Phil Dyess-Nugent
@philnugent.bsky.social
R.I.P. Al Ruddy
Albert S. Ruddy, 94, Dies; Producer Won an Oscar for ‘The Godfather’
A creator of the sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes,” he went on to win a second Academy Award for “Million Dollar Baby,” the boxing film starring Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood.
www.nytimes.comHow has this not been a sitcom already?
If Trump’s Conviction Lands Him in Prison, the Secret Service Goes Too
The former president could face probation or prison time. Either option would be without precedent.
www.nytimes.comWe could use something like this in real life. My taste in quotations runs more to Billy Joe Shaver, but it’s still awkward when someone with whom I’m shooting the shit mistakes “The devil made me do it the first time/ The second time I done it on my own” for a Dyess-Nugent original.
One of my favorite things about closed captioning is that they apply quotation marks to the dialogue if the characters start quoting people, so if you’re illiterate, you’ll still know why they’re talking funny.
One of my favorite things about closed captioning is that they apply quotation to the dialogue if the characters start quoting people, so if you’re illiterate, you’ll still know why they’re talking funny.
I just typed “Steve Guttenberg” when I meant “Steve Landesberg”, help.
I love it that this headline makes Giuliani’s birthday party sound like New Year’s Eve on the S.S. Poseidon.
Rudy Giuliani's birthday bash ends in chaos as guests scream and cry...
Giuliani was the last of the 18 defendants in the case to be served, Arizona officials said.
nypost.comIt is a sad comment on ‘80s Hollywood’s inability to make the most of what it had that nobody ever wrote a movie for Dabney Coleman in which Richard Nixon and G. Gordon Liddy went through a teleporter together.
The iPad Pro "Crush" ad is the "I shoot puppies, and I want your vote!" of tech marketing.
For his services to Brian Eno and Robert Plant, he shall always be the proudest of our Viscounts.
Does he stand up when shit gets real, like Jon Voight in PEARL HARBOR?
Book Bans Are Surging in Florida. So Lauren Groff Opened a Bookstore.
It’s called The Lynx, after the wildcat native to the state. “We wanted something a little fierce,” she said.
www.nytimes.com
I don’t know why the op-ed writers would bother, considering that he’d be polling at about 2%.
Now Playing: DARK MATTER. If I could find that fucking box, I’d kill Schrödinger's cat myself.
Steve Albini, Influential Producer of ’90s Rock and Beyond, Dies at 61
A musician and audio engineer, he helped define the sound of alternative rock while becoming an outspoken critic of the music industry.
www.nytimes.com“And he’s married to a woman who’s younger than me. I guess that could be kind of sweet, sort of a teacher-pupil relationship. But you’d think she’d miss sex.”
“Is everything after the first hundred pages about him learning to write his name again after his stroke?”
The current version of me would like a word with the 26-years-younger version of me who held up a copy of “A Man in Full” in the bookstore and thought, “The hero of this fucking thing is 60 years old? I don’t get it. Why would you write a 740-page book about someone who’s practically already dead?”
Opinion | Read the Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Annals of Autocracy’ editorial series
Post editorial writer David E. Hoffman delved into the many facets of life under dictatorship.
www.washingtonpost.com
Greg Tate Receives Posthumous Pulitzer Prize
The groundbreaking cultural critic Greg Tate received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize three years after his death in 2021.
www.rollingstone.comKevin Spacey has endorsed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for President, because democracy. I hope they’ll be very happy together, but has the candidate seen this performance? (Skip to 4:30 to get a sense of just how dead the 1960s were by 1987.)
Somebody on social media saw this headline and commented, “pressured”, what does that mean, they put a gun to her head, or what? So here’s where we are now: people see a two-sentence headline, read half of it, and think, “I’d better comment on this. I might read the second sentence tomorrow.”
A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly. Cigna Threatened to Fire Her.
