Hello, Shaybelle,
We’re in sync where Stella is concerned…..every day is a new revelation ……I hope her story unfolds as you predict…❤️
PS….We finally went to see FREDDIE’s story ( girls-night-out)….What can I say?? It was a pretty good rendition, yet I could not get into it…..my sisters thought Malek was incredibly en pointe…..hmmmm, well….that’s because they have never been true fans.
I am at a loss for words, Shay, describing how much I love Freddie Mercury; and, no one will ever be able to capture his essence; his core; his soul.
There are only a few who possess this ultimate mystique…. David Bowie is another artist who has that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ quality–unconquerable!!
Elvis Presley had the voice ( the king, for sure), but I never hear the tortured-inner-self in the timbre of his tonality when I hear him singing…..
This is, obviously, just my personal feeling and opinion…..
A presto…..

@CeeCee….I totally “get” your reaction to BR…I told you before that I found it to be a well-made nostalgia trip back to another time and place, but there was really not one minute that I bought into the notion that Malek “was” Freddie Mercury, despite the fact he did a very credible acting job. In all candor, he seemed a bit too soft and pretty to fill the role….not nearly as powerfully masculine, physically imposing or charismatically charming as the original issue. (In fact, there was a split second early on in the band’s history when a poutily-posed performing Rami looked more like Jagger to me…) Then again, how does anyone truly morph into a “legend?” Like you said, Bowie would be another real-life character whose otherwordly essence could never be captured by another mere mortal….some artists are just too unique and elusive in their personas to be replicated with any reasonable degree of authenticity….that’s just the way it is. However, I still applaud Malek’s efforts…he helped make this project an entertaining one to watch, even for those of us who were not avowed Queen fans, and has deservedly been awarded acting accolades for his work….Let’s face it, it was a thankless task even attempting to step into Freddie’s shoes, let alone impossible to being able to actually fill them! Still glad you finally saw the film….hope you enjoyed your “girls’ night out!” Ciao….P.S. Should be interesting to see how “Stella and her new groove” play out!!!!

Hello, my Shay,
I have a two-hour class-free break, LOL.
I do believe you have described my feelings exactly…..another soapland friend who gets me.
I like your remark on Malek’s trying-to-imitate- Freddie’s pout. Hilarious…..considering Freddie’s pout was not deliberate….his teeth gave him that “pouty” look…..
To me, Shay? Even his ‘jutting’ teeth looked fantastic….they were part of his persona.
Actually, the story behind his teeth is that his dentist had advised Freddie not to tamper with his teeth because any work would affect his vocal chords.
Thank you for touching upon my outing with the girls….I have three sisters and we love spending time together, among many other female friends…..
One of the commenters suggested that Stella’s change of wardrobe is due to a probable “beau”? Some guy on the horizon? Her “friend” from the past said he was married…..but, hey….it’s a soap.
I thought Auntie went “all out” for Mike. I would have liked that. ……I think TPTB should show a romantic side to Mike; not simply allow him to wither away with the Alzheimer’s story.
Soon❤️.

And I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule for your response, CeeCeeGirl! Huge apologies for not getting back to you much, much sooner…once December arrives, it’s busy, busy, busy! Trying to fit in all the friends, family and fun of the non-stop holiday revelry amidst the necessary year-end business makes for very long days….exhausting, yet simultaeously exhiliarating! But I love it just the same!!! Having said that,I hope in addition to enjoying your “ladies’ night at the movies,” you have (or is it already had???) a wonderful birthday celebration!!!! Needless to say, soaps are not on my list of priorities at the moment, so I am far behind on GH—-other than reading recaps! This is even my first visit here in weeks. At any rate, I wanted to be sure to return to extend my best wishes to you and yours for a blessed, magical Christmas and happy, healthy new year! As for “getting you”…why, yes, I believe I really do! If there’s anything I’m truly grateful for during our correspondence here, it’s that we had the opportunity to discover each other when we were more at liberty to share our thoughts and views, particularly on the “old” website…I doubt we’d ever be able to replicate that experience had we just “met” today on this incarnation…hence it’s oh so nice to have that lovely “history” on our side….I shall treasure it always! Grazie per essere mia amica cara e buone feste e tanti auguri! Piu tardi!

Ava is one of my favorite characters! Not only do I not find her pure evil, I don’t find her evil at all. Has she done hateful things? The only one I can’t forgive her for was framing AJ. The other things? Meh. She’s done way less than Sonny and Carly.

Ava is a muti-faceted character. She’s not Helena, Faison, Ryan. THEY are pure evil! She’s of the criminal element, but in actuality hasn’t been in the mob in years. She feels remorse, regret, hurt, rage…lashes out when wounded.

