The usual glitz and glamour of the Emmy Awards won't be the same this year due to the restrictions of the coronavirus lockdown.

It's unlikely that the red carpet arrivals and step-and-repeat fashion commentary will happen this year but the awards will go ahead in some shape or form, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, on Sept. 20.

Star gazers will still have plenty to marvel over, including performances from some of the world's greatest actors - among them Aussies Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, and Russell Crowe.

Russell Crowe was passed over this year by the Emmys. Picture: Getty Images

The Nominations for the 72nd annual Emmy Awards were unveiled on Tuesday, local time, and not surprisingly, Netflix walked away with a massive 160 noms, a record for any station or streamer.

HBO's miniseries Succession starring Russell Crowe led the drama category with 18 nominations, but while Crowe won a Golden Globe for his performance, surprisingly, he was snubbed by the Emmys.

On the other hand, Hugh Jackman received a nomination for his lead performance in Bad Education.

But it's Cate Blanchett who is receiving raves for her portrayal of conservative anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly in Mrs. America.

The Hulu series has garnered Blanchett a nod for Outstanding lead actress in a limited series or TV movie.

Cate Blanchett has been nominated for her first Emmy for Mrs. America. Picture: Sabrina Lantos/FX

Blanchett's performance in the star-studded show (which also features Aussie Rose Byrne as feminist legend and Ms. Magazine editor Gloria Steinem) examining the struggles of the American second-wave feminist movement was widely praised.

Blanchett attacked the role of Schlafly with nothing less than relish, imbuing a woman who is widely regarded as a female villain if not an enemy of civil rights.

Why did Blanchett take on the role of this nightmarishly anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-fun character - the undeniable villain in a pantheon of feminist saints including Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, and Betty Friedan?

In an era when America is being torn apart by its inequities and political division - and some say is on the brink of civil war - Blanchett, an activist and human rights advocate, found the positive in trying to see things from a different perspective.

Cate Blanchett finds the human side, and the humour, in playing Phyllis Schlafly, one of Americas political villains. Picture: Sabrina Lantos/FX

The Oscar-winning actress told Harper's Bazaar, "It's interesting that in everything I read about Phyllis that for her supporters, she was a Joan of Arc figure to be admired and revered, but I didn't come across a lot of people who were very close friends with her."

But Blanchett digs deep and gets to the heart of the Midwestern housewife whose only mission was to stop the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) in its tracks.

"She was a mother of six, and between her activism and political aspiration and the kind of engagement with her family life, that left precious little time for her to have what's traditionally called friends," says Blanchett.

Schlafly lacked the sisterhood of intersectional feminism, says Blanchett, and her crusade - to preserve traditional women's roles as wife, mother, homemaker - was therefore "quite, quite lonely."

Cate Blanchett has been nominated for hundreds of international awards but Mrs. America is her first-ever Emmy nomination. Picture: Isabel Infantes / AFP

Critics have applauded Blanchett's interpretation of one of the villains in America's culture wars.

Leading film review website Roger Ebert singled Blanchett out for praise from the ensemble cast, noting that the Aussie star captures America's current Zeitgeist "brought to life by Blanchett's frozen smiles, flickering eyes, and a voice that shoots out like the gong of a bronze shield: to know something is wrong, do it anyway, and then keep doing it for as long as you can."

Punters predict Blanchett will walk off with the award - to the tune of 63 per cent, according to Gold Derby, which bets on Hollywood award races.

But Blanchett has some tough competition in her category: Shira Haas, Unorthodox; Regina King, Watchmen; Octavia Spencer, Self Made; and Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere.

To date, Blanchett has won a total of 159 major international awards and been nominated for 341.

Mrs. America is her first Emmy nomination.

Originally published as Cate favourite to take out Emmy

Hugh Jackman received an Emmy nod for Bad Education. Picture: Supplied

Excerpt from:

Cate favourite to take out Emmy - Queensland Times

Trumpism is, according to its adherents, meant to replace Reaganism, the political doctrine that has dominated the Republican party and the conservative movement since Ronald Reagan left office. Reaganism is identified by a commitment to free market economics, internationalist foreign policy, strong national defense and an open door to immigration.

