Line from Oedipus at Colonous, and understatement of the epoch
Felix Bartel
@felixbartel.bsky.social
Some of my writing: https://linktr.ee/felix.bartel
I usually don't crosspost but a critic described my chapbook as a promising debut & one of "the year's best" in the Times Literary Supplement, THE TLS damn it 👯♀️
As part of what I've dubbed #hothellenistsummer I'm currently reading Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Excellent play, truly the king of dramatic irony and all that, but this passage raises some questions.
Read Terrestrial by @suzyeynon.bsky.social, finally, and wow she's good at making you feel for a character without laying it on too thick with the pathos
Just finished OCUMO: A LATIN AMERICAN NOVEL, and with the disclaimer that I know the author I have some quick thoughts
Good quarter for books by author friends. Very excited to finally recive my copy of Terrestrial by @suzyeynon.bsky.social. Alas I'm currently re-reading The Odyssey in preparation for the Nolan adaptation, so on the pile they both go.
It's turning out to be a good year for books by writer friends. Here we have a sociological story about a place told through the pov of a multitude of characters. Very interesting to read. I'm also eagerly awaiting Terrestial, which should be arriving any day now.
When you listen to as many history podcasts as I do, you learn to recognize certain phrases as markers of a good bit coming up. A favourite of mine is: 'Sources disagree about what happened next'
What in the Jean-Jacques Rousseau is this nonsense?
@rprobbins.bsky.social · 2mo agoA different take on that statement from an archaeologist 💯💯💯🎯
Tilly Norwood’s most recent Instagram post, which is 2 weeks old, has 280 likes and 30 shares. No one other than reporters has any particular feeling one way or the other about Tilly Norwood.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2mo agoOur writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner interviewed Tilly Norwood, a computer-generated character described as “the world’s first A.I. actress.” She left exhausted. “It was the feeling of being at a computer all day. It was a dehydration of human interaction,” Brodesser-Akner writes.
There’s a guy, great king, incredible king. Prester John. Scepter made of emeralds. Descended from the Maggie. Sent me a letter, beautiful letter, tears in his eyes. Begged me to let him help open the strait, big strong guy. I’m giving Iran 24 hours to comply or, Prester John, I might tell him yes.
@thoc.creator.blue please confirm historical accuracy
Stupid Twink@stupidtwink.bsky.social · 11mo ago
Losing (completely shitty) coal jobs to technologically progress toward green energy? Politically unacceptable. Losing (actually pretty decent) office/creative jobs to move toward AI? Politically acceptable, for some reason.
NEW: Trump accepted $37m worth of donated steel for his WH ballroom project from the Luxembourg-based company ArcelorMittal. Days later, the WH made adjustments to Trump's tariffs that could benefit ArcelorMittal.
White House Secures Foreign Steel for Ballroom Project
nytimes.com
BREAKING: Following the American threat of an “Avignon Papacy,” Robert Kennedy has begun a Diet of Worms
BIG NEWS: Now that the Opium War series is over (& never to be repeated), I've decided that it's time to take a long-deserved sabbatical from chronological national history. To that end, I am pleased to announce a new chapter for the podcast going forward! Hello, and welcome to...
''To follow the history of deterioration in government from the decline of the Hojo is to gain a strong impression of gradual and inevitable decline, a tragic sequence that had to run its course, because a military society is bound to seek military solutions of its problems. That is its curse.''
I love watching people use LLMs in public. They’ll reply to a breaking news article and say “@grok is this true?” Babe where do you think it’s about to pull its answer from
Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.
The NY Times dutifully reporting that the Supreme Court sided with Trump only 42% of the time and with Biden 54% of the time sort of leaves out the necessary context that Biden was doing normal, completely legal presidential stuff, and Trump was doing insane crimes
The Project 2025 architect who promised to put federal employees “in trauma” is spending $15 million of former USAID funding—money that would have gone toward fighting HIV, polio, malaria, and other diseases—to bankroll his security detail. trib.al/TSV3cmb
Hearing Marco Rubio speak at Munich and sound like (let's call a spade a spade here) a nazi, only to get standing ovations because he praised Mozart or something is deeply, deeply embarassing
your vote has weight outside of election day. regardless of how you end up voting, until then you can bargain with it. the lesser evils are watching you, if you promise your vote for nothing you'll get nothing. say you wont vote for bad candidates. say you'll only vote for policies you like
Aided by genAI models like ChatGPT, “writers” hoping to get paid for fake stories have become an even bigger problem for publications big and small. One such writer almost pulled one over on COYOTE — until @soleilho.com, who is a nerd, spotted a key idiosyncrasy.
How COYOTE Almost Got Slopped by AI
The sordid tale of the freelancer who never was.
coyotemedia.org
Today at writing meetup I said something that started a heated discussion about the use of form as a storytelling device/making a story harder to understand on purpose vs the virtues of simplicity etc. I walked away with this raging, feeling like the action star slow walking from an explosion
Understand that we’re not for everyone and not everyone can buy books and especially that no one can buy every book—but, we have a lot of expenses coming up rapidly and every bit of support, from big to small, helps: malarkeybooks.com/support
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