DramatistDreamer

We'll have to disagree about Felix. You're the first and only person that I've ever heard say that. I don't watch TC nor do I care what they do. People are taking an interest in Felix and TC is obviously grabbing onto that for ratings. FAA is in the Top 30 and currently the youngest player in the Top 100--there's no way tennis media is just going to ignore this kid, especially when the sport is hungry for stories. Ferrer is not making the HOF when he's never won a slam title. If TC is pushing that then they're spreading conspiracy theories.

Probably but Fred Trump was not in the area of upscale real estate development that his son Donald became involved in. It was more like the son got his "feet wet" working/grifting with his father after father greased palms for his son to go to Wharton's business school. Then the son tried to present himself as succeeding his father by going into skyscrapers and towers (whereas the father had relegated development to apartment buildings for middle class mainly white families), when in fact, the father still made (and kept hold of) more money than the son, and the son's risky investments and vanity projects lost a lot of money, which his father had to write a lot of checks repeatedly to cover the shortfall. The Trump family as a unit kept cash rolling in by fraud, overcharging tenants, paying the minimum on maintenance and repairs while overstating the cost to their business (which was store in an opaque LLC., of course).

I know you don't like Felix but c'mon, plenty of players lose to Nadal on clay their first time against him. Sure, it's awkward to challenge on Match Point but it's not as if he's the first to have ever done it. He's 18 and he's still developing his game.

One thing that really struck me after reading about Trump's "Decade In The Red" was how much the press has aided and abetted the Trump myth of a successful businessman over decades. In interviews that were more like profiles, Trump was allowed to present himself as the ultimate corporate raider, even as he racked up huge losses. How did he get banks to repeatedly loan him money? The "name" that he had created for himself actually got people to believe that if he even whispered about staging a takeover that somehow that would be a good thing (what fools these mortals be!), so much so that the stock actually went up, until after repeated false claims, investors actually got wise to this tactic and stopped believing Trump's claims. Too late though because by this time Trump had managed to literally trade on his 'good name' by licensing it to companies-- despite continued losses, the Trump name somehow stood for success and some fools were willing to pay to use it on real estate. Is it any wonder that Trump used that same strategy to present himself as worthy of the highest political office in the land? (Nevermind the fact that politics has nothing to do with business acumen and most CEOs have proved poor public servants ). He'd been so successful scamming the media, even leveraging a television show where he could act out his persona on screen. Enough of the U.S. voting base bought 'Don the Con' as a presidential figure and the rest of the vote was 'massaged' through grift (a common Trumpian tactic) to secure the presidency. It's really breathtaking how many people refused to look at actual fact and believe artifice and smoke and mirrors, which is what Trump as a success is, largely smoke and mirrors.

Oh my! I'm not mad at this spicy pic.

It was in a previous Times story that Donald repeatedly lost enormous amounts of money and his father Fred would bail him out each time. Trump hasn't paid taxes since I was a child and judging by his frequent trips to the golf course, still finding ways to make others foot the bill for his excursions.

This is what I've been saying for years now! Sheffer gets credit for simply pulling the show out of its slumber. It was in the doldrums, tbh but his version of ATWT was vastly different from anything resembling the show's classic years. It really did and because Sheffer had added a consistently absurdist element to so many aspects of the storytelling, everyone that came after him seemed to double down on that element. Maybe because Lindsay hasn't really been an actress in awhile that the information, nobody bothered to update the information but it is still up there--her IMDB page and Wikipedia page still lists Rick Giolito as her husband.

Someone should tell Rick's social media that. He still has Lindsay as his wife on his Twitter page, lol. They're probably on good terms since he retweets her.

...and Rick Giolito, who played Nick Castello (1986-1988).

Probably because the people in charge of ATWT during that period knew 'F*ck All' about the show's history.

Given Dimitrov's results as of late, this development was likely to be expected.

Yeah, a lot of people didn't even bother trying to hew to the theme from the pictures that I've seen. I was just reading about all the people who skipped it this year too, seems like a good decision, tbh.

I still listen to the radio too (albeit mostly online). Writing a radio play is on my "To Do" list (which keeps getting pushed further down). Myanmar might be pushing for an infusion of foreign aid or... something. They've been seen as a pariah over the past few years, mainly over the treatment of Rohingya and jailing journalists made the leaders (including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) look even worse. This might be a gesture to try to put themselves in higher standing but nevertheless, I'm glad these journalists were finally freed.

How's this for painting a picture? Joan Collins, Julianne Moore and Naomi Campbell all at the Met Gala.

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.

Some folks need to go to jail because this is totally ridiculous.

Serena at the Met Gala. The theme this year is Camp. Depending on your screen, you might not be able to tell that she's wearing sneakers.

The ATP needs to let Gimelstob GO. From what I've seen, Gimelstob was a better advocate for the guys at the top but severely lacking as an advocate for the guys outside the Top 100. Meanwhile folks are holding onto Justin, there were likely others who would've been far better advocates for players but the ATP were bypassing. Let JG go his own way! You don't see NBA players with this type of foolishness. Compare and contrast how much of the pie NBA players get, compared to ATP players. Yes, tennis is a niche sport but I'm talking percentages of the profits. NBA players are almost on full parity with the organizations, while ATP players as a whole are barely out of the single digits in how much of the profits they share in. The reason why JG managed to make inroads was not because he was so great at his job, it was because he was willing to deal with all the details that the players do not want to deal with, although I can't blame the players for this-- they're busy and it's the job of lawyers, agents and unions to deal with the finer points. Perhaps if the ATP had a union, there would be no need for the likes of a Gimelstob.

Speaking of clicks from the better known players-- I hope this is a misquote because this is not a good response.

That which he accused Obama of, he (Trump) is likely to do.

I don't think I'm willing to give anyone much credit in this situation. After all, Gimelstob was there for over a decade accumulating clout with everyone standing around and watching. The Big 3, to a certain extent, care how they look and don't wish to risk putting a foot wrong by making public statements (Rafa also dodged a question a few days ago). Stan, who dated a WTA player while she was still technically underaged and he, not yet divorced-- of course, he doesn't give two sh*ts what others think!

By most standards, this is a puff piece. What's interesting to me is that, according to the tournament organizers in Madrid, the announcement of Federer playing in the tournament made ticket sales jump. Perhaps because some believe that it could be the last chance for them to glimpse him in Madrid?

Is anyone surprised by this? Or the lack of backlash? Trump basically commits acts with impunity the way most people breathe. And the lying and rapaciousness that goes on in his cabinet and inner circle is breathtaking.

I thought that was a distinct possibility too. CBS was one of the most conservative networks (although that dynamic wouldn't truly manifest itself in the programming until the mid-late 90s). Even when CBS had standards that could be considered more permissive, this was still daytime television and the standards would always be more constrained than primetime television.