I always really liked this picture of these two.

Did David Lynch and Werner Herzog ever meet? I could look it up but I don't really want to know the answer bc I want to imagine that interaction for myself.

I never want to hear a Texan talk about their state being the bravest, toughest, and most freedom loving. It's Minnesota. As an incredibly proud, lifelong Illinoisan, it's Minnesota. Keep fighting, my beloveds of the driftless, the lakes, the hot dishes, and the Twins.

Repeal the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

Reconstruction was a failure. Nuremberg was a failure. J6 hearings were failures. The ICE trials will not be failures. There can be no Jim Crow Laws, Operation Paperclip, and presidential pardons for these crimes against humanity.

My vote to anyone who will prosecute the administration and every ICE agent for sedition, treason, murder, and crimes against humanity.

Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance. From this solidarity we will grow stronger. This is what our current moment requires.

If I give the president my LJ Movers & Shakers award, will he leave libraries alone?

Mark my words, the minute I no longer need a reliable vehicle for professional commuting purposes, I'm buying a sh*tboxx and airbrushing a wizard on it.

Sven's NY resolution was to be more mischievous. He's doing great so far.

I'm not gonna research this, I'm just gonna call it my once a year little conspiracy theory as a treat: I think Dubai Chocolate is a marketing conspiracy from that evil pistachio family in California that is stealing everyone's water.

Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

Also good time to note that Tarantino victim blamed a 13 year old child in defense of Roman Polanski so nobody should ever listen to him ever.

It's a Sven kinda Saturday.

Hot take: I generally don't like remakes but every generation deserves their own Pride & Prejudice.

Halloween is also John Candy's Birthday so every year I dress up as a different character of his. 2025 is The Polka King of the Midwest, Gus Polinski:

New reporting about AI slop in libraries from rockstar reporter @clurrese.bsky.social featuring some rockstar librarians! 🥰 www.404media.co/librarians-a...

Icymi new from me 🫠 s/o @giantlibrarian.bsky.social for putting this on my radar like two years ago. Sorry to report it's much worse now. Ty @404media.co & @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social for picking this up!

"It always made me feel less alone." I've heard this said by other MST3K fans, and I think it's just about the most gratifying thing you can hear about something you worked on.

You know what we need? We need there to be a legal requirement for AI-generated works to indicate that they are, in fact, AI-generated. Barring that, vendors and libraries could explore a required metadata field indicating yes/no. americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2025/09/02/b...

Instead of black block, I propose Illinois protestors don Blues Block where we all dress like Jake and Elwood. Equally unidentifiable, twice as scary to the Illinois N-z-s.

I did a presentation on zoom tonight and I was absolutely cooking until about 44-50 minutes in when Zoom started acting up and kept dropping my 50+ attendees until I struggled across the finish line. Now I don't even have the sense of accomplishment and I'm in a bad mood about it.

Bristol Ren Faire 2025 was as good as always. I'm gonna try to have that history written by next season opener.

The Book That Changed My Life gailcarriger.com/2013/09/27/t...

Since every brand of jeans now needs a celebrity ambassador, I'm proud to announce that I am the face of the 5.99 (after rebate) jeans that they sell at Menards in case you split your pants on the work site.

Small sample size sure but I think it's funny that literally the only crime that has happened to ANY of my friends and family in Chicago this year was perpetrated by rich kids from Naperville during Lollapalooza.

The State of Illinois at this time has received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention.

August 21st is now "Strong Willed Child Day." Don't let the bastards grind you down. #dobson

"He was oriented to evil, at vast scale, by continual lifelong choice. It was his calling, and he made it his job." defector.com/james-dobson...

James Dobson dying is a staring into the middle distance type of event. You have likely directly suffered bc of him. Few have done more to harm humanity at large in the past few decades. A principal architect of our current nightmare. No redeeming aspect. He was a rat made entirely out of plague.

James Dobson and his contemporaries were the Sackler Family of child abuse. It existed before him but he packaged it up nicely, gave it an institutional endorsement, and profited as it evolved and tore lives apart.

If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages

Bros: CHATGPT IS THE FUTURE IT IS INEVITABLE YAAAAA chatgpt:

"Kid loving a library book" by me. F*ck AI. Make art. Start bad.

Everyone can draw. Lynda Barry says so. Listen to her. Need help? Ask me!

We really are going to have to stop holding international events in the US.

I've noticed in my current deep dive that Ozzy Osbourne had intense joy watching younger people enjoy the things he did. Kids covering his songs or even just learning metal made him burst with pride and shared excitement. The Prince of Darkness didn't gatekeep or purity test. Fucking cool, man.

Just think, you could be going about your day and our own American "Death of Stalin" could be happening RIGHT NOW. Like, they could be scrambling, selling each other out, fighting, securing pardons from competing factions... all while we are just Wednesday-ong.

Really glad that Ozzy outlived Jimmy Swaggart.

Writers and pundits need to go hard right now. Don't obey in advance. Don't try to play along to avoid or escape cancellation. Make them do it in the plain light of day instead of gleefully hiding behind financial decisions and working towards the tyrant.

Whales, poorly made submarines, bees at the polo match, and now the Coldplay kiss cam. The list of class allies grows.

"I asked ChatGPT..." Oh, well I asked Gurney Halleck and he said that the supreme commandment in the wake of Butlerian Jihad was "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man's mind," so may thy knife chip and shatter.

"I asked chatgpt..." Oh well I asked Arthur C. Clark and he said "Before you become too entranced with gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing video displays, let me remind you that information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight."

Prime Day sucks.

Teachers and librarians who are expected to work with AI or teach people how to use AI should strike until they are paid supervisory salaries comparable to having to manage the unruly child that generative AI is currently. That would stop it quick.

It bothers me that 'enshitification' only has one 't' like, give it that hard double 'tt' to drive home how terrible everything is.

This local library puts forgotten water bottles into a museum display case

Damn, I was right. Go Cubs!

I also made a lemon meringue and a banana cream (not pictured). They were excellent.

The Piebrarian is on duty this morning with this, the first peach 🍑 pie of 2025