Tobias Carroll

It's a little amazing how this season has gone from "hey, maybe Spurs will qualify for Europe" to "holy shit, this is a spiral that's going to be a cautionary tale for years to come." (Not, I should stress, the good kind of amazing.)

Baltimore AWP folks! Tonight! I'm reading at the Cheseapeake Theater Shakespeare Studio along with Cynthia Weiner, Erika Swyler, Amber Sparks, Hugh Sheehy, William Lessard, Jennifer Sears, Alex Behr, DW Arden, and Farooq Ahmed! Drinks downstairs beginning at 6, readings kick off at 7!

...and sometimes you sit down and realize you've just written 800+ words on why the 2016 movie A Cure for Wellness is a parable for US conservative politics in 2026.

(Will probably wind up on my blog later this week.)

because I keep forgetting to mention it: LITERALLY ANYONE can nominate books for this prize! yes! that means you! you have until march 31st!

I watched a bit of the Finnish LotR adaptation, and it's a very interesting choice to have Gollum played by a guy who seems to be channeling George "The Animal" Steele.

Kinda wondering if it's time to revisit Vikram Chandra's Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty now that AI coding has become more prevalent. www.graywolfpress.org/books/geek-s...

Really should've gotten a haircut before AWP. Might just wear a knit cap all conference.

Chotiner: And when you engraved "One Ring to rule them all" on the—
Sauron: I don't understand why everyone keeps taking that out of context.
Chotiner: Well, do you mean to rule us all?
Sauron: I'm here to talk about Gondor's illegal encroachment in Ithilien, Isaac.

One of my favorite parts of last night’s election results.

The only Democratic talking point should be: we don’t abandon anyone.

One of my favorite parts of reading Joe McPhee's recent memoir was the bit about McPhee and Pauline Oliveros collaborating with Pollack on a musical project. An unlikely convergence of genius, but I'm glad it happened.

wait WHAT

Been meaning to revisit that myself, for similar reasons.

Review: “This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich” by Daniel Rachel Proto-edgelords and problematic faves, assemble

At Zona Motel, I wrote about Daniel Rachel's This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich (on @akashicbooks.bsky.social). zonamotel.substack.com/p/review-thi...

Don't love that chart, nope.

Wait, I can get waffles at Uncle Louie G's now? Amazing.

Would be excellent to see you!

"Simone" Predicted the AI Issues at the Center of the SAG Strike Writer-director Andrew Niccol’s film plays very differently in 2023

The "somehow, Tilly Norwood returned" of it all is, once again, making the film SIM0NE feel prescient. I wrote about the flick in question in 2023. www.insidehook.com/film/simone-...

I'm so here for this.

People looking at what widespread betting has done across sports and thinking, "Yes, we really need to expand this to every part of society!" (Or, more likely, "We will get a lot richer if we expand this to every part of society!")

Love the combination of scammers ambitious enough to build a website but not so ambitious that they bothered to look up what the writers they're purporting to work with actually look like.

Thanks for reading! And for sharing!

Recently read 'In the Sight' by @tobiascarroll.bsky.social published by @whiskeytit.com
It was excellent. Exactly what I needed to read.

A pretty great selection of books are currently for sale at the ShopRite in Shrewsbury, NJ.

Is the Martin Scorsese co-directed documentary "The 50 Year Argument" available to watch...anywhere? Was not expecting an 12-year-old HBO production from one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his generation to effectively vanish, but...

YouTube video by LankumDublin Lankum - The Rocky Road To Dublin (Official Audio)

I'm partial to Lankum's version. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxdN...

Do you have any idea why there's a dearth of flags in the South Ward today? New MLS policy?

As Trump gets less popular and less powerful, he leans into presidential prerogative powers were his powers have few real limits. Trump's character predicts it. It's a form of compensation and presidential self-care.

Transitory Check out Transitory - <p>The stories in Transitory</em> consist of familiar locations turned bizarre and longstanding relationships sacrificed to singular obsessions. Unearthly figures appear on a ci...

Adding a plug here for the expanded edition of my debut collection Transitory, setting the stage for a theoretical second collection titled 'Selected Ambient Fiction Vol. 2.' (Interested publishers, lmk.) bookshop.org/p/books/tran...

Excellent novel right here.

...oh god, what if he tries to make a judicial equivalent of the Board of Peace? The Supremer Court, perhaps.