'Game of Thrones' and 'Orphan Black' win Emmy Awards

I opened Ten Emmy Awards for 'Game of Thrones' plus other speculative fiction winners by listing the awards it had already won then counting how many it still could win.

"Game of Thrones" won ten Creative Arts awards last weekend: Outstanding Casting – Drama, Outstanding Non-Prosthetic Makeup – Single-Camera, Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Costumes – Period/Fantasy, Outstanding Production Design – Hour-Long, Outstanding Production Design – Contemporary/Fantasy, Outstanding Stunt Coordination – Drama/Limited, Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Picture Editing – Drama, and Outstanding Sound Mixing – One-Hour.  Ten down, up to five to go.

Those five were Outstanding Drama, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Outstanding Direction, and Outstanding Writing.  It won three of them, Outstanding Drama, Outstanding Direction, and Outstanding Writing.  ABC News reports on "Game of Thrones" and the other major shows in 2016 Emmy Awards HIGHLIGHTS: Biggest Winners, Moments.

"People v O.J. Simpson" and "Game of Thrones" were big winners at the 68th annual awards show.

Fantasy, crime, and politics, three of my favorite topics in fiction, all produced big winners on Sunday.  For both Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Veep" and "Game of Thrones," the wins were historic.  It was the fifth time she had won for the same role, making her the first actress to do so.  As for "Game of Thones," the show has now won 39 Emmy Awards, making it the most recognized show in the history of television.

Drinks for Talk Like a Pirate Day from Tipsy Bartender

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Ten Emmy Awards for 'Game of Thrones' plus other speculative fiction winners

In July, I wrote "Twenty-three Emmy nominations for 'Game of Thrones' may suck the oxygen away from other speculative fiction nominees."  That almost happened, as I can repeat what I wrote after the Creative Arts Emmy Awards last year--"'Game of Thrones' already a big winner at the Emmy Awards."  According to the list at E! (but not the reporting, which confused all of HBO's awards for its premiere series'), "Game of Thrones" won ten Creative Arts awards last weekend: Outstanding Casting – Drama, Outstanding Non-Prosthetic Makeup – Single-Camera, Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Costumes – Period/Fantasy, Outstanding Production Design – Hour-Long, Outstanding Production Design – Contemporary/Fantasy, Outstanding Stunt Coordination – Drama/Limited, Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Picture Editing – Drama, and Outstanding Sound Mixing – One-Hour.  Ten down, up to five to go.

As I feared, "Game of Thrones" managed to shut out the other series I was rooting for, "The Walking Dead," "Penny Dreadful," and "Gotham."  None of them won a single award.  However, it still didn't beat all of the speculative fiction entries nominated against it.  The one I found most surprising was "Man in the High Castle" beating "Game of Thrones" for Outstanding Cinematography – Single Camera.  The Amazon series about the Hugo Award winner also won Outstanding Title Design, defeating "Marvel's Jessica Jones," "Narcos," "The Night Manager," and "Vinyl."  "Jessica Jones" still got recognized, but that's a story for over the jump.  Finally, "Black Sails," which barely qualifies as speculative fiction, won Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series.  That's small consolation for being cancelled.

"Game of Thrones" also lost some categories to more conventional fare.  "Downton Abbey" beat it for Outstanding Hairstyling (Single-Camera).  Hank Azaria beat Max Von Sydow to win Outstanding Drama Guest Actor for his role in "Ray Donovan."  "The Late Late Show With James Corden" won Outstanding Interactive Program to beat out the interactive versions of both "Game of Thrones" and "The Walking Dead," although Chris Hardwick, host of "The Talking Dead," won Outstanding Social TV Experience for "@Midnight."

As for speculative fiction shows nominated in categories mostly not contested with "Game of Thrones," the big winner was "American Horror Story: Hotel."  It won two awards for Outstanding Non-Prosthetic Makeup – Limited Series and Outstanding Costumes – Contemporary.  Two other awards that E! attributed to the series, Outstanding Picture Editing – Limited Series, and Outstanding Sound Mixing – Limited Series, actually went to "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," according to Variety.  Congratulations, despite losing to "Game of Thrones" in the two categories where the two shows went head-to-head, Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup and Outstanding Production Design – Hour-Long.

Another show I had high hopes for was "Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462," which was nominated for Outstanding Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series and Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.  The show was the first in "The Walking Dead" franchise to be nominated for overall show or an acting award.  Unfortunately, it lost.  "Childrens Hospital" on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim won best Short Form Comedy or Drama Series and Patrika Darbo won for her role in "Acting Dead" on ActingDead.com.  Well, at least a zombie show won something.

