DramatistDreamer

I am loathe to count out any player, especially someone who has experienced winning as much as Federer. Federer hasn't played a complete match in quite some time and a red hot Thiem is probably the player someone would least like to face after such a long layoff. I remember when one journalist years ago, claimed that Serena would never win another major- hey, I bet some are saying that again this year. About 5-6 years ago, one journalist even claimed that unless Serena got a breast reduction, it would curtail her chances of winning another major. I just can't take some of these journos seriously! Even though I felt a bit bad for Berdych, I can't think too much about him because he has been treading water, at best, since he made the finals at Wimbledon years ago. It would be one thing, if after basically underachieving for years, he then started to find his game and rise, like, say, Agassi but it's beginning to look as if Berdych has already peaked and even though he's still in the Top 10, he's stagnated and even falling backward at times. Hey, it would be nice if someone could actually consistently challenge Djokovic (and I mean win matches against him on a regular basis). And why the no-name coach? Is he serious? You don't need a celebrity coach or anything but gosh, couldn't he try to find a Swedish coach that's free? What's Peter Lundgren doing these days? He steered Federer and Safin to Major titles-- has Berdych tried giving him a call?

Thiem has transitioned from clay to grass seemingly without missing a beat. Wow! Congrats to him on winning Stuttgart, his game is definitely on fire! How long do you think Lendl and Murray will last this time? Part of me feels a little sorry for Tomas. I do think him initially taking on Dani Valleverdu was to try to entice Lendl to join his camp somehow. I wonder why Lendl won't even consider Berdych. Speaking of Berdych, yes, I remember that awful dress Ester Satarova wore for the wedding. People are allowed to wear what they want and I'm no traditionalist but that dress was so unflattering in every conceivable way! The woman looks like a model yet found a way to do the seemingly impossible- have a model physique and yet look terrible. The rain is definitely not falling in Spain but it seems to be falling all over the other grass court tournaments elsewhere. So many rain delays over the weekend and I read that today was no different, except for the women's tournament in Mallorca. Process this one, Mallorca birthplace of the king of clay, Rafa Nadal as well as Carlos Moyá (Flavia's ex, by the way), one time French Open champ-- now home to a grass court tournament. I heard both Moyá and Toni Nadal were there for the kick-off. The tournament site looks beautiful though.

It might have ultimately been his call, but it was one of Pissy's first suggestions when she came in after CCulliton left/got fired. Who kills off a legacy child with so much potential? When Billy Ross is just sitting there, begging to have a bullet put between his very cute, but basically soulless eyes? Other than actually being happy whenever someone used Bryant's memory to knife a shiv into Craig's gut, it was a meaningless gesture. I still remember how happy I was when Craig found out Bryant was his and not Tonio's. I will never forgive that hack for it either. You and me both. Going back and watching 1986-87 episodes, I try to erase that storyline from my mind. It was then I really believed that soaps didn't deserve my loyalty when they had no loyalty to show history or its longtime fans. I saw an episode from 1995 with Sam and Kirk's living room wedding. OMG, I recognized that the budget had begun to be an issue since 1994 but seeing Lucinda, Lily and Damian watching from sofas is too much for me! It just looks so weird with the guests sitting down and looking on.

They are too cute! My guess is they bonded over having to wrestle with a lot of the craptastic writing they had to try to wade through and overcome.

This awful tragedy that has happened today! Honestly, I have no more words left. This level of carnage simply does not happen with this frequency in other 'wealty, democratic' countries! This is unacceptable, regardless of shooter's motives. Why can't our Congress understand this??? Have we become so inured to the shootings that happen every single day, in cities and towns that it no longer matters if 20, 30, 50 people are mowed down in the space of minutes? People say that knives can people and I understand that but can an ordinary coward with a disorder and a grudge kill 50 people in minutes with a knife? Often times legislation when it is passed, needs to be further shaped, sharpened, sometimes eased for exceptions. The most obvious example being our Ammendments. I'd rather pass the bill and then further shape and ammend, then have nothing at all while waiting for the perfection that never arrives. Human beings are not perfect, why do we wait for the perfect set of circumstances to act? This is why I have little tolerance for legislators that shoot down efforts until perfection arrives. This is where waiting for the perfect gun reform bill has led us. We've been speaking of conscience a lot in this thread. I hope that those people who sat on their hands and allowed the gun reform bill to die after the Newtown tragedy will really search their consciences and ask if the state that we are currently in is better than passing that bill. Seriously, I'd really like to know... was the compromise necessary to pass that bill worse than what we must endure with each report of utter carnage every time one of these tragedies happen?

