Russell T. McCutcheon
@mccutcheonsays.bsky.social
I’m University Research Professor in the Study of Religion and was a longtime Dept Chair but now teach, read, write, and have opinions on the fate of higher ed.
A long while ago, I wrote a pretty good piece on O Brother, Where Are Thou?, lies, & Oz. It was rejected on the explicit grounds that Real Classicists had no interest in engaging with "low-brow shallow comedy". Anyhow, at this moment of #Odyssey reception, here it is. medium.com/@anisestrong...
All Coens Are Liars: O Brother, Where art Thou? and Homer’s Odyssey
All Coens are Liars:
medium.com
hello I am 57 years old and I still can't spell rhythm on the first try
A colleague who studies discourses on the past is in Greece, and so what movie do you think she just went to see…? #TheOdyssey @vtouna.bsky.social religion.ua.edu/blog/2026/07...
Nolan's The Odyssey and Debates about Authenticity
Discussions of the movie The Odyssey are more interesting than the film as everyone employs different notions of authenticity that reflect present concerns
religion.ua.edu
The borrowers say they were defrauded by their colleges, but the class-action lawsuit to erase their federal student loans has been tangled up in courts for years. n.pr/4fEgpWM
450k borrowers say they were ripped off. Their student loans are being erased
The borrowers say they were defrauded by their colleges, but the class-action lawsuit to erase their federal student loans has been tangled up in courts for years.
n.pr
In academia you get used to smart people. @suscrockford.bsky.social isn't one of them. She's something else altogether. I'm 28 pgs into her new A Perturbed System - it's brilliant. The kind of scholarship you read before bed, because you can't put it down. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
A Perturbed System
A moving study of how religion shapes Western climate discourse. Our ecological system is disturbed, and with it, every other system we’ve built to inhabit it. We do not face inevitable destruction,...
press.uchicago.edu
Halfway done Disclosure Day and, so far, I feel a bit stupid watching it—it’s ET for adults with a simplistic narrative and treats me like an undergrad in a residence debating big issues late one night.
"How do you do, fellow kids?"
Steve Buscemi: Fellow Kids Meme
ALT: Steve Buscemi: Fellow Kids Meme
static.klipy.com
Mark Harris@markharris.bsky.social · 2w agoSomeone said to me yesterday that they were "low-key excited" to see The Odyssey, and I thought, you're 54 and you have never sounded more 54 than you do at this moment.
Don’t we all own a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia…?
Mark Harris@markharris.bsky.social · 2w agoI'm actually fine with sounding old.
The AI Copyright Lawsuits Have Finally Produced an Actual Payout
The AI Copyright Lawsuits Have Finally Produced an Actual Payout
Anthropic’s massive $1.5 billion settlement just received final approval.
gizmodo.com
My upcoming book is absolutely packed to the brim with em dashes—more em dashes than any well-adjusted human being could possibly need or want—and if any of you tries to claim they are the result of some soulless LLM rather than my own unhinged compulsion I will fight you.
“Its not scary movies, it’s the bible” #TheBear5
They’re no longer used or vintage. Now I hear they’re “pre-loved.”
"Something just brushed past my leg!" — Luke Skywalker, #StarWars Image credit: tempestkc on Threads #LincolnMemorialReflectingPool #USA
do not ask for whom the baja blasts, the baja blasts for thee
This is a devastating interview. Scott Pelley tells the NYT that Bari Weiss directly put a “thumb on the scale” for Trump over the killing of Renee Good. Here’s his explanation of exactly what happened.
Better name for a fictional character: Vonnegut’s Valencia Merble or Pynchon’s Oedipa Maas?
Widows Bay is adult Scooby Doo mystery incorporated and you cant convince me otherwise
Congratulations to everyone who said it would get this bad. Your prize is watching everyone who disagreed now claim no one could have predicted it would get this bad.
It will never make sense to me that universities give more credence to tech billionaires, many of whom very pointedly did not finish college, than they give to their own faculty.
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 2mo agoPeer-reviewed papers are ‘old hat science’, says millionaire investor. Candy Crush businessman Mel Morris says universities “must embrace AI” to transform into economic powerhouses. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-i...
The final solution for AI in academia is a scenario where students are submitting AI-generated homework to be graded by AI-generated faculty using AI agents, all of which is being overseen by highly paid administrators who are extracting money from the students in exchange for a degree. The end.
Pretty fun that Springsteen managed to organize an America 250 concert line up that people actually want to see.
Springsteen Center to launch with America 250 concerts
The Bruce Springsteen Center at Monmouth will host a 2-night America 250 concert featuring Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and other artists.
njbiz.com
