A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
I told my readers that the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) would announce the News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations today, the 27th, as an aside to The music of 'Prehistoric Planet 2' earned the series its first Emmy nomination. Sure enough, NATAS did. I found one nominated documentary particularly timely, "Nothing Compares," a biography of Sinéad O'Connor, who died yesterday. "Good Morning America" reported that sad news in Sinead O'Connor dies at 56.
The Irish singer-songwriter and activist passed away suddenly, a statement announced on Wednesday. No cause of death has been revealed.
I found this news surprising, as O'Connor was nearly a decade younger than I am, but she had a rough upbringing and a tempestuous life, so maybe I should have been so surprised. Still, I normally would have waited until the end of the year to observe her death along with all the other celebrities who passed (or will pass) this year, except that "Nothing Compares" earned two News & Documentary Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing: Documentary and Outstanding Direction: Documentary. I couldn't resist the coincidence, especially since I was planning on covering these Emmy Awards in addition to the Primetime and CreativeArtsEmmyAwards. Watch Nothing Compares (2022) Official Trailer | Documentary | SHOWTIME.
Directed by Kathryn Ferguson (Taking the Waters, Space to Be), NOTHING COMPARES charts Sinéad O'Connor's phenomenal rise to worldwide fame and examines how she used her voice at the height of her stardom, before her iconoclastic personality led to her exile from the pop mainstream.
I think the same will happen to "Nothing Compares" at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, as it's competing against the two most nominated documentaries at those awards, "Good Night Oppy," which also has a Creative Arts Emmy nomination, and "Retrograde." Both of them have six nominations. Here are the nominees competing against "Nothing Compares."
Outstanding Writing: Documentary FRONTLINE Lies, Politics and Democracy PBS Good Night Oppy Amazon Prime Hostages HBO Max Nothing Compares Showtime POV Not Going Quietly PBS
... Outstanding Direction: Documentary In Her Hands Netflix The Janes HBO Max Master of Light HBO Max Nothing Compares Showtime Retrograde National Geographic Wildcat Amazon Prime
My preliminary picks are "Good Night Oppy" for Outstanding Writing: Documentary and "Retrograde" for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, but I'll get back to both documentaries and their categories in future installments of this series. Speaking of which, stay tuned to I post about nominated wildlife documentaries for World Conservation Day tomorrow.
Speaking of Best Documentary, my favorite to win that category is "Belly of the Beast" on PBS's Independent Lens. It has a total of four nominations, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Editing: Documentary in addition to Best Documentary. That's the most of any single documentary, which makes it a good candidate for my next installment on this year's News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Stay tuned.
When an unlikely duo discovers a pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons, they wage a near impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. Filmed over seven years with extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, BELLY OF THE BEAST exposes modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California prisons.
It turns out that "Belly of the Beast" is not the only documentary with four nominations. Showtime's "The Trade" has four as well, Best Documentary, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary, so it's competing head-to-head with "Belly of the Beast" in three categories. Here's its trailer.
This four-part season follows Central Americans on an odyssey to the United States (and others heading back home after being deported), while also delving into the shadow industries that prey on them every step of the way. The series sheds light on the smugglers and traffickers who take advantage of the migrants' vulnerability, and law enforcement pursuing them at the border, while providing a look at the rarely-seen underbelly of the migrants’ world and their struggle to survive.
Both look like gripping exposés that deserve their nominations. Speaking of which, here are the nominees in the headline category.
Best Documentary
Athlete A (Netflix)
Born To Be (VOD)
FRONTLINE (PBS) Once Upon A Time In Iraq
Independent Lens (PBS) Belly of the Beast
POV (PBS) Advocate
The Trade (Showtime)
I've set up this category and the next as contests between "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" and I'm not backing down from that. Based on the trailer, I suspect "Belly of the Beast" has the advantage. In addition, it's a PBS documentary and I think there are a lot more News & Doc Emmy voters associated with PBS than with Showtime, as PBS has 52 nominations to Showtime's seven, so that might make a difference — or maybe not, as PBS's "Frontline" and "POV" also have nominees in this field. They might split their ballots. Just the same, electorates matter.
All of the other nominees have two nominations, "Athlete A" for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, "Born To Be" for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, "Once Upon a Time in Iraq" for Outstanding Historical Documentary, and "Advocate" for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. As I wrote for "Once Upon a Time in Iraq" and "Advocate" in 'John Lewis: Good Trouble' earned 3 nominations at the 2021 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, the nomination for Best Documentary should help these movies in their other nominated categories, including "Athlete A" but not "Born To Be." The latter did not earn a nomination for a subject area documentary and has the misfortune to be competing against both "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" in its other category. I don't think it will be taking home any statuettes from the documentary ceremony the last Wednesday of this month.
Now for the other documentary category where "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" are competing against each other.
Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary
Father Soldier Son (Netflix)
FRONTLINE (PBS) United States of Conspiracy
FRONTLINE (PBS) Inside Italy’s COVID War
HBO Documentary Films (HBO) Stockton on My Mind
Independent Lens (PBS) Belly of the Beast
The Trade (Showtime)
Again, I think "Belly of the Beast" and "The Trade" are the favorites with their four nominations each. Only "Father Soldier Son" and "Inside Italy's COVID War" have other nominations, the former for Outstanding Editing: Documentary and the latter for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, both of which I examine over the jump.
Follow over the jump for the nominees in the three craft categories in which both movies earned nominations.