But then Reaganism and its British version, Thatcherism, have also been associated with an intellectual revolution that swept the West in the 1970s and that was headed by Nobel Prize-winning economists like Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, and driven by think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute and the Center for Policy Studies that transformed the political discourse worldwide. There is no comparable intellectual shift with Trumpism.

Say what you want about the much maligned neoconservatives that helped set the Reaganist policies, but Daniel Bell, James Q. Wilson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Irving Kristol were intellectual giants, who shaped the Western zeitgeist in the second part of the 20th century as they challenged the then traditional liberal thinking about the welfare state and the Cold War.

Trumpism, by contrast, is represented today by loud pundits on right-wing news sites such as Sebastian Gorka. These people are committed to fighting the globalists, the elites and the secularists as well as by academics like Trumps economic nationalist guru, Peter Navarro. These scholars have been raised out from obscurity after being portrayed by the media as the brains behind the former reality-show host who occupies the White House.

Intent on laying the ground for a new intellectual movement, a group of Trumpists gathered last July at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington DC for the National Conservatism Conference, where they tried to market their new intellectual brand. The idea was to provide an alternative to Reaganism in its neoconservative and libertarian incarnations.

Yet the gathering in Washington merely demonstrated that Trumpism remains inchoate. It is mostly a figment of the imaginations of jobless academics and ex-think tankers pretending to be the voice of a president.

Trump hasnt been very Trumpist, for one thing. The President who criticized unnecessary military interventions, especially in the Middle East, very nearly went to war with Iran. And while posing as the ally of unemployed blue-collar workers in the Rust Belt. Trumps only legislative achievement has been a huge cut in the corporate tax rate that has benefited the billionaires who dominate his cabinet.

Trump is basically a political opportunist who has exploited the anti-immigration sentiments in the country by embracing an us vs them agenda. Calling Chinese President Xi Jinping his great friend, he waged a cold war against the Chinese as part of a re-election campaign ploy. He has raged against the social media only to reach a backroom understanding with Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg.

Bannon, as well as other political figures such as Republican senators Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton, seem to believe that bashing China and attacking Silicon Valley would help them win the political support of members of Trumps electoral base, as well as mobilize the support of the American people behind nationalist and populist agendas even if Trump loses the election in November.

But these hopes are based on a misreading of the countrys political map. It tends to assume that Trumps election victory was the result of a political backlash against immigration and trade among unemployed blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. It further regards Trumps election as the start of a grand political realignment, the kind that allowed Richard Nixon and then Ronald Reagan to switch large chunks of the Democratic electorate to the Republican party and win smashing re-elections elections in 1972 and in 1984.

But those re-election victories were a result of major demographic changes, during which many of the traditionally Democratic southern states started to shift their allegiance to the Republican side, as did many of the so-called white ethnics, mostly Catholic voters.

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Nothing as momentous happened in 2016. If anything, the electoral power of members of the demographic group that voted for Trump older white Christians with no college education is going to diminish in the coming years. African Americans, Hispanic and Asian Americans as well as liberal young voters will determine the outcomes of elections even in what are now red states, like Georgia, Arizona and Texas. Old miners in West Virginia are out; young urbanites are in.

In that context, the cultural changes in the country, such as growing secularization and evolving sexual mores and attitudes towards gays, are not favoring the Trumpists who rely on the support of Evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics.

Reaganism thrived on the concept of the big political tent that brought together libertarians, national security hawks, Evangelical Christians, suburbanites, urbanites and residents of rural areas. Trumpism seems to be moving in the other direction, towards building a very small tent of voters. Small tents dont build global movements.

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Why Trumpism won't outlive Trump - The Spectator USA

Beautiful moments are truly worth savoring when they are shared with those who matter the most. Carl F. Bucherer has always celebrated that philosophy with its elegant timepieces. The companys new partner, IGNIV, manifests it in its culinary concept. IGNIVs motto is: We love to share. Its four teams run exclusive restaurants in Bad Ragaz, St. Moritz, Zurich, and Bangkok, and their guests get to treat themselves to a truly indulgent time.

