It’s my 100th blog post! I’m quite happy to use it to share my thoughts on Vol. 2 of the magazine Paper Airplane. @paperairplane.pub Just like Vol. 1, there is much more to the magazine than what I could cover in my review. Think writing, art, puzzles, and other invitations to be a cool human.

As I wrote in my post on the book, I felt like I was taking Warshow’s insights in directions he may not have intended. Seems he felt the same way when watching Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible.’ “How can he be held responsible for what comes into my head while I watch his play?” A great question!

I should have known from the start that Robert Warshow’s The Immediate Experience would challenge me. I had to request a copy from the Chicago Public Library because the suburban library consortium didn’t have it! More thoughts on this book in the post quoted below.

I made sure to read Warshow’s essays on gangster and Western films. I like how he explained the appeal of the gangster as an archetype that appeals to adolescents. Couldn’t help linking his observations about that appeal to a modern case (i.e., Trump). thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-...

My experience with reading Warshow’s collected essays in The Immediate Experience included some thoughts on Rosenblatt’s stances on reading. It’s here that I rationalize letting myself off the hook for reading the entire text. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-...

The book (or at least what I’ve read of it) is remarkable. Robert Warshow was a critic who took seriously movies, theater, & comics instead of the classics or the canon. He also knew how to write! His takedown of The New Yorker is blistering. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-...

I felt a bit hinky about this week’s post on my blog, which may be why I haven’t shared it yet. My hinkiness is due to the fact that I didn’t read every single word in the book I’m reviewing. I usually do. So the post is a little about halfway abandoning a book and a little about the book itself.

Using AI to automate aspects of a teacher's job because they have too many students is not a solution to the problem of too many students. It is a choice to accept a degraded atmosphere by using an oxygen mask, rather than working to make the conditions conducive to the humans inside the system.

Happy Father’s Day! Our family just finished walking the Race Against Hate. Here’s my thread from last year. If you don’t know who Ricky Byrdsong was, please take a few minutes to educate yourself.

Happy Father’s Day! Our family just finished walking the Race Against Hate. Here’s my thread from last year. If you don’t know who Ricky Byrdsong was, please take a few minutes to educate yourself.

Fantastic episode! Reminds me of a quip from a professor of mine when we were struggling to make sense of an article: If academics could write, they would have been novelists.

Just finished the first episode of Quantum Entanglements, a new podcast from Respair that focuses on the development of a quantum computing center on the former site of U.S. Steel on the south side of Chicago.

I should have known from the start that Robert Warshow’s The Immediate Experience would challenge me. I had to request a copy from the Chicago Public Library because the suburban library consortium didn’t have it! More thoughts on this book in the post quoted below.

It’s a treat to find papers left behind in library books. I especially enjoyed notes that a (I’m assuming) pre-service teacher left in this copy of John Schu’s “This is a School.” Way better than any AI summary could be!

“Debate-me-bro” culture is going to kill us all. Vance, you are the elected official. You are (ostensibly) a grown-up. So, *you* are in charge of making a good deal, not using rhetorical moves you learned in high school to argue that you’re some kind of genius when you played a losing game.

We are living in the World of Ruin.

It’s a treat to find papers left behind in library books. I especially enjoyed notes that a (I’m assuming) pre-service teacher left in this copy of John Schu’s “This is a School.” Way better than any AI summary could be!

I felt a bit hinky about this week’s post on my blog, which may be why I haven’t shared it yet. My hinkiness is due to the fact that I didn’t read every single word in the book I’m reviewing. I usually do. So the post is a little about halfway abandoning a book and a little about the book itself.

Happy Pride from my collection of Wilmette Open Water swim towels (aka WOWels).

Hey, your ride’s here. Said they can take you back to Twitter ca. 2012 if you hop in real quick.

The only game the Knicks lost in the last three rounds was the one Trump attended.

Just finished reading @dannybate.com's marvelous book "Why Q Needs U" and felt the need use an old meme that came to mind while reading Chapters Q and Z.

Willis Tower Skydeck (West View) 🌇 Sunset: 8:20 PM - 8:29 PM CT (20x speed) 🌡️ 74°F | Overcast 📍: 41.878900,-87.635900

Nate Drake’s “I Am Not Good,” published by @retrogamebooks.com, explains how different kinds of codes and glitches arose in many kinds of video games. It had me thinking about declarative vs. procedural knowledge, as well as what it means to be in control of a game. Here’s my review of the book:

Reading this section of Nadia Oxford’s book on fanfiction called to mind a similar part of @sebsational.bsky.social‘s book on the music of FFVI. He argues that the “singing” in the opera scene works because of the chibi-ness of the characters: their sprites are distorted, so their vocals are too.

