DramatistDreamer

Nearly 10 minutes for one game in the 1st set of the men's final?! And it's only the third game.

I've noticed they have been using African American images for bots too but their tweets always come off as false. Sometimes I wondered how many of those people ever find out that their pictures are being used for bot identities?

Not going to sugarcoat it, that was a boring final and I didn't even see the entire match. Well, Sloane has a major title before Wozniacki, Aga and all them other gals. Congrats to her and her team. *Kanye shrug*

Except for DelPo, these guys are rarely stepping it up, so I don't blame Federer or Nadal for taking trophies. Andy and Novak are not even here as obstacles. The women, on the other hand, are going for the jugular, regardless of whether Serena is around or not because when you think about it, Serena didn't win the U.S. Open last year or the year before, right? I was hoping for someone brand new on the ATP side but it didn't happen and I'm not going to blame Nadal for seizing his opportunities. Fans need to have a talk with the other players in the ATP if they want new winners.

Just posted a clip of Barbara in court in a different thread and came across this in the You Tube sidebar and two things struck me: 1) The way this scene is shot, you don't see soaps do this anymore-- the jury is shot as being more than glorified extras with closeups and panning to individual faces, 2) This actor who played Jason Benedict, I could have seen him with Iva more than the actor they ended up using down the road when they threw he and Iva together. So many possibilities that could've been done (including having him enter Iva's life much earlier and even becoming a rival to Kirk) instead of making him some type of consolation prize for Iva in the long run.

They won't be doing that as the consider Sharapova to be their prized cash cow.

This is an interesting article excoriating (deservedly so) Sharapova over her remarks about Serena in her book Unstoppable. Maria Sharapova’s Vile, Racially Tinged Treatment of Serena Williams

Though her work on ATWT was not mentioned here, there is more information and some interesting factoids and tidbits (including You Tube links to her music and film work) about the life and work of Novella Nelson in her New York Times obituary. Novella Nelson, 78, Dies; Brought Authority to Myriad Roles

I don't watch a whole lot of 'industry films'. I think "world cinema" does a pretty great job of presenting people who seem very ordinary on the surface that have to do things that go above the average through circumstance. I find myself watching indie films from France and South Africa and New Zealand these days because it just really compelling stories about people that you quickly become concerned about because of how effectively the characters are written. A lot of what we see in the industry (especially the U.S.) can often times be vapid and superficial. You often have to really dig to find the really good stuff.

In reality that storyline stretched out for about two years, so yeah, that was a shocking moment at the time! I can remember being riveted and rushing home from school to see what happened (I was also setting the VCR for my Mom, who had to work, after teaching myself how to program a VCR). Not just the Lily maternity/paternity reveal but the entire year's worth of stories that unfolded up to that point, from the previous year. There were so many different storylines and characters in action, in wasn't just about couples, you got absorbed in multiple stories and characters. I was a big (Craig and Sierra)Finn and Scott Bryce fan but for some reason, there was so much else going on that it all seemed part of the machinations of ATWT at the time, the show was losing important actors, I was probably just as confounded as to what was happening with Tom and Margo. When Gregg Marx left, I was not pleased, since he and HBS had such easy physical and emotional chemistry. I was only a kid (not even a teenager yet) when this storyline was happening, so I had no idea of the backstage happenings (I didn't read soap magazines or follow behind the scenes stuff), I didn't know that Scott Bryce had actually left the show-- it didn't feel final to me because there was an air of mystery about what actually happened to Craig and Sierra still believed that he was alive, so I was young and naive enough to believe the same. It was irritating when Sierra went missing, at almost the precise time that Craig returned alive but, at that point I was also somehow thinking that she'd turn up as Craig turned up. For some reason, at the time, Craig's subsequent relationships didn't feel permanent and I was able to make peace with Craig and Sierra finally reuniting and riding off into the sunset together. Honestly, I wished ATWT had kept it that way.

Some cities and towns may be losing their teachers (and nurses, social workers etc.) in six months and many of these areas are under-served to begin with. For Teachers Working Through DACA, a Bittersweet Start to the School Year In an ideal world, people would realize that these DACA recipients should stay because they belong here but as a POC myself, I am constantly being ask to prove my "worth" and I am a U.S. citizen, that is the way people often see POCs because of rampant stereotypes. This is why I often post these types of articles. I'm not so unrealistic as to believe that people will see the worth of these people just because they are human beings who deserve to be treated as such, that is not what the history of the US has shown me.

Gutted for Venus, she really had a chance to take the match in the third and backed off, for some inexplicable reason. Congratulations to Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys. The U.S. women have truly made their mark this U.S. Open. If I had 2 slams in one year, you wouldn't be able to blast me out of there! If I made two slam finals in one year, you wouldn't be able to blast me outta there!

