MissLlanviewPA

50 years ago today. It's oddly fitting that in a year that included two assassinations of high profile figures and the height of the Vietnam War, a daytime soap about the haves and have nots, that included people of different classes and races, would quietly debut one Monday afternoon on ABC in the midst of all this tragedy and chaos(the riots/protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago were only a month later). And despite some turns away from that concept over the years (hi, Eterna!), that is probably still its most important legacy. Happy Anniversary! Unfortunately, there are virtually no episodes of the show from 1968 on YouTube (much less the first episode of the show), but there IS a fan-made approximation of the closing credits featuring the theme used from 1968-1975, complete with an ABC logo of that era, and a promo for The Johnny Cash Show.

For those who haven't heard: Jaelynn Willey, the girl shot on Tuesday at Great Mills High School, was taken off life support last night; she had been declared brain dead before that. Just as a reminder: This was my high school, and where I'm from. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/life-support-ending-brain-dead-school-shooting-victim-53953508

So far three students have been confirmed to be injured. There are also--at the moment unconfirmed--reports that no one is dead. I hope that's true.

So that high school that has had a shooting today? That was MY high school, in MY home county. I LIVE here.

For all her faults, Taylor's trial this year was a BIG deal. I definitely have an issue with her bullying that blogger with a potential lawsuit for daring to talk about the alt-right following she has acquired but refuses to publicly denounce, but abuse is abuse no matter who the woman is (ditto Megyn Kelly, although Gretchen Carlson deserves equal if not more attention for her role in Roger Ailes' downfall). We can challenge them on their faults, but if we try to fight back with a "perfect victim" narrative every time someone comes forward who we may either have issues with or outright don't like, we ALL lose. My feeling, as a woman, is that I may disagree on certain things certain women believe, but I will fight with everything I have to make sure those same women have the same rights I do. This is how I feel about Leeann Tweeden, too. Yes, she's a Trump supporter, but what Al Franken did to her was wrong, full stop. TIME made a statement that they wanted to focus their cover on women who impacted this movement this year in particular, hence (at least part of) the reason Kesha wasn't on the cover (although her album coming out this year might have been reason enough to include her, I don't know). No, I've seen it on Twitter all day. I don't agree with all the criticism, but as a white woman, I feel a responsibility to shut up and listen to black women/women of color and their criticism (the people who are just trolling/being angry for no reason? not so much). Oh no, I know about the arm on the cover, I meant the Tweet I linked of the cover in this thread. It shows up cut in half here, with the half of the cover with Taylor/the arm missing entirely. I guess the embedding was weird or something.

I'm STUNNED no one has posted this yet. This made me so happy. (ETA: I don't know why the cover got cut off like that. Weird.)

I am honestly shocked she's doing this, especially after she made such a big point out of saying that none of 1989 was meant to be played on country radio. It was, ironically, a big thing more traditional country fans commended her for at the time: she was finally being honest about being a pop artist, rather than a country one. "New Year's Day" IS the most traditional sounding song on reputation in terms of using actual instruments, but country? Not so much. I am genuinely wondering if this song--by being the final song on the album--is a signal that she might return to a more country sound on her next album, or a last ditch attempt by Big Machine to get her some country airplay in a time when the genre could use some more star power. Judge for yourself. http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/taylor-swifts-aggressive-country-move-with-new-years-day-poses-many-questions/ (BTW: This is a legitimate writer. He is active in the country music scene in and around Austin, Texas, and is THE guy to read in terms of finding out about the newest traditional-sounding/underground country musicians. I'm a huge fan.)

And for the record, I know there are a lot of great people here who really like her and her music. I love all of you. But sometimes, as one of the only women who regularly posts on this thread, I worry about being mansplained when it comes to certain things about her and her problematic nature. And while this particular situation doesn't have as much to with anything women-specific as some of her other controversies have, at the end of the day, her core audience is still young women, and since I'm her age, it's something I'm sensitive to. I apologize in advance.

Okay, I'm about to have my ass handed to me, but here it goes: I'm on the side of the ACLU here. What Meghan wrote may have been somewhat over the top, but there are plenty of legitimate news outlets who have reported on this before, and yet Taylor chooses to go after what is essentially a no name blogger instead? Not to mention that she STILL hasn't denounced those in the white supermacy/neo-Nazi movement who hold her up as their Aryan Goddess? WTF, woman? Whenever anyone says "but no other pop star is asked about this"--NO DUH, THEY'RE NOT THE ONES BEING TARGETED AS AN ARYAN GODDESS ONLY TO COMPLETELY IGNORE IT!) She is punching down here. Even if the argument exists that she could have maybe sued for libel, focusing on this woman when next to NOBODY had read this piece before now just blew up in her face, because now this is leading into her album release on Friday. What a mess. (And for the record: the ACLU only got involved after the blogger in question consulted THEM, so seeing some of her crazier fans on Twitter going after them--ugh.)

Life's too short to hate. If anything, I'm expressing "concern over creativity", thank you.

I mean, I don't like the implication that her life is better just because she's with a guy, and the line about him reminding her of a brother is a BAD, BAD sign, but instrumentation wise it sounds the best and is the most pleasant to me. But I guess we both look for different things, lol.

I'm calling it: the best song from Reputation so far. I can't defend "My baby's fly like a jet stream", or the lines about liars at the beginning, but yeah, this is great.

She has another promotional single coming out at midnight tonight, called "Call It What You Want."

I guess I hate the implication that all famous musicians, especially women, can't do something more "meaningful" sounding (I know that's a loaded term, but it's the only word I could think of now) like folk rock until they're considered to be "too old" to be famous, relevant musicians. I'm her age, too, so I'm kind of sensitive to the "too old to be considered attractive" thing, especially since I haven't dated nearly as much as other women my age like her, so I'm worried it's too late for me.

For someone who avoided any sort of nudity almost to a fault, and sounded somewhat slut-shamey in the past about it in some instances, this comes off as both VERY hypocritical, AND desperate for attention, ANY kind of attention. Yes, it's probably a body suit and/or part CGI (although it's PAINFULLY obvious she has implants now--she can deny it all she wants, but I'm not blind and I'm not stupid), but still.