Lee Gardner

*sucks teeth*

"The spectacle afforded by Carthage irritated the Barbarians; they admired it and execrated it, and would have liked to both annihilate it and to dwell in it." —Gustave Flaubert

Justice for the Baltimore cheese fish ✊🏻

Now if someone will explain radiation to him . . .

It’s a perfect document as-is.

Hot take: It should never have been remixed by anyone ever. Hot good is it supposed to sound? Like Aja or something?

Contra Madre, by Nomad War Machine and Susan Alcorn 7 track album

It’s Bandcamp Friday, and my label released this album by the late, much-missed pedal-steel player Susan Alcorn and the Philly duo Nomad War Machine, and if you’re in the market for volcanic improvisation, I recommend it.

OMG yes 1000x this

Let there be a Gary Stewart revival, and let it begin with me.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

Higher Ed’s Public Funding Has Entered a New Phase of Low Growth State support crept up by 1 percent. Here’s what that looks like in each state.

Today in news/not news: @dberrett.bsky.social weighs in on the latest Grapevine report, which tells us what we pretty much already knew about funding for public colleges.

I mean, news is hard. You have to be paying attention even when there’s no immediate payoff in it. You need people who can stay close to something without having to depend on that thing in some way. You need support and protection to tackle daunting topics and powerful people.

BTW surely at this point we’ve gotten past the notion that “citizen journalists” will pick up the slack for eviscerated newsrooms. There’s some excellent work being published on Substack et al., but it’s no substitute for the work of a professional newsgathering operation with the proper support.

Years ago, so long ago that it doesn’t exist on the internet anymore (RIP altweeklies). I have a PDF somewhere. I got mad because of that John Milius doc where they sat him down in a chair and asked him questions. Jesus Christ, take a camera and go with him to the gun range at least!

No, you’re absolutely right. Most documentaries these days aren’t really films or even documentaries in that they capture something happening. They’re more like PowerPoints. Animation segments fit right in.

You do not want to get me started about this, believe me haha.

When Jarmusch did a Stooges doc, I thought, This will be great! But he fell back on talking heads seated in chairs, (limited) archival footage, and animation, just like everyone else. Big disappointment.

I have thought a lot about this, and written about it in my former guise as a film writer. There are limitations to what one can do to tell a story with limited resources, and animation appears to be one of the more cinematic ones. Not defending it, but that seems to be it.

Don’t know why anybody does/allows this.

RIP, @DHM Dan McQuade was the best of the internet — and the best of us.

ICYMI over the weekend: I wrote about my friend Dan McQuade and online friendships and aughts blogging and how brilliant and funny Dan was. carigervin.substack.com/p/rip-dhm

Having hiked to the neighborhood Staples and back just now, I can assure you that the sidewalks of Baltimore City are not ready for the return of its school children by 8:30 am tomorrow morning.

(I know you’re not a rookie, but c’mon now.)

Rookie mistake.

Most Zep

This happened next door to us too. Dude dug out his car and created a Matterhorn of ice on the sidewalk for the neighborhood kids to navigate on the way to school for the next month.

She’s really underrated. She wasn’t a “jazz” singer and is therefore somewhat forgotten these days.

Why a State’s Private Colleges Are Feuding With Its Community Colleges Iowa could allow public two-year institutions to develop baccalaureate programs. Private colleges see it as an existential threat.

I wrote about the situation in Iowa, where a proposal to let community colleges offer four-year degrees is riling the private four-year institutions in the state.

I just tried to abbreviate Substack as SS and wait, what?

I elided "in Wyoming" by accident.

It’s kinda like Occam’s Razor for movies. The answer is usually music rights.