Harder to think of a clearer example of "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master's House" for this era than people using "generative AI" to protest the outputs and infrastructure of "AI"

In honor of D-Day, here’s a thread of photos from 2011 that Mrs. Tall Rob and I took when we toured Normandy. “war is a black hole to avoid”

Nadia Oxford’s (@nadiaoxford.bsky.social) book From Pixels to Prose is perfect for anyone involved in a scene or a subculture who has ever said “hey, I could do that!” In this case, the “that” is writing fanfiction about video games. My review at this week’s installment of The Tall Rob Report:

William Stieg’s “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is also anti-pig in both the animal and cop sense. When Sylvester’s parents go to the police for help for their missing son, the cops are literally pigs. Even better, they do not do anything to actually solve the mystery of Sylvester’s disappearance!

Just in awe of Shrey’s performance during the spell-off at last night’s #spellingbee.

Two spellers remain. One is one of the youngest Finalists and the other is one of the oldest Finalists. Both have been here before, only one will take home the Scripps Cup. In unrelated news, we have no nails left. #spellingbee

Loving the vocabulary round in the #spellingbee right now. Two points of notice: the students likely can see the word & answer choices on a screen b/c they are not asking for or being given each word’s spelling. They also are stating the definitions verbatim, which is a lot to recall, even for them!

It’s weird to write a blog post on an adaptation of a book I’ve never read. I feel like I’m in The Onion article “Freshman Term Paper Discovers Something Totally New About Silas Marner.” Anyway, I watched the BBC version of Lord of the Flies on Netflix over the weekend and had some thoughts.

Ten Bands I’ve Seen That Have A Dead Rock ‘n’ Roller in Them: David Bowie Pantera w/ Dime & Vinnie C.O.C. w/ Reed Mullin Type O Negative Ozzy Black Sabbath w/ Ozzy Naked Raygun w/ Pierre Kezdy The Effigies w/ John Kezdy Iron Age (RIP Wade) Danny and the Ketchups (RIP Jaimie Branch)

It's like they're trying to foment conflict between teachers and students, with themselves as the weapons manufacturers.

The Perfect Score is quite bad as a whole, though there are moments of sharp commentary. A further development of these insights could make for a more interesting movie. They’d have to cut the heist angle to make it work… My thoughts on what The Perfect Score has to say about high-stakes testing:

All Damn Day I Confound The Ecclesiastical Deity

All Damn Day I Confound The Ecclesiastical Deity

This week, I wrote about #pikselnesia ‘s visual novel Afterlove EP, published by @fellowtraveller.games. You play as Rama, a young man living in Jakarta whose girlfriend recently and unexpectedly died. You process his grief and attempt to keep your band going. It’s not as dark as it sounds!

Just one of those days

Watching Dead Poets Society a few weeks after Mr. Holland’s Opus was refreshing. I expected these films to be more similar than they were. DPS is much less corny than MHO & also has more interesting things to say about teaching. #edusky Here’s the latest entry in my reviews of movies about schools:

Paging Dan Lilker of NUCLEAR ASSAULT so he can update their most notorious song for 2026: “Hang (up on) the Pope”

They’ve charged a student with removing the officer’s gun from the bathroom. That student then gave the gun to another child outside of school. Both have been arrested. THE GUN IS STILL MISSING.

Paging Dan Lilker of NUCLEAR ASSAULT so he can update their most notorious song for 2026: “Hang (up on) the Pope”

The cop at the specialized high school for students who need supports for social-emotional learning LOST HIS GUN AT SCHOOL because he took it out of his holster while going to the bathroom at the end of the day Monday. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

The cop at the specialized high school for students who need supports for social-emotional learning LOST HIS GUN AT SCHOOL because he took it out of his holster while going to the bathroom at the end of the day Monday. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Watching Dead Poets Society a few weeks after Mr. Holland’s Opus was refreshing. I expected these films to be more similar than they were. DPS is much less corny than MHO & also has more interesting things to say about teaching. #edusky Here’s the latest entry in my reviews of movies about schools:

The Zombie Ritual continues…

Has “Manic Monday” got you feeling like you’re doing a “Zombie Ritual”? Same here! Maybe reading about a book about The ZOMBIES will help. Can’t hurt. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/time...

Have you heard the new ROBYNASH DANZIG record? It's called "Sexistentialucifugerm" and it's really something else.