Brice Ezell
@briceezell.bsky.social
Writer, critic (@PopMatters), teacher. ATL. PhD in English, University of Texas. Modern drama, theatre, and philosophy. Writing a book on Tom Stoppard. #COYS https://boxd.it/1rEO5
The problem with those trying to do the rhetorical jiu-jitsu of saying, "Sure, City cheated, but they were just doing what had to be done to break through the cartel of the top teams," is that now the quality of City's dominance is such that many won't remember them as a "little club."
I was trying to remember the name "Tiny Desk" Concert and typed "Shiny Desk" into the YouTube search bar. So there's a free idea for a channel if someone wants it
On the one hand, the people complaining that PRIMETIME is "anti-catching pedophiles" are media sub-literate. On the other hand, the film - which is enjoyable stylistically! - never brings all of its ideas together effectively, so confusion can be forgiven. letterboxd.com/briceezell/f...
A ★★★½ review of Primetime (2026)
Early in Primetime, when Jeff Zucker appears in a cameo where he makes the fateful move of Chris Hansen's To Catch a Predator to the primetime window, he slaps a placard with that show's name over a W...
letterboxd.com
The new Brandon Flowers album has a real “Warren Zevon transmigration” vibe to it. You gotta dig.
Atlanta DESPERATELY needs to get rid of its excess of “No Turn on Red” signs on right turns. Just what this city needs, artificially introduced traffic inefficiency
Will Man City actually be held to account for the 114 charges? Statisticians globally have weighed in, and here are their findings
Most have covered the legends so I'll talk up an undersung pick: Simon Casier, the bass player for the excellent Belgian rock band Balthazar. Maestro of the short-scale bass. Key to the rhythm section but also given the spotlight plenty, as on this fine number. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD9A...
Wrong Faces
YouTube video by Balthazar - Topic
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Kate Armstrong@brainchain.ca · 6d agoI feel like we all need a universal coping mechanism. So let’s share your favourite bass guitarist or bassist. 
I can't say exactly why, but in the YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING trailer Elizabeth Holmes looks like a kind of being that would only exist in J.R.R. Tolkien's worlds.
Robert Eggers is doing ROMEO AND JULIET, which means “Willem Dafoe as The Apothecary” is trading at -5000 right now.
Corrected my from-the-gun NYT Best TV since 2000 ballot (made the error of including some shows that mostly aired in the 2000s but technically debuted in '98/99), and this, to me, speaks most honestly to my viewing, and trying to be capacious not just of prestige drama.
That NHJ article does not deserve to be pilloried. Frankly it takes enormous bravery to document not only her daughter (fairly) criticizing her decisions, but being forthcoming about an earnest moral struggle. What I think her example proves, though, is pretty simple.
Great new CHVRCHES tune (shouts to @kimischilling.bsky.social for sharing), one reason being that the chorus - which has some really fascinating production - includes one of those words that, if you're Scottish, can't not come through in a Scottish accent ("ground"). www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x2B...
CHVRCHES - Roses (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by ChvrchesVEVO
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"Basic" is the correct take. I think she solidified her pop chops with 1989, faltered massively with REPUTATION, and then the real heater is LOVER through EVERMORE. The limits of some of the recent stuff has been bad production and being high on the "lyrical genius" conceit.
Cooper Lund@cooperlund.online · last wk.If we're also going to do Taylor Swift discourse, I think the problem is that she's a fundamentally very basic person who happened to go on an all time pop heater from like Red till Evermore and is now returning to her default state
I have a top five I feel very comfortable with, speaking cross-genre: 1. The Sopranos 2. Twin Peaks: The Return 3. The Wire 4. Combo of the Bush era/early Obama era Daily Show and Colbert Report 5. LOST
Daniel Joyaux@thirdmanmovies.bsky.social · last wk.Okay, in honor of this week’s NYT list counting down the 100 best shows of the 21st century, everyone QT this with your ballot of ten shows! Mine: 1. The Wire 2. Mad Men 3. Breaking Bad 4. Game of Thrones 5. Succession 6. Watchmen 7. Girls 8. The Good Place 9. Last Week Tonight 10. Veep
Put another way: modern American conservatives believe their individual decisions do not have any systemic reality, which explains the dissonance they experience when the aggregation of their preferences comes back to bite them.
When Seth Meyers closes his eyes hard, he looks like he has no eyes
Kirk Cousins' corny self absolutely QBmogging Justin Sherbert. I will not broker any more conversation about how Herbert is elite and is simply held back by his team. His stock is down astronomical rn
Americans: oh, look, a systemic issue. I will solve it individually
If I see one more "Vuskovic was about to be Tottenham's Saliba" take I will lose it. Let's be real: let's say best case happens, he comes to Tottenham and looks like a galactico. He is with us for two seasons, tops. We didn't lose out on a player who was gonna stay as long as Kane/Son did.
Arsenal fans up-in-arms about Raya supposedly being crowded yesterday are just getting a taste of their own medicine. Cornerball is a race to the bottom; if you have bodies mashing up against each other as the meta, and the quality of the Prem ref is what it is, you're just increasing variance.
W/r/t direct publication from my diss, I've got a book project (with two chapters published as articles), a chapter in an edited collection, and the other two chapters potentially as standalone articles. But the diss as a whole did much more than that: it clarified my core intellectual interest.
pam lach@plach.bsky.social · last wk.For ~20 yrs I thought of my dissertation as a one-off, esp when I moved from history to libraries & digital humanities. But I just realized how connected it all is. Back then, I wrote about the spaces musical films opened up for imagining different possibilities. And I’m still writing about that now
So I take it the Silicon Valley types are going full functionalist, yeah?
Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social · last wk.Again: what we’re doing here is defining “understanding” as “the thing that humans do.” If a model is accurately absorbing new information, solving unsolved problems of incredible difficulty, engaging in detailed back-and-forths, but is not “understanding,” the word “understanding” has no meaning.
AI will making reading and writing obsolete the same way that the automobile made walking obsolete, which is to say we will eventually realize that the latter is better for the planet, society, and our health even as the world around us is built to prioritize the former.
Today, in "duh." Doesn't mean we can't hold the team to a higher standard, and yes some of the failures on the offensive end have been galling, but it's clear a lot of the Spurs fans think that 2024-6 is an aberration, and with the right spend we're automatically in the top 6. Delusional!
Tottenham: Can't defend at first, but are progressing the ball; Two clean sheets, still rough scoring; Chances improve, but not getting the ball in; Still rough, but starting to get the ball in. We are the definition of a rebuilding team, and things are being built. Not gonna stress.
Angine de Poitrine being on Fallon for their US debut would be like Meshuggah showing up to play Kathie Lee & Hoda.
I desperately wish that population ethics, an interesting philosophical subfield that should be a substantive area of discussion in the academy AND in the general public, wasn't steered so heavily by longtermists.
