” (ABC)
“Undercover Boss” (CBS)

• Outstanding Animated Program:

“Bob’s Burgers” (Fox)
“Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness” (Nickelodeon) — The Phantom Child’s Choice
“Regular Show” (Cartoon Network)
“The Simpsons”
“South Park”

• Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series:

Bob Newhart, “The Big Bang Theory” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Nathan Lane, “Modern Family”
Bobby Cannavale, “Nurse Jackie”
Louis C.K., “Saturday Night Live”
Justin Timberlake, “Saturday Night Live”
Will Forte, “30 Rock”

• Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series:

Molly Shannon, “Enlightened”
Dot-Marie Jones, “Glee”
Melissa Leo, “Louie”
Melissa McCarthy, “Saturday Night Live” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”
Elaine Stritch, “30 Rock”

• Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series:

Nathan Lane, “The Good Wife”
Michael J. Fox, “The Good Wife”
Rupert Friend, “Homeland”
Robert Morse, “Mad Men”
Harry Hamlin, “Mad Men” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Dan Bucatinsky, “Scandal”

• Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series:

Margo Martindale, “The Americans”
Diana Rigg, “Game of Thrones” — The Phantom Child’s Choice
Carrie Preston, “The Good Wife”
Linda Cardellini, “Mad Men”
Jane Fonda, “The Newsroom”
Joan Cusack, “Shameless”

The Future of Video Games

This might be just the thoughts of a University Student, but I feel like once you leave High School you just don’t have the same amount of time to dedicate to playing those massive RP or Strategy video games you used to enjoy. That is, if you did play video games throughout your teen years. There’s just too much one needs to ‘sacrifice’ in order to continue enjoying the wonders of massive video games.

• Money. Yes, you actually need to make sure you meet the game’s requirements. You will need a computer (Merlin knows you don’t want a laptop for gaming) whose parts are all up to date so that you can enjoy your games. You don’t want any lag or system failures when you sit down for gaming. This might not seem like a huge issue at first, but ask a gamer and you’ll see that it’s not a small “investment.”
• Space. You cannot play a game properly if there is a group of people with you in the room. You need complete concentration so you want to be situated nicely for this. Have a room of your own at least.
• Time. Probably the biggest issue. While almost any game nowadays gives you the option to save your progress, you still need a few good hours to devote to this from time to time. It’s not fun to quickly make small progress and leave half an hour after you’ve started playing. And to be honest, when you are at Uni, you’re busy most of the time. Then you get a job, and then comes family with kids and all the responsibilities. So this is really a depleted resource and kudos if you have excess of it. I really do hope you know how to appreciate it.

What does this mean? Well, from my viewpoint, this means the future of video games lies in mini-games and MMO (massive multiplayer online) games. By mini-games I mean all those tiny games you see on the social networks and various other websites. Yes, games you can either finish in an hour or so, or games who take only that much for progress. On the other hand, the thing that makes MMOs so great is the competitiveness among the players. It’s you against anyone in the world, really.

As much as I hate to admit it, I rarely find the time to enjoy a good massive video game. I often end up playing a MMO (yeah, mostly some of those click-and-leave-while-you-wait-for-upgrades games) or just get a mini-game where the levels take no more than 5 minutes to pass. And then I just continue with the levels when I get a bit of free time.

That’s all we really get nowadays. Crumbs of free time. So use them wise, because you won’t get them back.

TV and Movie Ratings

I am not putting book ratings in the same category as those who are not avid readers don’t butcher down ratings like non-avid viewers.

Yes, today’s rant is dedicated to people who drop the rating of a certain movie or TV show out of blatant reasons. Over the past few weeks I have seen people dropping down ratings because they don’t get the humor in the movie/show, they don’t know anyone in the cast, their favorite character dies, they didn’t find it suitable for family watching, etc. The list goes on to infinity. The sad part is, there are not proper reasons to rate down something.

Not understanding the humor – if the show is in another language then it’s possible the writing might lose its logic when translated. Or it just has elements that are not for you. Everyone has a different sense for humor, if it doesn’t fit you then at least give it a rating based on other things.

Brand new actors/actresses – this one is simply ridiculous. You don’t need famous actors and actresses to make a good show as long as the writing is great and the cast fits in their roles decently. Plus, new people need to make a breakthrough as well, so you cannot limit roles just to the famous lot.

Favorite character dies – if you only watched the show because of that character I have bad news for you – that show was no good. A show becomes great due to everyone contributing (unless we’re talking about House MD), not just a single person. And if losing your favorite character is part of the plot then man up and deal with it.

Not suitable – a very easily fixable case. One does not simply sit down and watch something with the family – look it up or see a commercial first. Quite often nowadays people end up in an uncomfortable situation because the show has nudity or violence or the vocabulary is vulgar, etc. As a thumbs up, even if it is just a cartoon for your kid, double-check it on internet to make sure you want him/her to watch it. Nothing on TV is “crystal clear” these days.

So many pointless scores of 1 have been given because of dumb reasons it is almost sad. While I also don’t agree with people overestimating something and giving it a 10 because of dumb reasons (pretty much the opposites of these – famous cast, favorite character wins, a funny line, etc.), I think underrating something is worse. These ratings are there to tell others how good the show was and if it is worth their attention and time, not for your emotions to butcher them.

A good way to come up with a rating is actually paying attention to the storyline, the acting, the character and location development, the overall progression of events, and simply going deeper into the movie rather than just watching for amusement. If you didn’t like it leave a comment and state why, give it the average rating (5) if you’re not sure what you should give it, but don’t just rate it “1” because it didn’t meet your expectations. No movie nor TV show was ever created to met your expectations, but simply to entertain and get you to follow it.

Basically, don’t approach anything with already high-set expectations, but rather go see it like something completely new. You will both enjoy it more and give better feedback for others that way.