Books and Glee

Hello again! I really miss blogging on a regular basis, but every time that I think things are about to slow down a bit for me, it turns out that I'm mistaken. "Maybe this time..." (insert mental/aural flashback to Chenoweth singing that on Glee last season!)

First up, since I just mentioned Glee, I wanted to say that I was thrilled with Jane Lynch's win for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at this year's Emmy Awards. It was a much deserved honor for her, and I hope it's the first of many. I was sad that the show didn't win for Best Comedy, but at least it lost to another gay friendly show (I really do need to check out Modern Family).

More than anything, though, I was disappointed that Chris Colfer didn't win for Supporting Actor or Mike O'Malley for Guest Actor. Their scenes together as Kurt and his father, Burt, were the highlight of the television season for me. Maybe the problem is that they were nominated in the comedy category for scenes that were pretty intense and emotional? Still, there's always next year!

The upside to O'Malley's loss, of course, was that Neil Patrick Harris won for his own guest starring role on Glee. It was the first Emmy win ever for one of my very favorite actors (who, if you hadn't heard, is going to become a parent to twins with his longtime partner David Burtka! Luckiest kids ever!!).

There are only two weeks to go until the second season of Glee starts, and I can't wait. One nice thing about having had such a busy summer is that it really still seems like the season finale just aired a few weeks ago. It doesn't feel like I had to wait at all.

Something else that I wanted to discuss tonight was books. About a week ago, Lambda Literary wrote about some of the most anticipated LGBT books coming out this fall.

Leading the pack is the book I've been excited about for quite some time now, Armistead Maupin's Mary Ann In Autumn. It's coming out in November and I've been counting the days. My plan was to re-read the entire Tales of the City series in anticipation of the release, but a few months back I found out that a friend of mine had never read any of the books, so I lent them all to her at once and now I'm not sure when I'll get them back. I doubt I'll be able to restrain myself from devouring Mary Ann in Autumn the minute it's in my hands, so that plan is probably out the window.

What a year it has been, though. A new Tales of the City book and a new Stephen McCauley. I don't think I ever followed up on Insignificant Others here after I'd read it, but I really enjoyed it a lot.

The only thing that's really missing to complete this year for me is a new novel by Alan Hollinghurst! Or, if the fates wanted to really be generous, a new collection of stories in the Buddies cycle from Ethan Mordden.

I have to say, I love working in a bookstore. I geek out over books all the time and it's nice to be surrounded by co-workers and customers who act the same way. I love the way someone's whole face just lights up when they spot a new novel by a favorite writer.

Anyway, another book on Lambda Literary list is Michael Cunningham's new title, By Nightfall. I'm a bit ambivalent about that one. I loved The Hours and A Home at the End of the World, and I've got a copy of Flesh and Blood that I've been meaning to get to since forever, so you'd think I'd be more excited.

The thing is, I was filled with anticipation back in 2005 when his last novel, Specimen Days, came out. I really couldn't wait to get my hands on it, but then once I did I didn't like it at all. To be fair, I didn't get that far before I abandoned the effort, so I may give it a try again someday.

Oh, and there's a brand new literary prize out there for gay men's books. The Green Carnation Prize came into existence in reaction to some of the more mainstream lit prizes, as the Chair, Paul Magrs, explains:

“This all came about because, suddenly it was literary award season again and longlists were getting bandied about like crazy. And it’s annoying because those lists seem a bit ready-made, middlebrow, monotonous and obvious. Anyway, late July 2010 and there’s the usual palaver about the Booker Longlist. It was obviously going to be the same old gubbins and some of the same old names. And the same nonsense about ‘literary’ fiction being a separate, rarefied preserve, quite apart from other genres.

Anyway, we thought – wouldn’t it be fun and great to do something a bit different?

And then we thought – there’s no prize yet for gay men’s books in the UK. That’s a scandalous thought. There ought to be something that celebrates and publicizes the breadth and variety of their work.

Writing by gay men can be funny, exciting, harrowing, uplifting and challenging – and it can range right across the genres. It can also be created by men from all classes and races."

I'm all for another prize that brings attention to LGBT fiction (or non-fiction, as the case may be) and gives me more books to read! They've already announced this year's Longlist:

• Generation A by Douglas Coupland
• Bryant and May Off the Rails by Christopher Fowler
• Paperboy by Christopher Fowler
  
• In A Strange Room by Damon Galgut
  
• God Says No by James Hannaham
• London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp
  
• Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin
• Children of the Sun by Max Schaefer
  
• Man’s World by Rupert Smith
  
• The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
  
• City Boy by Edmund White
  

I loved City Boy but I haven't read any of the others yet. I did just pick up a copy of The Slap (which was also on the Booker longlist along with In A Strange Room) from the library, though.

One last thing tonight. I had an e-mail asking if I was ever going to write about the Noah/Luke/Reid story on As the World Turns again. Yes, I will. The truth is, though, that I haven't watched a single episode of the show since May. I have saved all the Luke episodes on my Tivo and I'll probably marathon them at some point in the (near?) future and write about the end of the story at that point. It's just a matter of finding the time.

Emmy Nominations for Glee

Things have been busy for me lately but I'm hoping to be able to blog again on a regular basis at some point in the near future.

In the meantime, I just wanted to mention that Glee has been nominated for 19 Emmy Awards! This includes nods for Matthew Morrison (Best Actor), Lea Michele (Best Actress), Jane Lynch (Best Supporting Actress), Chris Colfer (Best Supporting Actor), Mike O'Malley (Best Male Guest Star), Neil Patrick Harris (Best Male Guest Star) and Kristin Chenoweth (Best Female Guest Star), as well as a Best Comedy nomination.

