Jeering on the 62™ Primetime Emmys

Stars chose to flicker instead of shine

By Angela Espinoza

s the quality of television
continues to gradually
decline, so must their most

star-studded of nights. The 62"
Primetime Emmy Awards were

held on August 29, attempting to
divide the best from the better of
2009’s television programs. While
significantly improved from the
disastrous 60" Emmys, the ceremony
remained lacklustre.

Mad Men and Modern Family
were the big winners of the night,
nabbing Outstanding Drama and
Outstanding Comedy for their
writing and performance as a whole.
Outstanding Lead and Supporting
Actor for Drama awards went to
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul of
Breaking Bad, while Lead Comedy
Actor went to Jim Parsons for The
Big Bang Theory and Supporting

went to Eric Stonestreet for Modern
Family. Outstanding Lead Actress
awards went to Kyra Sedgwick
(The Closer) for Drama and Edie
Falco (Nurse Jackie) for Comedy.
Supporting Actress for Drama was
awarded to Archie Panjabi for The
Good Wife while Comedy went to
Jane Lynch of Glee. As for television
movies, Temple Grandin received the
awards for Outstanding Supporting
Actor (David Strathairn), Supporting
Actress (Julia Ormond), and Lead
Actress (Claire Danes), while Lead
Actor went to Al Pacino for his role
in You Don’t Know Jack.

The first mistake of the ceremony
was selecting Jimmy Fallon to
host. The recurring joke amongst
the general public is that Fallon’s
is the worst of the late-night talk
shows strictly because of his hosting
abilities. Although he held up well for
the Emmys as a whole, his presence

remained nervous, with a portion of
his one-liners and recurring jokes
receiving little response.

The opening number, a parody/
cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to
Run, was arguably the highlight of the
show. Sung by Fallon, Tina Fey, Jorge
Garcia, members of the Glee cast,
and several others, the performance
was fun and energetic; the show went
downhill from there.

As is custom, the presenters of
various awards were to recite quips
before announcing the winners;
unfortunately, few of these got the
crowd going. When people did go up
to receive their awards, an announcer
would provide us with fake facts

_ about the winner — it got old after the

fifth joke. Several of the acceptance
speeches were no better; case in
point, Claire Danes: “Thank you
HBO, like for serious.”

That was the most noticeable

 

Bird.

problem with the show; the entire
ceremony felt unprofessional. Save
for several veterans such as Pacino
and Betty White, many of the
speeches seemed as if the winners
hadn’t even thought them over. I can
understand an overwhelming moment
making you speechless, but it’s as if
they forgot they were even at a formal
event. Their dress seemed to reflect
this; the majority of the women chose
to attend in what looked like dresses
they picked up at last minute thrift
stores, while the men arrived in what
were probably their second best suits.
It was almost as if the theme of the
show were, ‘We’re not the Oscars’.
While the Emmys certainly are not
the Oscars, it shouldn’t be printed on
their invitations to show up expecting
some class.

 

Powersliding to Victory
Preview: Vanquish (Xbox 360, PS3)

By Alphonse Du

ast week saw the release of
the hotly anticipated demo for

Platinum games’ newest action
game, Vanquish. Left to download
over night, the next morning was filled
with fresh expectations as I turned on
my 360 and started the game for the
first time. Needless to say; the hype is
well-deserved.

Like Bayonetta before it,
Vanquish is an action game. But where
one happens to be an insanely over-
the-top action game the likes of Devil
May Cry (which is appropriate since
Shinji Makami designed the first game
of that very series), it is a third person
shooter with a cover system. Yes, the
cover-system in third-person shooters
has been done to death by now. Yes,
this game will likely be condemned to
be seen as a “Gears of War” rip-off.
But that is an unfair judgment, and this
is why:

Powersliding everywhere.
Speed is the main difference; the
crucial difference. Any person
frustrated by the lack of control one
has when “Roadie Run” ning in Gears
of War will be elated to discover

Vanquish’s protagonist has so many
moves dedicated to getting from

one place to another in style. Melee
attacks that have an impact that feels
substantial compared to the long
chainsaw cutscenes found in other
shooters. Case in point, I power slid
towards a group of enemies, punched
one to death, and a second walked into
the path of my second fist and died
most ingloriously with his comrade.
That is the moment this game took a
turn for the awesome in my eyes.

I won’t complain about any
of the demo’s bad points, there are
plenty of places where put-downs
and whining can be found. All that
needs to be said is that the impressions
from the demo leave me to believe
Vanquish will definitely be a solid
third-person shooter with the kind
of high-speed action foundation that
is usually found in an action game
rather than a shooter. Vanquish is fast,
Vanquish is fun, and even though I
have yet to play Bayonetta (it’s still in
the cling wrap, sorry Platinum!), I will
definitely be picking up Vanquish as
well. Maybe I’ll actually play it too.

 

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