This is an @atrubek.bsky.social bugaboo as well. I don't purchase a lot of new paperbacks, I'm just shocked to see how close those prices have gotten to new hardcovers. "V." is $25!
The current list price for the paperback of Thomas Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon" is $30.99, a dollar more than the hardcover of his newest book.
Spectacle? Would love to hear his thoughts on this.
Seems like they only work (financially) when part of a discrete series like Penguin Ideas, 33 1/3, Object Lessons, etc. when I would love to give people a dollar a word and say “Come back with 150 fun pages about your thing.”
Wild that this song isn’t better known, though that’s true of so many non-Greatest Hits from Smokey. Just an awe inspiring composition and production. If you’ve never heard it before, just wait for it to open up.
Nearly died from a blizzard while in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
A truck from Absolute Power Solutions.
Should’ve seen this coming, but I’ve been corrupted absolutely by my electrician.
Must-buy. Elon is building an admirable career chronicling forgotten, still-relevant pockets of NYC crime. And they’re page turners!
Need to rewatch this, he’s one of my favs. I also remember thinking A Dangerous Method is wildly underappreciated.
velvet underground researchers have apparently confirmed that this audio from a random youtube user is genuinely the long-lost july '67 performance from upbeat, a cleveland teen tv show, doing the unreleased "guess i'm falling in love" complete with screaming girls. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU2U...
For Bill Frisell, music at its best feels dreamlike. His latest, In My Dreams (@bluenoterecords.bsky.social), demonstrates this phenomenon.
He joins @aquariumdrunkard.com to discuss the LP, dreams, and, of course, Gary Larson’s The Far Side: aquariumdrunkard.com/2026/03/02/b...
Top 5 record of the 1980s for me, by a band I love more than most things. “Head Full of Steam” is a perfect confection, “Apology Accepted” one of the great album closers. They should be a household name everywhere.
Last two sentences are as much recommendation as I need. Eventually.
Anndddd???
The cover of Cabrera Infante’s THREE TRAPPED TIGERS
Cabrera Infante looking like a boss with shoulder length hair and circular glasses in an author photo by Nestor Almendros
Wrote my undergrad thesis on Tristram Shandy so I’ve been meaning to read this supposed Cuban version for two decades. It’s stylistically/formally nothing like Sterne (or Ulysses) but it’s a riot and Infante got Nestor Almendros to shoot this incredible author photo.
Agreed. Not demanding that everyone be Obama charisma- or intelligence-wise, and it’s for Maine voters to pay closer attention to him. I’m just skeptical until proven otherwise and he’s given more than enough reason to be.
Having heard recent interviews I don’t think of Platner as a smooth talker. He blusters a lot, a ton of throat clearing. I’m not in a position to vote for him, don’t think he’s antisemitic, and would prefer him to any republican, but I don’t see anything impressive about him.
A truck from Absolute Power Solutions.
Should’ve seen this coming, but I’ve been corrupted absolutely by my electrician.
At least one of them’s dead.
This man was a monster.
John McCain sang “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” on the campaign trail 20 years ago but sure it’s the MAGA faction.
This is my typical process for finding new reads tbh
Well I’ll be damned.
You got too comfy when Fogerty didn’t sue.
I’m reading Backbeats, which is awesome, and enjoying going back and listening to the featured drummers in a new light and fresh ear. @johnlingan.bsky.social
What’s the wait? Just letting the flavors combine?
For my latest Audio Books column, I spoke with @jonbern.bsky.social about his excellent new biography of Justin Townes Earle
A picture of Moby with the quote “I'm a sober vegan meditator and haven't had a date in a decade”
Okay
✊🏻🙌🏻🤘🏻 Amazing, Jesse!
This was a wonderful event and I got to say hi to the god Michael Dirda which always makes my day, but someone needed to stand up and just say one time, loud: FUCK BEZOS.
