DramatistDreamer

The interesting videos you find on You Tube. This was posted about a year ago, which was surprising, in particular, how much the representative touts P&G's embrace of the soap opera, especially given the company's attitude toward these shows over the last twenty years.

An appreciation of Aretha Franklin from Blues Brothers' director John Landis. 'Blues Brothers' Director John Landis Remembers Aretha Franklin: "She Was a Real Soldier"

I thought this was a typo at first.

Haha, that's actually @Mitch's quote though. Mine was responding to his. That is odd. I was so young when that story aired that I wouldn't have truly understood it but by the way, you've just described it...sounds like I still wouldn't understand it. Having Maddie and Henry be related to Grant would've made a whole LOT more sense than having Henry related to James Stenbeck. Also, it would've really made Maddie's connection to Lisa that much more meaningful had they done that. Missed opportunity. Hm. That's interesting. I'm not sure how I felt about Y&R's lighting back then but it seemed to work a sure sight better for Y&R than it did for ATWT, perhaps the difference in climates? Being in sunny California vs. being in seasonal NYC?

Probably Bunim's obsession with youth made her believe that dimmer lighting would somehow make everyone look younger, particularly the older cast members. Who knows? James seemed much too chauvinistic to rely on Barbara to maintain his lifestyle and I suspect Barbara was attracted to that aspect of him. Before Hal, Barbara seemed to gravitate toward these chauvinistic types, brimming with machismo. Maybe, not so much Brian, although the more he stood up to her and told her off, the more she seemed driven to keep him in her orbit. Tonio and Duncan were both brimming with machismo. Also, James liked to live on the edge. A quiet life with the 'missus' would never have appealed to him for too long. It kind of became a running joke, how many businesses Lisa had but I kinda loved that that she low-key had her hands in all these different companies. Every now and then, she'd exert her influence through one of her ventures, not in overt ways like Lucinda but in sly ways. We don't see much of that in today's daytime soaps.

Catalog sales, can you believe it?? I believe Dee mentioned this to Barbara when they met in this episode. I guess they all put together a fancy photo spread done in a layout in a catalog and distributed to buyers and maybe the well-heeled. Perahaps Lisa and Dee and Ariel were heralding the achievement of reaching customers well beyond Oakdale. Come to think of it, it would have been interesting if Fashions and BRO did something to this effect with the Internet in the late 90s/early '00s. Were there any scenes or storylines that dealt with the emergence of technology and its effect on businesses like Barbara's or Lisa's? Or even Lucinda's? (I remember seeing Craig learning how to use a computer when he started working for Lucinda, that was around 1984 and it struck me as probably one of the earliest uses of a computer that I'd seen on a daytime soap).

Some of you may remember Grechen Shirley as the Democratic candidate who petitioned the FEC to be able to use some of her campaign funds for childcare. She's running against that xenophobe Peter King. I wish her well, King represents a district that has repeatedly sent him back to Congress for at least two decades now, so I can only guess that much of his constituency represents his worldview or some variation of it--if not xenophobic like King, then certainly completely insular and quite close-minded which has been the hallmark of a sweeping portion of Long Island. She’s Trying to Pull an Ocasio-Cortez. Her Target: Pete King.

I think they might have been trying to go for a dark and mysterious mood? Were they somehow trying to blend the lighting of Barbara's fantasy life with her real life environment?

Omorosa plans to drop recordings as if they're the hottest mixtapes of the summer.

Halliburton - The Sequel

+1 on your entire post here. I read about the closure of voting sites yesterday in Georgia and don't expect it to get much notice at all, and the "progressives" of the party are no exception to this neglect. In fact, I don't remember Bernie or his "Revolution" mentioning Abrams at all but that's no surprise, this falls into his usual pattern of indifference.

People have been mentioning Aretha's sister Carolyn. This clip gives a pretty good summary of how important that relationship was to both women.

I saw that announcement too!

Apparently Bailey Chase (ATWT), Alvya Lind and Max Ehrich (Y&R) as well as Cobin Bleu (OLTL 2.0) are all filming a movie called Walk Ride Rodeo that will stream on Netflix next year. It also stars Sherri Shepherd and Missi Pyle. It's being described as a biopic. Missi Pyle, Spencer Locke & More To Star In Netflix’s ‘Walk Ride Rodeo’ Biopic About Paralyzed Horse Racer Amberley Snyder

The entertainment industry has a habit of telling Black entertainers that "there can only be one" and then act shocked when artists get competitive. As women, they also play on any insecurities that anyone might have. Aretha wasn't perfect, and I'm sure she was not immune. Her ex-husband, in declaring that he loved her dearly, cited that she was stubborn and tenacious--qualities that surely secured her longevity but likely didn't always endear her to people. Artists are not always easy people. From personal experience, if you're easy and too nice as a woman and artist-- people take advantage of you. I found this out the hard way. No doubt, Franklin developed a tough exterior and maybe wore that armor even when it wasn't necessary. She was an incredibly talented, flawed human. I love both Aretha and Tina and that's not one of the finer moments for the Queen of Soul but let's not pretend that's the worst thing for a singer to do in the industry. Not when we have music producers still sexually assaulting artists without their careers missing a beat. Tina Turner just lost her son about a month ago. If you were to ask her how high that feud ranked in her list of life's hurts, I'm going to guess a slight from Aretha Franklin would be at the very bottom of her list.

She looks like she has a hospital bracelet on her wrist.

And it doesn't suit tennis media's narrative of trying to make Konta happen. Just heard something else on a different topic. Someone tweeted that the ITF now also has permission to change the format of Fed Cup without player consent. I just wonder what this will do to players' health going forward. We are already seeing a lot of withdrawals from tournaments and banged up bodies. I think players will resort to what methods they have to, in order to try to preserve their health and their bodies.

Further proof that the Trump administration (I use the term very loosely) and it's ill-conceived 'War On Drugs' is even worse than the last two Republican administrations' attempts at eradicating drug abuse. They have surpassed previous years in the amount of deaths though. Bleak New Estimates in Drug Epidemic: A Record 72,000 Overdose Deaths in 2017

Julianne Moore (Frannie/Sabrina ATWT) is starring opposite Ken Watanabe in Bel Canto.

Someone posted a clip of Aretha Franklin's interview with Wendy Williams where they discussed who she'd have liked to play her in a biopic. This picture is just so... postworthy.

Ms. LaBelle has spoken.