Whoa, that YMCA card really speaks to all the nutty stuff tucked away in archives, doesn’t it? It’s wild how little objects pass from insignificance to something meaningful, and how we work so hard to combat time’s work on them. There’s a very beautiful absurdity to archiving.

Oh, man. A number of years ago I was in an archiving class as part of a library science program, and we were taken on a tour of the (now defunct) Georgia Music Hall of Fame. They had all kinds of stuff—signed guitars, promotional posters, ticket stubs. . . Then our guide pulls out a Nudie suit. Right away I knew what…

As its own series, yes, but the Simpsons shorts were included as part of the Tracey Ullman Show something like five months before the premiere of Full House.

The thing is, this is a really modern, American idea of what a clown is. For the ancient Greeks, Romans, through Shakespeare, the clown was “comedic” for essentially being a kind of simpleton everyman, a country bumpkin. Even in the modern era you find the sort of pathos available to this sort character in the work of…

I have a colleague who was really bewildered by this, one day wondering aloud, “How do they identify with him? Do they think they’ll be rich one day, too, is that it? That he’ll make them rich?” But I told her I thought it was actually just the opposite. They’re so invested in the identity of being the “white working…

Sounds like the Charles Perrault Bluebeard, which there’s some not-terribly-well-founded speculation was based on Gilles de Rais.

This sounds fascinating, and reminds me also a bit of some of Paul Virilio’s work, such as his “War and Cinema.” Interesting thing about “shooting” with a camera: the “shoot” terminology comes from the fact that early motion picture cameras were literally shaped like rifles.

Alternately, you can have a purely religious ceremony recognized by your church or what have you, but not file any legally binding papers down at the courthouse. I have a colleague who did this, and she was actually tsk tsk’d by a very religious family acquaintance for not being “really” married. So, while my…

Not sure how it works elsewhere, but I’m in an academic library and we have Kanopy. It’s a pretty amazing resource, but as far as Criterion/Janus goes it seems their films must be specifically acquired by the lending institution. So, right now we have access to all of 12 Criterion films—but patrons can request any of…

As horrifying as it is that this is our president talking. . . it would make me deliriously giddy if Macron had mentioned Borodino and Trump thought he said bordello, hence the “extracurricular activities” comment.

Not to mention the fact that Charles Bronson was the son of a Lithuanian immigrant of Lipka Tatar decent who came to America in 1906, at a time when Lithuanian immigrants were viewed as a “problem.” They were poor, largely illiterate, often had difficulty learning English well, and—horror of horrors—were Roman…

I have nothing particularly constructive to add, except to say that is an excellent Kathy Acker reference.

It’s like Shakespeare said, “Uneasy lies the #headstogether that wears a crown.”

So, you’re saying we’ve been. . . waiting for Gadot?

Although I suppose it's obvious from the reference to Jesus, it should maybe be noted that this isn't the Aristotle of ancient Greece.