I love her and don’t even get me started when Carly tries to play mommy to Avery. Sickening. I’d love for her to get Avery back permanently.

I’d be beyond disappointed if Ava was written off the show. I always look forward to her scenes whether as the sophisticated gallery owner,the insecure woman, the mom who loved her daughter but couldn’t iron out the dysfunctional relationship no matter how hard she tried.

There ARE times I wanna smack her, too. But then I forgive her. 😉

“Has she done hateful things?”
Well, yeah! How about killing Connie, for starters?!
And she plotted to kill her brother!

Not multi-faceted, just oh-so-predictable–thus B-O-R-I-N-G–the death (pun intended, here 🙂 knell of a good, multi-faceted villain.

That said, I’m not excusing Sonny nor nor Jason, etc, etc, etc.

The whole show is skewed, “bent,” that way–has been for a long time, ever since TPTB became enamored with killers, evil persons whom they kept on the show when they were written in a corner–taken too far–then the writers tried to “redeem” them.

Anecdotally, one thing that is particularly repugnant is when Sonny, for example, goes into the church to pray. Ugh!

To each his/her own, Nancy.

I could care less that she killed Connie. Connie was no saint (though I liked when Megan played her). She agreed to marry Sonny…and he kills people! So, ummm, if she’s okay with that then I guess she accepted the risks. And was okay with others getting killed. Ava didn’t just randomly shoot her; she found out Ava and Julian were Jeromes and was going to expose them. It was a “business” move. Oh, well.

Don’t remember Ava trying to kill Julian.

I see the good side of Ava. I see the side that helped Jason escape from the Russian clinic even though she didn’t know who he was and there was nothing in it for her.

The woman who contributes to The Nurse’s Ball even though everyone hates her.

I see the Ava that was ready to die rather than let Silas take cells from Avery which could save her (Ava’s) life when she was dying of leukemia.

I see the vulnerable side of Ava who is always searching for love and acceptance and has been turned into the town pariah while others who have done far worse bask in friendship and family.

Also see a woman who had a terrible rivalry with her daughter, but yet kept trying to be close to that daughter even though she, Kiki, sided with Sonny and Carly who wanted to kill her, who helped keep Avery from her and who ulimately stabbed her in the back in the end with Griffin. Instead of leaving their rivalry in the past, Kiki started it all back up and laughed her way smugly through it while Ava suffered…yet Ava STILL tried to make amends when she went knocking on her door only to find Griffin there.

I see a multi-faceted Ava. One who is capable of great wrath, fury, vengeance but one who also has guilt, regret, self-doubt, a desire to do right and then ultimately falters. But I also see vulnerability; taking a lot of crap from people who shouldn’t be slinging it.

She was tortured when went through the fire. Not just physically but emotionally; had a lot of introspective moments about what she claimed was her “ugliness on the inside.”

So. You see her as one-sided. I see her many sides.

I loved Tony Soprano, too. Love Ray Donovan. Hate Carly. The difference is their personalities and what I feel for them when I watch them. Carly makes me cringe. Ava keeps me riveted.

I partially agree with you, Rose. I, too, loved walking down memory lane watching that classic GH Thanksgiving. I miss those days, those characters, relationships… that complete feeling like you were walking into a familiar home and families. It was a time for soaps that we’ll never get back. Many of the characters we loved are passed, retired or fired. The core families gone. Just a massacre.

With that said, I love the Ryan story. Jon Lindstom is amazing. I’ve been looking forward to the show again and I can’t wait to see what happens.

I’m much more upset by Oscar’s cancer than with Kiki’s murder. Kiki’s murder brings excitement, action, revenge, to the show. Something we haven’t had in a while.

Oscar’s story is just depressing. They gave him a terminal brain cancer. Now that is about as depressing as a show can go. Whether they’re trying to recreate the Stone/Robin tragedy/emotional wallop, or whether they just conjured the idea up on their own, I think it was a horrible place to go. No doubt there are times I’ll be crying tears of joy and sadness throughout the story; but feeling the emotions doesn’t make me appreciate the story. I’m just pissed that they’re taking us to a very dark place for those battling illness or who have loved and lost people to devastating illness. That’s not escapism; it’s art imitating life at its worst.

Rebecca1…Good to hear from you. Where I do agree with you on the Ryan story is that Jon Lindtrom is great in the role. And we still have his better half having to be recused from Ferncliff. But I wish his killings weren’t so awful. This time i don’t mind Carly being involved, but I hope it’s Laura and Spencer who find Ryan out. Or even Ava? Now this would make an interesting twist. Maybe another step in her redemption which will take much doing. She’s been very, very bad, and the writers have really painted her into a corner.

