DramatistDreamer

Okay, this is the last article I will post on the subject of Serena's return to IW, but I think it's worth a read, definitely one of the more insightful articles in a calvalcade of same ole 'think' pieces. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/mar/12/what-everyone-is-getting-wrong-about-serena-williams-return-to-indian-wells I think I'm going to end up paying today for staying up so late to watch Taylor Townsend's match vs. Betthanie Mattek Sands but it was highly entertaining. Too bad they had to face each other in Round 1 but Taylor unequivically 'got game'. I wish all the fat shaming would stop. Lindsey Davenport was allowed to come to her own fitness decisions years into her professional career and the same respect should be accorded to Taylor.

I have no idea on what's going on with TV One and Unsung these days, mainly because I don't subscribe to cable but even their website seems like clips, particularly those pertaining to Unsung Hollywood have been stripped away from the site. Last couple times I went to the website and went to the video section for UH, some weird automated message kept playing about a domain restriction, I think, in terms of content. Could it have to do with copyright? I have no earthly clue what's up, all I know is that last year, I saw almost all of the UH episodes, this year none. Speaking of Unsung- Did anyone hear/read about the fight Angie Stone supposedly had with her eldest child, Diamond? According to this article, Diamond got three of her teeth knocked out! http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/03/11/angie-stone-assault-knocks-out-daughters-teeth-georgia/70141822/

I am surprised that the party implosions have started so soon since taking over Congress. These folks do everything fast except pass actual meaningful legislation.

Despite the fact that I enjoy DelPo and Pico, this is why I cannot bring myself to ever root for Argentina...in anything. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/delbonis-wins-sends-argentina-davis-cup-quarterfinals-164659590--ten.html

That picture, uh, just wow. And I thought Rog's blond hair look was bad. Actually, nevermind that blond is still the worst look he's ever had. Money really does go a long way to spiffing up people's looks. No offense. I just read this article about Mardi Fish returning to the circuit, although he says he's taking it a few tournaments at a time. I knew about the heart condition he had a couple years ago but I never knew he was dealing with all he's been dealing in the aftermath. Kudos to him about being candid about mental illness. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/sports/tennis/mardy-fish-attempts-comeback-after-18-months-away-from-tennis.html?smid=tw-share

I'm not a fan of Robert Menendez, I've always thought his voice on diplomacy were antiquated, and rang of a Cold War mentality. If he is removed, the downside will be the possibility of someone who is even more inflexible slotting in that position. Chris Christie's regard is sinking lower as we speak. He's been shifting New Jersey's finances more and more in the red since his re-election. The deficits are piling up and he's already broken his promise on how the pensions would be funded. And this deal with Exxon is probably going to lead back to the time when New Jersey became a punchline. I can remember riding in a car with school friends in the 90s when suddenly we'd all have to roll up our windows and my friend from Jersey would say "Ah, that's that New Jersey smell".

I voted for Hills when she ran for NY Senate but man, she is going to have to do a LOT better if she intends on running for President. Who the hell has their own server?? For a public official, it's not a good look as it implies something to hide. Even if she was using it to keep love notes to Bill private, when you're a public official, that is a no-no. The dynamics behind her campaign kind of imploded in the primaries last time around. I read that she will be using some staff from Obama's 2008 & 2012 campaigns but if she doesn't inject some discipline into the dynamics behind her campaign it won't matter. As for Obama's personal life, believe me someone has always tried to find something, even if it makes no sense, like the selfie shot at Mandela's memorial (which by the way, was a celebration of Mandela's life and was not meant to be morbid). People tried to make it as if Michelle was going to move out of the WH the next day or something. The last one was when Malia went to visit some colleges and universities in NYC, one article asked why the president wasn't accompanying her. Are they serious?? On the other side of the aisle, I had to laugh when John Boehner had to beg for a clean bill for DHS and was reduced to relying on Democratic support after many (*coughs* Tea Partiers) turned their backs. Didn't this party used to be disciplined and (somewhat) unified?