I've already promised to write entries about the nominees examining the opoid crisis and the Syrian Civil War. I plan on writing one about the nominees reporting on mass shootings as well. Stay tuned.
For their third nominated category, both "Chasing Coral" and "Yosemite" are competing for Outstanding Music & Sound along with the HBO Documentary Films "Cries From Syria" and "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" and the "Independent Lens" episode "Tower." The most formidable overall are "Cries from Syria," which also has nominations for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Outstanding Writing, and Outstanding Research, and "Tower," about the first mass school shooting in U.S. history at the University of Texas, which earned a nomination for Outstanding Historical Documentary as well.
Joining "Tower" in competing for Outstanding Historical Documentary are Independent Lens episode "Birth of a Movement" and the Netflix documentaries "Cuba and the Cameraman," "Let It Fall: Los Angeles: 1982-1992," and "Blood On The Mountain." Other than "Tower," the only other nominee in this category with a second nomination is "Let It Fall: Los Angeles: 1982-1992," which has a nomination for Outstanding Research. Based on that and my including it in The most honored political documentaries of 2017 examine crime, injustice, and the Syrian Civil War, I consider it to be the strongest competition to "Tower" for Outstanding Historical Documentary. As for its chances to win its second nominated category, I'm recycling what I wrote: "I suspect 'The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble' might be the fiercest competitor for Outstanding Music & Sound; it also earned nominations for Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary."
To get a feel for the documentary and the incident it portrays, watch the trailer from PBS.
Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way, TOWER reveals the action-packed, untold stories of the witnesses, heroes, and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, at the University of Texas, 1966, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.
Speaking of the nominees for Outstanding Editing: Documentary, one of the two nominated episodes of Showtime's "Active Shooter: America Under Fire" earned a nomination in this category for "Columbine, Colorado," which is about the most infamous mass school shooting of the 20th Century. Joining it and "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" are RYOT's "Fear Us Women," HBO Documentary Films' "Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison," and "Life, Animated." I've already called "Life, Animated" tough competition, as it is also nominated for Best Documentary and is competing against "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" for Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary, where I consider "Life, Animated" to be the strongest contender for this award.
The other nominated episode of "Active Shooter: America Under Fire" is "Charleston, South Carolina," which is competing for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary with the "Frontline" episode "Last Days of Solitary," two HBO Documentary Films, "Abortion: Stories Women Tell" and "Unlocking the Cage," and fellow Showtime documentary "Jackson." I am finding it difficult to handicap this category, as these are the only nominations for each fo these shows. That written, my sympathies lie with "Unlocking the Cage," which is about animal rights for chimpanzees, which echoes the themes of PETA attempts a science-fiction solution to a real-world issue and The ethics of orcas as entertainment.
The traumatic events of infamous mass shootings and their aftermath.
...
Whether due to acts of terrorism, hate, or mental instability, mass shootings have become all too commonplace. Active Shooter: America Under Fire is a documentary series that examines this disturbing phenomenon from the points of view of victims, family members, emergency medical workers and first responders, who bravely risk their own lives in the face of grave danger. Each episode recounts a specific incident using archival footage and in-depth interviews to shine a spotlight on the traumatic events and their aftermath. The results are powerful, eye-opening, and hopefully change-inducing.
While I find all the above nominees to be deserving, they are not the reason why mass shootings became a top news topic of 2017. That is because of the Las Vegas Massacre, the coverage of which earned eight nominations for eight entries. Combined with the two nominations each for "Tower" and "Active Shooter: America Under Fire" plus nominations for coverage of the Sutherland Springs shooting and the Attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, that's a total of fourteen nominations for twelve news and documentary programs, making this the second most nominated news story this year next to the Syrian Civil War with 22 nominations for 14 nomineesETA: 17 nominations for 11 nominees.* Follow over the jump for my discussion of the nominees covering the Las Vegas Massacre, the Sutherland Springs shooting, and the attack at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
While I was featuring Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Late Night for Apophis Day to mark the showings of "Cosmos" last week, another media event even more appropriate for my Sunday night collapse-and-decline-related entertainment entries was taking place, the premiere of "Years of Living Dangerously." Here's the second trailer for the series.
Don't miss the documentary series premiere of Years of Living Dangerously, Sunday, April 13th at 10PM ET/PT. ... It's the biggest story of our time. Hollywood's brightest stars and today's most respected journalists explore the issues of climate change and bring you intimate accounts of triumph and tragedy. YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY takes you directly to the heart of the matter in this awe-inspiring and cinematic documentary series event from Executive Producers James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The entire first episode is available for free on YouTube. Watch it there.
Katharine Hayhoe will discuss findings in premier of "Years of Living Dangerously."
A Texas Tech university climate scientist will appear with Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle in a new nine-episode Showtime documentary series covering climate change and its effect on people around the globe.
Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, will discuss her climate findings with Cheadle, who serves as a U.N. Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme, during the premier episode at 9 p.m. (CDT) April 13 on the Showtime cable network.
“I hope this program will show us how climate change isn’t just some far-off issue that only matters to our children’s children, the polar bears in the Arctic or to islanders in the South Seas,” Hayhoe said. “Climate change is already affecting our lives today right here in the places where we live. It’s changing the birds, bugs and plants we see in our backyards. It’s affecting where we grow our food and how much water we have, altering the shape of our coastlines and increasing the risks of many types of extreme weather.”
I've been thinking about replacing "An Inconvenient Truth" with another film. My first choice is "Chasing Ice." I might use one of the episodes of this show instead.
