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Ben Madeska
@benmadeska.bsky.social
· Nov 12
I'm primarily an oil painter, making paintings like these of steaks, fish, oysters, and fruit
Reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in high school was one of those times I could feel the fundamental wiring of my brain being altered
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/t...
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/t...
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in high school was one of those times I could feel the fundamental wiring of my brain being altered
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/t...
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/t...
Reposted by Ben Madeska
if you're in Indiana, would highly recommend writing this person and thanking them. they're going to get a lot of people yelling at them, and it would be good for ppl to see they get support when they stand up to trump.
(I think I'm going to write even though I'm not in IN.)
(I think I'm going to write even though I'm not in IN.)
h/t @adamwren.bsky.social
Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."
Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."
November 29, 2025 at 12:36 AM
if you're in Indiana, would highly recommend writing this person and thanking them. they're going to get a lot of people yelling at them, and it would be good for ppl to see they get support when they stand up to trump.
(I think I'm going to write even though I'm not in IN.)
(I think I'm going to write even though I'm not in IN.)
Christkindlmarket at Wrigley
November 28, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Christkindlmarket at Wrigley
These people don't understand that the "having" of your completed work is usually the least satisfying part. I spend months and years tinkering with a painting or an essay because that's the enjoyable part
People will listen to neuroscience podcasts 18 hours a day and never shut up about optimizing themselves and still willfully forget that the point of making art is not for a computer to generate an image as quickly as possible it is to activate different parts of that brain you supposedly care about
November 28, 2025 at 4:35 PM
These people don't understand that the "having" of your completed work is usually the least satisfying part. I spend months and years tinkering with a painting or an essay because that's the enjoyable part
Reposted by Ben Madeska
Reposted by Ben Madeska
People will listen to neuroscience podcasts 18 hours a day and never shut up about optimizing themselves and still willfully forget that the point of making art is not for a computer to generate an image as quickly as possible it is to activate different parts of that brain you supposedly care about
November 28, 2025 at 3:33 PM
People will listen to neuroscience podcasts 18 hours a day and never shut up about optimizing themselves and still willfully forget that the point of making art is not for a computer to generate an image as quickly as possible it is to activate different parts of that brain you supposedly care about
Reposted by Ben Madeska
if you steal a cell phone or wallet in paris they kick you out of the french thieve's guild for insufficient whimsy
Thieves have stolen €90,000 worth of fine French snails destined for some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants
Thieves take €90,000 of snails meant for Michelin-starred restaurants
French police are on the trail of ‘experienced’ criminals who stole a whole year’s worth of produce from Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne’s L’Escargot des Grands Crus
www.thetimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:45 PM
if you steal a cell phone or wallet in paris they kick you out of the french thieve's guild for insufficient whimsy
Getting a cup of coffee yesterday the barista asked what I had planned for Thanksgiving and I said I made turkey confit, cooking turkey legs and thighs in duck fat last week to get ready for today and someone behind me in line audibly gasped
November 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Getting a cup of coffee yesterday the barista asked what I had planned for Thanksgiving and I said I made turkey confit, cooking turkey legs and thighs in duck fat last week to get ready for today and someone behind me in line audibly gasped
November 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
"The challenges Chicagoans have endured these last weeks I wouldn’t wish on anyone. But that time has made clear that as a city, we know how to embrace the notion that we fight for our own. Together."
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/o...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/o...
Kerry Lester Kasper: Chicago has become the ‘City of the Big Shoulders’ once again
Carl Sandburg’s words are illustrative of the moxie Chicago has always had but only recently reclaimed.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:33 AM
"The challenges Chicagoans have endured these last weeks I wouldn’t wish on anyone. But that time has made clear that as a city, we know how to embrace the notion that we fight for our own. Together."
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/o...
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/26/o...
"A kid who is now where I was at the time of my diagnosis, lost and confused and struggling for an identity to guide them through all of that, will live out their life in the shadow of Kennedy’s hateful rhetoric and policies regardless of what happens next."
Another great piece by @gonebabygone.bsky.social on RFK and Trump's efforts to claw back all of the progress made by people with autism over the years.
www.welcometohellworld.com/i-will-not-g...
www.welcometohellworld.com/i-will-not-g...
I will not give up that which I have tasted
Promotion of the myth
www.welcometohellworld.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:58 PM
"A kid who is now where I was at the time of my diagnosis, lost and confused and struggling for an identity to guide them through all of that, will live out their life in the shadow of Kennedy’s hateful rhetoric and policies regardless of what happens next."
