Out the window
A sentence from Josh Marshall that would make a fine sixth exhibit in George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.”
Orange Crate Art
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I hope
Indictment fever.
Mike Pence beareth false witness
Mike Pence just said that he and his wife Karen have “the three most beautiful granddaughters ever born in the history of the world.” Grandparents everywhere know that’s not true.
Amusements
From Steven Millhauser’s “Paradise Park.”
A lost sauce
Aunt Millie’s.
Astrud Gilberto (1940–2023)
I sometimes took the opportunity to play “The Girl from Ipanema” when teaching Odyssey 13, the episode in which Odysseus sees the princess Nausicaa frolicking on the beach with her maids. I played the album version, with no introduction, for greater mystery and, when the English lyrics kicked in, greater amusement.
A new Nancy book
Olivia Jaimes is a brilliant successor to Ernie Bushmiller. The Family Ritz and friends are in good hands.
Two kinds of people
Bruce Springsteen explains why he cannot agree to an interview about the Fender Stratocaster.
ATTN: Tim Cook
My surroundings already are “an infinite canvas.” I suspect that yours are too.
“White ladders”
From a Steven Millhauser story.
Recently updated
Munson Diners, now with more diner history.
“NEVER CLOSED”
Munson Diners in NYC.
“Bagels against th’ current”
In today’s Zippy, Dingburg seniors remember “th’ seventies,” when there was only one kind of bagel.
Today’s Olivia Jaimes?
Today’s Nancy is meta in more ways than one.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Competitors in the IPA market?”
“Way up in the dangerous air”
From a Steven Millhauser story.
Whatever became of the Lisa?
Do you remember the Apple Lisa? Do you know what beacame of it? A short film from The Verge: Apple’s Secret Burial.
Somebody Somewhere renewed
I’m happy to see that Somebody Somewhere has been renewed for a third season. It’s a show that deserves a much larger audience.
A minority report on Succession
Bill Wyman: “Succession was very much like what you would get if the Roy children themselves tried to do a grown-up HBO series.”
Longhand and a Smith-Corona
Robert Caro slows down the work of writing.
Editing
Words from Robert Gottlieb and Bryan Garner.
Taped to the lamp
The lamp belongs to Robert Caro.
F.S. Royster Guano Co. notebook
An antiques-mall find.
Pocket notebook sighting
From The Flight That Disappeared.
From 1945 and 1943
The fascist playbook, as described in a pamphlet for U.S. service members, repeats as the playbook of today’s hard right: cast one’s cause as “super-Americanism,” foment domestic disunity and hatred of minorities, reject the need for international cooperation, and label one’s opponents communists.
Where did the hats go?
What did men on planes do back in the day, when everyone wore a hat? A scene from a movie let me know.
Twelve movies
Big Eyes and others.
Recently updated
A thought about the John Berryman lines in Succession.
Books UnBanned
Books UnBanned offers readers between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one, anywhere in the United States, a year’s free access to the Brooklyn Public Library’s e-books and audiobooks.
Don’t like a library book?
From Take action for libraries, a handy step-by-step guide: “What do I do if I don't like a book at the library?”