The guardian “watch opera instead of Nolan” piece was a bore, but I would definitely read a good think piece about how the desire to stage Greek mythology as a multimedia performance was, and apparently still remains, at the heart of modernity.
Phil Gentry
@pmgentry.bsky.social
musicologist at the University of Delaware, citizen of West Philly. Current: •McCarthyism in the Music Industry, 1945-1960 •Performance and History in the Semiquincentennial Past: •What Will I Be: American Music and Cold War Identity (Oxford, 2017).
Always interesting to see how legacy media outlets deal with vulgarity. The scandal is the specific words, and if voters are to be informed, the vulgarity should be in the headline, and certainly not buried under euphemisms. Will Texas local news actually say “cum trophy”?
Chris Hayes@chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d agoEarlier tonight, @michellegoldberg.bsky.social read *another* quote from this weirdo that reflected the same general sentiment. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...
Rare sighting of a music historian in university materials; appropriately moody, downcast.
It’s funny, I am a sensible person who mostly uses Bluesky and doesn’t follow idiots, so sometimes I only see The Discourse as a phantom. For example, where are all these people who I am told are driven wild by Emily’s Odyssey review? Haven’t seen that! Enter Facebook. 😵
resisting the urge for a multi-part thread about how this line also reflects the sorry state of water ice in west philly, and yes I have been to Siddiq’s.
EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last wk.1. It's a fun action movie. A line that got cut but sums up some of my overall feelings: This Odyssey is not a rich, satisfying Homeric banquet, but sometimes in the heat, an ice-cold Philly water ice is all you want - even it's mostly sugar and food coloring, and makes no nutritional sense.
I’m personally of the opinion that you should read every word ritchey writes.
ritchey@mariannaritchey.bsky.social · 2w agoMy new book is on the horizon! It's about learning to desire the end of the world that liberal idealism has built, which I think is particularly hard for academics and maybe musicologists most of all
Third night in a row cooking dinner for 12-15 people. 💪💪💪
shhhh, we’re not supposed to talk about this publicly.
BCP Minus Context@bcpminuscontext.bsky.social · 2w agoopenly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church,
It’s a little bit funny that within my immediate neighborhood, if someone mentions our neighbor Emily Wilson, it’s a 50/50 chance they are talking about the one who makes fancy homemade pretzels, or the world’s most famous translator. www.inquirer.com/entertainmen...
A Penn professor thought she’d sell 1000 copies of her ‘Odyssey’ translation. She sold a million this year alone, thanks to Christopher Nolan.
West Philly's Emily Wilson, who penned a highly acclaimed translation of the epic poem in 2017, is having a big summer.
inquirer.com
I am 300 miles away from Philadelphia right now and yet I can faintly hear the shouting in the streets.
Easter Island-ass rock sitting here randomly on a mountain ridge in the Adirondacks.
On 7/17, the Federal Register published a new rule to tighten the conditions on student visas. Now it goes to Congress for review and likely applications starting 9/15. My students are getting official emails and starting to ask questions, so wrote up some observations based on my research: 1/
DHS formalizes major student visa changes: what to know
The Trump administration said the changes will apply to student, exchange, and foreign media visa holders.
newsweek.com
The retaliation against professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard is disgusting. Please support her during these draconian sanctions imposed by the UCI Chancellor. chuffed.org/project/1562...
Mutual Aid for Tiffany
Our colleague, friend, and justice-devoted loved one Tiffany is facing significant financial burdens as she defends herself against potential punitive disciplinary actions from the University of Calif...
chuffed.org
Some very excellent takes in here, especially the basic judgment: “effective but not interesting.”
Dan DiPiero@dandipiero.bsky.social · 3w agoWorking overtime on tiresome takes this week dandipiero.substack.com/p/taylor-swi...
I realize that academic language is often annoying, and spreads in even more annoying ways, but when the same people attacking trans girls in sports also start to attack black women in the WNBA, I don’t know what to tell you, that is why we invented the word intersectionality.
Saw the Odyssey, liked it a lot. But, if you’ll pardon a negative thing, I just don’t get why so many talented directors rely so heavily on Ludwig Göransson, I find his musical approach super generic!
Went to see the Odyssey, and the air quality literally plunged by a 100 points while I was in the theater.
The university where I teach is extremely fragmented when it comes to the social life of faculty, barely anyone hangs out IRL, so it is kind of hilarious to learn that not only do I have a new colleague living in my Philly neighborhood but now he is…my ward leader?
Meet the professor who took over Jannie Blackwell’s ward
James Bridgeforth moved to Philadelphia in 2024. Now, he is leading one of the city's most closely watched Democratic wards.
open.substack.com
Not to fixate, but I still can’t get over that the much-vaunted Democratic Party of South Carolina, endowed with tremendous influence in the nationwide presidential primary, is so deeply bad at running candidates in their own state. First Jaime Harrison, now this random pediatrician from Indiana?
Of course they would do this in a way that would force me to schlep down to independence mall in the middle of a heat wave to see what was wrought.
Abraham Gutman@abgutman.bsky.social · 3w ago🚨BREAKING: President Trump’s administration installed overnight a new exhibit at the site of George Washington’s Philadelphia home instead of the memorial to the 9 people kept in bondage at the nation’s first White House. National Park Service dismantled the original slavery exhibit in January. 🎁 🔗
a quirk historicism I would love to do if I had time and more sources: There was a 1957 Broadway musical based on the Alger Hiss trial, libretto by the anti-communist activist/writer Sol Stein, the orchestra conducted by Noah Greenbrrg, of early music fame. Only ran for five performances.
A Shadow of My Enemy (Broadway, August Wilson Theatre, 1957)
playbill.com
idea for a short horror film: a wisteria vine slowly but surely reaching out to choke the life out of a hosta.
“boy, it’s annoying to listen to my daughter whistling the queen of the night aria” thinks the man who idly whistles the queen of the aria all the time around the house.
I know it's, like, bad for society, but, it's been a good couple days for those of us who don't like to eat healthy vegetables.
Maybe Mitch and Lindsay have been sharing one soul, trading it back and forth as needed.
In an email from our AAUP chapter, we learned: 1) The administration proposes changing the language in our CBA from “Academic freedom also encompasses the freedom to address any matter of institutional policy or action whether or not as a member of any agency of institutional governance” ...TO...
well, I am going to assume that the author’s call for action is to make sure we don’t elect any more immigration restrictionists and not read any further. 🥰