I felt bad for Kiki mainly because she had mostly outgrown her teen mistakes, and Ava, to become one of the more “heroic” characters so sorely needed in the new generation of GH characters. And poor Griffin.

Then there are all of the depressing stories. I want Oscar to live. Plus I really like the actor, and even how Cameron and Joss are handling the the ripple effect situation he got put into. Even Alexis who I continue to like. A future with her and Julian again? Wouldn’t bother me. But I really don’t like how they are pulling the other kids and babies into misbehaving, bullying, and switching baby stories. Plus Mike’s alzheimers. And all the pharma ads they run in between. I know this is soaps picking up on real life, but please not all together. It’ bad enough out in the real world as it is.

As far as the Q family Thanksgiving feelings, seems in real life and the soaps most of who we liked and loved are fading into the past and gone. I have always felt I grew up in the best of times. Certainly without the proliferation of tech, and how it has overtaken our lives. Even the great sci-fi writers warned of it. Don’t envy what I see for the newer generation. But I don’t quit hoping and praying for a better future.

Happy Holidays Rebecca and everyone else..

Now, a voice of reason. Thanks, Rose! 🙂

Hello again, Rose. Thank you for your reply…I’m sorry I took so long to respond…Once the holiday season is upon us, I have trouble keeping up. At any rate, it has been an absolute age since I had any expectation whatsoever that viewing GH would be an uplifting experience…about the only emotions that it stirs in me is frequent boredom and exasperated disdain!…I cannot get invested in any of the characters beyond those with whom I already had been from decades past….hence if I want to feel any warm and fuzzy reactions regarding them, I just go to YouTube and watch some GH classic like Laura’s stunning return from “the dead,” Frisco’s debut or Anna and Duke’s beautiful Scottish-based wedding…plus, plenty of others from which to choose, as they reinforce my belief that my lack of feelings for today’s GH is their problem and not mine—-considering that 30-year old episodes can still touch me unlike any modern examples!!! However, what I was attempting to stress is that it was those portrayals of both positive and negative life events that were once a daily staple of soaps that made them so relatable and irresistible to us. There were tons of tragedies that occurred on a regular basis in those daytimes of yesteryears and I don’t recall anyone claiming that it traumatized them…all that we discussed were the high drama, fabulous performances…and how we wanted more!!! I guess it’s simply a difference in sensibilities between then and now. In my opinion, people, in general, are far too easily offended and upset by anything these days…life is life, and I believe one simply needs to deal with that fact…certainly, it’s not always joyful and pleasant, but one does what one must to accept it with grace and resolve…as those who came before us did, without benefit of safe spaces and other newfangled devices designed to placate today’s society snowflakes. That was just the way we handled things before, and this country was far better for it. (By the way, whilst I agree with you about being fortunate that we grew up in a less tech-savvy world, I have to add that I maintain my parents’ formative times were actually superior to my own. They were born into the world’s best nation where peace, prosperity and love of God and country were the norm…I can only wish I lived through those halcyon days…the closest I came to them were the ‘80’s and they sadly came to a hasty end in the early 90’s, and we’ve never gotten them back!) At any rate, I still believe there is much beauty left to delight us if one just knows where to look. I regulary watch wonderful movies and tv series which not only entertain me, but inform, enrich and inspire me, albeit none of them is domestically-produced. For me, it’s all about foreign programming these days, especially those breathtaking period projects!…However, I do concur with you about AJ…that is one GH character who should never have… Read more »

Oh, I totally agree with that, AVP. One of the things I was looking to the most was bringing back and really featuring Lucy, Felicia and Mac. But these writers have no interest in the history or what older viewers remember. They brought him back but took his story to the characters that are already on the canvas. One, they’re always trying to attract younger viewers and they could care less if Felicia died or was still Ryan’s focus. They don’t really know “her.” No history with her, Mac or Lucy. There’s no emotional investment there. I think she and Lucy were just brought in for a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it-scene to tie it to the past.

Sadly, we can rant and rave all we want; they’re just not going to bring back the well of vets who are out there..Felicia, Mac, Lucy, Scorpio…it’s a soap sin!

With that said, I think the story they ARE telling is good, soapy fare. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

But I don’t get their editing; the choices they’re making. They’re in the height of the drama with Kiki’s death and then they cut to Britt in the hospital with Anna and Finn. NO! Stay on this story now that it’s emotionally charged. Don’t go from story to story in the same hour!