… you can talk about whatever you want.
३० मार्च, २०२४
"[I]f you’re not completely sympathetic to its pro forma progressivism, you may come away... alienated by its relentlessly right-on wall labels."
Writes Sebastian Smee, in "A superb Whitney Biennial, marred by flimsy politics/The 81st edition of this closely watched survey of contemporary art is the best in a decade" (WaPo)(free access link).
Bees are back.
Writes Andrew Van Dam in "Wait, does America suddenly have a record number of bees?" (WaPo)(free access link).
"Goal for 2024: 400 books. Last year I did 388. The year before I did 350. So I’ll just see if it’s possible to do 400. I think I’ll make it...."
People say to me, “Are you playing a lot more golf since you retired?” But now that I can golf every day, what I’d rather do is read. The pandemic crystallized how I wanted to spend my spare time. There was nothing on TV. All of a sudden I had this time from 4:30 to 8:30 in the morning, and I thought, “Gosh, I should really spend more time reading.”...
His tip:
James Taylor sings and comments on the old Chock Full o' Nuts coffee jingle.
"Donald Trump is presenting himself as the Man on the Cross, tortured for our sins."
Maureen Dowd meowed, in "Donald Trump, Blasphemous Bible Thumper" (NYT).
२९ मार्च, २०२४
"... I’m an asshole. Much like Sacha Baron Cohen is an asshole. Although unlike Sacha, I labour under no illusions about my assholeishness..."
Writes Giles Coren, in "The real Sacha Baron Cohen has always been on show/Rebel Wilson may be right about the Borat creator, but being an ‘asshole’ is part of what makes him a comedy great" (London Times).
"But state officials worried about terrorism had focused on bombs and bad guys in small boats, not an errant 95,000-gross-ton container ship...."
From "Officials studied Baltimore bridge risks but didn’t prepare for ship strike" (WaPo).
"That its plot makes no sense is not really the problem with 'Tommy.'"
Writes Jesse Green, in "'Tommy' Goes Full Tilt in a Relentless Broadway Revival/Will the Who’s rock opera about a traumatized boy hit the jackpot again?" (NYT).
"If nothing else, reflecting on the social roots of your political opinions and behavior should prompt some humility."
Writes sociology professor Neil Gross, in "When It Comes to Politics, Are Any of Us Really Thinking for Ourselves?" (NYT).Another occasion to roll out the old adage, "All the assholes are over on the other side":
"The 25 Most Defining Pieces of Furniture From the Last 100 Years."
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap....
I'm reading "4 Presidents, 2 Events and a Preview of Campaign Clashes to Come/President Biden raised $25 million at a Radio City Music Hall event, adding to his huge cash edge, after Donald Trump pushed his law-and-order message at a wake for a police officer killed on duty" (NYT).
Three Presidents were sitting in white armchairs before people who'd paid up to $500,000 apiece to sit in the audience in the most beautiful theater in the country. The comments over there are mostly about the fourth President. That guy, Mr. Trump, steals focus from everything.
Also stealing attention were the protesters at the 3-Presidents event. They were shouting "blood on your hands." Obama chided them: "You can’t just talk and not listen. That’s what the other side does." Seems to me protesters on Obama's side have interrupted more speeches than those on the other side. But it's subjective, and the old adage is as true as ever: All the assholes are over on the other side.
"I’ve cried and prayed every night for over six years straight that I would remain a free Black woman."
Said Crystal Mason, quoted in "Woman Who Received 5-Year Sentence in Voter Fraud Case Is Acquitted/A Texas appeals court reversed its earlier opinion that had upheld the conviction of Crystal Mason, who was found guilty of illegally casting a provisional ballot in 2016, even though she claimed she hadn’t known she was ineligible to vote" (NYT).
२८ मार्च, २०२४
"[His mother] said he had no interest in small talk but would 'engage passionately and relentlessly with ideas to the point that can exasperate and exhaust others.'"
From "Sam Bankman-Fried: ‘awkward nerd’ lied at trial, judge tells sentencing/Crypto investors lost $8 billion and prosecutors call it one of the biggest financial cons in history. His defenders — especially his lawyer parents — see it differently" (London Times)
"Modesty garments — multiple layers of underwear, flesh-colored shorts and fabric with genital-shaped silicone barriers..."
