Jesse Lansner
@jesse.lansner.com
#banCars More about me: https://lansner.com My crossword puzzles: https://jklcrosswords.com
Nobody’s mentioned MOBY-DICK yet, but it definitely qualifies. 🐋
BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · yesterdayalright let's do real discourse: five books *by bad people* that are still good or great books V.S. Naipaul, A BEND IN THE RIVER Allison Pearson, I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT Kevin Myers, WATCHING THE DOOR Yukio Mishima, CONFESSIONS OF A MASK Neil Gaiman, BRIEF LIVES.
The better question would be “could you in your prime take a hit from an ex-NFL player your current age”. I’m going with “probably not, but ask me again in 10 or 20 years”.
Boneless Wings…Lover@coachd21.bsky.social · 2d agoDo you think you take a hit from a NFL player and not fumble the ball at your age?
You didn’t even need to find something good! “Bandolero” (sheriff George Kennnedy chases outlaw brothers Dean Martin & Jimmy Stewart after they kidnap Raquel Welch) is an objectively horrible film and I’d never choose to watch it, but I loved every minute of it the one time I stumbled across it.
mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 3d agolinear TV was genuinely addictive because of the inability to watch what you want. Inconsistent but paced-out rewards the same as a skinner box. You got a big jackpot dopamine bonanza when your favorite Simpsons episode was randomly on syndication that day or came across an MST3k marathon
When Bradbury wrote this the smart home itself was the futuristic part. Reading it now, it’s the fact that the smart home keeps working properly that seems utterly unbelievable.
T H E VV O R S T@milfparade.bsky.social · 2d agoA few weeks ago I realized that tomorrow is the date the Ray Bradbury story “There Will Come Soft Rains” takes place. It’s a shame science fiction from 75 years ago isn’t relevant anymore
You know that feeling when you're trying to explain some Bluesky discourse to a friend who's not terminally online and you realize you sound insane? Now imagine instead of just talking to a friend you wrote 1,000 words about it in the NYT.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 5d agoEmily Wilson, a leading translator of “The Odyssey,” wrote a 4,000-plus-word review of Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation, fueling a debate over balancing commercial success with literary authenticity. Here’s what to know about the controversy.
And even more so between playing and being played.
Moby Dick@mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 5d agothere is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid
Most of the books are in the living room, divided into fiction and non-fiction. But a few important categories are in my study.
Immigrant Punk@porcupunk.eurosky.social · last wk.Enough of the horrors and doom scrolling. Let's talk about something fun. How do you arrange your books?
Anyone familiar with “The Moegensons”? Seems like it could be worth considering for a future Bluesky book club. 📖
Hester Blum@hesterblum.bsky.social · 2w agoSome Melville-adjacent reading I recommend for @leviathanbookstore.bsky.social, including: The Morgesons, by Elizabeth Stoddard (the Elena Ferrante of the 1860s). This is a sexier, weirder, US Jane Eyre and is the best 19th century novel you’ve never heard of. bookshop.org/lists/recomm...
“Sometimes knowing things is a curse, isn't it?”
The Whale Pod@thewhale1851.bsky.social · 6d ago🐳 EPISODE 22 🐳 After a fallow week we're back and talking about the word "Caramba!", flavours of autism, how to find a specific whale, and the intense terror of your panicked soul trying to escape your doomed body. All round happy stuff. Listen wherever you get your podcasts from 🐳🐳
Was the couple Ishmael and Queequeg? 🐋
jordan@jordantyranny.bsky.social · 7d agoThe only taxidermied blue whale in the world, 1865 CE, now housed at the Natural History Museum in Sweden. The public was allowed to enter the whale up until a couple was found having sex inside it. Now the whale’s jaws are opened only for special occasions, such as Swedish election days.
Victor Frankenstein’s origin story is that he read too many old alchemical books without realizing that there were new scientific texts that had advice like “don’t try to bring people back from the dead”.
Marissa Skudlarek@marissaskud.bsky.social · 7d agoHonestly, I think more people should be worried about *that* — if the models absorb too much text that we’d now consider out-of-date, will they put outdated ideas back into circulation? Both when it comes to scientific & historical facts, and also stuff like racial & gender biases
Clueless: It Does Not Say RSVP
Alt: Cher (Alicia Silverstone) in Clueless, saying “It does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty”.
static.klipy.com
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · last wk.The promise of New York City is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: this place would welcome anyone seeking refuge or a better life.
Did Obama get an advance copy of Cool Machine, or did he just read it as soon as it came out?
Barack Obama@barackobama.bsky.social · 7d agoIt’s that time of year again: here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed this summer. If you’ve read any good ones, let me know!
Too many people debating city-run groceries ignore that (1) most other mayors don’t have the power to do it on their own, and (2) Mamdani doesn’t have the power to do some alternatives on his own. This may be the best achievable option in NYC right now but not ideal elsewhere!
Sorry; the cheese course comes after the discourse.
Tom & Lorenzo@tomandlorenzo.bsky.social · last wk.People on Bluesky sigh and talk about The Discourse as if it were something required of them instead of something they opt to partake in, day in and day out. You really don't have to. Post about your favorite cheese
Perhaps the true Odyssey was the discourses we had along the way
In the first draft Odysseus told Polyphemus that his name was “D’oh man”.
ceej@ceej.online · last wk.I built a time machine to ask Homer what he thought of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey adaptation and he just gave me an annoyed grunt
Daniel Mendelsohn reviewed the movie in NYRB when it came out and nobody on Bluesky cared.
Artful Weaving | Daniel Mendelsohn
Aristotle, for one, wasn’t all that impressed by Odysseus’s adventures. In the seventeenth chapter of his Poetics he observes, apropos of the relationship
nybooks.com
Norm Charlatan@normcharlatan.bsky.social · last wk.Imagining a despondent guy following the Emily Wilson-Christopher Nolan discourse and mumbling “I’m the number two Odyssey scholar” like Steve Carrell’s character in Little Miss Sunshine.
I’m on a sea people diet. I see people and then I eat them. - Polyphemus
Spaceballs: Merchandising!
Alt: Yogurt (Mel Brooks) in "Spaceballs" saying "Merchandising! Merchandising!" and showing off a collection of Spaceballs merchandise, while Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), Lone Starr (Bill Pullman), Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers) and Barf (John Candy) look on.
static.klipy.com
Will McKinley@willmckinley.bsky.social · 2w agoThose novelty popcorn buckets that I mock every time I go the multiplex? They're expected to generate $100 million in revenue for AMC. “This is a real business." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/b... #FilmSky
@pequodpod.bsky.social A few episodes ago you were looking for bars that resemble The Spouter Inn. Quick Eternity in NYC features a whale's jaw bone over the bar and has a menu full of drinks named after lines in Moby-Dick.
Quick Eternity NYC
A modern re-imagining of a seaside whaling tavern described in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Quick Eternity is a new cocktail bar located in a landmarked building in the South Street Seaport with innov...
quicketernity.nyc
I know this seems like a harmless debate, but if we talk about this for more than a day there’s a serious risk that Netflix will start producing a bread-throwing reality show.
Sophie Hall@sophlouisehall.bsky.social · 2w agoFinally, someone asking the important questions
