John Williams

"excuses for travellers" by mojave 3

Have been listening to this the last day or two in an attempt to lower my blood pressure. It's working. I've got it down to 300/240.

Unacceptable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAaj...

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs. The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Anyone who can immediately prove they own a copy will get a cabinet position.

After Mamdani Nods to ‘Heated Rivalry,’ Library E-Book Downloads Surge

As mayor, I would cause a run on very used copies of Wilfrid Sheed's "Essays in Disguise." But that's politics. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/n...

"The air is the only place free from prejudices. I knew we had no aviators, neither men nor women. I knew the Race needed to be represented along this most important line, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn aviation."

--Pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, Texan, born 134 years ago today

Manos by the Spinanes (1993; I'm old)

Been too long...

As 900-pagers go, it really moves.

My sister and I are accountability partners on reading Don Quixote. (And some other hefty books throughout the year, we hope.) I knew it was comic, but I didn't realize it was so broadly comic (compliment).

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026

Based on the scene at my grocery store, it seems people aren't planning to re-emerge until mid-May. Can't blame them.

Magnapop! Bringing me back...

Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen; the version I've seen that asks for women singers

10,000 Maniacs
Innocence Mission
Sleater-Kinney
Waxahatchee
Paramore

and some dudes

Prince
Radiohead
Elliott Smith
The Hold Steady
Lyle Lovett

Yes, and recent events are also highlighting the difference even in the "because I can" realm between getting away with something for yourself and inflicting something on someone else.

One of the two I need to see, top of my list!

"The whole time our posse of masked goons were kidnapping a 5yo child and sending him to prison in a different state, their primary concern was the safety and welfare of that child."

Haven’t seen much talk (not just in awards context) about Kirsten Dunst’s strong and moving performance in “Roofman,” which I thought elevated it from a diversion to a pretty good movie.

Review | Tucker Carlson went from moderate to fanatic — and took conservative media with him In “Hated by All the Right People,” Jason Zengerle charts how Carlson became a MAGA darling

Becca Rothfeld reviews Jason Zengerle's account of how Tucker C.'s opportunistic career arc, toward only owning the libs, mirrors the movement of conservative media as a whole. www.washingtonpost.com/books/2026/0...

I've seen eight of the 10 Best Picture nominees, much more than usual at this stage of things.

Review | George Saunders returns to a world full of ghosts In “Vigil,” spirits rehash the many sins of a dying industrialist.

Ron Charles on George Saunders's "Vigil," the idea of what we might owe the dying, and what effect the answer might have on the art of the novel itself. www.washingtonpost.com/books/2026/0...

Nearing the end of season 2, this show is very bingeable and supremely goofy.

I talked myself into placing a modest bet on the 49ers tonight. That was smart. Good job, self.

They’re actually committed to the idea that an unarmed woman in a car deserved to be shot four times in the face and chest. And they expect us to accept that.

If a Tree Falls, by Rosa Lyster The trial of the Sycamore Gap killers

This is very good. (I'm spending a snowy day catching up on periodicals, one of life's great pleasures.) harpers.org/archive/2026...

Photograph from 1911 taken by Herbert Ponting whilst with Scott's Antarctic Expedition The monochrome photo is taken from within a cave. The walls of the cave are made of ice. The cave entrance is in the mid distance with two figures standing looking out towards a distant ship. Between them and the ship there is first a 'beach' of ice before the sea itself. The ship could be up to 800 metres away What makes the photo so special is that where the figures are at the cave entrance there is a band of very white snow and ice (contrasting with the comparatively dark inside of the cave) that creates a stark framework in which the men and the ship are captured. It is made even more dramatic by the fact that the cave entrance is at least 30 metres high and is in the shape of a distorted elipse with the tail sloping off to the right at the top of the elipse The photo being in monochrome in a largely white environment makes the photographers skill all the more laudable

This photo was taken in 1911 using glass plate technology by Herbert Ponting who was part of Scott's Antarctic expedition,

The composition and detail are exquisite with the band of white snow/ice creating a perfect frame around the two people and the ship in the distance

Iconic imo

The main thing I did once I got my drivers license in 1991 was drive to the next town to see movies.

We had movie theaters in Jefferson City, MO, but if you wanted to see most of the really GREAT movies you had to drive to Columbia, MO, to see them.

Great movies are worth it.

If I Had Legs: Less harrowing than I feared and more original than I expected. Byrne is a treasure, per usual. Conan pulls it off. Qualms but very glad I saw it on the big screen, with an edifying Q&A after with director Bronstein.

I'm humbled to report that Vida Blue has given me his 1971 Cy Young Award.

I appreciate that when the NYT front page shit all over the newfangled "telephone" in 1877, they took the time to absolutely cook people from Philadelphia