From a NYT article called "Death by Genitalia? How an Intimacy Director Made Those ‘Teeth’ Work. Creating the sex scenes for the horror musical required close attention to detail, extra communication and some strategically placed silicone."
"Mr. Trump ended the first day of public trading $4.6 billion richer on paper...."
"He keeps repeating the argument that 'purpose-related tools' can make 'our democracy more workable.'"
Reasons why I'm not making an Amazon link for the book:
"I think if work is asked to be accommodating, to be subservient, to be useful to, to be required to, to be subordinated to, then the artist is in trouble."
... Richard Serra died yesterday....
It continues:
"As the sky darkens, light-sensitive cells in human eyes become more sensitive to blue and green hues than to reds and oranges."
२७ मार्च, २०२४
"The majority of the financial fallout is likely to lay primarily with the insurance industry...."
From "Here's who could be responsible for paying for the Baltimore bridge disaster" (Business Insider).
"The Ronna McDaniel Debacle and the Test for Talking Heads."
Writes Jeff Greenfield, at Politico. Greenfield is "a five-time Emmy-winning network television analyst" who moved from political operative to media analyst way back in the 1970s.
"Users frequently leverage TikTok features to add commentary to his posts in mocking ways. After the campaign posted a video..."
From "Biden’s TikTok Challenge: Reach Gen Z, Without Drawing Its Wrath/For his campaign, navigating the platform has meant encountering over and over some of the thorniest issues plaguing Mr. Biden’s re-election bid" (NYT).
"The seventeenth-century friar Joseph of Cupertino flew so often, so extravagantly, so publicly, that he forced everyone around him..."
Writes Erin Maglaque in "Wings of Desire/A gullible new book raises the question of how we should interpret the history of the supernatural in early modernity" (NYRB). The book under review is "They Flew: A History of the Impossible" by Carlos M.N. Eire.
It's a trap, and they fall into it.
Read more about Trump's Bible, here, at Axios. Oh! I see Trump isn't raising money: "None of the money garnered from the Bible will go toward Trump's presidential campaign, the website states."
"Never before had an alliance been conducted in so personal a fashion: two aristocrats, both gifted amateurs exuding..."
From a 1977 review of "2 books with nearly identical titles" — "Roosevelt and Churchill 1939-1941: The Partnership That Saved the West" and "Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence."
"Trump is America’s biggest comedian. His badinage is hardly Wildean, but his put-downs, honed to the sharpness of stilettos..."
Asks Fintan O'Toole, in "Laugh Riot/To understand Trump’s continuing hold over his fans, we have to ask: Why do they find him so funny?" (NYRB).
Maybe that's behind a paywall, and you can't read O'Toole's answer. Maybe you can answer his question on your own. I can't quote the whole thing.
२६ मार्च, २०२४
Judicial restraint rears its head at this morning's abortion-pill oral argument.
“We've had...a rash of universal injunctions... This case seems like a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly on an FDA rule or any other federal government action.”
— The Recount (@therecount) March 26, 2024
— SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch hits recent mifepristone rulings pic.twitter.com/5yarbyQC5s
"Trump social media stock skyrockets in first day of trading."
ADDED: From the NYT article on the subject: "Before the merger, shares of the shell company... had long behaved as something of a proxy for investor sentiment about Mr. Trump.... By most traditional measures, Trump Media’s valuation is inordinately high. The company took in just $3.3 million in revenue during the first nine months of last year, all from advertising on Truth Social, and recorded a loss of $49 million."
So... overvaluation seems to be a theme with Trump. Here the market is doing the valuation. It's not Trump's valuation his own property and the DA's alternative valuation— the subject of the New York lawsuit.
Any hope of characterizing the buying of the stock, bidding up the price, as an illegal campaign contribution? It's handing billions of dollars to Trump.
"Mr. DeSantis had vetoed a previous bill that would have banned social media accounts for 14- and 15-year-olds even with parental consent."
From "DeSantis Signs Social Media Bill Barring Accounts for Children Under 14/A new Florida law also requires apps like TikTok and Snapchat to obtain a parent’s consent before giving accounts to 14- and 15-year-olds" (NYT).
"Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to announce Tuesday that Nicole Shanahan, a wealthy attorney and..."
NBC News reports.
"This case is a retribution. It is a signal to all of you that if you expose the interests that are driving war they will come after you..."
Said Stella Assange, quoted in "Julian Assange wins right to appeal against extradition from UK to US/The WikiLeaks founder’s wife, Stella, was among hundreds of supporters at the High Court in London for the ruling" (London Times).
"No matter how much one disapproves of Mr. Trump, or wishes that his presidential ambitions fail, every defendant deserves due process, including recourse to appeal...."
That's the Editorial Board of The Washington Post.
"Mr. Malinin started skating to the 'Succession' theme last fall, but he has yet to watch the show. 'I don’t have a subscription to HBO'..."
From "'Succession' on Ice/Ilia Malinin, an American teenager, won the men’s World Figure Skating Championships with a performance set to the theme of the HBO series" (NYT).
ALSO: From the NYT article: "In the coming months, Mr. Malinin plans to 'take the time to mentally prepare for the idea of trying' the quint jump, he said. 'I like to push the boundaries of physical abilities and the boundaries of this sport.'"
I wasn't going to go out of my way to watch Trump's press conference, but now it's the next thing I'm going to do.
I'm even motivated to post the entire thing:No longer the party of "when they go low, we go high." https://t.co/csA1q5WgMP
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 26, 2024
"A major bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship early Tuesday, sending vehicles plunging into the water...."
Police stress NO indication Baltimore Key Bridge collapse was intentional or that there is any terrorism connection pic.twitter.com/i1qecEeZUb
— Steve Chenevey FOX5 (@stevechenevey) March 26, 2024
२५ मार्च, २०२४
"A state appeals court ruled that Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the New York civil fraud case have 10 days to post a $175 million bond..."
"Here, Rogan plays for Haidt what turns out to be an edited clip of [T]rump’s 'bloodbath' comment."
Tweets Viva Frei, displaying this Joe Rogan clip:
I watched the whole Joe Rogan episode — it's free on YouTube, here — and I was disappointed in Haidt, who is out and about this month pushing a new book about taking smart phones away from kids. Haidt presents himself as a source of wisdom and good sense in our supposedly crazy world, but in that clip, you see him mentally failing, in real time.This is actually an amazing highlight from @joerogan’s recent interview with @JonHaidt.
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) March 25, 2024
It goes to show the importance and impact of initial news that turns out to be fake news.
The initial impression is the one that lasts, and the justification to cling to the initial… pic.twitter.com/xjUiKH7bjE
"Nineteen-year-old American superstar Ilia Malinin scored a record 227.79 in the free skate, winning his first world title by landing the best collection of jumps..."
"I would have a very low opinion of myself as well."
Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) has a theory about why my least supportive demographic is Baby Boomers…and it’s not just because their main source for news is TV. #rfkjr #kennedy24 pic.twitter.com/Mne5TFc0kr
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) March 25, 2024
"In Finland, swinging your arms and other unnecessary sudden hand gestures are quite commonly interpreted as a sign of aggression, which should be avoided unless you want to get your ass kicked."
Writes someone in Finland in a Reddit discussion, "Do Europeans ever use their hand[s] to make 'Air Quotes' in a conversation, for example, to express sarcasm or a euphemism?"
Someone in Slovakia says "If you can't express sarcasm or a euphemism by you voice and tone, you shouldn't be allowed to do it. (I haven't seen it here, but maybe somebody does it.)""She said that her boss once asked her to wear something sexier to work, but that she had ignored his request."
From "Furry Slippers and Sweatpants: Young Chinese Embrace ‘Gross Outfits’ at Work/The social media movement is the latest sign that some of China’s young people are resisting the compulsion to strive" (NYT).
२४ मार्च, २०२४
"When asked how many cats he had, I think he said it was like counting bubbles in boiling water."
"My version of feminist, queer, trans-affirmative politics is not about policing. I don’t think we should become the police. I’m afraid of the police."
Says Judith Butler, quoted in "Judith Butler Thinks You’re Overreacting/How did gender become a scary word? The theorist who got us talking about the subject has answers" (NYT).