Cigna tracks every minute that its staff doctors spend deciding whether to pay for health care. Dr. Debby Day said her bosses cared more about being fast than being right: “Deny, deny, deny. That’s ho...
www.propublica.org
Overlooked No More: Min Matheson, Labor Leader Who Faced Down Mobsters
As director of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, she fought for better working wages and conditions while wresting control from the mob.
www.nytimes.comToday in “Presidential”:
Noem acknowledges removing Kim Jong Un claim from book, continues to defend dog killing
Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R-S.D.), a possible vice-presidential candidate, has drawn scrutiny over multiple parts of her book, “No Going Back,” that’s set for release Tuesday.
www.washingtonpost.comIn the last 12 hours, I have watched Robert Kennedy, Jr. in a campaign video and Bill Burr playing JFK in Jerry Seinfeld’s little Pop-Tarts comedy, and I am now fully convinced that at least 80% of the Kennedys’ charm came down to the Pepperidge Farm accents. (RFK Jr. doesn’t have one.)
How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours
The New York Times used videos filmed by journalists, witnesses and protesters to analyze hours of clashes — and a delayed police response — at a pro-Palestinian encampment on Tuesday.
www.nytimes.comPhyllis really enjoyed the small boy who, as he was coming out of the store, solemnly informed his father that he had been giving considerable thought and concluded that this Joker dude is crazy.
Next Friday will mark the one-year anniversary of Al Jaffe’s death. This superhero-themed Mad compilation contains a Fold-In, the first one I have beheld since that sad day. I’m not crying, you’re crying!
Opinion | The Deep, Tangled Roots of American Illiberalism
Our biggest mistake would be to believe that Trumpism is a historical exception.
www.nytimes.comwww.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/m...
Barbara O. Jones, Actress Who Brought Black Cinema to Life, Dies at 82
Her arresting roles in movies like “Bush Mama” and “Daughters of the Dust” helped shape a generation of independent filmmakers.
www.nytimes.com
Frank Stella, Towering Artist and Master of Reinvention, Dies at 87
He moved American art away from Abstract Expressionism toward cool minimalism. His explorations of color and form were endlessly discussed and constantly on exhibit.
www.nytimes.comHi, I’m Phil. I live in Hell.
NYPD mocked for showing terrorism textbook as proof of outside agitators at Columbia
‘There is somebody —whether they paid or not paid — but they are radicalizing our students,’ the NYPD deputy commissioner said
www.independent.co.ukI hope Trump is called to testify, and that whoever reports on it for CNN is the same person who wrote this article about Hope Hicks testimony. I want to read about how Trump’s nervousness on the stand was evident from the way his long blond hair fell softly on his neck.
Headline of a column by David Brooks:”Why the Protests Help Trump”. I’m going with “because literally everything helps Trump.” Donald Trump is many things,and one of those things is a monster out of Greek mythology that grows another burning-eyed acid-spitting head whenever a stray dog farts on him.
Where seas are rising at alarming speed
Seas in the Southern United States have risen dramatically since 2010. The extra water has upended life — flooding homes, choking septic systems and deluging roads.
www.washingtonpost.comI adore it that this article about a book that outrages some people because of its (mildly) provocative language includes the quote, “That was when the you-know-what really hit the fan.”
His Book Was Repeatedly Banned. Fighting For It Shaped His Life.
“The Chocolate War,” published 50 years ago, became one of the country’s most challenged books. Its author, Robert Cormier, spent years fighting attempts to ban it — like many authors today.
www.nytimes.com
At the outstanding venue where, once upon a time before I was born, Lee Harvey Oswald was yanked out of the theater for sneaking in without paying. Would Tip-Top Terry approve of Lee Harvey’s ghost’s presence at the festivities? I’m thinking Tip-Top Terry would probably approve.
Rare Editions of Pushkin Are Vanishing From Libraries Around Europe
Dozens of books have disappeared from Warsaw to Paris. Police are looking into who is taking them, and why — a tale of money, geopolitics, crafty forgers and lackluster library security.
www.nytimes.com
Norman Kansfield, 83, Dies; Defrocked for His Daughter’s Same-Sex Wedding
His decision to officiate at the ceremony prompted a debate within the Reformed Church in America that led ultimately to a schism.
www.nytimes.comThere is nothing in the world more Donald Trump than saying, “None of these lawyers today are as brilliant at lawyering as the guy who was disbarred on his deathbed.”
“He has vented to others that he does not have ‘a Roy Cohn,’ a reference to his notoriously ruthless former lawyer.” I think “notoriously ruthless” is a very nice euphemism.
Trump, Venting About Lawyer in His Criminal Trial, Seeks More Aggression
Todd Blanche upended his career to represent Donald J. Trump and has been the former president’s favorite. But Mr. Trump has made him a focus of his episodic wrath.
www.nytimes.com