See you at the Gemstones! (If they review it. If not AV Club, Vulture will)

Yeah, I’ve been very critical of the season up to this point (basic complaint: individual episodes have had nice moments, but narrative development across episodes was super weak), but I’m not mad about the finale. It was fine, and about as good as they could have done considering the season that lead into it. My…

So to make sure I have this right, because I’ve got the old Mobile Passport (by airside) on my phone, so I should delete that app and install the Mobile Passport Control app instead? Do I have that right? Sorry, my brain is non-functional tonight. 

Even taking all of those things into account, yeah, I’m still surprised. If only because of how unlikely it is that any rapist ever gets convicted, let alone a famous one. 

I’m in the same boat. I thought there was no way he would be convicted. I thought at best hung jury and at (likely) worst, an acquittal. I’m shocked. I didn’t hear much about the retrial. It must have gone significantly better for the prosecution. 

I’m honestly shocked by this. For one, I had no idea the retrial was even going on. And second, I had very little faith that he would be found guilty in the retrial. Wow. 

How conservatives imagine college instructors: “Hi class, today we’re going to be discussing how capitalism is the root of all evil and the US should pay every Black person $1 million per year in reparations. And all cops should be shot in the streets.”

The other benefit to the mule bar was that drinks got made so fast. It took like 10 seconds to assemble everything. There were never lines at the bar. I liked the whole concept so much I’ll probably steal it for my wedding. Mine will be small, so it doesn’t make much sense to have a full bar. An open bar with a…

Yeah, both of my sisters had signature cocktails at their weddings, and that was 12 and 10 years ago now, so I’m not sure this is a trend that’s arriving. It’s been here a while. But they are a good option for simplifying the bar menu. One of the last weddings I went to had an open bar but with a limited menu, and…

One of the members of my grad school cohort, let’s call her Celia, was a late-in-life baby for her dad. So when I met her she was around 30 and he was in his 90s. Another member of our cohort, who was in her mid 20s, learned this and remarked that Celia’s dad was older than her great grandfather.

He should definitely submit the funeral episode as his sample of work for the Emmy. It was masterful work. 

Yeah, I think he would easily have claimed the Emmy in supporting. Matthew Macfadyen had much more to do last season and his win then was deserved. But this season was all Roman. In an ensemble like Succession I’m not sure he can lock down the Best Actor awards, but best supporting he would have cleaned up.

I’ve long been a proponent of radically redesigning the syllabus. Some institutions give you more latitude with that than others. The place I’m at now has a standardized syllabus template that we have to use, so we’ve got very little wiggle room. The standardized syllabus is 5 single-spaced pages of course and school…

I would add one key course policy to note beyond attendance: Look for the late work policy. Many of the freshmen in my classes come from high school backgrounds where they could turn in anything at any time, no matter how late. College largely does not work that way, and each professor will have slightly different…

This is great advice. I’ve had a handful of instances where students from years past have e-mailed me asking for syllabi so that their transfer credit would be approved. Most of the time I could help them out. Once or twice I’d lost some files (and in that instance, I took an old syllabus and changed the dates because…

“The heart doesn’t know what it sees, it only knows what it feels.”

I think that’s smart. If you can afford it, get it done before you move in and then you don’t have the hassle of moving around your furniture to install it.

This makes sense to me. I figured I had to watch Succession first because the chances of AV Club or some other outlet spoiling the outcome were pretty high. On that note, I’d like to thank AV Club for not actually spoiling it. Perhaps y’all have learned from the RIP Logan Roy debacle.

Well, duh. Of course hardwoods don’t go in a damp basement, and of course there is a time and place for vinyl plank. What I object to is classifying it as a luxury product. You’re over here saying, “oh it’s great in a basement near a sump pump.” That hardly screams luxury item to me. It’s a good product for that…

I’m going to be the worst and say it was a split decision. Succession wins on execution and Barry wins on ballsiness. But my vote may change as I get some distance. I just watched Barry tonight and it’s still percolating in my brain. It may grow in my estimation as I think more about it.