DRW50

I have my own problems with cancel culture, but none of that was addressed here, by many people who merrily practice it themselves. That letter is essentially a lot of pseudo-intellectuals who have spent many years in what they see as elite circles and feeling untouchable becoming threatened because one or two of them faced professional consequences for bad journalism and shitty online takes. It is littered with horrible people like Bari Weiss (who tried to have professors fired for their views on Palestine, and also went to her bosses to go after a black co-worker who didn't want to have lunch with her) and many other shitty people (Cary Nelson, JK Rowling, Jesse Singal). At least three of the people on there (David Frum, David Brooks, Matthew Yglesias) are warmongers who pushed the wonders of "liberating" the Middle East with Cheney and friends. Then you have Olivia Nuzzi, Ann Coulter fangirl, Milo fan forever, who weeps over her dead BFF who doxxed the parents of a man because she didn't believe he was black. To peddle this, doing their best to change the subject on topics that are tearing this country apart, and to do so KNOWING it will help Trump (who is running his campaign on the same themes) is reprehensible. It's also being pushed by a publication that has its own right wing propaganda which can be pushed more easily now thanks to the signatories of this letter. https://www.vox.com/2018/2/5/16971286/katie-roiphe-harpers-twitter-moira-donegan-me-too-movement I knew a lot of these people hated the average American and would be happy to see us die right in front of them, but they just aren't even bothering to hide it anymore. They would rather we all drop dead than to ever not feel comfortable at one of their precious dinner parties. That's what this country has become.

Coronation Street had a somewhat similar panning between residences tracking shot for their early closing credits - I loved it. It's a very atmospheric debut episode for a soap, and I wonder how viewers felt over the next few months, wondering if or when he was going to die.

She was. I think they divorced in the early '90s.

I always thought he was fired, especially as his main screen partner for much of 1985 (Maggie) had also been pushed out, but I'm not sure. Didn't Eileen Fulton complain about having to play out Lisa's reaction to his murder or am I misremembering?

If I were a longtime fan, bringing back an original character just for the umpteenth serial killer story might make me feel upset.

@amybrickwallace did you ever see this?

I never thought we were getting a vaccine anyway, but now I have to worry about who these people may end up killing because of Trump's greed and kickbacks.

In the immortal words of Duffy, well well well...

How Starship Troopers fits the current moment.

Among other topics, like how crazy Tom Cruise is, Thandie Newton talks about the director who forced her to do a nude scene.

I saw some controversy over posts like this: https://thesource.com/2020/07/06/2-chainz-endorses-kanye-west-for-president/ I will say my complaints aren't about a black vote as much as it's about younger voters who don't like Biden and are looking for a protest vote. I guess if they do they will probably find anyone to vote for with or without this announcement, but I feel like Kanye gave them a big opening.

Michael Zaslow.

@SFK @Jonathan @All My Shadows

For the US, probably the election, and the Korean War.

Even if he doesn't say another word the damage is already done. I can't count how many people, including famous people with large followings, I've seen saying they will vote for him. If their states have write-in laws, they now will.

I was trying to figure out if Anthony Herrera is in this commercial. Probably not him it just looks a bit like him to me.

I have that SOD with the Jean Carol exit speculation. One of the first soap exits I probably knew about. Still upsets me 25 years later. Don Stewart in the Gold Light Beer ad in the first break. @zanereed

Not that it's a surprise, but the list of orgs and people bailed out by the sham PPP is infuriating.

I'd never seen this before. Such a moving, emotionally resonant Christmas episode, and so real, especially in showing Patty's continued mourning of her father and how she adores Stu (in her dream referring to him as father). And some fascinating, very early special effects as well. That Jo greets us at the end, comforting us after a "complicated" year, makes me more emotional than anything I've seen on soaps in a very long time. No Jo being shot in the head, Stu choking out Marge and calling her a whore, Patty being a budding murderer - just a simple, connection. Soaps, and the people who made them, understood more nearly 70 years ago than just about anything on TV today. This is what soaps should be doing for us today. This simple connection. We need it more than ever, and they betrayed us. They broke our hearts.

Heartbreaking. I think workers have much stronger rights in France so I hope they stay out until real changes are made. I wonder if any of those monsters were Q psychos, as so many anti-mask lunatics here are. https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-mask-costco-and-target-shoppers-throw-tantrums-viral-videos-2020-7

Ellen Pao, former CEO at Reddit, decided to say the quiet part out loud - everyone knew and no one did anything. The photo going around of Maxwell and Kevin Spacey sitting on the throne at Buckingham Palace made me feel sick. It was the perfectly putrid image of everything that has bubbled up over the last 10-20 years fusing together. I still have a lot of respect for the Queen, even with the protection she has seemingly given Andrew, but this whole horror show, along with the way Meghan Markle was treated, has eroded any other goodwill I had toward the family. Once she passes away I think it is time to seriously consider whether the monarchy has reached its natural conclusion.

Looks like Bob is back on there under another similar name, so a lot of his stuff will probably show up again.

That's probably part of it (although it's hurt his sales, apparently). The way Elon Musk, a Trump supporter who is reeling from the Epstein story coming back into the news, immediately jumped onboard made me even more suspicious. The sad thing is it's already worked, even if nothing else is done. A lot of younger voters are wary of Biden and the Democratic Party, and don't feel they have anything to lose if they have a laugh and vote for Kanye. Between this and Trump and the media managing to make the statues a bigger story than the economy or COVID or the bounties on American troops, they have all the pieces in place for the Trump comeback arc and Democrats being on the backfoot. If we soon get some "shocking" polls showing him and the GOP up in various places, then the fix will really be in.

That would be great. I hope it can happen. I kept hoping he'd post some soap stuff but other than a few fragments he didn't seem to have any.

The Fire Island incident is such shitty, selfish behavior, with far more consequences than the vapid beachgoers even recognize. One man who was there has COVID and has said he wants to spread it to other people (he also doesn't support the current protests - shocker). The sheer selfishness and entitlement and the homophobia this has sprung up (including comments about gays being responsible for spreading AIDS) are another reminder of how much damage even one or two nasty people can do. I was watching the Macy's Fireworks special last night, which was moving, if depressing, and one segment was devoted to praising those who pitched in to help with PPE (making masks, sending masks), knowing the supplies were so limited. The message was, basically, we know and you know you can't depend on the government. Where are we as a country that this is now just accepted and we have moved on? And what kind of a future can we even have?