I just realized that Rick was Jennifer's uncle, ewwww....OMG, you're right! I thougt Craig and Jennifer was almost as gross! Everything else about Rick would apply though. Why bring back a character back when you have no interest in recognizing his/her history? It were better to bring back one of the Quads or someone they could write from scratch for though. For me, very few of the creative decisions TIIC at ATWT made in their final decade made much sense.

I re-watched a batch of episodes from 1986 and was struck by how much Hunt Block probably should've have been Rick Ryan, Jon Lindstrom would've been even better because he might have added a bit more complexity to the character. I agree though that poor writing would have wrecked any potential Rick would've had and with proper writing, and knowing what I know about Goutman, it would've been just as much as disaster as his version of Craig was. Yes, Craig was once wicked but he was never a clown or a cartoon character, the way Block played it. Craig was the 'heavy' who in his warped mind, had a reason for the things he did, even the heinous bombing. In terms of which writing regime started to rehabilitate the Craig character, I think this happened before Marland. When you look at the storyline in '84 to early '85 before Craig even met Sierra, Craig, while still in jail, uncovered a plot to kill Frank Andropoulous, Steve's cousin. Correct me if I'm wrong, longtime viewers, but I believe that Craig also saved Steve's life as well, or helped Betsy uncover who was poisoning Steve (it may have been wrapped up in the same storyline). I think all this valor came on the heels of his jailhouse scene with Lyla (Ann Sward's performance in that scene alone, is why I will always respect her acting ability) where she tells him that she has tired of his destructive ways and won't be coming to see him anymore. I believe that scene was on the eve of Steve and Betsy's Big Fat Greek Wedding. So around that time, I think the seeds were planted for Craig's redemption, they took root when he saved Frank's life. What Marland did was make Craig more of a romantic lead, some might say pathetic, but pathos was a very real part of the romance between Craig and Sierra. It was realistic that Steve didn't want to forgive or forget what Craig had done, despite Craig's redemption. Steve eventually realized (top late) that it wasn't his perceived enemy but his friend Tonio who helped bring Steve to ruin, in a honest to goodness soap opera Greek tragedy. I wish that episode of Steve discovering Tonio's part in his ruin was on YouTube but unfortunately, it's not. All that work on Craig through two writing regimes totally wrecked by Goutman's foolishness. Goutman and his band of cronies did absolutely nothing special that was unique to the Craig character or his history, they could've substituted any concocted character in for Craig and it would've made absolutely no difference whatsoever. For example, Rick Ryan wouldn't have married his sister but still could have hustled his way into Barbara's bank account and accessed her money (in '86, one of the first things Rick did was sweet talk Barbara into writing him a check). Rick Ryan could've had a conflict with Dusty (who used to have a close relationship with Barbara, though you'd never have known it when Grayson McCouch was in the role), Rick could have had a conflict with Paul and if written by a competent writer, would've been juicy, leaving Barbara in the middle between her brother and her son. He could've even had an affair with Jennifer Munson and fathered her child. He could've ended up with Roseanna in the end without missing a beat. Goutman had no reason to bring Craig back from Montega to destroy all that history. Like people said, Rick was character with a ready connection to Oakdale but had a blank slate that good writers could've worked very well with. Oh well.

@marceline, this tweet-stream is very telling and speaks volumes about why so many POCs were skeptical to begin with. And yes, Elizabeth Warren was very much at the forefront of the movement before Sanders co-opted it. Sanders may have been around longer, but he didn't have an actual movement so he just borrowed what Warren had since she opted not to run. I do believe her campaign would have been much more nuanced than Sanders. Hopefully she will run someday.

