domain:firsttoilthenthegrave.substack.com
OliveTapenade
1yr ago
...oh, well, that makes sense. I didn't check the publication dates. That's fair. I do agree that Goblet is definitely the best of the latter four Potter books.
I'm not sure I would give Harry Potter the credit for pushing YA fiction longer? Azkaban is the first 'large' Potter book - I believe Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets are both around 200 pages? And Azkaban was, as you say, 1999. But consider, say Northern Lights - that's a 1995 YA novel, it was quite successful, and it was 400 pages long.
BahRamYou
1yr ago
Heh, sounds like a good trick. That's probably true, or at least it used to be back in the 2010s. Now it seems like every woman absolutely hates the entire Harry Potter franchise because of the whole Terf thing with its author. Seems ridiculous to me that peole can't separate one political opinion of the author from the books, but I guess they really liked the politics of the books originally.
Possibly relevant= the books were originally aimed at a young male demographic, that's why she initialled her name and made the main character a boy. As it got more popular she got more freedom to express herself.
Rov_Scam
1yr ago
A couple years ago I collected what I think are the best hundred songs of all time. A friend's python visualization of my Spotify playlist illuminated that, despite all the deep cuts, I didn't have a single entry from before I was born. My musical blind spots are enormous, and I think most old music just fucking sucks. At least I can admit it's because I'm susceptible to the level of manufacturing that modern music goes through, along with a huge obsession with sick beats. My list is "wrong" for most people.
I was at a bar over the weekend and a woman who was probably in her early 40s was complaining about the music her husband was playing on the jukebox — classic country like Waylon Jennings and Ronnie Milsap. She said it was "old people's music". I sided with the husband and told her that she's not so much complaining about the music itself as she is the cultural connotation. For example when I listen to music I focus on the melody, the harmony, the rhythm, the arrangement, the competence of the performers, the emotional impact, etc. Year of release doesn't really factor into it much. I might dock a song a few points from a critical perspective if it's merely a lazy retread of what's already been done, but that's ultimately a minor consideration. As I'm in the process of very occasionally updating my own list for this site, I'd be curious to see yours.
TIRM
1yr ago
I have zero trouble believing that Vance is a genuine convert
There's some joke here about Vance converting to Catholicism and Trumpism recently.
netstack
Texas is freedom land
1yr ago
Moby-Dick is actually good. Really good. It's also casually unreadable.
There's a stupidly multilayered structure. Under the whale lore and purple prose, it's psychological. Under that it's more Jungian, archetypal. Under that, some sort of Manifest Destiny, Americana, man-vs.-nature primal thesis. You could make one of those iceberg memes or crazy masonic conspiracy diagrams out of stuff that is really, unarguably buried in the book.
But the cruft is there on purpose. The allusions, on purpose. Melville basically inhaled Bible prose for decades and then breathed it into this book, because he wanted to invoke the mythic style. People joke about the homoeroticism, except that's also an intentional move, one that complements the whole indomitable-American-spirit theme, and it's just...The more you pick at it, the more convinced you get that it's all on purpose. Melville was definitely capable of writing a tighter novel, but he wanted to write an epic. It's layered.
I can't do it justice. I really can't. I'm basing this off a really rewarding college class. Yeah, I realize that sounds both stupid and pretentious. But I swear, I god something out of it. It's not just cope. It's not! There's something great in this book.
If I could find the reading list or at least syllabus I'd share it. There has to be a good study guide out there. I hope I can find it.
100ProofTollBooth
Dumber than a man, but faster than a dog.
1yr ago
This is incorrect.
Trump picked Peter Thiel as his VP.
J.D. Vance is the in-game skin downloadable content.
This is partly sarcasm, but I don't know how much.
The trouble with Vance is that we don't know who he is. Hillbilly Elegy is a good character origin story. But what follows? After serving with distinction as a Marine Corps ... Public Affairs ... yeah, nevermind ... he went Yale Law School and time at Thiel backed venture capital firm where he invested in ... an agribusiness?. Vance lived mostly in San Francisco before running for Senate in Ohio. He's a Catholic Convert married to a non-practicing-anything. His children are Ewan (not Evan), Mirable, and Vivek.
In 2016 he's a Never Trumper. When he runs for Senate, DJT helps get him over the finish line (along with Mitch McConnell but, hey, the real one's always operate from the shadows). In the Senate, he's staunchly pro-Israel, questions support for Ukraine, and says Lina Khan has done a good job.
As a VP pick, the move is to try to lock down Pennsylvania's electoral votes. Anointed as Trump's successor? Dyed in the wool MAGA? I think not. Another commenter mentioned Palin. I think that's a good comparison.
Trump has been moving to the middle on everything this cycle besides immigration and tariffs. The true believers are already losing their primaries (Bob Good in Virginia). OG MAGA (which was Tea Party 2.0) is on the way out. MAGA 2.0 is really riding a lot of the currents that popped off with COVID and BLM riots. Throw in a bunch of Grey Tribe Tech Bros and Vance makes a ton of sense.
The real question is when Trump finalized the decision - before or after the assassination attempt?
100ProofTollBooth
Dumber than a man, but faster than a dog.
1yr ago
Moby Dick and Bood Meridian (aka Moby Dick on land) are two of the few books I'll do a focused planned reading day on.
