James Wolcott

Markwayne Mullin looks and sounds like some backwoods ding-dong that Raylan Givens has to throw in his car trunk on JUSTIFIED

A mischievous imp asked if maybe I should give The New Yorker 100th anniversary doc a try instead, but I was already warned off of that one--by New Yorker people no less, speaking in hushed tones at secure locations.

THE HOLDOVERS went over and above the genre, otherwise...

Carell: "I'm not Rooster."
Student: "This is college. You can be the Rooster you want."

--dialogue that makes you want to crawl under the sofa

ROOSTER (terrible title), yet another college campus dramedy to toss on the pile, this one starring Steve Carell, following in the loafers of Bob Odenkirk in LUCKY HANK (another terrible title).

I'm trying to figure out which documentary I'm less interested in seeing, the one about Seymour Hersh that came out on Netflix or the upcoming one about Lorne Michaels that will debut only in theaters for a target audience of ghosts and dust bunnies.

I just viewed the Epstein files. A few things are clear:

1. Trump’s name is all over them.
2. The DOJ is breaking the law and denying the victims justice.
3. A single 3-hour viewing was not enough time. I will be back.

If you have questions, let me know in the comments.

They are still writing thousands of words about him being a serious man who prostitutes himself and so forth, when for damn near fifteen years I’ve shown you left, right, and sideways he’s a clown without an original thought in his head.

When it comes to covid restrictions & masking, Kirn is a higher caliber, lower cal version of Joe Rogan still crabbing six years later, "The restaurants were closed, the comedy clubs were closed..." Only with Kirn it's 'the mean flight attendant who chastised me for letting my mask slip,' bwah.

I was Walter Kirn's editor for UP IN THE AIR and three other books by him. He was terrifically smart and talented and I enjoyed working with him. But we parted ways and by degrees he has drifted into a very strange space, like he caught some mind virus from RFK Jr. I've seen him on Fox and it's wha?

Maybe Walter could whip up a wacky laff-fest sequel devoted to the 2026 measles outbreak.

Now that he's no longer podcasting with Matt Taibbi he has more creative "quality time" available.

Mandelson, even reduced, had more power than Andrew ever did. It is a big goddamn deal.

Perhaps, and hear me out on this, it wasn't a demon that attacked Tucker Carlson but a rogue alien doing an unsanctioned "probe." Someone should propose this possibility to Kirn and see how fast they get blocked.

Podcast: From the Archive: ‘The War on Terrorism: Is There an Alternative?’

Great archive @LRB debate from 2002 on 'War on Terror'

Interesting to be reminded of similarities between then & now regarding Euro-American militarism

How Tariq Ali was remarkably prescient

& how Hitchens was such a disgraceful propagandist

www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

I recognize one's a better writer than the other but I miss Elizabeth Wurtzel more than I miss David Foster Wallace.

I realized what bugs me about David Foster Wallace's famous putdown of John Updike, apart from being glib, reductive, etc.

It shouldn't read as Updike is "just a penis with a thesaurus," but the reverse.

A thesaurus with a penis.

That makes much more sense. DFW should have flipped the phrase.

What's interesting to me is how "thoughtful" media figures & outlets are trying to plug Ben Shapiro into the Charlie Kirk slot of responsible conservatism, despite Shapiro's crumbling popularity on the right & robotic messaging. What exactly is Hal Linden* flirting with here?

*Hal Linden: codename

He'll be spending more "me time" in his pickup truck driving round to check on the soul of America.

I can't steel myself to listen to Ben Shapiro and his whiny rat-a-tat voice on The New Yorker podcast, hosted by Broadway legend Hal Linden.* If only there was an AI summation somewhere I could tap that would supply the salient "high points," if any.

*[needs fact checking--ed.]

It appears that the Matt Taibbi-Walter Kirn podcast breakup or trial separation wasn't mutual and amicable. Basically, Kirn got blindsided by Taibbi and was left with a bitter taste in his mouth, one that no amount of oral rinse can swish away.

Another beautiful bromance, kaput.

Stop Listening to the Pessimistic Chaos Agents. America Kicks Ass. Ben Shapiro’s remarks upon receiving the City Journal award

The only ass America is kicking is its own.

www.city-journal.org/article/ben-...

"Thank-you-very-much" (Elvis Presley voice)

They should pay US to watch it!

I can't locate the Bauer interview on YouTube so perhaps Daum pulled it.

Ann Bauer recently appeared on Meghan Daum's podcast doing her Why I Left Woke Minneapolis spiel and I have to say she really looked quite out of it and no model of lucidity.

Maybe I'm jaded or naive* but I actually expected HEATED RIVALRY to be a lot hottier considering how much everybody was carrying on about it.

*neither

Pass the sickbag, Alice.

What's weird to me is Kirn's affect, the way his head is sort of lolling back and forth and he's waving that cup around as if he's on a rocking boat. Intellectually, he's been buggy for some time but these strange mannerisms seem recent.

"Woody Allen is mentioned 7000 times in the Epstein files. Is that, like, a lot?" (George Costanza voice)

I have just placed two orders.