Mark M

We have a very good mayor who was elected in 2020

My new thing is dropping solo into random karaoke bars and killing it with Hozier’s “Too Sweet.”

Just did a fantasy baseball draft for the first time in years and remembered how much I loved it

I think I’m ready for the biggest challenge of my karaoke career: “Wait for It,” my favorite song from Hamilton. I’ll do Burr right emotionally even though it was be cringey

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I’ll be hosting trivia at Alexander’s Tavern on Wednesdays starting January 15! Please come support !

I can’t begin to express how bad these fires are. Friends have evacuated to our house and other friends are packing up what they can to evacuate and we are wondering if we are going to have to evacuate too. It’s such a colossal shitshow.

Lucky them! (For teachers lol)

(In Maryland)

I always thought you were in Baltimore city for some reason. We were the only district to go back today without a delay

Eagle or Club Car or Drinkery/Leons for NYE?

It’s Been a Tough Year. Let’s Help Each Other Out. There may be a dark shadow hanging over this year’s holiday season, but there are still ways to give to those in need. KATHA POLLITT

1. Baltimore Beat. Everyone complains about the death of local news. In 2023, an average of two and a half local papers closed every week, up from two per week in 2022. No wonder people don’t know what’s going on. Baltimore Beat is a weekly paper by and for Baltimore’s Black community—and yes, it’s on paper, because not everyone is online, and some people like to read an actual newspaper while they eat their lunch or ride to work. It has politics, arts, investigative reporting, and much more. (Recent headline: “After Bail Reform Effort, Baltimore Residents Are Being Held in Jail at Higher Rates Than Before.”) Check it out, subscribe, and donate. Keep news alive! baltimorebeat.com

This was such a nice surprise www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Summer bodies are built in the winter

Studying Shakespeare Now Podcast Episode · Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited · 11/20/2024 · 37m

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f... <—- I’m on this podcast!

Seeing Susan Ruttan on 'Man on the Inside' is kind of a thrill. I spent my adolescence watching 'L.A. Law'!

The last two Thanksgivings, I've been able to go to the gym and the movies, having a fun solo day both years.

My roommate invited me to his family's, but I was content with quiet self-care.

Now I've been alone just a little bit too long today though so I'm going to find a karaoke mic somewhere!

This Ted Danson show Netflix show 'Man on the Inside' is positively delightful.

I kind of want to tackle Dune over this break. I haven't watched either one of them and I feel underprepared for the Oscars.

... so Inside Out 2 is definitely another funny and moving film from Pixar, and while not as much of a jolt as the first one, its sensitive handling of mental health and identity ends up being really poignant.

I also watched Inside Out 2. I loved the first one, and though the second one feels a little too similar early on, the handling of new emotions like anxiety and ennui reached levels of brilliance at times towards the film's climax. Amy Poehler's voice work just remains so brilliant, too...

... with less stakes. There's the cackling empererors, the fights with animals, the slavery, the revenge story, etc. It's all fine and good and I settled comfortably into the story, even while some scenes are absolutely ludicrous (the sharks?! lol). Gladiator 2 is a solid B-/C+.

Maybe he can get his Oscar for this role? But The Piano Lesson really blew me away, I bawled several times, laughed a lot too. I can't imagine liking a movie more this year.

Today I watched Gladiator 2. It was almost a remake of the first one, though everything seems a little sillier...

... she blew me away. Those Wilson monologues sound so natural coming from her, her forceful presence making that poetry come alive. And the scene she has with the other standout of the cast, Ray Fisher as Lymon, just crackled with longing and visceral emotion. Sam Jackson is also quite good.

... performance, a role that Baltimore's own Charles S. Dutton already immortalized on film with the 1994 TV adaptation. But I thought Washington was magnificent, handling those poignant monologues with all the layers, and making his side of the case persuasive. And, wow, Danielle Deadwyler...

And I think The Piano Lesson might be the best, most cinematic adaptation of August Wilson's work ever. The film literalized some of the flashbacks and the ghosts, and I loved that it allowed the world of the play to expand. I've heard some mixed things about John David Washington's central...

... the rest of the Century Cycle. And I have been very impressed by both the 2015 adaptation of Fences (my favorite play) as well as the 2020 adaptation of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which moved me to my core. Denzel Washington is really doing a great service by preserving these Wilson plays in film

... for over 20 years, and have even given talks about his work before. I love his work, and we are teaching The Piano Lesson in IB English III this March. I've taught it before, but it was around 2006 or so, so it's been a while. But I have seen the play since then, as well as almost all...

... a tad heavy-handed, but there were at least five absolutely stunning scenes, and the visuals and costumes and pageantry of it all is just a joy to look at it.

Then that night I went home and watched August Wilson's The Piano Lesson on Netflix. I'm a huge fan of Wilson, having taught him...