Dan Steffen

Who's the greatest working filmmaker?

OpenAI's Rob Zombie calls latest model "more human than human"

I know this one! #Jeopardy

Hooper drives the boat, Chief.

not that I expect James Dolan to grow a soul at this late date, but one great way to commemorate the death of Frederick Wiseman would be to withdraw the legal threats and finally let them release the movie about Madison Square Garden Wiseman shot in 1998

America Just Lost Another of Its Great Institutions. This One Was a Filmmaker. Frederick Wiseman leaves behind a body of work as massive as all the institutions he chronicled.

I wrote about Frederick Wiseman, for whom most superlatives don't go far enough, and the most important thing he did that wasn't making movies.

serious (if not unbiased) question: Can you name an artist, in any medium, with a body of work equivalent Frederick Wiseman's? 47 films over nearly 60 years, some of the best right at the end, a cumulative portrait of staggering breadth and insight. In movies? Only Scorsese comes close.

AVC: You’ve made 41 films. Does it feel like you’ve made that many? FW: No. But once it’s done I rarely go back and look at it again. AVC: At the end of it all, is there something that you’d like to be remembered for in this genre and this form? FW: Well, I’d like to be remembered for the 41 movies I’ve made! AVC: Certainly you’ll be remembered for those. But, is there— FW: No, but certainly, making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence. AVC: Can you imagine doing anything else as a career? FW: Yeah, I thought of being Roger Federer, but it’s too late.

Frederick Wiseman in 2015: www.avclub.com/frederick-wi...

Ossoff: "Among today's false prophets are the election deniers who indulge this president's obsession with overturning the 2020 election. Hear me when I say this -- they tell a lie so absurd, and therefore so debasing, that the act of telling it proves the teller's total and humiliating submission."

Yes, some libertarians *did* try to warn you about Trump. But you canceled them for it.

I watched 12 ANGRY MEN (1957) for the first time this past week and I've determined we lost our way when men in movies stopped being drenched in sweat.

“Praying it was fake”

Listen to yourself, man

Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.

Every so often I’m reminded of all the good things I get to experience despite the rise of fascism. David Lynch’s filmography, scientific discoveries like vaccines and the awe inspiring pale blue dot captured by voyager 1.

It’s why fascists are so miserable. They can’t appreciate good things.

Elon Musk claims Christopher Nolan has lost ‘integrity’ over The Odyssey casting Lupita Nyong’o is reportedly set to play Helen of Troy in Nolan’s upcoming adaptation of Homer’s epic poem

The woke scolds are trying to make this about racism. But Musk is right. It's about historical and scientific integrity. When the God of Thunder disguises himself as a swan to seduce and fuck a queen and the resulting baby hatches from an egg, *of course* the baby will be white. It's just science.

finally a good dating app

JD Vance Places Candle Outside Hooters Where ICE Agents Were Heckled

JD Vance Places Candle Outside Hooters Where ICE Agents Were Heckled

greg bovino next to stalin, in an image from stalin era infamous for removing the person where bovino is standing

Lockjaw from One Battle After Another in an empty office. I'm sure it's fine.

Excited for Bovino and his new office.

The execution of Alex Pretti is playing so badly because you can look at his actions and life story - his last act was helping, boy scout, athlete, health care worker to veterans - and compare those to the men who killed him and know which you would want to be your son, brother, father, uncle.

It's obviously good that citizens with smartphones can create multiple records of these shootings and undercut propaganda and government lies about them. But I find it a little deranging that being an informed news consumer in 2026 requires watching what are essentially snuff videos in slow-mo.

Minnesota is the best of us.

Amazing

David Lynch: “As soon as you finish a film, people want you to talk about it. And it's, um, the film is the talking.”

The film is talking

YouTube video by CRITERION Stellan Skarsgård’s Closet Picks

Skarsgard quote of the episode is “I don’t cry, I throw up” which I relate to

Being right about trump was boring, tedious, partisan, ideological. Being wrong about trump? Heterodox, contrarian, free thinking.

In my world, there's a certain reluctance to being merely, or in a knee-jerk way, a resist lib. That's understandable, even commendable. On the other hand, let's be clear: It's a hell of lot better, morally and intellectually and politically, to be a resist lib than a Vichy conservative.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984

Fuck Bari Weiss, fuck bootlicking regime propaganda