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.

One dead war criminal is a cause for optimism. Perhaps it’s the start of a trend.

By day and night he wrongs me, every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other That sets us all at odds. I’ll not endure it. His knights grow riotous, and himself upbraids us On every trifle.

10/10/2025 Sammy at sundown

It’s hard to believe how quickly and comprehensively things have degenerated but face it we must. We can’t pretend this — the breakdown of democracy — hasn’t occurred.

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

The president just gathered the highest ranking officers in the military to tell them that he may order them to kill American citizens -- and that they better follow his orders. All in response to a series of crises that have no basis in reality. I don't know how to yell any louder.

Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dare not check thee

O, pity, God, this miserable age! What stratagems! How fell! How butcherly!

Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.

“The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines.” Leonard Cohen, who would have been 91 on today, on creativity, work ethic, and why you should never quit before you know what it is you're quitting

Today we celebrate Leonard Cohen, born on this day. Poet, prophet, singer of our shadows and our light. He once reminded us: “In this world, you have to be a bit too kind just to be kind enough.” May we carry that wisdom forward.

maybe I should just stay in Salzburg for the next couple of years