"Birth Tourists" from Russia staying in Trump properties. Trump once accused 'many' Chinese of having "anchor babies" in the U.S. but never mentioned Russians. Go figure. Russians Flock to Trump Properties to Give Birth to U.S. Citizens

Will you. look. at. that. Rodrigo Duterte’s son is accused of involvement with massive drug deal

Okay, this an article about the goings-on at Rotten Tomatoes, the movie review site but there is a OLTL mention. Attacked by Rotten Tomatoes

Yes, he did on the Debt Ceiling- a measure to keep the government "running" until December. And he made the deal with...wait for it...Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi! The already fractured and continually fracturing GOP, (if you believe the newspapers) are POed at Trump. Bannon is plotting from his cave in D.C. to launch an autumn "war" within the GOP. Add to all this, some Republicans in Congress have signed onto a bill to dismantle gerrymandering (which the Republicans have largely benefited from for the past 12-15 years now), citing the need to 'protect the Republic, not Republicans'). Its. all. happening.

Speaking of trolls...Facebook is copping to just how much advertising dollars these fake FB accounts were spending to promote misleading political ads. Fake Russian Facebook Accounts Bought $100,000 in Political Ads Honestly, there's not much to laugh about these days, but even I have to chuckle at all these instances of Trump undermining his own party's efforts. Jeff Sessions (AKA Evil Keebler elf) makes what he believes to be a definitive statement that DACA is a matter for Congress alone and no president has the authority to change/determine immigration policy. Hours later, Trump tweets out a threat that if Congress doesn't act that he will "revisit" the issue. Uh, so much for the party line that it isn't the president's biz.

Proud to be living in one of these states that will be suing Trump over DACA rollback. 15 states, DC sue Trump administration over ending DACA

You have Al Roker out here trying to convince people to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh, who apparently has decided to use his radio show to claim that Hurricane Irma is hype and only affecting areas where Latinos live anyway. Meanwhile, we have yet to hear definitively from anyone on the island of Barbuda since the eye of Irma passed over the entire tiny island yet the media skips over this because Barbuda is not Florida. In what world has this vile behavior become acceptable? I can hardly stand it!

If you're a woman and you voted for Trump, you need to hang your head in shame.

Apparently, his character, which never appeared in the animated film and is a newly written character, has now become a lightning (or is it lightening? ) rod for controversy.

A utter lack of a complete education and proper civic engagement is the biggest problem, IMO. I'm continually disappointed by people who wave the flag but don't truly know U.S. history, let alone world history. People who scream about China, yet cannot find it on a map. People who believe Africa is a country. What people say and how people vote often contradict themselves. We found that out in this election. I'm not sure how trustworthy polls are, TBH. On a phone poll, people will say what they think sounds good but the votes that they make in their state elections reflect their true desires. This is one reason that I really don't take people's words as genuine anymore. When you live in a world where the president of the United States' words no longer hold any value, how are you supposed to regard the value of anyone's word?

Let's be clear on something, the vast majority of immigrants both legal and undocumented, give a whole lot more than they get. I don't know whether anyone here on this board personally knows undocumented people but I do and I'll give you an example of my point. When my mother used to be a landlord and rented out apartments, she had a family who had a few members who were undocumented for a time. Each member worked very hard, even the kids who went to school and held jobs and saved money and were eventually able to open their own business. They were never late on rent. They weren't leasing property out from under anyone, the space had sat available for several months (probably at least a year). They became reasonably success (nowhere near rich) eventually were able to employ one or two employees who were not family and eventually were able to buy their own home. The children graduated, married have their own lives. This is not to insult anyone but of all the tenants that my Mother had during her years as a landlord, the tenants she had the least amount of trouble with? Immigrants by far. The tenants that she had to evict? All U.S. citizens by birth. The final eviction was so much money lost that it convinced her to sell the property and just focus on getting a single family house. My Mother, an immigrant herself, does have a tilted view of America because of this. I've tried to convince her not to paint Americans with a broad brush but when you are reminded with Confederate statues of this country's reliance on slave labor and exploitation to build its wealth, it becomes increasingly hard to convince someone who has been exploited that it is any other way. Perception really does matter and the U.S. is cast in an extremely negative light now in many people's eyes. *Also, in terms of who waits in line and who exploits immigration loopholes, the other day, I posted an article about Ukrainian migrants who are getting in claiming to be refugees, who by their own admission are not in danger but are here for economic reasons but because of an age old Soviet-era rule that allows Eastern European Christians to migrate to the U.S. as refugees. The Ukrainian refugees' waiting period and vetting period is, on average, about a year or more shorter than Syrian and Iraqi refugees who can wait up to four years of vetting before they are allowed to migrate to the U.S. I don't blame the Ukrainian refugees for wanting to come but even they are aware that they are exploiting a loophole in U.S. immigration policy. Why isn't this a talking point in the news media? I suspect, it's because they are not brown.

America will make exceptions when it suits them, I guess. They could care less about fairness. Case and point.

I've been out all morning so I am out of the loop. What was this announcement that Jeff Sessions made? The GOP's version of "governing" sure looks like constant scrambling with no perceivable concrete plan, at least to me. Maybe they should change their mascot from an elephant to a headless chicken running around in circles. I know that is an awful image but so is their style of governing.