I’ve been holding off, but need to throw this question out there: what’s with all the dead and dying pet posts? *every* day I believe I’ve read other complaints; can anyone explain?

Polish poster for CHINATOWN (1974) Directed by Roman Polanski Starring Jack Nicholson - BOTD in 1937

I’d swap out out The Last Detail for Marvin Gardens, and Reds for Passenger. But yes, a great run!

… as I was just saying

Elaine May (with scenes from her film "Mikey and Nicky") - BOTD

Happy Birthday Elaine May. The best. If you only know her comedies, do yourself a favor and watch this harrowing masterpiece.

Julie Christie in "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" - BOTD

👇 appalling and true

A fab foto.

Everyone... As soon as you start seeing Donald Trumps name on currency, write "IS A PEDOPHILE" under it and get that currency circulating around the world.

Hegseth’s “it takes money to kill bad guys” while asking for $200B—this is what passes for thinking? It’s not strategy, it’s macho bullshit from a guy treating war like a f*cking video game.

Bleed, bleed, poor country!

The Morning After. The Chicago River is holding onto its green glow. Tomorrow, it will be like a mint slurpee with the snow that is forecasted.

Amadeus at Steppenwolf, then Richard Greenberg’s revisal of Philip Barry’s Holiday at Goodman. Glad to be back in rehearsal rooms. Now a new production: The Brand-New Knee. Opened yesterday: Reviews cautious; so optimistic, and the second act should improve with heavier meds and physical therapy.

[Exit Murderer.]

Hazel’s enjoying a chilly—but sunny—day at the beach.

Okay, someone in this crowd owns this album. Raise hands.

Whenever a Bill Clinton quote starts with “I did not have …,”my historian brain starts checking the footnotes.

Not watching the State of the Union tonight. I only sit through long monologues if there’s an intermission and a bar.

Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool no where but in ’s own house.

Peter Attia has always been an asshole; good riddance.

Illinois Governor Pritzker, following today's SCOTUS ruling, sends President Trump an invoice for $8,679,261,600 for refunds of the "illegal tariffs" the residents of his state were charged.

Hey, it opened last night and it’s pretty swell! You never know.

The mother of the man who rushed Ilhan Omar at her town hall last night said in an interview last night: “He’s very sensitive. And the only problem, I think, is that we, the majority of our family, is conservative.” Sure.

👇

👇

Sally Mann, Self-portrait, Hollins, Virginia, 1974.

Reading Sally Mann’s Art Work: On the Creative Life. Wonderful.

Celebrating Vanessa Redgrave, born today, 88 years old. Her Mary Tyrone. One doesn’t so much direct her as watch in awe as she takes the work somewhere fearless and uncompromising. A life spent taking risks. An artist who believes the work matters more than approval.

First rehearsal today

Sarah Cooper is back. 👏

Go fuck yourself. Preferably with something sharp and rusty.

Haven’t finished your Xmas shopping? May I suggest a trip to @steppenwolfthtr.bsky.social to check out a little show running until the end of January.

Cormac McCarthy line sticking with me this morning, from The Passenger: “Evil has no alternate plan. It is simply incapable of assuming failure.”

My favorite Christmas song; just lovely. Thanks @totoroshow.bsky.social

Not on my bingo card today: stunned to see my name tucked into a Tehran Times (!) article on an Iranian production of Cherry Orchard, listed among “illustrious directors” of the play: "Charles Laughton, Peter Brook, Robert Falls, Tyrone Guthrie, and Giorgio Strehler." Grateful. Amused. Gobsmacked

The US government is now a mafia organization.

Could not love this more.

❤️👇

It’s Eli Wallach’s birthday. A story. Eli once told a great one about The Godfather Part III. Coppola cast him; Eli asked for the script… nothing arrived. “Francis, I don’t see any lines here.” Coppola: “Don’t worry, Eli—you’re playing an old family friend.” (1/3)

Bernard Shaw or David Letterman?

excited to award my kids the Burger King Peace Prize this weekend

BREAKING: Hegseth’s new explanation is that he left the room, went to a bar, and butt-dialed the commanding officer, who heard Hegseth say “Make it a double” which he misinterpreted as ordering a double tap

Yeah, you got that right I’m back to posting cute dog pics. Sammy & Hazel on a cold and snowy Chicago morning

After months working on a revival of Amadeus at Steppenwolf, and now getting ready for the Richard Greenberg adaptation of Holiday at the Goodman, I sit down to post here… stare at the empty screen… freeze… and instead eat a package of Oreos. Such is my social-media life.

Look sometimes it’s nice to just get an MRI for fun. Tube go whrrrrr

Celebrating Terrence Malick’s birthday today — the director behind Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, Tree of Life, and the masterpiece too few have seen: A Hidden Life. A work of quiet thunder.