Danny Sullivan

Book Report 8/6/25 Pamela Dean, Ursula K. Le Guin

blogged a couple books
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Too many strange things are happening Metal Gear Solid (Hideo Kojima, 1998)

I played Metal Gear Solid
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The Witness builds a scale model of the inquiring mind Line puzzles and the aesthetic experience of thought

I wrote about The Witness and how video games capture the experience of thinking, with reference to C Thi Nguyen's book Games: Agency as Art
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incredible work in the alt-text here

The Charles Kinbote of Millennial Losers Metallic Realms (Lincoln Michel, 2025)

I reviewed Metallic Realms by @thelincoln.bsky.social, which is both an insightful look at the Millennial experience and a hilarious romp through nerd culture via homages to some of the sci-fi greats. Definitely recommended!
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first paragraph of Pauline Kael's review of the Spielberg film Sugarland Express.

Incredible how Pauline Kael could look at a single movie and predict the filmmaker’s entire filmmaking identity and future career arc. This is basically exactly my opinion of Spielberg: an undeniable savant of the cinematic art possessing the moral and intellectual sophistication of an eighth grader

Selfie of Dan. He has a White Jesus look. Ooh, isn’t he handsome! He’s wearing a black and white trucker hat with his son’s handprints in red on the top and “DAD” on the brim.

Thank you to my son and his day care for this terrifying Father’s Day gift.

For those who are infatuated with what they loathe, the battle within themselves never stops. (1977)

Every article about the inevitability of AGI

The pressures are very visible and very legitimate Vibe checking the Coen brothers’ career at the 10-year mark

My Coen Brothers retrospective takes a detour to dig into the critical and commercial response to their first five films and to take the temperature of their career at the ten-year mark theunderline.substack.com/p/the-pressu...

Thanks again!

iconic Fargo knit poster. "a homespun murder story"

SANTA FE!! Next Tuesday, June 10, I will be presenting Fargo at CCA for our monthly Closer Looks series. I'll be giving a short talk, followed by the film. Please come see it!!
Info and tickets here: ccasantafe.org
@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social

Amazing, thank you! My post promoting my Fargo screening was just upthread above my question. So so appreciate a share!

@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social is your "will always retweet rep screenings" rule still in effect?

iconic knit Fargo poster. "a homespun murder story"

SANTA FE!! Next Tuesday, June 10, I will be presenting Fargo at CCA for our monthly Closer Looks series. I'll be giving a short talk on its place in the arc of the Coen brothers' career as well as some thoughts on how to watch it more closely, followed by the film. Please come see it!!

Control is a Coen Brothers level bumbling protagonist so I'm on board with this

The Southern Reach trilogy as Hegelian fiction This is so stupid

I read @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social's novels as the thesis-antithesis-synthesis dialectic as a story structure
theunderline.substack.com/p/the-southe...

Novels teach us what it feels like to be alive More on reading and making meaning

I wrote about Margaret Doody's incredible book The True Story of the Novel, my experience with the classics, and how we find meaning in our lives
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Ethan Coen is wearing a fancy jumper and standing behind his brother Joel Coen, who has longer hair and is wearing a smartish jacket over a t-shirt. In the background is wood panelling.

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, London (1985)
Photograph by me, Anne Billson.

The guy’s a real moron The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

I know no one has seen or cares about The Hudsucker Proxy but I was really happy with how this piece turned out and in general think my Coen Brothers series is turning out to be some of my strongest work
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The guy’s a real moron The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

My Coen Brothers series rolls on with a look at the film everyone has been clamoring for... The Hudsucker Proxy (womp womp wa wahh)
theunderline.substack.com/p/the-guys-a...

it’s so cool that guys like this run everything now

This is Cora and Clarice from Titus Groan

helena @freshhel I understand tht a very popular personality to perform rn is like "glamorous philosopher" but some of you are stupid

not the point of the post but whenever i see this picture of cass i think of drowzee

Even though I want a Switch 2, I'm actually fine with this because I think it's extremely important for the long-term health of American democracy for gamers to suffer as much as possible.

I feel like we need a term for whatever the opposite of Benjamin's aura is, not something ineffable that can't be reproduced and diminishes when we try, but something malevolent and base that proliferates, metastasizes, and sucks the life out of everyone who encounters it at every stage

Late Star Trek chronicles the commercial and creative challenges of the franchise’s flop era The story Adam Kotsko traces in Late Star Trek: The Final Frontier in the Franchise Era (out today from University of Minnesota Press) is a story of learning—on one side fans learning far too much, me...

I reviewed Adam Kotsko's new book Late Star Trek, a must-read for any fan of the franchise

interview where Wes Anderson describes how some people wouldn't let him cover the glare from their window while shooting a street scene of Tenenbaums

Anderson continues, describes how they blocked the glare with a propped mattress, but then when they started shooting Gene Hackman stopped and did his lines directly behind the mattress

RIP Gene Hackman, I'll always think of you being as difficult as possible on the set of Royal Tenenbaums @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social

damn dave you're a dumbass bitch