"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week." -Willa Cather (from The Professor's House, 1925)
Matt Bell
@profmattbell.bsky.social
Into film, theatre, tennis, and queer studies. Denizen of Boston and Provincetown. Dog dad. Oh, and opposed to fascism.
tfw you walk by a member of Depeche Mode in a Whole Foods and 16-year-old you is screaming on the inside
I would far prefer to see Dody Goodman in the role of Blanche
Of erections, how few are domed like St. Peter’s! of creatures, how few vast as the whale!
It’s ok to celebrate the deaths of one’s political opponents, I’m told.
I love that the name Alexander Zverev receives audible boos on Centre Court, and that ESPN, which has otherwise entirely suppressed criticism of him, is obligated to air the moment.
I was 17 years old when this story ran. I am very aware that if I had been 27, there's a good chance I wouldn't be here to remind you of it. I try never to forget that as much as I chose my own path in life, I also got lucky.
Mark Harris@markharris.bsky.social · last mo.45 years ago today. Buried on page 20 on a holiday Friday just like this one, news that changed the world. www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/u...
Prized possession for over 30 years. Rest in peace, good sir.
Somehow I missed the charming detail that Lyndsey Fifield falsely claimed to have insider info that the Tufts student who was abducted and imprisoned solely for writing an op-ed in the student newspaper (as revealed in state dept’s own memos!) was a terrorist.
After ICE deported Wendy Hernandez Reyes, it turned her 3-year-old son Orlin over to her sister’s estranged partner, who tortured Orlin and beat him to death. I can’t say what I think should happen to those responsible without violating this website’s TOS. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Great to see a tennis journalist refuse to take part in the systemic silence that has protected Zverev (and his corporate enablers) from scrutiny. Well done, Ben.
Ben Rothenberg@benrothenberg.bsky.social · 2mo agoBecause it was time to address the dark clouds overhead at #RolandGarros: I wrote about how Alexander Zverev is almost certainly going to win the French Open, and how people around the sport are feeling about that likelihood. Read here: www.benrothenberg.com/p/alexander-...
TNT’s fawning coverage of Shnaider, eating ice cream on a bike to cool down from her match, is an embarrassment of avoidance. Haber and Navratilova should at a minimum mention the subtext.
Big ovation for Oliynykova, defeated, who nonetheless walks to the middle of the court to wave to fans. She has won a lot of hearts in this tournament.
Shnaider looks out of sorts against Oliykykova early on. Down 1-4 in the first set.
This is what I’m talking about. Ruud has been to 3 major finals, including 2 at Roland Garros — but the TNT graph elevates Zverev.
Matt Bell@profmattbell.bsky.social · 2mo agoSo TNT is all-in on 3-time major finalist and alleged batterer of women Alexander Zverev, but has no air time for 3-time major finalist, all-around good guy, and cutie pie Casper Ruud. Good to know!
Sinner should have had to complete that game before leaving the court.
So TNT is all-in on 3-time major finalist and alleged batterer of women Alexander Zverev, but has no air time for 3-time major finalist, all-around good guy, and cutie pie Casper Ruud. Good to know!
Whether it's Donald Trump seeking to imprison journalists or a couple of NYU students telling Jeremy Peters they don't like Jonathan Haidt, both sides have adopted a totalitarian attitude towards free speech.
these portrait-oriented, pan-and-scan videos of tennis matches are the worst
ATP Tour@atptour.stadio.top · 3mo agoLuciano Darderi is lighting up Rome!!! 🤯 @InteBNLdItalia | #IBI26 | @Lucianodarderi_
“It's time for tea now; but the child is watching the teakettle's small hard tears dance like mad on the hot black stove, the way the rain must dance on the house.” Happy May 1 from Provincetown, where it’s time for Tea.
friendly reminder to come to the Moby Dick Marathon reading at the Provincetown Public Library this weekend
Moby Dick@mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 3mo agothe great floodgates of the wonder-world swung open
There's no greater sign of the iron grip that "both sides" framing has on American journalists than the repeated descriptions of the unhinged tantrum Trump is throwing over the pope's anodyne statements on Catholic doctrine as a "feud" or a "fight" or anything else that implies they're both to blame
Re-watching the delightful Wild Nights with Emily for the first time since 2018, and who should show up in it but America's favorite first lady of the nineteenth (or any) century, Cole Escola!
Under the cloud of discourse that has formed since its 2017 release, Guadagnino's "Call Me by Your Name" remains a rapturous, sensual idyll. For all its visual detail, it's a ravishing aesthetic abstraction; for all its purported "normativity," its heart stubbornly queer.
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again is the plot of a terrifying zombie movie
