We’ve entered the period of the evening when I can’t tell whether the “it’s all over now” vagueposts are about Platner, the USMNT or McConnell.
Anne Midgette
@classicalbeat.bsky.social
Writer, recovering music critic.
I'm so disillusioned, I almost don't even care who gets the FIFA Peace Prize next year
Always match your cats to your china. #catsofbluesky (Sadly the vase was broken and mended long before kintsugi was widely known in New England, so instead of veins of gold it shows veins of brown glue. But they match the cat's markings.)
It’s mortifying to be scrambling to fill a bookstore event but that’s the reality. I’m in Scotland and England next week. There are tix left for these events. The London one will be cancelled if I don’t sell some tickets soon so all pre-bookings and help with getting the word out is appreciated.
My husband has just purchased a book containing hundreds of haikus about sea cucumbers/sea slugs. "This book has brought me so much joy," says one Amazon review. Seriously, who can resist?
This is what doing the right thing looks like. Kudos to Jonathan Biss for resigning his post in protest and for this strong op-ed. www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
Gift-redeem
thestar.com
Which of these have you read? Which should I read? The Director is already on my list, and The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran sounds promising. Taiwan Travelogue also piques my interest. Your thoughts? #bookerprize #novels #worldliterature
6 books named finalists for the 2026 International Booker Prize
The shortlisted titles include novels and novellas from authors and translators spanning four continents, with stories that range from Japanese-controlled 1930s Taiwan to the streets of Tehran in 1979...
npr.org
I love @theonion.com . (H/t @armandobayolo.bsky.social )
Timothée Chalamet Under Fire For Dismissive Comments About Traditional Japanese Puppet Theater Form ‘Bunraku’
LOS ANGELES—Facing fierce backlash for remarks deemed deeply ignorant by devoted fans, actor Timothée Chalamet came under fire Monday for dismissive comments about traditional Japanese bunraku puppetr...
theonion.com
Congratulations to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which managed to upstage the flaming dumpster fire that is the Kennedy Center in the collective mind of the classical music world this Friday by dismissing its very fine music director, Andris Nelsons. Can't wait to hear the back story.
If you're anywhere in the area, don't miss this! It's a great piece and I'm really looking forward to it.
Erica Sipes@ericaannsipes.com · 6mo agoSo excited for this Saturday's performance which I believe will be the US premiere of Anna von Schaden's B-flat major piano concerto. Such a fabulous work. The second movement breaks my heart EVERY time! And what an honor to be joined by the inspiring, amazing, @classicalbeat.bsky.social .
I'll take Heartwarming Media Posts for $1000, Alex. Remember how everyone screamed when the New York Times turned its sports department into something called the Athletic? Well, the Athletic has just hired the cream of the Washington Post sports department, who were fired earlier this month.
There are still humane editors at the @washinpost.com, because someone let one of the journalists they'd fired reach out to readers one last time to announce her own newsletter for local news in the DMV. Sign up and support Alisa Tang's new venture; we need local news! alisadailydose.beehiiv.com
Alisa’s Daily Dose | Alisa's Daily Dose
Offering you comfort & community in the DMV
alisadailydose.beehiiv.com
In the mail today: a card from my friend in Germany -- dated December 10. Today is February 13. When people say the mail is slow these days, they aren't kidding.
Just in time for Valentine's Day: "Quartet for Anne," which my husband Greg Sandow wrote years ago as the best birthday present ever, is now streaming on Apple Music. music.apple.com/us/album/qua...
Quartet for Anne by Terra String Quartet on Apple Music
Song · 2026 · Duration 4:49
music.apple.com
Such a great review of "Wuthering Heights" - "a large dumb terrarium of sensation: a slick, sweaty, chest-beating, garment-rending, gloopy-albumen total eclipse of the heart." Dave White in SLUGGISH. sluggish.ghost.io/wuthering-he...
"Wuthering Heights" - when loving lovers love
It begins with a very horny public execution. Don't remember that from the book? It's fine, that's why Emerald Fennell's film adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights is called "Wuthering ...
sluggish.ghost.io
Look, the Washington Post is still doing journalism. Here's the inside story of how the Washington National Opera left the Kennedy Center. wapo.st/4arCIML
Inside the Kennedy Center’s scorched-earth Washington National Opera split
How the Washington National Opera’s Francesca Zambello forced a confrontation to leave the Kennedy Center after the Trump takeover threatened its future.
wapo.st
I would be willing to bet that someone at the Pentagon who issued this directive thought El Paso was in Mexico. And the FAA had to step in with a map.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6mo agoMS NOW: "A congressional official with knowledge of the matter is telling MS NOW the cause of the shutdown of El Paso airspace is a lack of communication between the Pentagon and FAA. The official told us the FAA and DOD are 'not in clear communications with each other.'"
I used to focus on what classical music the #olympics figure skaters chose for their programs - but this year they appear to have entered Wagner's Siegfried himself in competition. (I kid, I kid. I know this is Ilia Malinin, the top American man. The visuals, though.)
Everybody watch the trailer for this important movie on sexual abuse, "Dear Lara," and hope that after its success at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, distributors will pick it up. Ask the young violinist who choked out a tearful Thank You in the Q&A. share.google/hBosgncNRAev...
"Dear Lara" Trailer
share.google
Many @washingtonpost.com international reporters were laid off while working overseas and left to figure out for themselves how to get home. This fundraiser is for them and other former staffers who worked to help get the news out about what was happening in their countries. gofund.me/232347921
Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee
Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees
gofund.me
The Washington Post has only a single arts critic left - everyone else got fired today, along with all three arts editors. (There are still a couple of excellent arts reporters.) I was so upset I dusted off my blog to have my say: annemidgette.com/blog/f/a-req...
A requiem for arts coverage
I used to say I wished that newspapers would treat their arts sections the way they treated their sports sections. What I meant was that sports sections offered a balanced mix of news stories, feature...
annemidgette.com
It's like they knew I was going to ask… #winterstorm2026 #catlitterisnotagoodsubstitute #askmehowiknow
I was intensely annoyed by this sentence in a book review. One woman produced brilliant work in a tiny room; therefore we shouldn't complain that women's lives have historically been circumscribed? Wow. (The book is "One Aladdin Two Lamps" and he does like it, but jeez.) @hamiltoncain.bsky.social
Wrapping presents is going fine, thanks for asking. Happy Christmas to all who celebrate, and peace and love to everyone in this holiday season. #catsofbluesky #christmascat #christmaspresent #happyholidays
I was looking for images of 18th-century silver online as reference for my book-in-progress, and now there's an excited eBay seller out there who thinks I'm about to make an offer on a mustard-pot.
Turns out I was right about the Kennedy Center trees (see last Skeet). It was the last administration that decided to take them down, because they were old and the root systems were affecting the structural integrity of the building. Let's see what the current administration does to replace them.
