DramatistDreamer

Oh, that theme song brings back memories of rushing home from school to catch the second half, hoping that I remembered to set the VCR to record the entire episode (sometimes discovering that I forget to properly set the timer). That theme song and Dan Region's voice...so comforting. And the anticipation of seeing the next episode. I just don't get that feeling from any of these remaining daytime dramas How I wish I had kept many of my VHS tapes, there are episodes that I'd love to see again that, sadly, are missing from You Tube.

I've been reading about this for the last few weeks. The strange thing is that all 3 heads of England's political parties- Cameron, Clegg and Milliband refused the more autonomous 'middle path' that Salmond proposed in 2012, opting for a Yes or No referendum in 2014-- now the last minute proposal that all 3 English party leaders are pitching is strikingly similar to what they flat out refused two years ago. Salmond and Sturgeon (I kid you not, these are their names) and other pro Scottish independence leaders are partly scoffing at the recent pitch, and the other part is asking for more specifics. Perhaps if Cameron, Clegg, Milliband and Gordon Brown all sing backup for Al Green while he sings "Let's Stay Together"? I believe tomorrow is the Vote. And some prognosticators are saying that polling indicates that it is too close to call. Politics in Europe is a bit more complex than just the rise of Anti-Semitism. It has also been about the steady rise of Anti-Immigration from North & West Africa as well as from Eastern European countries like Poland, which is why you see far right parties like UKIP in England and the National Front in France making surprising gains in the last few years. That, with the mainly harsh consequences of austerity measures (interesting that both the far left and the far right parties seem to hate austerity measures) and the EU and euro seeming to not live up to its promise-- all blend into a toxic stew that threatens to promote nationalism and derail the Euro project. I must admit a little surprise upon hearing about Sweden, which I've always read about having a pretty good standard of living. I would have thought Norway and Denmark before Sweden. I do think that many of these Far Right Wing parties are hiding behind protectionist sensibilities to promote their agendas. And people who are skittish about the EU's bent on austerity and making everyone conform to one rigid standard is what is propelling people to take a second look at these nationalist parties. And then there are the ones who've always been on the extreme right margins who are longtime supporters.

And I present that to all the misogynists who squawk at equal prize money. Sometimes entertainment is not about punching a time clock. The Gentleman's Championship at Wimbledon was far more entertaining tha the Ladies Championship but that's the beauty of equal prize money--it is often a trade off. I just wish someone would slam the door on this argument where the sexists are concerned. Anywho, I don't know about ESPN, they can be really petty. I don't subscribe to cable so I watch on their WATCH ESPN site because my ISP participates in ESPN3 but I am often frustrated by the piss poor quality of their stream and the blackouts of their matches. I watched most of the U.S. Open on usopen.org. I saw the semifinals and finals on CBSsports.com and the streaming was far superior. I am kind of lamenting the idea that tennis will only be on paid networks. No longer can people from all walks of life tune in to CBS, NBC, ABC or even PBS to watch. I guess Tennis has given up trying to appeal to the masses and has accepted its niche designation.

Why did the jumbo-tron immediately pan to Cilic's girlfriend after he was presented with the Champion's check for $3 million? I know she was probably gleeful at his winning the title but that gleeful expression could be interpreted as quite something else. All that was missing was the 'Ka-ching' cash register sound effects!

...speaking of players who disrupted the 'Big 4', will we ever seen a healthy Juan Martin de Potro again?? I'm kind of curious as to how Kei's story is going over in China. I know at one time Chang briefly worked with a few Chinese players some years back, don't know what became of that. And I know that China and Japan are in a difficult diplomatic place politically. Chang is Chinese-American, I know but I'm really curious if his coaching Kei and Kei's success is getting any mention in Chinese media?

Does anyone think that this will open the floodgates for other players on the Men's side? Or will this be considered a temporary blip? I heard that last time that neither Fed, Rafa, Nolé or Murray were in a Final was the 2005 Oz final between Safin vs. Hewitt. That obviously did not open the floodgates or other players challenging 'The Big 4' but maybe because Safin and Hewitt were veterans and previous Slam winners in their own right, and not 1st timers like Kei and Cilic. Sometimes these breakthroughs lead to other breakthroughs. Stan Wawrinka's victory didn't seem to change much of the pecking order but 2 first time Finalists perhaps? What do you think?