I think he's playing Aisha's husband Hector, the son of Greek immigrants, who was played by Anthony LaPaglia in the Australian miniseries. Although I haven't seen the U.S. version from what I read, Sarsgaard is playing Hector. I cannot fathom it.

Honestly, the best thing about the original miniseries was Sophie Okonedo's estimable performance but the rest of the Oz cast was fine. I saw an ad for the U.S. version and nothing about it tempted me to watch. Nothing about Peter Sarsgaard screams son of Greek immigrants to me. From what I'm reading that is about the least of this version's problems.

Have you seen the original Australian mini-series? I thought that was pretty good. I haven't seen the American remake though.

I saw Jonathan Hogan, who played Jason Benedict, Iva Snyder's husband on As The World Turns, on the first few episodes of Season 3 House of Cards. He's playing Supreme Court Chief Justice Jacobs.

It's just my personal opinion and I have no solid proof of this but I honestly believe that since 2000 (after AW's cancellation in '99) P&G and eventually the CBS daytime network knew that neither ATWT nor GL would make it past the decade. The choices that the execs made just convinced me more and more ( a lot of previously unconnected characters, filler/new cast members, alienating many veterans, throwing caution to the wind in regards to storylines, in ways that were good and bad), that they were just letting the show slowly wind down. It was very telling that one show ended in '09 and the other in '10. Neither made it out of the decade.

Nothing against the L.A. based soaps but I think ATWT's ageless beauties had to do with the fact that they were no sun worshipers. I would think that would be especially true of Julianne Moore who has very fair skin and would probably burn quite easily. I remember seeing episodes where she was at the Yacht Club and even though it was a show filmed in a studio, 'Frannie' was very diligent about applying sunscreen as she was a lifeguard. I even remember the character talking about how she had to put on sunscreen with her skin. That was about '85, the first year she was on the show. Kathryn Hays was a model... I think all of those ladies were probably meticulous about taking great care of their skin as they knew it was part of their stock and trade. And the look on the East Coast was (still is) a bit different from the West Coast, that seemed to favor the sun-kissed look. We all know the sun-kissed look can, over time, become the sun damaged look.

Sooo strange. I think Cuevas got booed for the same reason. Then Cuevas got angry and basically proceeded to shank the final 2 or 3 points, which wasn't the most sporting thing to do. Both matches were well over two hours, almost going into a 3rd hour, so I don't understand the crowd's eaction.

you'd be forgiven if you missed it (I barely caught the sight of Delbonis blowing the kiss and was amused/confused by it) since the match was too. damn. long.

Has anyone been reading about all the various male players snapping at one another in (social) media? Gilles Simon made some comment about Feliciano Lopez and Lopez apparently made a retort which made people wonder if he was killing Simon with kindness or just showering him with sarcasm. Most recently Juan Monaco mentioned that he basically tries to ignore Juan Martin del Potro and their relationship is non-existent. And there was that weird incident in Rio between Delbonis and Fognini when Delbonis sarcastically blew Fognini a kiss-- I think after one of Fognini's challenges was wrong and Delbonis got the point. Remember when the media use to make hay with the Women's Tour in the early '00s over these types of comments? If it's the men who are doing it, can we still refer to them as being catty?

Aww. I may be biased but I think a lot of the NYC based actors are very unassuming. I once locked eyes with Maggie Gyllenhaal and she was just cool, smiles and goes on about her business.

Looks like TV One isn't bothering to keep up their website with Unsung Hollywood episodes. The full episode of A Different World is still not up there, just a clip. EDIT: I went to TV's social media sites (their website is hopeless) and saw Vivica Fox's twitter handle and decided to be nosey and check out her Twitter page and came across this but don't know whether it means anything at all: @https://twitter.com/MsVivicaFox/status/568538766031216641

So the Hughes family farm was in Ohio? Oh, I didn't remember that. Also, since the Snyder farm was in the family for generations, but whose family? Emma or her husbands? I'm guessing her husband, since she was Snyder by marriage? I don't think ATWT was at risk of having too many connections until the 90s/00s, although the sudden appearance of Iva in Oakdale and Lily's entire lineage and Lily, as well as both of her bio-parents all being adopted seemed a bit contrived but the actors made it work.

