btbaum.bsky.social
Author, freelance reporter, dog-lover, recovering editor; bylines in San Francisco Mag, LA Times, NYT, Cal Academy Science Today, Catamaran Literary Mag. Remember when generalists armed w/ curiosity made for good journalism?
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Chumley’s you say — Chumley’s?! Well, I can’t put my hands on the photo of their mascot bulldog but I’d like to share this ephemera of my visit there in the mid-90s. See what I did there? Jumping ahead by four or so numbers?
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Yes. Exactly this.
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What are you wearing to the Bluesky gala?
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Exactly this — the default to praise. Facebook, for example, is now overrun with AI-generated slop, in what was once fan-based groups posting on musicians/actors/arts. Complex characters and deeds are flattened out in a very AI specific way, always with the same three or four overwrought synonyms.
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If you see this
post your getaway vehicle
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He’s late but at least he’s clean.
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Exactly. He’s not “deranged” or “losing his marbles” (although, sure, by normal human standards, he is off the rails). The larger point is that he is doing what autocrats do. As you clearly describe with Orwell’s most chilling sentence.
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Good one.
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Me!!
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We saw this film at home on a double-bill binge with Emilia Pérez. It kinda works, doesn't it?
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Once, back in the late 90s, I gave this perfectly labeled food as an Xmas present to a particularly toxic boss. Though nominally Catholic, she was from NYC and understood exactly what I was saying!!
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Exactly
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End/ To close the loop between the original photo/Beatles post and my meandering thoughts on young men facing an uncertain future and weighed down by the recent past, here’s a transcript of that New Yorker Radio Hour broadcast from Jan 2025.
app.podscribe.com/episode/1188...
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6/ So, as the postwar European system of empire, war, the draft, and reach of new technology began to transform society in the late 1950s, it’s good to remember such upheaval can (sometimes) open a window for incredible talent and artistry.
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5/ …1950s rock n roll, do wop, Little Richard, Elvis, Buddy Holly, country western — and the teenagers, including John Paul George & Ringo, listening on their crystal wireless sets (see Hunter Davis bio). And record stores like NEMS w/ listening booths stocking up for soldiers w/ disposable income.
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4/ He talks about how the guitar-centric Skiffle music ignited teenagers in Liverpool—but not elsewhere in the U.K. Everyone talks abt Liverpool being a port city, so the ship workers brought in American R&B records…but did sailors really bring home records? More likely: US army base broadcasts….
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3/ If you keep this confluence of history in mind, you’ll hear many echos. Example: on the New Yorker Radio Hour in Jan, they spoke to the author of “How to Hide an Empire.” His description of the impact of the post-war U.S. army base in the town of Burton, 15 miles from Liverpool is a revelation!!
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I hear that reference and raise the ante by sending righteous anger c/o the spirit of Maria Schneider.
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Genius. And clearly attuned to deeper currents. Have you ever noticed how old he looks in his teens and twenties? Like he was traveling through his allotted years at double-time speed.
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2/ In last year’s doc, “Beatles ‘64,” there’s a clip of John & Yoko on some talk show. There, John says, “we were the first generation allowed to live.” Beatlemania was fueled in part by that historical accident: what might young lads do if allowed to pursue creativity & not become cannon fodder?
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Mark Lewisohn’s “Tune In” examines this photo, explaining that John Lennon’s horror over war and Liverpool’s mutilated WWI vets stayed in Williams’ van. He was determined to avoid the draft & was planning to flee to Ireland if called up. Months before that key birthday, Britain ended the draft. 1/
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6/ We were surprised and delighted by Athens. They even have a Roman Forum with ancient buildings we spotted from a hilltop—fantastic to explore. So many layers. Have a wonderful trip and hope it fills your spirits deeply. Cue up Joni Mitchell’s song “Carey” and look for your own Mermaid Cafe. /end
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5/ Gardens are near big downtown square: Syntagma Square. So many small shops selling real things. Hats! Brooms! Cakes! Not just tourist junk. Next, Athens has a complex of museums under the umbrella of the “Benaki Museum.” We loved the Benaki Toy Museum and the Islamic Art Museum. www.benaki.org
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4/ At night, on any street, look up at the Acropolis. It’s lit up with lighting donated by Ari Onassis’ family donations, so that’s one good thing he did, I guess. The National Gardens of Athens (right there, downtown, walkable) was calm, green, and beautiful.
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3/ Acropolis, yes, but visit when the sun comes up before tourists arrive. Top of the hill. Gates open later, say hello to all the feral cats. Bring treats. Also, museum across the street has a stunning view of site from their top floor. Beautiful, eerie. Museum has a fab cafe, to boot.
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2/ Every archeological museum is stunning. Kids on school field trips sitting on floor, learning abt ancient culture. So, Acropolis Museum & National Museum of Archeology where WE SAW Schliemann’s GOLD MASK of AGAMEMNON!! Y’know, big history stuff remembered first seen on covers of Life Magazine.
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My wife and friends and I visited in Jan 2023, so it was still Greek Orthodox Xmas and the street lights were DAZZLING! Every cafe looked like a stage set. It felt more exciting than Paris. We realized we assumed they’d still be suffering “Grexit-era”‘austerity and the joyful mess was incredible. /1
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I’m not going to agree with both sides having the same level of corruption. No way. That’s like saying there’s no difference between RFK and RFK, Jr.
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It was. And don’t forget the four years of Republican state legislatures post 2020 clawing back drop boxes and expanded access to vote by mail that took place during Covid.
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Corruption, tariffs, tax cuts and gutting federal spending and employment. And all this time, the mini Grover Norquists thought they’d need a bathtub for the drowning.
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I agree that this is the key motivation for tariffs. Everything else is that putrid soup of racist sexist hate with a corresponding aim of destruction.
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I’ve also been thinking about that scene a lot these past months.
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Same #AWP25, same panel from Yahdon Israel: Responsibility is when the risk is greater than the reward but you do it anyway.”
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Darth! This is Hatchi, our friend’s new Siberian Husky. I hope you agree she looks great from any angle!
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I would just add how fresh and surprising I find Anolik’s account. Much has been written about Didion, but —no surprise — the role of female friends (or frenemies) gets short shrift. Only downside is that I want to underline every gorgeous sentence. Guess I’ll have to get the print version, too.
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Oy! Because…severance! Makes me think about that nasty nasty Stepford Wife situation with Gemma and the creepy Dr. Mauer when Gemma enters those six rooms in Season 2’s “Chikhai Bardo” episode. And, to your point, an ongoing experiment? Our heroes are up against some
evil villainy.
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I will only add to the loss of David Bowie the equally devastating change of John Lennon being killed in 1980. Because this shit started to accelerate during the Reagan era.
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…chewed through an electrical transformer. THAT imho is why/how the Cubs & Trump won. Just because a metaphor is ridiculously on the nose doesn’t mean we should ignore it.
(Plus, obv Russian interference, too. Which didn’t go away in 2024 even though everyone stopped talking about it.)
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True, but a few months earlier (April, 2016) the Large Hadron Collider at CERN shut down when a WEASEL…