Colbert and Meyers examine the Trump Foundation

Early last week, Paul W. at You Might Notice a Trend did some research on the Clinton Foundation Vs. Trump Foundation.

Where I work, I have access to a foundations/grants database.

On a whim, I took a look at the two foundations currently in the news...

The governing board for the Clinton Foundation has CEO, CFO, executive Director. The only Clinton family member I see active with the non-profit is Chelsea Clinton.

The governing board for the Trump Foundation is all Trump: Donald himself, two of his kids, one of his grandkids, and I think his son-in-law. I know I shouldn't suspect *cough* nepotism *cough* but still...

The database I use didn't show on the records the foundations' rating scale, it may have been under a different part of the directory. But for what I know, the Clinton Foundation is vetted and graded and the Trump Foundation isn't.

My comment summarized the information in the last two links.

I'm a regular user of Charity Navigator. That site has a wealth of data many charities, including both foundations. The Clinton Foundation has a 4-star rating. The Trump Foundation is not rated at all!

The day before, Paul quoted a Washington Post article in A Serious Scandal For a Deadly Serious Election Year that reported that the $25,000 donated to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pan Bondi came from the Trump Foundation.  The two stories came together again this week when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert posted The Trump Foundation Needs Your Help to its YouTube channel.

Can you find it in your heart to give? For just pennies a day you too can pay off a Florida attorney general.

Colbert wasn't the only late night television host to examine the Trump Foundation.  Seth Meyers did so as well in A Closer Look: The Trump Foundation and tied it into other controversies surrounding Trump, his not paying contractors to his business and vendors to his campaign and his not releasing his tax returns.

Seth examines whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns is related to controversy surrounding his personal foundation.

Meyers did a good job of closing the circle on this segment, so I'll follow suit by returning to Paul W., who concluded his blog entry on the two foundations with the rhetorical question, "And the Beltway media only wants the CLINTON Foundation to close down?  Screw them."  I second this emotion and see it and raise with this graphic.


Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment entry, which will be about the speculative fiction and music winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards last weekend.

Clinton lead over Trump shrinking in Michigan

When I last reported on the state of the presidential contest in Michigan, Clinton had leads of 17% and 15%.  That was at the start of July.  The situation has changed dramatically since then, as WXYZ reports in EXCLUSIVE POLL: Presidential race between Clinton & Trump too close to call in Michigan.

The race for U.S. President has narrowed considerably in Michigan and is now too close to call!

The Detroit Free Press explains what happened.

Where she led among every age group a month ago, she now trails with voters 50-64 by 41%-33%. And what had been a 24-point lead among voters 18-34 has dropped to 7 points, 31%-24%, with Johnson picking up support to match Trump’s (24%).

Also, where Clinton led among black voters, 85%-2% over Trump in August, that is now 74%-2%, with the poll showing some support migrating to Johnson and Stein and the undecided number growing from 10% to 14%.

And in the most populous part of Michigan — Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties — where Clinton held a 53%-27% edge over Trump in August, she now holds a 47%-32% margin. Undecideds remained at 11%.

Clinton's support among people from union households fell from 49% to 41%, where Trump’s rose from 29% to 37% — though she appeared to continue to hold a wide margin among union members themselves. The UAW, Teamsters, AFL-CIO and others have endorsed Clinton.

On the one hand, EEP!  FiveThirtyEight now gives Clinton 71.4% chance of winning the state, down from 93% in August.  On the other, it's now time to do something about the situation.  Fortunately, there is a campaign field office just a mile away.  The manager there has been asking me to phone bank and canvass since it opened.  When Clinton had a more than ten point lead, I didn't think she needed my help.  Now, she does.  Time to start volunteering!

Trump, Johnson, and Kaine campaigning in Michigan

Just two weeks ago, Donald Trump and Jill Stein visited Detroit.  This week, Trump returned to Michigan, where he was interrupted and heckled as he visited a church in Flint.  WOOD-TV reports.

Trump was chastised and heckled during what was supposed to be a speech on helping where the government had failed the people of Flint.

Trump may have had supporters there, but he had more detractors, and they weren't shy about booing him when he left the church.  The only good news for him on that front was that Rashida Tlaib wasn't there, or the protest would have been better organized.