Butler — author of the very influential book "Gender Trouble" — has a new book, "Who’s Afraid of Gender?"
"The horse appears to be digitally composed because its front and hind legs do not represent any phase of natural movement at the walk, trot, canter, or gallop."
So says a commenter at the NYT Style piece, "Dissecting the ‘Cowboy Carter’ Cover: Beyoncé’s Yeehaw Agenda/On Tuesday, the pop star revealed her new album’s cover, a constellation of country signifiers reminding fans of her Texas roots."
The "Style Desk" writers are saying things like "I love how she and the horse have matching hair," "she’s clearly been trying to reinscribe images of Black women into the history of the cowboys and the West," and "Beyoncé is looking directly into the camera with her face forward and it really feels like a reclaiming" and "Beyoncé seems to believe she has to position herself as a cowgirl on a horse, wearing red, white and blue, holding the American flag on an album cover to drill it into people’s heads that her interest in country isn’t a fad."
Here's the photo/illustration under discussion:
"[O]ur upstairs neighbors acquired an emotional support dog for their teenager. The dog runs back and forth for 30 minutes at a time."
A woman who had heretofore enjoyed 37 years of pleasant life in her condo sends a question to the NYT real estate adviser.
I won't quote any of the answer. It boils down to: NOTHING.
I should add that "boils down" was not intended as any sort of reference to the last lines of the previous post. You can do nothing, nothing, nothing about that dog that is scraping at the other side of your ceiling all night long. You should have thought of this possibility when you chose to take up condo life 4 decades ago. Dog people good. Dog haters bad. Bad bad bad haters. You deserve to lie awake all night for your failure to love.
"Mr. Haidt has a metaphor... Our emotions are like a galumphing elephant, and our conscious reasoning..."
“When you have a system which everyone hates, and then you have a way to escape it, it can change within a year, and that’s what happened in 1989,” Mr. Haidt said. “It’s different from the fall of communism but I expect it to be about as fast as the fall of communism. Because it’s a regime that we all hate.”
We all hate smartphones... or, I guess, kids with smartphones? I went to look up whether Haidt's name is pronounced "hate," and I ended up running into his dissertation: "Moral Judgment, Affect, and Culture, or, Is it Wrong to Eat Your Dog?":
A family's dog was killed by a car in front of their house. They had heard that dog meat was delicious, so they cut up the dog's body and cooked it and ate it for dinner.
"If I became a writer and artist of children’s books... it was not because I had in mind to create children’s books."
"LSU coach Kim Mulkey on Saturday threatened legal action against The Washington Post in a four-minute tirade..."
"This is exactly why people don't trust journalists and the media anymore... I'm fed up... I will sue the Washington Post if they publish a false story about me." - LSU HC Kim Mulkey
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 23, 2024
(via @bryce_koon) pic.twitter.com/9Lce7PP4xY
“But you see, reporters who give a megaphone to a one-sided, embellished version of things aren’t trying to tell the truth. They’re trying to sell newspapers and feed the click machine. This is exactly why people don’t trust journalists and the media anymore. It’s these kinds of sleazy tactics and hatchet jobs that people are just tired of.”
"What I didn’t tell the guard... is that I’m tired of hiding from my country—and that I want to trade one form of hiding for another."
Writes Vadim Shyslov, in "Give Me Propaganda or Give Me Death/When Russia went to war, I faced a choice: Flee to a world where the truth might kill me—or seek peace in censored oblivion" (Wired).
Masha Borzunova, a journalist who fled Russia... walked me through a typical day of Russian TV: “A person wakes up to a news broadcast that shows how the Russian military is making gains. Then Anti-Fake begins, where the presenters dismantle the fake news of Western propaganda and propagate their own fake news. Then there’s the talk show Time Will Tell that runs for four, sometimes five hours, where we’ll see Russian soldiers bravely advancing. Then comes Male and Female.... Then more news and a few more talk shows, in which a KGB combat psychic predicts Russia’s future and what will happen on the front. This is followed by the game show Field of Miracles.... And then, of course, the evening news.”
I had gone from being infuriated by this kind of hypnosis to envying it. The free flow of information had become for me what a jug of water is to a severely dehydrated person: The right amount can save you, but too much can kill....