Actually, she was there, calling the line, in Serena's SF vs. Makarova. And yes, Serena did get called for a foot fault but it didn't seem to affect Serena at all, she just kept it moving. Yes, I am glad for Kei, hoping for a Fed/Nishikori final but Fed, honestly was fortunate to get past Monfils. Had Monfils had Cilic's focus, it's doubtful that Fed would've gotten to the SF.

(LOL) I'm superstitious that way too.

I wonder, if the show had stayed on air long enough...might Emily eventually be married to Henry?

By the last decade or so, I think ATWT characters, particularly female characters, lacked that kind of complexity. Most characters were either written completely as witches with a B, or maudlin, pathetic and tragic. Seeing these episodes of Barbara & Hal declaring that their's will be the last marriage each of them has (which, of course, it wasn't) made me think of Hal and Emily and just how much Emily seemed to shadow Barbara's romantic and relationship entanglements. Lemme see... There was James Stenbeck The affair with Tonio Reyes Marriage to Hal entanglement with Tom Hughes Although they diverged where Paul was concerned, in the very beginning Emily was like a big sister/step-maternal surrogate for Paul before James' 'murder' when Barbara got framed (where he eventually turned up alive), which changed once the relationship between Emily & Paul became sexual. Eventually it became a twisted relationship (especially during the years RH was playing Paul), then again Paul's relationship with everyone (including Barbara) had become twisted and demented during that time. Kind of weird, don't you think?

I was a kid at the time and I remember thinking that these relatively new two characters were monopolizing too much time. Now, though, I actually appreciate some aspects of Laura and Beau's strange and fraught relationship. Also, now that I see how poorly soaps can write mental illness, I think how Laura was written was not half bad. From a writing perspective, I think some aspects of Laura's descent into madness were a bit rushed but I think the actress was quite good, especially compared to what I see with today's soaps. I love it when Kim talks TOUGH because she's so nice and sunny otherwise that it really stands out. She also threatened to rip out Laura's little blonde hairs out of her head. And that conversation between Kim and Bob where Kim said she almost wanted to laugh when Laura was describing the faux affair tickled me for some reason. Kim usually had a very good B.S. detector.

From the New York Times, In Performance clip with Billy Magnussen and Anna Gunn: http://www.nytimes.com/video/theater/100000003031488/in-performance-gunn-and-magnussen.html

I read that someone in the crowd responded to Maria "You better check your decibel levels"

I'm glad she beat the Shark. I was watching a European online stream and Nigel Sears who used to coach Ivanovic said that her heart racing has happened sometimes, it has even happened in practice. According to Sears, she never knows when it will happen. He predicted she would lie down for a moment and that is exactly what ended up happening. Occasionally, when I'm working out, I've experienced a racing heart and it is not a good feeling. It's not a frequent occurrence but when it does happen, it's startling.

Didn't they used to call that a bone bruise in the '90s? I'm not sure what's going on but how much tennis has he actually been playing to have a stressed bone? Lawd, that just sounded so skivvy! Deliciano! Yes, that's the nickname Judy Moo nicknamed him. I'm not usually a long hair afficionado (I was so glad when Nadal chopped his) but I'm not sure about Felciano's short hair and beard. He can never be unattractive but with his current look, now I feel like he needs to be wearing a turtleneck or something. Yes, I'm being shallow. I guess the fact that he's playing well is more important.

Although I like Fed, YAY Tsonga! Venus is a class act. Aga could learn a thing or two from her about humility based on Aga's skirmishes with Azarenka and a few other players in her age group. I was hoping Venus would win but she played great tennis every match except today. And I'm so glad she finally vanquished the likes of Angeliqe Kerber and Carla Suarez Navarro who had gotten the best of her that last few times she played them. And yes, I even include dearly beloved Serena in that last of people I'm happy she got the W against. I'm sort of irritated at all the comments online about how Serena supposedly eased up on Venus-- hey, if Serena were truly trying to do a 'solid' she would've bowed out in 2 sets but Serena hates to lose, so I don't buy that theory. Now I believe playing Venus makes her uncomfortable but I don't believe she would intentional bow to her sister. Anyway, I hope that both Tsonga and Venus will have a terrific summer hardcourt season and U.S. Open. What is up with that Star Wars music at the T.O. Masters Tournament?