I didn't have a problem with them but I can see how people might complain about how much time some of their storylines got per page. I remember some very Snyder heavy episodes. A bit more balance and like I mentioned before, engagement between various characters might have solved this. IMO it was a missed opportunity not to connect the Snyder family farm to former Hughes family farm.

The irony is that if the show were on today, the Snyder farm could be quite relevant when you think of the whole Farm to Table, Community Sourced Agriculture (CSA) movements. The arguments pro/con GMOs, pesticides, bee colony collapse. You would need skilled, knowledgeable writers who could write engaging storylines though...of which ATWT was in short supply toward the end of its run. I remember reading a story bible for ATWT years ago and didn't Grandpa Hughes leave his family farm to study & practice law? One quick way to tie the Hughes and Snyders would've been to say that at the end of their lives, Grandpa Hughes' parents decided to sell the farm to a young rural couple who would turn out to be Mr. & Mrs. Snyder. There might have been a reason for the likes of Bob to venture out to the farm occasionally. I agree with those who say the farm was to isolated from Oakdale. I remember seeing episodes where Meg mentioned that she had to hitchhike from 'town' back to Luthor's Corner due to the distance and no buses going all the way out there after a certain time. Making the farm less than 10 miles from Oakdale might have solved that problem. Also, if there were a Farmer's Market located in Luthor's Corners (maybe even at the Snyder Farm) where practically all of Oakdale got their fresh produce and dairy and maybe some of the Snyders did deliveries to the wealthier customers like Lucinda Walsh, Barbara Ryan and Lisa-- but perhaps that would fit into a storyline written today and not the '80s nor the '90s. I know that had they brought back one of Julie and Caleb's kids or Aaron, armed with a degree in agricultural science, determined to 'save' the farm, that could have kept the farm relevant.

The only thing that really bothered me about the Snyder kitchen was that grubby looking refrigerator. You'd think that all those Snyder kids to pool together and get Emma a nice retro refrigerator. Something like:

So interesting about that Bill Cosby/Jeopardy tidbit. It's very telling that Lorne Michael was NOT responsible for hiring Eddie Murphy at SNL. And I think that fact permeates the (non) relationship between the two men. And as funny as I find Chris Rock, he was much funnier before and after SNL. Some people claim he had trouble with the cue cards but the success of his own show on HBO IMO dispels that. The majority of the material he had to work with just didn't seem to suit his comedic impulses, he labored a lot to try to make it funny, but personally I found much of it just wasn't all that funny. One of the reasons why I'm kind of glad Jim Carey wound up on In Living Color, not SNL. He's had some a few funny skits on his guest appearances on SNL but very few were memorable. The same cannot be said of In Living Color...I mean who doesn't recognize Fire Marshall Bill?!

Don't know whether this has been posted previously but Renée Elise Goldsberry is in a musical by Lin Manuel Miranda (In The Heights) about Alexander Hamilton at the Public Theater, which is being referred to as the 'hottest ticket in town'.

Here's a clip with Robin Williams portraying a William F. Buckley type and Eddie Murphy playing a sociologist PhD of some sort. They're talking pure nonsense but sadly, not out of line with many cable chat shows: https://screen.yahoo.com/firing-line-000000469.htmlhttps://screen.yahoo.com/firing-line-000000469.html Today, SNL pretty much shies away from this incendiary type of humor that it once did during an earlier time, which is probably why neither Garrett Morris nor Eddie did much during the SNL 40. On another note, I think Dana Carvey's song fell flat because there was no Phil Hartman to react with those hilarious facial expressions. That seemed to be much of the problem with some of the sketches-- they seemed to be performed in a vacuum and to me, many fell flat because of this.