Overrated: The Grammys

Despite being accused of having what some may call a cynical view of many celebrations that take place from time to time on this earth, I generally enjoy award shows.  I like the jokes, the montages, the awkward moments when a presenter has had too much to drink or a winner just rambles on and on while most of the audience wishes they had the Sandman to clear the stage.  This love, however, does not extend to the king of the fraudulent award shows:  The Grammys.

This year's Grammys were admittedly better than years past.  Not only did Daft Punk take album of year (also my pick) but Taylor Swift was completely shut out.  The mass wedding ceremony was done very well, even if it did get a little awkward toward the end when Madonna came out wearing a massive white cowboy hat that was crying out to be relevant again.

But, nope, still gonna hate on the Grammys.  Why?  Because every year without fail, no Industry leading award ceremony kowtows more to the will of record sales and perceived self importance than the Grammys.  Whether it be Steely Dan taking home album of the year in 2001 or everytime Taylor Swift has ever won, no award ceremony is so manipulated by the industry it celebrates while somehow still managing to be so aloof.

Maybe I wouldn't mind it so much from the AMAs or the People's Choice awards, but the Grammys are meant to be the cream of the crop, they legitimize excellence within the realm of music.  It shouldn't just be about who sells the most records while also being the least controversial.

Case-in-point came in the in the Rap Album category when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis took the award for "The Heist".  Macklemore had a big year.  A viral smash with "Thrift Shop", being a the forefront of a social issue that many in the artistic community feel very strongly about (see: mass wedding ceremony).  The mega-hit album itself was beloved by many, including the overwhelming majority of the people watching from home, but it was also nearly universally passed over by critics in favor of Kendrick Lamar's debut, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City".  Kendrick had the critical appeal but he didn't have the masses or the soapbox.  What makes it worse, is even before the show, everyone KNEW Macklemore and Ryan Lewis would win, and with Kendrick being a black man, a "Does Grammy want Macklemore to win because it is rap that white moms in suburbia aren't afraid of?" Quasi-controversy already existed before Macklemore even won the award.

One of the most headscratching - yet typical - Grammy moments came in the Best Rock Album category, when Led Zeppelin won for it's live album "Celebration Day".  Led Zeppelin's place atop Rock n' Roll's Mount Olympus is beyond reproach, but a live album from 2007 featuring songs from the 1970s was really the best artistic and technical acheivement in rock music this year?  Really!?

The Grammys LOVE the safe and the popular.  Even in the face of logic.  Trying to please the masses trumps all else, and even though there may have been a few twitterites that watched the telecast in spite of living under a soundproof rock all summer, last night was no exception.

Oh yeah, and the cutting off of the final performance was total bullshit.

Game of Thrones: Season 4 Trailer Reaction

 

Polar vortexes, dog turds hidden under the snow, and slushy streets in NYC can only mean one thing:  Winter is upon us.  But also, Winter is Coming!

That’s right, this past week HBO released the first trailer for Game of Thrones new season, set to begin in April.  Being the Game of Thrones scholar that I am I have some thoughts, reactions, ponderings to share about it. 

First off, it’s awesome.  Maybe not quite Season 2: Seven Devils trailer awesome, but a masterpiece of advertisement under any other name.  The only really negative thing I can say about it is that the opening shot of the dragon flying over the city looks surprisingly fake.  A very unexpected criticism for a show that has made its name on great special effects and CGI use.

But aside from that little hiccup it is pretty great.

There have been a few recastings, Daario’s Ed Skrein has been replaced by HBO actor,Micheil Huisman (you can kind of see him at the 15 second mark facing down a charging knight).  Gregor Clegane has been recast (AGAIN) making Hafthor Julius Bjornsson the third really tall, strong dude to play the psychotic brute, but despite repeated reports from people working within the series that the show will diverge significantly from its source material this year, most of it looks pretty recognizable.   I suspect the central reason for these “warnings” from the show runners is to hopefully soften the blowback from fans of the books for the changes they do make.

Probably the most jarring thing for fans of the books to see is the actor playing Oberyn Martell aka The Red Viper.  A very popular character from the novels, Oberyn is described as having olive skin with a slender build, a long, clean-shaven face, and sharp nose.  Most artist interpretations of him have him somewhere between an Italian and Persian man.  On the show he is being played by Pedro Pascal, a scruffy, square jawed Chilean who may be the first person ever cast on the show that actually looks YOUNGER than his character is written in the books.

Really the only truly mysterious images from the trailer are those of the Greyjoy siblings and Rast. 

Who is Rast?  He’s that dickhead member of the Night’s Watch that terrorizes Samwell and ended up murdering Commander Mormont in the pretty great mutiny scene at Craster’s farm (yeah I know, Keep, but it's a farm).

In the books, Rast has been long dead by this time, but on the show they’ve kept him around because he’s a villain the audience can recognize, which is important in a show with so many damn characters.   What is surprising, however, is what they have him doing.  Putting the baby out in the snow to be sacrificed like the second coming of Craster.  In the books, after the mutiny, we never return to Craster’s farm.  The last we saw of Rast heavily suggested we’d be seeing him again, but the show hasn’t had much success with creating new storylines.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Then there are Yara and Theon Greyjoy. two of the best characters in the books, nearly completely ruined by the show.  Both are seen only briefly, Yara leading a group of men rowing a boat merrily down a stream and Theon in full armor riding on a horse looking mildly confused.  Now Yara’s storyline is COMPLETELY different from the books at this point, so it is anyone’s guess what she is up to.  I, however, wouldn’t be surprised to see her take on the role of Jeyne Poole down the road (you book people will know).

Meanwhile, the clip of Theon (1:24) has to be a dream sequence.  It just HAS to be.  Considering everything that has happened to him up to this point, it is just impossible for him to physically ever look that way again.

What did you think of the trailer?  What surprised you?  What looks good?  What doesn’t?

Underrated: The Golden Globes

Many critics love blasting the award show season in Hollywood as a masturbatory extravaganza for the rich and beautiful and no award show better encapsulates the focus of their hatred than the Golden Globes. 

A literal dinner party, The Globes feature stars of film and television in drunken revelry.  What’s worse the awards are handed out by a relatively tiny minority of entertainment journalists, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.  This small group of voters leaves the door open for head scratching results.  Many believe there are other, more prestigious awards that don’t nearly get the attention the Globes get simply because they aren’t the “event” the Globes have become.  But it is BECAUSE of all these reasons, and not in spite of them, that the Golden Globes are so much fun.

The best part about the Globes compared to other award shows is that it is a party.  The guests are drinking, sitting at tables, and looking like they’re actually having a good time rather than dutifully sitting through an award ceremony.  Then, of course, there is the occasional gem when a winner or presenter comes up to the stage after having perhaps one too many of said drinks (Looking at you, Diddy, this ain’t no Ciroc commercial!).

The criticism of the small sample size supplied by the HFPA is a legitimate one, but both TV and Film have their own, more prestigious, award ceremonies to fix any injustices.  Besides, its hard to get too upset over someone not winning a little statue for something as subjective as acting or directing skills, especially when all of the nominees are wildly successful, famous, and probably gorgeous.

Something to remember if you ever find yourself in the “Lucky to be nominated” category of an award ceremony like the Globes: take a look around the room, you’ve already won.

So, watching the Globes, is it going to change your life?  No.  Is it even going to help you grow as a person in any meaningful way?  Probably not.  Is it a self absorbed night of people patting themselves of the back?  Sure.  Is it a fun excuse to drink and laugh with your friends?  Definitely.

Like so much of Hollywood itself, it is there to entertain.  So just enjoy it.