This just in

[selenak]

Briefly, as I am travelling:

Emmys: I'm thrilled Tatiana Maslany has finally won. She deserves this. I mean, I was rooting for one of the actresses on this particular occasion, but Tatiana Maslany does so amazing things on this show and in all these roles that she can win any time and I'm satisfied.

Otoh "Battle of the Bastards" winning best written episode over ANY episode of The Americans, season 4, is just baffling. (Yes, Sansa's scene at the end is great, and the overall direction is good, but the script otherwise? Ah well. Spectacle over character drama, I suppose.)

Politics: dire dire dire dire everywhere, including my own country. For some reason, the Washington Post coming up with a journalistic first of the most cynical type is my current personal least favourite, though. They published Snowden's original revelations together with the New York Times and won another Pulitzer for it, and now they're asking for him not to be pardoned but to go to prison. Somewhere, Nixon is cackling. And Ben Bradlee is turning in his grave.

Trying to cheer myself up: since it's "talk like a pirate" day, I give you Black Sails' version of Anne Bonny, in the s2 finale:

I can't be your wife, Jack. But you and I are gonna be partners till they put us in the fucking ground. "

(The Anne and Jack relationship: forever great.)

Also, going back a bit in (my) fannish time, here's the pirate king herself, Elizabeth Swann (sidenote: why I've never been tempted to watch any Pirates of the Caribbean movies post the third one - for me, that saga was Elizabeth's story, and the trilogy told it, completely), rallying a fleet: Hoist the Colours!

Comments

[wee_warrior]

I was so happy for Maslany. And Rami Malek, too; I'm not exactly over the moon about Mr. Robot, but he's great in it.

Otoh "Battle of the Bastards" winning best written episode over ANY episode of The Americans, season 4, is just baffling.

I wish the director for that episode had won for the season ender, since he did some really good work in that, especially with Margaery and later Tommen. Idk, after Henry V., all medieval battles sort of look the same to me.

They also won best drama, which doesn't really make sense. Even leaving aside that they didn't blunder quite as badly this season as in some of the others, it was obviously tying up loose ends and positioning players before the endgame starts - and they did quite a hackjob of that. Then again, Downton Abbey was nominated, too, so it always could have been worse.

[selenak]

True about Downton Abbey. (Seriously, how much in love are the Emmy juries with a specific brand of British heritage and/or Maggie Smith to make that happen so many years beyond its expiration date?)

Also I have to insist that any and all film versions of Henry V pale in comparison to the best medieval battle scene ever in my guy Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, from which Kenneth Branagh self admittedly cribbed quite a bit, except for the rousing chorus ending it on an uplifting note, which was his idea (Orson was way more cynical and went for mud and butchery, which btw also all the Vietnam movies and "gritty" WWII movies endlessly copied. Without ever reaching the original, shot with a minimal budget and a lot of cutting wizardy. Oh, and the "Battle of the Bastards" director evidently knows his Welles as well.

Proof that Orson did it first, and better.. In economic four plus minutes, so you can watch it. Well(es)?

[wee_warrior]

Downton Abbey: I want to say it's Maggie Smith, because that's the better reason, but I suspect it might be the show's ridiculous sentimentality over the British upper class.

Welles: yes, that should be the winner, especially when the time of filming is taken into consideration. Alas, poor horsies. Sapochik (the director of the bastardly battle) mentioned "Ran" as a major influence, which makes me wonder if Kurosawa may in turn have taken inspiration from Chimes at Midnight.