Just like Trump's previous visit to Michigan, a minor party candidate visited Detroit the same day.  Then, it was Stein.  Yesterday, it was Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaking to the Detroit Economic Club.  Again, WOOD-TV reports.


Johnson's message about the auto companies probably wasn't popular, but at least it was ideologically consistent.

Hillary Clinton may have been off the campaign trail early this week because of illness, but her surrogates were out in force.  Chief among them was Tim Kaine, who spoke in Ann Arbor on Tuesday.  WXYZ reports.

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine spoke at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Kaine was certainly better received in Ann Arbor than Trump was in Flint.  May the vote totals in November reflect this.

Good news everyone! Ozone hole shrinking

I found the perfect story to ease me back into this blog's regular programming after three straight days celebrating Star Trek's 50th anniversary, good news about the hole in the ozone layer.  Trace Dominguez of DNews has that as the answer to What Ever Happened To The Hole In The Ozone Layer?

Around 30 years ago, scientists found a massive and growing hole in the ozone layer. How's it doing today?
...
"The Antarctic ozone hole has been a potent symbol of humankind's ability to cause unintended environmental harm. But now comes a glimmer of good news: The void in the ozone layer is shrinking. 'It's a big surprise,' says Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. 'I didn't think it would be this early.'"

I've been looking for a video on this topic I can show my students.  Now I've found one.  Also, I first reported this story in Climate and environment news from Colorado State University two years ago, but it's gratifying to see that the good trend is continuing.  Both are enough to prompt me to post Professor Farnsworth.

'Star Trek' themed drinks for the show's 50th anniversary

I foreshadowed today's post when I concluded Alignment charts for the 50th anniversary of 'Star Trek' by writing "Next up, drink recipes.  Once again, Star Wars can't have all the fun!"  I begin with a recreation of two classic drinks from the series with ROMULAN ALE & KLINGON BLOOD WINE from Nicko's Kitchen.

Ingredients:

ROMULAN ALE makes 4 drinks
375 ml Rum
375 ml Vodka
375 ml Blue Curacao liqueur

KLINGON BLOOD WINE makes 2 drinks
1 oz Tequila
1 oz Spiced rum
1 dash grenadine syrup
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 cup cranberry juice

Almost Nerdy's Andorian Ale recipe is similar to the Romulan Ale, 2 oz. Raspberry vodka and 1 oz. Blue Curacao.  If Captain Jack Sparrow drank this after sampling the Romulan Ale, he might ask, "but why is all the rum gone?"

Follow over the jump for more recipes.

Alignment charts for the 50th anniversary of 'Star Trek'

I closed Cavaliers and Cascades playing music from 'Star Trek' for the show's 50th anniversary with "I'll have posts with alignment charts and "Star Trek" themed drinks later this week.  In the meantime, live long and prosper!"  Today, it's alignment charts--Star Wars can't have all the fun!

I begin with one for "The Original Series," since it is that show's anniversary being celebrated.


That looks about right.  Follow over the jump for more from the sequels and movies.

Cavaliers and Cascades playing music from 'Star Trek' for the show's 50th anniversary

I concluded Best August so far and other monthly meta by telling my readers to "stay tuned for Sunday's entry."

Normally, that would be an entertainment post, but tomorrow is the 15th Anniversary of 9/11.  I might post Part 2 of my day to complete My 9-11 story, part 1 or I might not.  I haven't decided yet.

I decided that I wasn't feeling it.  Instead, I've decided to continue wishing a happy 50th Anniversary to Star Trek.  I've already done so from the actors, NASA, and the Planetary Society, but those aren't my trademark ways of celebrating an event or holiday.  Those involve drum corps, alignment charts, and drink recipes.  Fortunately, I have material available for posts featuring each one.  Today, it's drum corps.

I begin with The 2013 Cavaliers playing "Enterprising Young Men" from the J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" movie I reviewed in Science Fiction, Double Feature, Part 1.


That's not all.  The 2015 Cascades' Intergalactic Show began with "Enterprising Young Men" and closed with the theme from the original TV show.

Cascades 2015 production "Intergalactic", recorded Aug. 6, 2015 at the DCI World Championship Prelims, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana. Director: Lewis Norfleet, Visual: Nick Benson, Brass: Kyle Thompson, Percussion: Steve Henry, Guard: Brett Harbur.

I'll have posts with alignment charts and "Star Trek" themed drinks later this week.  In the meantime, live long and prosper!