What do the art of watchmaking and exquisite cuisine have in common? You will find that it is quite a lot. Excellence, passion, innovation, and high precision are the foundation of all genuinely exceptional creations in both Haute Horlogerie and Haute Cuisine. And there is more that unites Carl F. Bucherer and IGNIV: their new partnership focuses on the aspect of shared time and the cosmopolitan spirit that is deeply enshrined in the corporate culture of both brands. Now, this connection is also reflected on the wrists of the four IGNIV teams based in Bad Ragaz, St. Moritz, Zurich, and Bangkok, respectively.

The four head chefs, Silvio Germann, Marcel Skibba, Daniel Zeindlhofer, and David Hartwig, and the four sommeliers, Francesco Benvenuto, Giuseppe Lo Vasco, Ines Triebenbacher, and Marco Franzelin, have become official friends of the brand, and are now part of the CFB family. The culinary concept of IGNIV gives a whole new meaning to the concept of savoring the moment. As a watch manufacturer that has always been infused with a cosmopolitan spirit, we are especially proud to contribute a piece of watchmaking excellence Made of Lucerne to the culinary journey of the teams and their restaurant guests, comments Sascha Moeri, CEO of Carl F. Bucherer, on the new partnership. Visitors to the four restaurants will now get to experience the global zeitgeist of Carl F. Bucherer up close.

Sivio Germann Carl F.Bucherer

The Rhaeto-Romanic word igniv translates to nest. It represents the companys desire for its guests to feel at home in its restaurants, just like a little bird in its nest. On top of outstanding hospitality and the welcoming atmosphere that the Spanish interior designer Patricia Urquiola created specially for IGNIV, the company achieves this with its sharing approach in its four exceptional restaurants. Guests do not need to stick to a traditional sequence of courses. Instead, they are offered a Fine Dining Sharing Experience consisting of up to 30 components served at their table in numerous bowls. All IGNIV restaurants i.e. at the Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz, Badrutts Palace in St. Moritz, Marktgasse Hotel in Zurich, and St. Regis in Bangkok follow the same culinary philosophy. They serve imaginative, award-winning dishes. In a cosmopolitan environment with regional charm, guests get to spend pleasurable hours and soak up the same openness that links the IGNIV family to the Lucerne manufacturer. Both companies are at home in the world, yet firmly rooted in the heart of Switzerland.

Ines Triebenbacher, the sommelier and restaurant manager at IGNIV Zurich, explains: Just like Carl F. Bucherers 130 years of watchmaking excellence impresses customers all over the world, we want to provide our guests with an extraordinary experience wherever they visit us, be it in Switzerland or Bangkok.

Ines Triebenbacher Carl F.Bucherer

The teams wear pieces from the Manero Flyback collection, developed specially for the high demands of modern and urban cosmopolites, as well as other watches from the Carl F. Bucherer collection. The chronographs come in a 43-millimeter case and feature a flyback function allowing their wearers to reset and restart the timer instantly. Inside, they are powered by CFB 1970 automatic movement, whose tireless work can be admired through the sapphire crystal case back unlike the hustle and bustle of the IGNIV kitchens, where countless hands work behind the scenes to create unforgettable memories for their guests to take home.

Manero Flyback Carl F.Bucherer

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Carl F.Bucherer - A partnership between the brand and IGNIV restaurants - Arts and culture - WorldTempus

Book Title:Advertising the Black Stuff in Ireland 1959-1999: Increments of Change

ISBN-13:978-1789973457

Author:Patricia Medcalf

Publisher:Peter Lang

Guideline Price:21.00

Marshall McLuhan regarded a countrys advertising as a treasure trove of information and insights about that country.

From an Irish perspective, Prof Anthony Clare remarked that, if we are going to be discussing the future of Ireland the role of advertising in shaping the culture must be included these advertising people are tapping into elements of what is commonly called culture for a variety of hard-headed business reasons they can give us cultural information but we need to keep an eye on them.

I think those last few words are a clue to why the vital role of advertising to reflect the mood and culture of a society hasnt been properly utilised; the academic disciplines that might be tempted are inclined to look down their pedagogic noses at advertising, which is why Dr Patricia Medcalfs book is not only welcome but ground-breaking.

