Faulkner

I don’t agree with the sentiment (of course if you qualify for WTF, you’ll play that over some exo). And I have more confidence that Stefanos will back it up better than Hyeon, but...

No Bradley Cooper in Directing is the gag of this morning’s Oscar nominations. It’s funny: the Academy used to love actor/directors (Beatty, Redford, Costner, Gibson). Not so much anymore, with Ben Affleck getting snubbed a few years back for “Argo.” No Farrelly for Directing for Green Book, but Lanthimos got in for The Favourite. No Won’t You Be My Neighbor? in Documentary Feature is a big snub. Roma got two acting noms (for Aparicio and da Tavira), which shows some strength and a willingness to embrace Netflix (along with the surprising nods for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs). Lots of fear in the industry that Netflix wants to make them obsolete, of course, but that sentiment could be softening in terms of the awards academies. Emily Blunt shut out again, this year for two buzzy roles (Mary Poppins Returns and A Quiet Place). Spike got his first Director nod. Some of saying that Blackkklansman is well-positioned to take Best Picture. The Academy’s drive to diversify members in terms of race, gender, and especially nationality means that the results could begin to diverge from the precursor awards, so we’ll see. Best Picture A Star Is Born BlacKkKlansman Green Book Roma Black Panther Bohemian Rhapsody The Favourite Vice Directing Alfonso Cuarón, Roma Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman Adam McKay, Vice Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War Actor in a Leading Role Christian Bale, Vice Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born Viggo Mortensen, Green Book Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate Actress in a Leading Role Glenn Close, The Wife Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born Olivia Colman, The Favourite Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Yalitza Aparicio, Roma Actor in a Supporting Role Mahershala Ali, Green Book Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born Sam Rockwell, Vice Actress in a Supporting Role Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk Amy Adams, Vice Emma Stone, The Favourite Marina de Tavira, Roma Rachel Weisz, The Favourite Original Screenplay The Favourite First Reformed Green Book Roma Vice Adapted Screenplay The Ballad of Buster Scruggs BlacKkKlansman Can You Ever Forgive Me? If Beale Street Could Talk A Star Is Born Animated Feature Film Incredibles 2 Isle of Dogs Mirai Ralph Breaks the Internet Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Cinematography Cold War The Favourite Never Look Away Roma A Star Is Born Documentary Feature Free Solo Hale County This Morning, This Evening Minding the Gap Of Fathers and Sons RBG Documentary Short Subject Black Sheep End Game Lifeboat A Night at the Garden Period. End of Sentence. Foreign Language Film Cold War Roma Shoplifters Capernaum Never Look Away Makeup and Hairstyling Border Mary Queen of Scots Vice Costume Design Ballad of Buster Scruggs Black Panther The Favourite Mary Poppins Returns Mary Queen of Scots Film Editing BlacKkKlansman Bohemian Rhapsody The Favourite Green Book Vice Original Score Black Panther BlacKkKlansman If Beale Street Could Talk Isle of Dogs Mary Poppins Returns Animated Short Film Animal Behaviour Bao Late Afternoon One Small Step Weekends Live Action Short Film Detainment Fauve Mother Marguerite Skin Sound Editing Black Panther Bohemian Rhapsody First Man A Quiet Place Roma Sound Mixing Black Panther Bohemian Rhapsody First Man Roma A Star Is Born Visual Effects Avengers: Infinity War Christopher Robin First Man Ready Player One Solo: A Star Wars Story Original Song “All the Stars” from Black Panther “I’ll Fight” from RBG “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns “Shallow” from A Star Is Born “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Production Design Black Panther The Favourite First Man Mary Poppins Returns Roma

LOL. Just saw CoCo Vandeweghe and Mackenzie McDonald are the subjects of TC’s new season of My Tennis Life. (I swear Nicole Gibbs, Sam Groth, Lucie Safarova, and Jared Donaldson were all jinxed by it.) Tennis Channel must have a great ad sales team pimping it to sponsors, as I’m surprised it has enough viewership online to sustain it. Not that it’s very interesting: they didn’t even cover Donaldson’s “The mark was Right! Here!” tantrum at Monte Carlo last year, which is the sort of juicy content an audience would watch for.

There’s been a touch of backlash, which I don’t want to overstate.

Novak gets through a fading Medvedev in four.

Novak is up two sets to one now. Medvedev looks depleted, but still dangerous, and Novak is in a 0-30 hole in his first service game in the 4th set.

OMG Kei! Wins with an ace! PCB was PISSED. Didn’t shake umpire’s hand at the end. Thought a point in the super TB that was overruled and awarded to Kei should have been replayed. Full TB posted to YouTube: Coric out to Pouille! Zverev out to Raonic! Novak has split sets with Daniil, losing the 2nd in a TB.

Pliskova looks lethal.

Zverev falls again in a Slam. He didn’t show up in those first two sets, but once he actually exerted some effort in the third, it was too late, and Raonic took advantage.

What is going on with Sascha Zverev? 👀

Svitolina just beat Madison in a bizarre, topsy-turvy match to make the Aussie QFs for the second straight year. Meanwhile, if Osaka is to advance to meet Svitolina, she’ll have to come back from a set down again, this time against Cryface Sevastova.

Wow, Kafelnikov and Mary Pierce finally got in!

And “fúcking bitch” Pavs just knocked out Sloane.