DramatistDreamer

I got sent this article a few weeks ago and am just getting around to reading it. The headline that I saw was Preserve Or Die and it made me think of how tenuous a state (some would saying dying) the remaining daytime soaps are in and the looming possibility of a day where there are none that remain. I am fine with this tbh, as there are no daytime soaps that I still watch, even casually (I don’t judge anyone who still watches though) but it does gnaw at me that these companies that produce soaps place so little value on their creative property that they seem willing to let their holdings rot (literally). Even B&B that has been uploading episodes from the beginning of their run has put up a surprising number of videos in terrible visual quality. I can only hope that someone is digitizing those episodes for future archiving, after the originals have been uploaded to YouTube. Somehow, I can imagine many of these companies eventually coming to regret this neglect they’ve been showing their episode libraries. https://variety.com/vip-special-reports/archiving-entertainment-a-special-report-1235260942/

Tennis hasn’t been a winning investment in about a decade now. Why would Serena or Venus or anyone invest in a sport that pretends rigid adherence to 100 year old rules for some while making up rules, seemingly on the fly for others? At least in Women’s soccer, where Osaka and Williams are team owners, the possibilities to carve out rules from a new league exist. And in tennis there is little solidarity and even the WTA seems to do more to hold up Eurocentric male patriarchy than anything else. Tennis is a mess. Serena, and in particular, Venus has done all she can to reform the sport. Maybe BJK can ask the current stars to put in the time.

What if the writers would have at least had Brooke grapple with her own self interest and desires to decide to ultimately urge Caroline to take more time, only to see Caroline decide to marry anyway? And not the morning of the wedding, but before. Making one woman the aggressor and the other, the victim also strikes me as gross. I can now understand why, as a kid, when I used to program the VCR to record some soaps, I would sometimes skim B&B, some of the stories didn’t make sense to me, even back then.

Were they trying to appease Joseph Mascolo in an effort to get him to stay on B&B? Massimo didn’t even stay and Nick Malrone seems like a footnote in B&B’s saga. Hardly worth the effort to retroactively change the entire backstories of core characters (Ridge, Stephanie and Eric) just for a story that offered temporary shock value but ultimately had no “legs”. It really served to show that Caroline had no friends. Not one person tried to say “Hey girl, you just had a marriage fall through at the altar and now you just endured a violent rape and exhausting trial. Why don’t you continue with getting counseling, give it six months before getting romantically involved with anyone? Nobody spoke to say maybe get your mind together before making any major life decisions. I know that’s what I would’ve told my good friend…or hell, anyone who asked! Even Bill was prodding her to marry her former fiancé’s brother. Really, y’all?!

Australian WTA player Destanee Aiava. I remember when she first hit the Tour, I found her fun to watch. I’m glad she is still here and I hope she gets all the help and support she needs.

I have not and refuse to watch that video.

Honestly, I’m trying to do everything in my power to maintain some kind of equilibrium. Seeing the names, faces and ages of those poor people who were massacred in that Buffalo supermarket makes me feel…I can’t even describe how it makes me feel. I am just sad and angry and tired of all of this. And I have no interest in or tolerance for the wave of stupid and unproductive comments that will inevitably emerge in the days to come.

At the very least it seems unethical to sell someone else’s work for profit. I would be pissed if someone filmed one of my plays and then tried to sell it. Honestly, I would rather someone post it on social media than try to sell it for their personal profit. Sony/Y&R, P&G and all the rest could prevent this by doing what B&B is doing by uploading episodes and specials on a dedicated YouTube channel.

I am not “up” on copyright law but is it legal to sell copyrighted material that the seller technically has no intellectual property rights to? I am aware that there are “trade and swap” networks for classic soaps and I am also aware that people sell videos on the QT but is it actually legal?

Aww. Best wishes to them for a healthy newborn.

The sweeping scope of COVID-19 and the devastation that continues in its wake. Sadly, it seems like vital lessons have yet to be grasped fully. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/how-the-u-s-lost-1-million-people-to-covid-19/

I just got my issue of Variety magazine and Venus is on my cover! ❤️ There are different covers featuring different women. As much as I like Kim Catrall, I had to go with Venus. I forgot how tall Variety magazine is, the cover is like poster art! A “For Your Consideration” ad from Lifetime/A&E featuring Janet Jackson is on the outside binding too. I love this issue already!

Eek, that looks like Randy Quaid (see National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation). Very unbalanced man. Google him, if you dare.😟

It hasn’t been publicly stated whether it was the bullet from the gun of Israeli or Palestinian forces that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist, but the scenes from the funeral are so disturbing. There were reports of some mourners chanting nationalist slogans but this made me think of countless Black policemen and policewomen who have had to protect Klansmen and neo-Nazis at their marches and rallies. Surely there must have been a better way to bury this woman with dignity. https://news.yahoo.com/un-ambassador-deeply-distressed-over-203152005.html

Looking at photos of Colleen Dion, her “Felicia” and Ronn Moss’ “Ridge” look as much like siblings as any of the Forrester siblings. They were clearly meant to have the same exact parents. One can always debate the “nature vs. nurture” factor when looking at the earliest episodes where the show was clearly trying to highlight the similarities between Ridge and Eric, but the Felicia factor really makes it odd and incongruent that the show chose to undo those obvious biological ties between Ridge and Eric and Ridge and his siblings. Looking at these early seasons, it is especially regrettable to consider what will take place decades later.

How many grandchildren do Eric and Stephanie have? Is Felicia’s son Dino their sole biological grandchild?

And I don’t buy his rationale for pulling back either. Anyone who has spent time on Twitter and has paid even a modicum of attention over the past 6-7 years knows Twitter, as well as many other social media platforms has problems with spam and bots and/or trolls. I suspect that Musk wants to avoid dealing with the harassment issues, knowing that most brands will not pay to be on and identified with a platform where harassment, as well as spam and troll armies run rampant.

Just after Twitter launched a firing spree among upper management yesterday. So much instability at this company now due to the narcissism of a megalomaniac.

Rafa fans appear to be rooting for Casper Ruud today. Lol

The German industrial and manufacturing corporate behemoth is leaving Russia. People are mocking them for taking so long to leave but it probably took some time to wrap things up when a company has been in a country for 170 years.

Interesting. Having not seen the match myself, it makes me wonder where Rafa’s game and fitness is at this time. No reflection on Denis who has beaten him before.

There is a video with Diane Sawyer and Ashley Judd from a GMA interview posted on Yahoo’s homepage. The grief from Ashley is palpable. Yesterday, the mother of Cheslie Kryst spoke about the waves of grief that wash over her after a day when she feels like she could be alright. You can just feel how much these women are trying to cope the best way they can. It is illuminating. And painful. By the way, that interview with Kryst’s mother was from CBS Mornings.

I think the Banbury Cross/Frannie and Sabrina storyline was very well done, especially since it played out on two continents. It was intricately plotted and deftly executed and had the benefit of some of As The World Turns’ key talent at that time: Julianne Moore, Don Hastings, Kathryn Hays and Larry Brygmann and it unfolded in such a way that other characters/actors got absorbed into the storyline once the truth got out, which reverberated for months. Sketchy British accents from some of the actors aside, this storyline was one of the most memorable to me. It’s easy to forget that the beginnings of the story began to bubble in November of 1986 and the story unfolded through the winter of 1986-early 1987 and the repercussions went through 1987 all the way to 1988 with Frannie and Seth’s broken engagement. Meanwhile, other stories were not only happening but running hot.

Oof, clearly I missed the action in Rome. When I finally dump Twitter for good in a couple weeks, I am going to miss the easy access to these videos and the easy ability to share them.