some notes

Why, hello there!  Let me just change sweaters real quick before we sit down and have a chat. 

Okay, that's better.  It's been a long time since i was here, and there are a few reasons for that.  One is that i've been in the process of moving back to college for my senior year.   But i'm all moved in now so i have no real excuses.  Except this other one, that i've been wanting to write something deep and profound and epic about several loose ends that have been in my brain lately - among them, Paul's idea that "if God is for us, who can be against us," Chris Tomlin's recent song celebrating that idea, the danger that idea presents to Christians in a nation where patriotism and faith so frequently collide, and tying a lot of it up through the perspective of the Civil War.  i'm sorry, i just haven't gotten around to it yet.

But here's another thing that happened - the Creative Arts Emmys!  Overall, pretty good stuff, good shows represented well.  However, we need to talk about the guest actor/actress awards for a moment.  Okay, go:

Best Guest Actor in a Drama - John Lithgow, for Dexter.  You know what?  This was a freaking awesome performance.  You know what else?  It was also a supporting performance, not a guest spot.  Which means Lithgow kind of probably took this award (since he was all but guaranteed to win it) from someone equally deserving in an actual guest role capactiy.  Not totally his fault maybe?  Since also, if he won supporting actor for his single season on the show, he could have taken that award from someone who's put in more time into their show.  So i love him and his performance and i'm glad he won something, but i can't help feel that someone else got gypped someway or another by the process.

Best Guest Actress in a Drama - Ann Margaret for L&O:SVU - i didn't see this, i'm sure she was wonderful (i hear she got the only standing ovation of the evening), i just wanted to say that i was partial to Lily Tomlin in Damages, and i'm sad she didn't win.

Best Guest Actor in a Comedy - Neil Patrick Harris for Glee.  i'm sorry, but are you freaking kidding me?  He did nothing special...nothing really at all in his episode.  He played a slightly more musical version of Barney Stinson.  Which probably means he won't win in Best Supp. Actor in a Comedy yet again this year, and i think everyone just really wanted him to have an Emmy.  And i know that's how this works sometimes....but seriously, why can't we award the more deserving acts?  Like, oh, i dunno, Will Arnett for 30 Rock where he is consistently amazing?  Or even Eli Wallach, who is still better at what he does at AGE 94 (that's even older than Betty White) than most of the other guys doing this!!  (i admit that Jon Hamm probably did not deserve his 30 Rock nomination for the 4 minutes or so he was on the air this season - he got the nomination the same way NPH did - by not winning for his other show.)

Best Guest Actress in a Comedy - Okay, here's one that i know i would take some heat for if anyone read this and cared.  Betty White did not deserve this award.  She was absolutely hysterical on SNL, i'm not denying that, but here's two things to consider: SNL hosts are not guest actors, no matter what the Emmy categories say.  They are hosts - they are individual performances in a variety show (note that all of SNL's other merits are acknowledged in a variety show category, yet their performers are in the Comedy Series sections - that's not fair or right to the other shows and actors).  Because they are hosts, doing sketches, i do not believe it's fair to think of them as guest actors in the same fashion as the other nominees - the other nominee's bear the responsibility of creating a fully realized character in their limited time and episode arc, whereas on SNL, they have only to do caricatures and read funny cue-cards.  And let's please also note that Betty White, well-versed as she is in live tv, still wasn't spot on the entire night.  The Muffin sketch was pure gold, but the Scared Straight sketch was...well, awkward.  And no one can say, Oh but how impressive that she did it at age 89!  because as i've just pointed out, Eli Wallach is 94, and no one felt like awarding him for that.

SO, in conclusion, Betty White is wonderful, but did not deserve this award - because Kristin Chenoweth did, for Glee.  She did the best job of creating a comic character while on a comedy series (as compared to the guy who played Kurt's dad, who was also nominated for Glee, who was wonderful, but was essentially a dramatic character in the comedy series, which i personally feel contributes to his not winning - just as that will contribute to Chris Colfer not winning in his category next week as well). 

And that's what i have to say about that.  If i have time this week, i hope to also get on here and lay out some opinions on most of the main nominations before the awards next Sunday. 

Now, i'll go to church.