Book #31. An odd book. Always interesting and informative but often disjointed and borderline incoherent.

The Marshall Plan, I suppose, an exception.

I’m starting to think launching an unprovoked war of aggression on Iran was a bad idea.

Book #30. My first Hillerman. Good stuff.

Book #29. Far from the best of the “Parker” books but hardly a disappointment.

Book #28. Nothing but a chore.

Book #27. It’s often hard to think of things America got right. Anywhere. Ever.

I turned 40 today. In three weeks, I'll be going to Paris for the second time. To celebrate both, here are my 40 favorite French films. Chronological order. One per director, lest it become the Alain Resnais Show. As with anything, what is "French" can be ambiguous, but I kept it fairly strict.

I guess guy-hiding-behind-a-tree-with-a-gun is considered an “assassination attempt” now.

Those “Iranian” assassins are at it again, it seems

I’d not seen this grotesque, fawning profile from Amy Chozick until my son sent it to me. Yet another stain on the New York Times. Just an utter embarrassment. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/b...

Book #26. Probably not Radden Keefe’s main intended takeaway but for me it was: whatever faith one may have in authority or the system, lose it.

@glennkenny.bsky.social www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Book #25. Fun, has a reasonably authentic feel, and best of all, under 300pgs.

New post! (paid subscribers only, this time). The Ellisons, Paramount, Warner Brothers, movies, Big Business concentration, Democracy, and how a crusader once took fought for the future. by.brianralexander.com/the-paramoun...

Me tonight after I drink from 4 to 17 beers. media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2l...

Tangential to this but it seems to me conventional wisdom that the R’s will perform poorly in the mid-terms. Then there will be some restraints imposed on the admin. I have to admit that I don’t get why would that be the case? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Every once in a while, the little guys check a break.

@kevinrothrock.me You probably saw this already. Reminds me of the Snyder v Evans battles in the NYRB from several years ago. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Probably won’t subscribe.

Book #24. Pittsburgh’s decades long boom and bust relationship with steel and coke. Cycle has been forever broken but the continual searching for “the next big thing” in many ways persists. Perhaps of interest @dameshek.bsky.social and @brianralexander.bsky.social

After the fabulous success in kicking Iran’s ass, I say let’s just fucking go for it. China. Right now. Today. No mercy.

Guess it was worth it then.

People die as companies profit in the metastasizing network of concentration camps across the United States. Read "The American Gulag" by Rebecca Gordon. pghrev.com/the-american...

Book #23. A deep, rich, and beautifully written story about Bernie Sanders AND Burlington (and the rest of), Vermont. Honestly, as I sit here now having just finished, it feels like one of the best books I’ve ever read.

I’d take this over healthcare or better education any day.

It seems we just bombed some residential buildings in an attempt to kill a former diplomat who was trying to facilitate negotiations. A civilian trying to *end* hostilities, surrounded by other civilians in their homes. We are completely lost.

I have to admit I’m not entirely clear on what the Supreme Court is actually ruling on in this birthright citizenship case. If it’s in the Constitution, it’s in the fucking Constitution. End of story, no?

It’s impossible to overstate how stupid this war is. Not to mention the morons waging it. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Trump threatened to stop weapons for Ukraine unless Europe joined Hormuz coalition

Daughter woke and started making April fools jokes immediately. Fucking hilarious.

Book #22. Love these BFI Classics volumes.

This is unhinged.

Book #21. A white woman wrote a neo-noir about a black man accused of murder in Phoenix in the early-60s. Sure. Why not? Often reads like she was thinking up the plot as she wrote.

Visited Fallingwater today. Lovely.

Will remain forever perplexed at anti-Trump demos called “No Kings.” Seems totally nonsensical.

Book #20. Read this. My life will be…completely unchanged.

My daughter and I saw “Project Hail Mary” today. When Dr Grace gets the asphagone sample from the Polyakov line, or the whatever from wherever, with the dazzling background, she said, “That looked so fake.” Kinda sums up the entire movie.

Israel has crushed Unrwa in Gaza – and the rest of the world has done nothing | Philippe Lazzarini

Book #19. Not top-shelf JLB but still damn good.

Book #18. Come for the self-created cult of killing (enemies entirely of of our own creation), stay for the authorities inability and unwillingness to do anything about.

Quite lengthy but exceedingly powerful essay on Zionism as anti-Semitism by @jakeromm.bsky.social. (Incidentally, made me wonder if The Zone of Interest was *really* about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.) www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/ele...

curiously even with the sheer scale of this failure the idea that Mark Zuckerberg simply may not be competent, creative, innovative, or even interesting somehow isn't prominent in most of the stories I'm reading about this

Zuckerberg set $83 billion on fire so he could pretend his shitty ad monopoly was interesting and innovative with the help of a lazy access tech press then fired a ton of his employees when his incompetent gambit ran aground.