Exactly, thank you! In the midst of the shallow defenses, her not disclosing this medication that she took for 10 years, makes it look like she has something to hide. Her agent's ridiculous excuse that he didn't go on vacation due to his marital problems and therefore didn't look at the list of banned substances, as he usually does while on vacation (who does that??) does not pass the smell test. Every other player said that the send the list to their doctors to look over to make sure. Belinda Bencic said she looks over her list and shares it with her doctor. Federer made a solid point yesterday when in an interview, he said that it is important that every player take personal responsibility for what goes into his/her body. Sharapova made her press conference in March where she said she takes full responsibility, she messed up and I hope she is held accountable and they won't lower the ruling any further. I think that WADA believes that 2 years is lenient, especially since the ITF petitioned for a 4 year ban.

When has integration ever been easy?! Chile, integration is hard to come by, one often has to work for it! I remember attending a very liberal college in the 1990s and being told by the some of the Black students that just two years prior that some of the white students had hung a sheet over the student Union with the sentence "N-word go home!" Now that was tough but we all worked to create lasting change to the school, often times have to talk to and deal with some very ignorant people, but I digress. I'm not championing HRC, at all, I agree that people should always vote their conscience. I am going to truly miss Obama because he was willing to work with everyone, he extended a hand to perceived enemies Iran and Cuba, he got far more accomplished than he even got credit for despite hostility and yet people also claim that he is polarizing. I'm glad that he is practical and still tried to institute sensible policy despite the many political constraints, at this point I can only hope that the next President is that practical. In the meantime, I hope that people will pay attention to who they elect to the Senate and House as it is vital, a large part of the reason why our goverment is so divided is because of who is in Congress. Gerrymandering, re-districting and such geographical manipulations, including problems at polling places have often arose after Congressional and state interventions. Many of the problems with the voting, in the case of NY's primary issues were because of the overturning of the Voting Rights Act, which a right leaning, Alito and other conservative led Supreme Court justices were able to overturn a few years ago. I also hope that people don't just think that a Presidential election is the end all be all. Politics is often local. The balance in Congress is tipped toward those who allowed the Voting Rights Act to expire and fade away- which had unintended consequences for voters (and they thought it'd just affect minorities- ha!), people who want to strip away the Dodd-Frank law, who think the curbs put in place against predatory lending since the global financial disaster should be removed, as well as people who vote down any attempt to expand on the social compact and social safety net. You need a Congress and we haven't had a fully functioning one in ages. As great as Obama has been, he spent far too much time and energy combating a truculent, divided, unproductive Congress.

I am a person of color, so I am not sure what you are saying here. There has been this conflation that if you are a person of color then you automatically should vote for Hillary, (this narrative has been particularly damaging all through out, there has also been a similar narrative of if you are a woman you should vote for Hillary too, and that is also tiring) and I just think that thought process is flawed and wrong. I'm not saying you should vote for Clinton at all, I am saying that as a Black woman who has recognized that Blacks have died for the right to vote, I couldn't in good conscience sit at home and waste a vote and I'd never vote for Trump, so take that any way you wish. I've read some of the vitriol online from many Sanders supporters and wonder what would that solve? I even see a split between some Sanders supporters, some who are vitriolic- many who are insulting Elizabeth Warren as I type this, while others are disavowing that vitriol. I don't think that people should assume that their is unity even among Sanders supporters but it will be interesting to see where the movement goes from here. Whether it is built upon, the way that the Civil Rights movement adapted and moved in various directions after the Voting Rights act was passed or whether it stagnates or corrodes from within like far too many revolutionary movements have done. I hope that the positive part of the movement (minus the vitriol) can sustain itself and change the way politics is conducted. You don't need to burn everything else to do it. I always loved to read about MLK pushed LBJ to make significant and lasting changes. As shining and attractive as Kennedy appeared, as a President did not make much change. LBJ, who could be boorish, insensitive to the point of being offensive- far from an ideal President made some of the most significant changes of any President in U.S. history. IJS that I'm thankful and glad that MLK worked with that very imperfect man who was President and personally pushed him to make lasting change. Then again, MLK knew he didn't have the luxury of a perfect politician to work with. Thank goodness for practical folk. I have followed Bernie's career for over a decade and I knew that he wasn't a Democrat but Democratic Socialist who sometimes caucases with the Democrats. Though he is no Paul Wellstone, I admire a lot of what Sanders has championed but I also recognize that he is a man of contradictions. His votes against the Amber alert system (a curious one) and gun reform notwithstanding, he has challenged the Democrats and he has also wheeled and dealed with them as well. He himself said that he utilized the Democratic party infrastructure for his campaign for the purposes of political expedience. He does not recognize himself as a true Democratic. I thought it was a well known fact.