I actually think that Sock's doubles exploits are starting to pay dividends. Sloane Stephens should actually consider playing doubles sometime as it may yield good results for her too.

Poor Gäel, he really needs to get his ranking up so he doesn't get such an unforgiving draw! Annoyingly persistant Stepanek in the 1st round, now Djokovic. Ugh. The best Monf can hope for is that Nolé will still have honeymoon lapses but I wouldn't count on it. Plus, Novak's gotta earn that baby money now (LOL). I didn't see the Bouchard/Rogers match but I heard Bouchard was having a meltdown in the 1st set. Is this true?

I'm not sure whether this is the proper thread to post this but, I find it interesting that Procter & Gamble is shedding a WHOLE LOT OF its brands (more than 1/2, I think). I'm wondering if all those people who threatened to boycott their products after the cancellations of ATWT & GL had an effect? Or is it just the sign of the times and greater competition in the market? http://grab-media.com/premium-videos/5317919

Yeah, that was a winnable match for Venus but too many silly UEs. Serena has already silenced the chatterboxes. I didn't get to see any of the Men's matches, maybe today? Soapsuds, Andy can be bratty at times but he seems to have a self-less reason for doing this. In an interview, he said, it didn't sit right with him that Fish had such a negative final experience with tennis and wanted to help him create a better one-- at least, that was the impression that I got. Still, I have to side with the USTA on this one (which I rarely do as they often get many things wrong). It is too late. Al of the tennis organizations have to remain in line with WADA's drug testing policy with NO EXCEPTIONS. Could you imagine the furor, if the USTA tried to side-step this policy? Some people already think tennis players aren't tested as often as other athletes (which shocked me, since I think most tennis stars are tested very often for the last decade or so) and if the USTA or the ATP were to flout WADA's policies, it would be like catnip to the critics. Andy could have competed had he re-entered testing at least 4 months ago but it seems he approached Fish months ago and Fish waivered and just said yes recently! Last minute guys...

She still acts, apparently, but did anyone know that Ewa da Cruz (Vienna Hyatt, ATWT) designs? Dreamcatchers and jewelry? https://www.facebook.com/auroraspiritsnewyork/info I was reading this fitness, health & wellness blog and saw this random article about dreamcatchers. I wasn't really familiar with what it was so I started reading and noticed the name Ewa da Cruz and thought about Vienna from ATWT but it seemed so random that I did a Google search and discovered that she sells some pretty high end Dreamcatchers at ABC Home. And she's attended Burning Man festival. Vienna, she is not (LOL)!

I don't know how many of you read sports journalism (I'm guessing most do) and if you're familiar with Neil Harman's work but this is quite a revelation: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports/2014/07/neil_harman_plagiarism_the_all_england_club_discovered_journalistic_malfeasance.2.html As a writer myself, I could only imagine what it feels like to have the words that you worked so tirelessly to craft and put on a blank page, raided by someone else to be put on the pages of a book that is a collector's item and preserved for posterity with not even so much as a nod in your direction. And his excuses are a day late and a dollar short. Or should that be 3,652 days late! Maybe because Jayson Blair dispensed with the excuses and openly admitted he'd committed plagarism at New York Times-- he got dragged. Neil Harman? Got to keep his credentials, still invited to the Champions Dinner...not so much.

Billy Magnussen (Casey, ATWT) is in a new play with Anna Gunn: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/theater/anna-gunn-and-billy-magnussen-star-in-sex-with-strangers.html

Has anyone seen this? https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-usta-give-andy-roddick-and-mardy-fish-a-wildcard-to-play-the-us-open

I never got to see it (*whines*). I have been watching episodes on TV One's website which are generally posted a week after they air on broadcast (I don't have cable) and it seems as though they never got around to posting the episode on THG on their website! And I don't see it on You Tube or any of the other usual places. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait for Unsung Hollywood Season 2 in hopes that they might remember that they never posted the final episode of Season 1. I'm glad Unsung is back though. I never found Montell Jordan or his music that interesting but it sounds like his personal life during his heyday sure was!