Vee

James Kiberd!!!

There is an ongoing purge of non-original content and especially old TV/soaps from YouTube, which I suspect is not being driven by the rights-holders.

I thought some of the Walsh siblings' takeover used to be on YT. I never watched it bc I didn't know where to start, but I always wanted to.

Et tu, Barr?

Why?

I just don't think Olivia, in concept or character, resembled Brenda in any way beyond having dark hair. She was obviously a Lois clone and why they didn't just cast her as Lois in the first place is beyond me. She did audition for it in the 2000s but Lesli Kay got the part. I think Reese was an original Pratt concept that bombed bc in Wuhrer they thought they were casting a "name" from his old Spelling soap days and primetime cable who has never been a good actress or capable of authority. Annie Wersching (Amelia) went on to fame as Kiefer Sutherland's love interest and costar in the later seasons of 24. They stupidly killed her off in the final season. I liked Kate a lot. It's a shame what happened. What's strange is how they quickly brought in Olivia with Dante in the wings as a spoiler for Kate and Sonny and suggested she, not Kate, was his true love, after setting up Kate/Connie and her background with him so carefully. It's like someone (Guza or whoever) didn't like Kate/Ward and decided they needed to hedge their bets and establish Olivia as having an equally strong backstory with Sonny. That always pissed me off.

I don't think Olivia qualifies as a Brenda replacement; she was more a Lois pastiche (and silly, since Lisa auditioned for NuLois and was later paired with Ned; the character backgrounds are almost identical and Olivia knows Lois from Bensonhurst, but oh well, I like Lisa anyway). Reese I don't think had much resemblance beyond vague looks. The rest are def Brendabots. That Kristin whatserface recurring player who was also a brunette lawyer like Claire, before? they brought in Reese, when Mo's onscreen cachet was at a particular low. Jordan was her name. Embarrassing. ETA: Kristin Minter, that was it.

Thank God:

Finally:

The Marland ATWT binge has been a constant source of comfort for me this year. Silly as it sounds, returning day after day to places like the Snyder farm or the Hughes house (in the day-night cycle Marland's run often perpetuated during episodes) gave me a sense of time and place in endless lockdown. I hope more and more episodes will be moved to safe harbor on a private space/drive/whatever.

The slow death rattle of this administration and the desperate bleedout of these people has been a joy for me since Election Day.

LOL:

An absolute legend. This one is big for me as a devoted fan of Italian horror.

As I suspected, Ken Vogel will soon end up on Fox News.

Taibbi has mostly gone the way of Greenwald, etc. tho he still occasionally gets a figleaf. He doesn't have the status he had even five years ago, by which time his rage against Obama and the Dems was already predictable. Him disappearing all the way into the void could never happen soon enough for me.

Uh oh!

If you're wondering how it's going with professional contrarians like 20-year Hunter S. Thompson cosplayer Matt Taibbi, the answer is 'about how you'd expect'.

It's so pleasing seeing him like this.

Nah, same here.

This is the weirdest Macy's Thanksgiving Parade I have ever seen. Empty streets but for the parade floats, dancers and camera crews/workers. I was there last year with my father who likes to sit on the corner uptown and watch. Now, this. Empty in the rain as performers dance and wave at nothing. The Verizon livefeed on YT is odd. At least Al Roker was out there on NBC still doing his part.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!