Well, anyone who wants to open the gateway for a racist to get into the White House, that can be on their conscience as well. Some of us, who are people of color with lots to lose can't afford for this to happen-- I personally suffered greatly during the Bush years and don't want to see that happen again. There was an article written, not by a person of color but by a White man, saying that it is usually white upper middle class liberals who when they don't get everything their way, decide that they can afford to risk having someone like a Trump (or a Bush) get in because they have nothing to lose, their wealth, their color, their privilege will completely insulate them from any negative consequences. I have never believed it more than more than I do now. If you want to talk about voter disenfranchisement, look how long Blacks in the U.S. have been disenfranchised, yet many of us, myself included, still participate in the voting process, often times volunteering for organizations that help improve the system. Many Blacks have paid dearly, risking their lives to participate in this system, in spite of all its problems. Where would we be if we whined and stamped our feet when things didn't go our way? Probably happily ignored by the higher ups, the elites and the well heeled and well connected. Thank God for people like MLK, Fanny Lou Hamer and Shirely Chisolm who pushed the officials. They also acted on their conscience but they pushed elected officials who were in office as well as pushed for candidates to run, yes even within the confines of a two party system. And they didn't pout and stamp their feet when things didn't go precisely as they wanted and they didn't drop out and allow George Wallace or the likes of Strom Thurmond to get to the Oval Office because one or both parties weren't catering to their demands, as just as those demands were.

@DRW50, Sounds like he went through a rough time and the management of ATWT didn't help matters. From what I'm seeing of 1995, TPTB definitely seemed to be in an experimental phase, I guess that included the cast.

By the show's last decade, I had very little faith in the writers ability to write multi-dimensional characters. I had even less trust that they had any grasp of the show's history. There were so many characters that could've been brought back. In addition to the Quads and Christina Nancy, there was John and Iva's son. Instead of wasting time with characters like Jade, why could they not have brought Andy's daughter Hope to Oakdale. She's Kim and John's granddaughter- that could've been interesting to see who'd she be most like. So many connections wasted with random characters brought onto the show like Liberty and Janet. Denise could've easily been brought back and gotten involved with Dusty and had Dusty been written true to character, there could even have been some tension due to the fact that Andy and Dusty had once been like brothers. Andy wouldn't have had to return but there could've been tension with John and Margo.