I'm thrilled with all of these nominations, but I'm especially glad to see Chris Colfer and Mike O'Malley on the list. Their scenes together last season were so amazing and they both deserve to take home the Emmy next month.

The only thing that I'm a little disappointed with is not seeing Jonathan Groff's name among the nominees.

It should of course go without saying that if the brilliant Jane Lynch doesn't win for her work as Sue Sylvester, the Emmys will instantly lose all credibility.

Thoughts on the Primetime Emmy Awards

The 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards were on tonight and since I love awards shows, I thought I'd share my thought about the proceedings with you. If it turns into a love letter to Neil Patrick Harris in blog form... well, can you really blame me?

I liked his opening number, although it wasn't nearly as good as his closing number from this year's Tony Awards. Still, he looked fantastic and sounded great. He's pretty much the perfect award show host, and probably the world's most perfect gay man. He should be cloned so that in the future, we can all have our own NPH.

The way they divided up the awards by genre this year was an interesting touch. I thought that worked out pretty well, especially since it allowed me to just skip right past all the reality show awards in just a few seconds.

The very first award was for Supporting Actress in a comedy and I really, really wanted Kristin Chenoweth to win, not only because I completely adore her and thought she was amazing as Olive Snook, but because Pushing Daisies was such a fantastic show and it really deserved at least one major award.

When they called her name as the winner, I'm sure my neighbors must have thought I was either losing my mind or having really great sex. I mean, why else would I be shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" so loudly?

Her tearful and hilarious acceptance speech just summed up why I love her so much. Someone give the woman a lead part in her own show, please!

The next award was Best Supporting actor in a comedy and of course I wanted Neil Patrick Harris to win for his great work on How I Met Your Mother. Plus, he and his partner, David, looked so great together sitting in the audience and I really wanted to see a kiss between them when Neil's name was called.

Alas, it was not to be. It especially sucks that he lost to someone from Two and a Half Men. Ugh! At least it lead to some good comedic moments from NPH about being a sore loser.

I am glad that the Award for Best Actress in a Comedy went to Toni Collette (whose Australian accent always surprises me) for United States of Tara. I loved her performance and am still counting down the days until the show comes back for a second season. Like I said when the nominations were first announced, though, as comedic as the show is at times I'm still on the fence as to it being a comedy and not a drama.

After that award, there wasn't much I cared about in particular until Neil Patrick and Nathan Fillion's cameos as Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which was great. I loved the bit they did for the show tonight and the original source material.

I really like Jessica Lange, who won Best Actress in a Movie or Mini-Series. I think she's one of the most talented actresses in the business. That said, I wanted Sigourney Weaver to win for her fantastic work in Prayers For Bobby. Still, if someone else had to win, I'm glad it was Lange.

I like the recent trend of doing a live performance during the In Memoriam segments, and they got it right this time by not trying to show the singer and the clips of those who'd passed away all at the same time, which in past attempts meant not being able to see all the people they were honoring.

Honestly, most of the rest of the awards weren't really ones that I had any favorites for, so I don't have all that much to say about any of them.

It was disappointing to see 30 Rock win yet again for Best Comedy, though, especially against How I Met Your Mother in its first nomination. I like 30 Rock a lot, but the Emmys always seem to get in these ruts where they just honor one show over and over for several years and it just isn't fair. I also didn't think 30 Rock was quite as good this year, since they've started relying so heavily on guest stars.

Well, that's about it. I'm so thrilled for Kirstin Chenoweth! That was the best part of the night, other than NPH just being generally awesome. I hope he hosts the 62nd annual Emmy Awards and that Glee dominates the night next year!

Emmy Nominations

The nominations for the 61st Annual Emmy Awards were announced today and though a lot of the nominees seem to be the same old shows and people (Charlie Sheen again, really?), I was very happy with a few of the nominations.

At the top of that list is Kristin Chenoweth, nominated for the second year in a row as Oustanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy for the role of Olive Snook on the late, great show Pushing Daisies. You probably know by now that I completely adore Kristin and I'd love to see her win an Emmy, not only for herself but for the show, which won a couple of technical Emmys and an Emmy for directing last year but really deserved more.

Kristin's competition: SNL's Amy Poehler and Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams, who were both nominated against her last year as well, SNL's Kristin Wiig, 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski, and Weed's Elizabeth Perkins. I think Chenoweth has a real shot at winning this year.

Another nomination that made me really happy was How I Met Your Mother, which finally, after four seasons, is nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series! I've always been a huge fan of this show and have said before that I think it's the best ensemble comedy on TV right now. (Every time I say that, someone brings up The Office, which I must confess I've never really watched, or 30 Rock, which I like a lot, but I still think How I Met Your Mother is better)

Neil Patrick Harris, meanwhile, got his third consecutive nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy for playing Barney Stinson and I really hope that he wins this year. He more than deserves it.

The show itself really deserved the nomination and I hope it takes home the Emmy. Like I said, I'm a 30 Rock fan as well but they've already won enough.

For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, I'm pulling for Toni Collette, who was incredible in The United States of Tara, though honestly I would have thought it more of a drama than a comedy, as funny as it can be at times. Still, it can be hard to draw that line between the two these days.

The other nominees I was glad to see were the Lifetime movie Prayers For Bobby and its star, Sigourney Weaver. The movie had a real impact on me and I thought Weaver was really incredible in it.

The final bit of great news is that Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting! After watching him host the Tonys last month, I think he should just host every awards show from now on. Hopefully he'll sing again, since I thought his closing number at the Tonys was one of the highlights of the night.