Get up. Breakfast. Read straight and take notes until Lunch. Repeat until Dinner. If mental energy still available, continue until bedtime. No work, no TV.
anti_dan
1yr ago
This has been brewing for a long time. I think this judge, in particular, thought it was a strong theory but didn't feel there was enough to actually pull the trigger until the Thomas concurrence gave her the cover to do what she thought was the right thing the whole time. Many people have been talking about the special counsel regulations being dubious since at least Muller, and this appears to potentially be the tipping point.
The fact is the SC is an illusion. Political cover for presidents pretending their DOJ is impartial and independent. In reality, DOJ is either in lockstep with the president (as it is now) or is in rebellion with the president (as with the Mueller era).
EverythingIsFine
Well, is eventually fine
1yr ago
Apparently Vance got Don Jr in his corner (whose advice is weighted highly) and deliberately appeared on TV defending Trump a lot (which he knew Trump would love), and I’m pretty sure Burgum was #2 but Jr convinced Trump that Burgum was too establishment. One article mentioned showing Trump media reports that he was backed by Karl Rove which Trump did not like at all. Rubio was tanked by the residency constitutional issue.
jake
1yr ago
I thought that, but the header text says
The editors of The Modern Library were privileged to have the assistance of a distinguished Board made up of celebrated authors, historians, critics, and publishing luminaries. In 1998 and 1999, members of the Modern Library Board participated in the “100 Best” project, voting on the 100 Best Novels and 100 Best Non-fiction works, respectively.
Maybe whoever wrote the header forgot that bit, as I'd assume it'd have an obligatory mention.
EverythingIsFine
Well, is eventually fine
1yr ago
Preachy, smarminess of Glenn Beck 2.0 for real but with even more disdain for the truth. I hope he doesn’t manage to somehow launder his own image back to respectable.
Felagund
1yr ago
Trump picked Peter Thiel as his VP.
J.D. Vance is the in-game skin downloadable content.
I don't think I believe this. Sure, Thiel will have a lot more of a voice than otherwise. But I don't think he'll have much actual power over Vance, and Vance is intelligent enough to want to decide things for himself.
BahRamYou
1yr ago
I went through the top 20 and it was (surprisingly) fairly even. But a little hard to tell because most of them have uncommon foreign names.
Felagund
1yr ago
And it seems to have been added to his wikipedia page an hour ago, so expect this to be heard.
sliders1234
1yr ago
The job varies. Some people elevate the role. Dick Cheney was powerful. Desantis I think would have been a get shit done VP.
disposablehead
Hipster eugenicist
1yr ago
Don’t conflate wicked with impotent. That’s a long list of political accomplishments, even if you think they’re malevolent!
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
1yr ago
I'm guessing he said that it was done too soon, against a target that wasn't strategically important (unlike the surveillance center targeted in the book), nor aimed at destabilizing the regime?
The amazing part to me was that the protagonist of the book even second-guessed their bombing because in retrospect it focused the attention of the regime too early, when the resistance didn't have anything lined up to exploit the brief opening it gave them.
I don't think he mentioned the importance of the target, but yes, from what I've heard he said that terrorism's only worthwhile if sustainable.
VoxelVexillologist
Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1yr ago
I have long thought that it would have been completely reasonable for Biden to try to negotiate a pardon for Trump a la Ford pardoning Nixon in return for a back-to-normalcy sort of proposal. On the other hand Nixon was term limited and Trump was at least in a position to consider running again. Perhaps in return for retiring from political life? It was also a pretty unpopular decision by Ford at the time, but I think in hindsight was probably better for just moving on as a nation.
Although it's not even clear that Trump would have accepted it if offered -- he doesn't seem like one willing to retire quietly. Nor does Biden, who steadfastly refuses to consider dropping out, seem quite as much of a one-term caretaking administration as was perhaps originally advertised, so it may never have been under consideration to begin with.
sliders1234
1yr ago
Khan. I can’t figure her out. She’s blocking a mid-tier luxury hand bag merger but Microsoft got to buy Activision for $68 billion. Google just announce they are buying Wiz for $23 billion. I’m actually concerned about big tech getting bigger but some mid tier consumer garbage she targets? Perhaps google just thinks the deal doesn’t close till she’s out of a job.
I’d like to know more on Vance’s thoughts here.
sliders1234
1yr ago
I bet he does follow the neoreactionaries because he seems like a person who would follow that stuff. But I think he has a lot of shared background with me. That is what high IQ rust belt guys do.
I feel like the only difference between me and him is he wrote a book and gives better speaches.
non_radical_centrist
1yr ago
There's definitely a massive disconnect among pretty much everyone between how much they sympathize with and care about any animal they see or hear about, even just in a book or video, and how much meat they eat. I'm not a vegan, but I'll whole heartedly admit to not actually consistently following my principles in real life, and I respect vegans who shape their lives around their beliefs.
I just accept that most people are not very self-aware.
OliveTapenade
1yr ago
I'm not sure I understand this point - Vance also despised Trump at the start of his presidency.
From where I'm standing, both Vance and Carlson seem to fundamentally be opportunists, flexible seekers of power and influence who are willing to reinvent themselves, to re-cultivate their public personas, to suit changing times. In this specific case, they both shifted populist as the Republican centre-of-gravity moved.
I agree that Carlson's stated political views are probably insincere, or at least, a mixture of sincere-if-vague conviction with tactically shifting to match the equally shifting and inchoate views of his audience. But I doubt Vance is much different either.
vice president isn't a normal job where you need experience. The "job" is basically to give TV interviews and make the main guy look good. Maybe run for president in the future, but not now. It's a very strange job. For that, he's as qualified as anyone.
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