Reposted by Ben Madeska
Chicago's Essential Dive Bars Vol. 2: The History And Legacy Of 12 More Iconic Watering Holes blockclubchi.co/3XzrHDf
November 24, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Chicago's Essential Dive Bars Vol. 2: The History And Legacy Of 12 More Iconic Watering Holes blockclubchi.co/3XzrHDf
Reposted by Ben Madeska
Several Chicago restaurants have been ranked in a new list featuring the 100 greatest American restaurants of the 21st century, with one being named the best of the century.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2cep4x2w
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2cep4x2w
November 22, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Several Chicago restaurants have been ranked in a new list featuring the 100 greatest American restaurants of the 21st century, with one being named the best of the century.
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2cep4x2w
Read more: https://tinyurl.com/2cep4x2w
A friend once said there are three types of people in the wine industry: people who started in restaurants and never left, failed academics, and lawyers looking for a career change
November 23, 2025 at 12:36 AM
A friend once said there are three types of people in the wine industry: people who started in restaurants and never left, failed academics, and lawyers looking for a career change
Reposted by Ben Madeska
“It’s a kick in the gut for beer history and Chicago," said Liz Garibay of the Beer Culture Center. "It’s the oldest brewing school in the United States and has taught many of the beer pioneers of the past and certainly of the modern era.”
Siebel Institute announces last call in Chicago — one that 'hurts' says Chicago brewer
chicago.suntimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:04 AM
“It’s a kick in the gut for beer history and Chicago," said Liz Garibay of the Beer Culture Center. "It’s the oldest brewing school in the United States and has taught many of the beer pioneers of the past and certainly of the modern era.”
Reposted by Ben Madeska
'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'
#Iran 🇮🇷
#Iran 🇮🇷
Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens
Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...
www.iranintl.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:52 AM
'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain'
#Iran 🇮🇷
#Iran 🇮🇷
Citizen Kane but he's told he was right and brilliant to give up his sled
In a world in which people with too much power and influence desperately need to be told and to understand when they are wrong, we are suddenly all inescapably drowning in sycophancy machines.
November 21, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Citizen Kane but he's told he was right and brilliant to give up his sled
A drawing professor told us "Don't worry about your style, just make the work. Then, after ten years, you'll see your style has emerged"
What’s the most significant advice you received from a teacher?
I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”
Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”
Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
November 21, 2025 at 3:54 AM
A drawing professor told us "Don't worry about your style, just make the work. Then, after ten years, you'll see your style has emerged"
Reposted by Ben Madeska
A Trump supporter started murdering his way through an assassination list of Democratic law makers FIVE MONTHS AGO. He murdered my colleague Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark — and attempted to assassinate my dear friend John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. I was also on the hit list. WTF
November 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
A Trump supporter started murdering his way through an assassination list of Democratic law makers FIVE MONTHS AGO. He murdered my colleague Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark — and attempted to assassinate my dear friend John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. I was also on the hit list. WTF
Reposted by Ben Madeska
Shit. We’ve lost the beer school.
NEW: Today the Siebel Institute—the US' oldest/most prestigious brewing school & a cornerstone of the industry globally—announced its relocation from Chicago to Montreal, citing "[r]ecent regulatory changes in the US [that] have made it much more challenging for many of our international students."
November 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Shit. We’ve lost the beer school.
There are cathedrals everywhere
November 20, 2025 at 4:28 PM
There are cathedrals everywhere
I took Benadryl in the middle of the day once to deal with allergies, and woke up on the couch with bags of groceries on the counter and no recollection whatsoever of having left the house or going shopping
Deliriants like Benadryl can bring on terrifying hallucinations in high doses. Some Gen Z-ers are taking at least a dozen pills at a time—and challenging others to do the same.
Young People Are Tripping on Benadryl—and It’s Always a Bad Time
Deliriants like Benadryl can bring on terrifying hallucinations in high doses. Some Gen Z-ers are taking at least a dozen pills at a time—and challenging others to do the same.
www.wired.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I took Benadryl in the middle of the day once to deal with allergies, and woke up on the couch with bags of groceries on the counter and no recollection whatsoever of having left the house or going shopping
We need to aggressively develop a stigma for when people ask a question, get an answer, and then immediately "check it with AI"
November 17, 2025 at 1:31 AM
We need to aggressively develop a stigma for when people ask a question, get an answer, and then immediately "check it with AI"
Reposted by Ben Madeska
1/ I’d like to share what’s happened since Sept. 30, the night of the most dramatic raid of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Under the cover of darkness, 37 immigrants were taken from an apartment complex …🧵
November 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
1/ I’d like to share what’s happened since Sept. 30, the night of the most dramatic raid of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Under the cover of darkness, 37 immigrants were taken from an apartment complex …🧵