Faulkner

Opelka beat Isner for the second time in two months and now shoots up to #59 in the live rankings by making a 250 final in New York.

I’m sure everyone saw that Carole Radziwill’s former mother-in-law passed.

These wild misses from Kei... SMH.

Monfils just beat Medvedev. Both guys looked a bit weary, and I thought Gael might choke it away.

Hilarious

Exactly. They are pissing off the only audience they’re going to have. And it’s still a pretty big audience at the moment. The Oscars are second to the Super Bowl in ratings each year. Granted, that audience will die off in the coming years if they don’t do a better job of selling it to young people. I can understand the anxiety. It’ll be sad if the Oscars become obsolete, though. They still matter a lot internationally. When I was in Singapore in 2017, I met a lot of people who’d seen Moonlight who’d never seen a black gay film. They watched it because of the Oscars’ seal of approval. It gives smaller, more artistic films a huge platform. (And I wasn’t even that crazy about Moonlight.)

Yeah, I remember Babe being acclaimed as well. I’m not sure Babe has this great legacy as a family film in the same way the more fashionable Pixar movies have had, so it’s a bit of a retcon. Some say Malek is being rewarded for surviving the Bryan Singer stuff, and since their on-set feud was so widely publicized (and notable since Malek is so well-known as the sweetest guy), he emerges looking pretty good. Plus, they love an actor transformation, and I’m not sure they liked Vice enough to reward Bale. And many folks just like Malek, even though he can come off as eccentric (especially with his creepy Mr. Robot role influencing how he’s perceived). And it’s a way of rewarding BoRhap’s success, even if the Academy is a bit more iffy on the movie overall.

There’s a lot of journalist pettiness and vanity here (Thompson and Bart upset about AMPAS president John Bailey personally snubbing them), but Bailey does sound incompetent in his role. Lots of poor communication.

Ha!

🎶 My Ana Konjuh don’t want none... Nishioka for JMdP’s first match back! Wow. Plus an all-Aussie affair with Kyrgios and Millman.

Not surprised they caved. It’s shocking how many dumb, insulting, poorly vetted decisions have come from the Academy in the past year. There’s so much fat that could be trimmed from the ceremony (lame presenter banter, montages) without touching the awards. Plus, there’s no host, so no need for a protracted opening/monologue.

This Munar kid is SO passive. He’s so frustrating to watch.

Jung had only played two main tour matches prior to this tournament.

Wow at Jason Jung beating Frances.