John Garganourakis

About to settle in for a performance of Henry IV at Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn. This conflation of Parts I and II gets me two plays closer to my goal of seeing all of Shakespeare’s plays on the stage! 🙂 #Shakespeare #theatre

a man with long hair is sitting in front of a laptop computer ALT: a man with long hair is sitting in front of a laptop computer

My favorite kind of plagiarism is when I assign an essay on James Joyce’s “Araby” in my short story class and the student submits a comparative analysis of “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” “Ulysses” and “Finnegans Wake.” #academia

Gene Hackman in The Conversation (1974)

RIP Gene Hackman. So many great performances. The French Connection, Night Moves, Unforgiven, but my favorite is probably The Conversation, just as relevant today as it was when it was first released in 1974.

a man is playing drums with the words muir monday written above him ALT: a man is playing drums with the words muir monday written above him

RIP Jamie Muir. I’ll never forget the first time I saw their 1972 performance on Beat Club and thinking “who is this mad man on percussion?!” Larks’ Tongues is easily one of King Crimson’s best albums and Muir’s contributions make it a singular record in their discography. #kingcrimson #progrock

Easy Action is a great record!

Standout moment from the recent Criterion Closet visit from Denis Villeneuve. Also, props for picking Satyricon, the best and weirdest Fellini film. #filmsky #film #Fellini

a man is making a funny face with his mouth open ALT: a man is making a funny face with his mouth open

*Me reading this Wild at Heart dismissal*

Lynch’s masterpiece, IMO, followed by Blue Velvet and Eraserhead.

Why is Sophocles storming the West End? Because in our extreme times, his plays say the unsayable | Charlotte Higgins The Greek tragedies ask unpalatable questions. That is why they’re enjoying a revival in 2025, says Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer

🏺 "Greek tragedy is a place where unpalatable questions can get asked... Greek plays go to extremes. We need that: we live in extreme times." by Charlotte Higgins via @theguardian.com

#ancientbluesky #classics #culture #Greek

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

David Lynch, Visionary Director of ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Blue Velvet,’ Dies at 78 Director David Lynch, who radicalized American film with with a dark, surrealistic artistic vision in films like 'Blue Velvet,' has died. He was 78.

This one hurts... RIP. :(

Always loved these two performances… do you agree with the consensus that Agharta is the stronger of the two albums?

In 1977, Vincent Price starred in a one-man-show where he played openly gay Oscar Wilde; it was condemned by Anita Bryant. When asked about her condemnation, Price replied that Wilde had already written a play about Anita: “A Woman of No Importance”

Don’t mIss our first Shakespeare webinar: Monday 6pm GMT, link below. Buckle in: this is the first of ….41!

Jimmy Carter is a hero of the renewable energy revolution, and if we’d listened to him we could have gotten where we are now decades earlier.

I loved #Nosferatu! Like Werner Herzog in his remarkable version, Eggers takes a familiar story and expertly weaves in his own obsessions, including folk traditions, the occult, and pre-modern art. The final shot is a Renaissance painting come to life. #filmsky

This sounds amazing! As someone who frequently teaches Othello, I'll definitely be adding this to my wishlist!

Ah, thanks for the explanation. That’s a shame because it’s such a great record.. I’d love to be able to listen to it while I’m out and about. 🤷‍♂️

Cover art for Marilyn Crispell’s “Spirit Music”

Can anyone explain why Marilyn Crispell’s incredible 1983 album “Spirit Music” is still unavailable for digital release? There’s a low-quality version on YouTube, but surely someone could reissue it in better quality on Bandcamp or something?
#jazz #freejazz #jazzsky

IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS: THE LIFE & MUSIC OF CECIL TAYLOR book cover: Cecil Taylor wearing a bucket hat and large sunglasses, slamming the piano with his whole hand

I don't know why Bookshop or Barnes & Noble don't stock my book IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS: THE LIFE & MUSIC OF CECIL TAYLOR, but you CAN get it from Abebooks, JazzMessengers, Soundohm, Bis Aufs Messer in Berlin, or direct from the publisher, Wolke Verlag.

English Faculty / Oxford World's Classics Shakespeare Webinar Series with Professor Emma Smith

Brush up your Shakespeare! Read along with our monthly webinar or just drop in to hear the conversation: english.web.ox.ac.uk/english-facu...
Please repost!

I'd give a SLIGHT edge to his performance in The Conversation but yeah, he's incredible in Night Moves.

The End of the Semester, a play in one act:

Me: I suspect you did not write this essay.
Student: *denies accusation of plagiarism*
Me: Just to confirm, you do understand the assignment was about Macbeth, right?
Student: *agrees*
Me: Then why did you submit a paper on Hamlet?
Student: *silence*

A question for professors… is there a particular edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets that you use in your undergraduate classes?
I usually recommend the Folger, but I'm open to exploring other options. #shakespeare #academia

I love this! I sometimes wish printed editions of the plays (especially the histories!) presented the characters this way instead of just the standard dramatis personae that we often get.

Now playing: Chick Corea’s collaboration with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra at the Molde Festival in 2000. The big band arrangement of the track "Return to Forever" highlights the spacey, moody brilliance of this fusion classic. #jazzsky

Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, / count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.

By comparison, Robert Fagles’s 1984 translation employs the pronoun “we” to great effect. It emphasizes the communal nature of the chorus. It also collapses the distinction between spectators (who keep watch) and actors (who perform) and illustrates the universal nature of tragic suffering. (3/3)

Look upon that last day always. Count no mortal happy till / he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain.

What I like about David Grene’s 1942 translation are those first six words. The chorus demands that we meditate upon our inevitable end and that we maintain this stance throughout our lives. It also gestures toward a life of suffering that Oedipus endures beyond the conclusion of the play. (2/3)

Here’s a look at two translations of the chorus’s final lines in Oedipus the King. Many scholars believe that Sophocles didn’t write this passage (Kitto’s translation relegates them to the footnotes) but even if they are a later addition they strike a powerful concluding note to the tragedy. (1/3)

I just listened to this boxset! They had such a mellow groove going on 76. 👌

I'll never forget seeing a then-unknown Anthony Jeselnik open for Brian Posehn in NYC. He was performing material that would later appear on his debut album. My friend and I were laughing so hard, we ended up in tears. Can’t wait to check this out!