Watching some episodes from 1995, many of which I'd never seen before. Dramatically, I have to say 1995 is slightly better than '94 in some key storylines. While not as good as the umbrella stories of the mid-late '80s, the malpractice storyline and court case and fallout over Eduardo's death plays very well in how it gave many of the most veteran characters/actors screen time and it was interesting both in how it caused personal rifts, some that were quick to repair (Tom and Margo) and others that took much longer to heal. Although between Mac's Alzheimers storyline and Lisa's dead husband, the older vets had some very depressing stories but they played their roles to their heights. The Lily vs. Orlena storyline is interesting too, especially when Lily became confined, her mental health and psychological stability being questioned and scrutinized while she basically had to try to devise a way out. This will probably be an unpopular opinion but I don't think Roseanna and Mike are that bad (ducks). I could understand being tired of them if I had to watch them 5 days a week, especially since Shawn Christian is not exactly a bottle of energy but when he doesn't talk and he and Yvonne Perry are involved in love scenes, it's actually not dull. Again, in modest doses here and there, they could have good chemistry but I could see where they'd run out of possibilities for the characters especially since again...Shawn Christian. What the heck happened to the guy who used to play Evan Walsh?! The new guy was just too bedraggled, what a stark change in the character, as well as contrast between the two characters! I guess ATWT was phasing out Evan Walsh so they no longer cared about how consistent the characterization was-- too bad. The previous actor had great chemistry with Colleen Zenk though. The 'War of the Munsons' storyline was pretty interesting to me, mainly because of the actors and how they played it for all it's worth. It just goes to show how much chemistry Colleen Zenk and Benjamin Hendrickson had. They could go from being anatgonists to each other, (with divorce and custody issues looming) to a team (co-parenting their kids and Hal's newfound daughter Nikki), and you believed it all could happen within a short space of time. I also think they were each other's best pairing. Funny how regardless of which actor played Scott Eldridge (Whoa, what an apparent age difference between actors!), they both bore more of a resemblance to Gregg Marx than Scott Holmes, IMO. Interesting to see how Carly's character was when she was relatively new in town. Seems like TPTB weren't completely clear on her characterization except she was meant to be something of a bad girl about town- in the early stages, she seemed like a composite of previous characters- maybe it's the chin-length blonde hair but I was getting a little of Linc Lafferty's wife in those early scenes. I'm surprised the network allowed her to smoke onscreen during a daytime show. Those scenes between Andy and Carly didn't exactly set the world on fire- I can see why they didn't put the two characters together. You know what they say though... no sparks onscreen, plenty of sparks in real life, offscreen. One thing that I'm picking up on is that this seems to be the beginning of characters being more isolated and relegated within their set of groups,which is a bit dismaying. Maybe the budget dictates that so many actors not be on set on certain days, but this seems to be the start of the Snyders being relegated to the farm, the business set mainly congregating at the Yacht club and office, with some character floating between one or two sets. Some characters interacting less and less. The teens are meh, they're okay but bland, kind of a step down from the days of Lily, Dusty, Meg and Holden or even Andy, Paul, Lien, etc. I would've thought that having had characters like Kiera and Bianca, the younger set would've been a bit more diverse in '95. And finally, this seems to be a time of experimentation. Some visual techniques and styling taken from Melrose Place, some shaky camera techniques from ER and NYPD Blue, etc. That jazzy music in some scenes with tenor sax (a holdover from previous years in the early '91-92 episodes) is very 90s but I like it. I sometimes forget how much of its own aesthetic the 90s truly had, it's almost as strong as the 1980s.

Sharapova has announced that she is planning to appeal. I read an article where an anti-doping agency insider said that they believe that a reduced ban is highly unlikely. It's also interesting that the ITF requested a 4 year ban, realizing this, I think leniency has already been showed. The report makes her look pretty bad, not just negligent. The fact that she took extra doses before matches of "special importance" makes it look like she was taking it specifically to enhance her performance. Most athletes that have illnesses and are being treated for them, usually disclose these illness and/or any medication that they are prescribed with the ITF. When Roger Federer was diagnosed with mono years ago, he disclosed it with the ATP/ITF, when Venus Wiliams was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, she disclosed it with the WTA/ITF. When Serena Williams had that pulmonary embolism and had to take blood thinners, she disclosed it with the WTA and ITF. Same with Heather Watson when she had her bout with glandular fever and Laura Robson with mono and Ross Hutchins, Viki Duval and Alisa Kleybanova were all diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, they all disclosed it with the ITF and their respective tennis associations. If Maria had a heart issue and was prescribed this medicine, why keep it a secret only between her father, Yuri and then in 2013 with her agent? Why not disclose it with the ITF and the WTA? And why was her agent monitoring the anti-doping list, not her doctor, physio or trainer? Aga Radwanska and other players say they always share the list with their doctors. The entire account given by Sharapova and her agent that was in report left me with more questions than answers. I don't think that the ITF was buying what Sharapova was selling though. By the way, there is a rumor that Varvara Lepchenko served a 'silent ban' for the use of meldonium. She was asked this question outright during the French Open and refused to comment.

