Jason Mittell

One option not yet mentioned: Game Night. At least the best Hollywood comedy...

Yep! We've been in Europe since the beginning of September (and alas headed back to US on Monday)

Storefront in Palma, Spain, with a picture of an older woman in leather pointing at "Black Month -60%"

Over the past month in numerous European countries, I've noticed this maddening trend: stores have taken "Black Friday" from the USA, detached it from Thanksgiving and made it a slogan for all big pre-holiday sales. Hence Black Week and Black Month, leading to gross displays like this:

A bit too on the nose for thanksgiving

one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

Today’s xkcd made me cry.

In a good way.

xkcd.com/3172/

I saw her in THE VISIT in London a very long time ago (35 years!), and it's still one of the most enduringly impressive stage performance I've seen!

Triple-necked 19th century mandolin found in the Museum of Musical Instruments in Castello Sforzesco, Milano

Convinced that this instrument was made for the Nigel Tufnel of 19th century Milan:

Ain't no rules says a dog can't shoot someone

Politicizing Transgender Athletes Is Dangerous. Lia Smith Deserved Better. "Let her passing be an inflection point for how you think about trans rights and trans people more generally."

this @katelynburns.com piece about the death of lia smith deserves your full attention

www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...

Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…

What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.

lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

Musk will get the Boring Company to build tunnels for a billionaire Underground Railroad. It will collapse due to Grok-led engineering.

"Children of acclaimed film directors" is the new ideal candidate qualification

His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.

All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:

YouTube video by Elvis Costello - Topic Tramp the Dirt Down

Today's listen in honor of Dick Cheney:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi_Y...

The thing about Johnson not swearing in Grijalva is that’s it a test for 2026.

If you think they will accept an outcome they don’t like, they will just Grijalva it.

So what’s the plan when the GOP says “we ain’t leaving, fuck you, make us.”

Because that IS what they are going to say.

Street sign reading Dickhardtstraße

I’m a gray-haired, upper-middle-aged, arguably-esteemed professor and father of adult children. And yet, walking down a street in Berlin, I instantly become a 12-year-old boy:

Sitting in a Berlin café and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” comes on over the sound system. Suddenly I am flooded with images of meth cooking, distribution and money laundering from one of the greatest montage sequences ever put to film.

Caption: “Coffee Mugs, Shoes, Toilets & Shadows: The Object-Oriented Online Aesthetics of Frank Kelleter’s Photography” Slide with pictures of an empty coffee mug, legs/shoes of three people, a toilet, and a shadowy image.

Had a wonderful time today in Berlin at the Serial Encounters symposium in honor of @fkelleter.bsky.social ! I talked about his contributions to theories of seriality and influence on my own work - but I did make a slide for the hypothetical paper I wish I'd given!

(between images of the Spotify logo that have been crossed out) DON’T STREAM FASCISM Spotify is treating ICE recruitment like just another ad. But when you turn family separation into a marketing pitch, you're not a platform — you're spreading propaganda. • Cancel your Spotify Premium subscription until Spotify removes all ICE ads • Demand Spotify immediately terminate all ICE and DHS advertising contracts. • Urge artists and podcasters to speak out.

Do you use Spotify Premium? Cancel your subscription until Spotify stops running ICE ads. There are other streaming options that don’t profit from exploiting artists while recruiting for ICE: indivisible.org/cancel-spoti... #CancelSpotify

I'm in Europe this semester, and for some reason it's not available here. It's one of the few things I'm looking forward to upon returning to the US...

Donald Trump Confuses Dementia Screening for 'Very Hard' IQ Test as He Brags About Results People

This is probably the funniest headline of the year.

As always, @biblioracle.bsky.social nails the core challenges and conflicting definitions undermining the teaching/learning of writing right now - this time in a clear list of bullet points that take you through his argument!

Opinion | A Nazi Tattoo Exposes Democrats’ Greatest Weakness

I couldn't even pick my favorite line from Tressie because it's all of them (gift)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...

Got it. I saw some say that the college banned her, which is something we could fight for locally.

Have you found a source for this? I teach at Middlebury and want to advocate on this, but want to know what is being said. Thanks!

It's really fun to wake up in Berlin and see a bunch of friends cracking wise in baseball stupors while I drink my morning coffee. Congrats/condolences to all who made it to through the game!

Not counting films _about_ the music (e.g. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould; Fantasia):

I love the Debussy "Claire de Lune" cue in the fountain scene in Ocean's Eleven

Updating my LEGO White House