DramatistDreamer

MTV systematically ignored Black artists for the first few years of its existence as a network. There is a, by now, (in)famous interview with David Bowie where he questions VJ Adam Goodman on why MTV is ignoring Black artists and Goodman replies with some bullsh*t response about the possibilityof kids in middle America being scared off. The reaction of David Bowie as he guffaws and shakes his head is priceless. The Grammys has their own history with Black musicians that I won't get into but yeah, MTV definitely has a history too.

MTV does this by design. Madonna did the exact same thing with her "tribute" to Prince. This was no accident. There is a generation of Black people who grew up in the 1980s who remember seeing Aretha singing in music videos. Songs like "Freeway of Love" (which got a LOT of play on BET, Video Music Box, Friday Night Videos) "Who's Zooming Who?" "Jump To It" (which, I admit was far more popular on the radio than video) "Jumping Jack Flash" where Whoopi Goldberg made a very memorable cameo "The Sisters Are Doing It (For Themselves)" with Annie Lennox "(I) Knew You Were Waiting For Me" with George Michael. Just because MTV didn't acknowledge or play most of these videos doesn't mean they didn't exist. Nor does it diminish their importance. MTV was the same network that tried to keep Michael Jackson's videos and only started playing his videos under duress. Soon after they practically tied their network to Jackson once they saw how many were flocking his music. I do agree that MTV is not the proper venue to pay tribute to Aretha. Madonna is not the right artist to do so either.

How did I miss this?! Had anyone posted this before?

Who actually believed that Halep would play the Connecticut Open?

Ms. Argento was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. Years later, Ms. Argento sexually assaulted Jimmy Bennett. Both things are true. Since there are other women who HW assaulted, I don't think his case hinges on Ms. Argento and Ms. McGowan. In fact, none of the charges against HW include those made my Ms. Argento. There are quite a few other women who HW assaulted and none of this invalidates their claims.

Wow, we're not hearing anything that's going on in Yemen these days. Also, last year, the U.S. government decided that the number of casualties in Afghanistan will no longer be made public.

Good Lord. I can't keep up anymore. Everything's so twisted. This makes me wonder whether Anthony Bourdain discovered this. I won't go on in what I'm thinking because I only started to read the article. Sometimes the preyed upon can then become a predator to someone else.

So messy! Those stories about Martines and Pilgrim.

It makes for some exciting competition though and it is quite an accomplishment for Novak.

I'll always remember his Davis Cup exploits in the mid '00s. Same.

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.