The time period she has chosen, 1959-1999, is particularly apposite. 1959 was at the heart of one of the most dramatic periods of Irish social, cultural and economic history. 1958 saw the publication of the first programme for economic expansion; Irelands opening up to the wider world. In 1959, de Valera finally handed over the reins of power to Sean Lemass and 1960 saw the election of John F Kennedy as president of the US, giving us a new sense of self confidence. RT began transmission in 1961, bringing the rest of the world to our living rooms and in 1962 Vatican II provided another significant break with the past.

The closing date is also significant. 1999 initiated the birth of the digital era; Google was less than a year old but, together with Facebook, it would grow into a monster of Frankenstein proportions, promising more accurate targeting for advertisers, but all too often at the expense of creativity.

The result was a global efficiency pandemic where famous creative campaigns were banished into lockdown. A recent report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in London concluded that advertising, has become flat, abstracted, dislocated and devitalised it has lost its humanity-and become dislocated from its time and place. So, it looks like the 40 years covered in this book will be looked back on as the golden age of TV advertising in Ireland.

Those years were of course a time of seismic transformation in Ireland, one of the most dramatic being the change in the status of women as almost every barrier to female advancement was beginning to be dismantled. Guinness advertising reflected this throughout the four decades, from the amusingly direct approach in the 1970s Trousers and Guinness were only for men, but now that youre wearing the trousers isnt it time you had a Guinness to the more sexually explicit Monogamy in the 1990s, which the author discreetly describes as a story of love, lust, betrayal and disappointment.

I was delighted to see that the only TV ad Medcalf reprints is the entire voiceover is the classic I Believe ad featuring the great Stanley Townsends delivery on Sandymount Strand standing in the shadow of the Poolbeg chimneys: I believe the DART should run to Tallaght, I believe in flushing toilets, washing your hands and leaving the seat down. Isnt it amazing how prescient those who work in advertising are; the DART (well, Luas) now runs to Tallaght and were all washing our hands and leaving the toilet seat down.

The book also comments on an underlying tension in the relations between local marketing departments and agencies and head office marketing teams and their global agencies. This inevitably leads to problems when a global agency is imposed on the local market. One London agency, HHCL, launched a disastrous Big Pint series of commercials in the 1990s and Medcalf doesnt pull any punches in stating that, they convey a lack of understanding of the Irish psyche and Guinnesss deep associations with Irish culture.

An important theme running through the book is whether advertising is a driver to or a reactor of social change. This is a subject that comes up regularly and although academia, to some extent, and the media often regard advertising as having the capacity to play an active role in society, those who work at the coalface tend to be more sceptical and incline to the belief that advertising reflects society rather than shapes it.

Medcalf takes an admirably nuanced approach, pointing out on the issue of female emancipation that it is difficult to conclude that Guinness was responsible for the gradual change on the status of women in society, however, its ads probably supported the movement by normalising images of women in pubs or engaging in activities traditionally associated with men.

At the heart of this book is the important subject of cultural branding. Cultural consumption theory acknowledges that goods not only have a utilitarian character but are also able to carry and communicate cultural meaning. Sometimes this is deliberate and today we see numerous examples of brands consciously adopting positions on societal issues to demonstrate brand purpose.

Nikes campaign featuring American footballer Colin Kaepernick, Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything, is a good current example. But often cultural meaning can be communicated unconsciously through a combination of insights gathered from detailed research among the population that precedes major advertising campaigns and the innate feel for zeitgeist that characterises the best creative teams. This study of the last 40 years of the 20th century through the lens of Irelands most iconic brand is a good example of how a study of cultural branding can illuminate aspects of that period.

Im not suggesting that Advertising the Black Stuff should replace the collected works of Diarmaid Ferritter and Roy Foster, but it can augment what they have to say and hopefully it may inspire other academics to dip their toes into advertisings Aladdins cave and add to our understanding of our collective times past and present.

John Fanning lectures on Branding and Marketing Communications at the Smurfit Business School

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Advertising the Black Stuff in Ireland 1959-1999: through a Guinness glass brightly - The Irish Times