This seems about right: 'the splendor of a society derives from its vices, its ills, its excesses and its shortcomings.' (Baudrillard via Mandeville)

Former President Joe Biden has sold his presidential memoir for an advance in the range of $10 million. Are you fucking kidding me... wsj.com/business/media…

He'll be killed in prison nytimes.com/2025/07/23/us/…

Yes, sure, Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) is a great film but for a historical picaresque precedence it should be watched in conjunction with The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)

"Reviews are rooted in the most fundamental unit of the art business—the personal encounter with individual works—and in the economic implications of that encounter. The specificity of the review is both aesthetic and social." newyorker.com/culture/the-le…

First Ozzy, now the Hulk...bad week RIP nytimes.com/2025/07/24/spo…

Too many people are on their phones talking out loud at the gym these days. But sometimes the stories are interesting. The woman next to me just said: She got divorced and two years later she died and then her kid… and then she switched machines and now I wanna know the end of

Great interview with Boris Dralyuk and informative intro by Sarah Gear asymptotejournal.com/interview/an-i…

Little known fact: Both Ignatius J. Reilly (A Confederacy of Dunces) & Horse Badorties (The Fan Man) are 2 of the few hotdog loving characters in American lit. Ignatius eats more hot dogs than he sells in his job, & Horse steals a hot-dog emblazoned umbrella & considers himself

second martini but i haven't even eaten dinner yet...

The Obama library is an abomination...tear it down now and start over...

New essay out soon on the two paths for literary criticism. Stay tuned...

a silly thought

When the truth is found to be lies And all the joy within you dies --Jefferson Airplane