Sharapova got a 2 year ban, backdated to January 2016 Decision in the case of Maria Sharapova I can't say that I'm surprised, I knew it would have to be somewhere in the middle because of the profligacy of use of meldonium among the Russian athletes. It was clearly part of a state sponsored system of doping but since the drug was only banned as of January 2016, I doubted the stiffest penalty would be implemented. I guessed correctly (albeit to myself, because I tend to shy away from speculation). Don't ask me what this means for her endorsements or her career. Serena has already surpassed her in an area she once led for 11 years, the $$$ race.

According to reports, earlier today President Obama called Bernie Sanders and had a conversation, there are no reports on what they discussed. There were reports floating around even earlier that the President had planned to endorse Hillary by Wednesday. Later in the evening some of the superdelegates decided to cast their votes for Hillary. Some contend that this there could be a link (lol). I won't go that far but Hillary also pulled ahead of Trump in polls after her speech last week, so this probably gave some superdelegates more confidence in her abilities in the general election. Hillary is right to urge her would-be supporters to still vote in the rest of the primaries. She wants a definitive win to push her total over the top to create as much distance between her and Sanders as possible so that she can vanquish him. I see her getting New Jersey by a healthy margin but if she can also get California and maybe even New Mexico, Bernie won't have mucht to say afterward.

Well, so according to the AP, Hillary has the delegate votes to clinch the Democratic nomination. It seemed like only a few hours ago, she was 23 delegate votes away.

Berniebros are claiming voter suppression in Puerto Rico because Sanders lost. Having won Puerto Rico, Hillary is now about 30 delegate votes away from the nomination. California, of course is important but so is New Jersey and NJ's voters will have their say first on Tuesday. Now, of course, Sanders is already moving the goalpost again, claiming that superdelegates should not be counted at all toward total delegates- after last week trying to sway superdelegates to change their votes away from HRC to him. This is all so ridiculous now.

In addition to Garbiñe Muguruza taking the Ladies Singles, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez take the Men's Doubles. Big day for Spain, taking two titles over legendary American players Serena Williams and the Bryan brothers.

This is why I believe elections are a process filled with twists and turns, never frozen in one specific moment. I don't ignore polls but I try to keep in mind their variable nature, especially the ones that claimed that Donald was leading Hillary or that Bernie coulda shoulda woulda beat Trump in a landslide. Why? Lemme tell you a little something about polls: Hillary Clinton Opens Double-Digit Lead Over Donald Trump in New Poll

A long but engaging article/interview examing some reasons why HRC's campaign has been so difficult. I do think it's worth repeating that, polls aside, the tone of a primary is vastly different from that of the general election. Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Was Never Going to Be Easy. But Did It Have to Get This Hard?

I'm watching Day 2 of the Death of Chris Hughes and two things I've observed: Don and Mary Hughes named their baby girl Christina Nancy. Did an older Christina Nancy ever make an appearance in Oakdale? Also, there is a scene in New Mexico where Meg talks to Rosa about Dusty returning to Oakdale with her and Rosa taunts Meg about how she used her feminine wiles to trick Dusty but she'll soon run out of ways to keep doing this and she mutters something in Spanish, which Meg doesn't understand and asks Rosa what she said to which Rosa guffaws but doesn't answer. Later, there is this hilarious dream sequence where Meg fantasizes about being married to a Harvard grad Dusty and having his baby and Rosa, who is their maid while dusting the wine glasses as Meg and John toast to Meg being the right woman for Dusty, again, Rosa says something sharply in Spanish and again Meg briefly asks her what she said before brushing it off. The first time I didn't pay attention to what Rosa said but the last time I saw it, I wondered what Rosa said and this time, I actually listened to it and I guessed that she was probably calling Meg a tramp but since I know some reasonable amount of Spanish, I really rewound it and listened carefully so that I could actually hear what Rosa was saying and discovered that she was calling Meg a mujerzuela barata, which is basically a cheap tramp. I just found it hilarious that even in Meg's fantasy, Rosa was still insulting her.