Ben Soskin
@bensoskin.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Guys and Dolls—perhaps the quintessential Golden Age musical comedy—opened at the 46th Street Theatre on this date 75 years ago.
(The legendary Jo Mielziner did the sets)
(The legendary Jo Mielziner did the sets)
November 24, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Guys and Dolls—perhaps the quintessential Golden Age musical comedy—opened at the 46th Street Theatre on this date 75 years ago.
(The legendary Jo Mielziner did the sets)
(The legendary Jo Mielziner did the sets)
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Boston's Mayor Wu playing with Yo-Yo Ma at Symphony Hall
November 23, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Boston's Mayor Wu playing with Yo-Yo Ma at Symphony Hall
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Donald Trump should keep his reckless mouth shut.
November 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Donald Trump should keep his reckless mouth shut.
As often as possible, films should be programmed based on how silly the titles would look on a marquee together, e.g.:
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT DURAS
Or this 2017-themed triple feature:
LOGAN LUCKY
LOGAN LUCKY
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT DURAS
Or this 2017-themed triple feature:
LOGAN LUCKY
LOGAN LUCKY
This continues to be my favorite type of retro. Films that have nothing in common apart from a word in the title.
November 19, 2025 at 11:02 PM
As often as possible, films should be programmed based on how silly the titles would look on a marquee together, e.g.:
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT DURAS
Or this 2017-themed triple feature:
LOGAN LUCKY
LOGAN LUCKY
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
I WANT TO TALK ABOUT DURAS
Or this 2017-themed triple feature:
LOGAN LUCKY
LOGAN LUCKY
Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy
November 17, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy
Reposted by Ben Soskin
h/T to @baddestmamajama.bsky.social who did this and really made me laugh:
Olivia Nuzzi bio Mad Libs
GO
Olivia Nuzzi bio Mad Libs
GO
![[NAME], [AGE], lives in [BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR HOUSE] in the heart of [CITY OR LOCATION] where [WACKY OR INTERESTING HOUSE FACT] and [BOOK YOU ABSOLUTELY LEFT OUT ON PURPOSE #1] and [BOOK YOU ABSOLUTELY LEFT OUT ON PURPOSE #2] — two books [PRONOUN] was reading while [PROFESSION, CRAFT OR PASTIME] — sit on [PRONOUN] [LOCATION IN HOUSE YOU WOULD STRATEGICALLY LEAVE TWO BOOKS YOU WANT EVERY VISITOR TO SEE]. [EGREGIOUSLY PRETENTIOUS ACTIVITY], like a [NAME OF ARTIST] song come to life.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7qiuhllywd7skoiqadlya3ry/bafkreidfkjfuje4n5jt4jofn6vadq5pkfbxoxvdgzbjhsefvvjbgrinan4@jpeg)
November 14, 2025 at 11:35 PM
h/T to @baddestmamajama.bsky.social who did this and really made me laugh:
Olivia Nuzzi bio Mad Libs
GO
Olivia Nuzzi bio Mad Libs
GO
Reposted by Ben Soskin
My pitch to Disney is that they should do a collaboration Hallmark Christmas movie in which Senator Padme returns to Naboo for Life Day and learns the joy of simple outer rim life while hooking up with her childhood ex Paolo, before her big city boyfriend finds out and ritually slaughters him
November 8, 2025 at 5:08 PM
My pitch to Disney is that they should do a collaboration Hallmark Christmas movie in which Senator Padme returns to Naboo for Life Day and learns the joy of simple outer rim life while hooking up with her childhood ex Paolo, before her big city boyfriend finds out and ritually slaughters him
Reposted by Ben Soskin
A persistent unwillingness to take our own side in a fight at the risk of being seen as cringe is absolutely hampering our ability to affect change.
November 7, 2025 at 2:59 PM
A persistent unwillingness to take our own side in a fight at the risk of being seen as cringe is absolutely hampering our ability to affect change.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Next year both Virginia and Maryland will have lieutenant governors who were born in Hyderabad in 1964.
November 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Next year both Virginia and Maryland will have lieutenant governors who were born in Hyderabad in 1964.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Gosh, Bluesky, democrats winning is good?
Maybe remember that.
Maybe remember that.
November 5, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Gosh, Bluesky, democrats winning is good?
Maybe remember that.
Maybe remember that.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎
November 5, 2025 at 5:22 AM
😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Democrat Michelle Wu has been re-elected Mayor of Boston.
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Democrat Michelle Wu has been re-elected Mayor of Boston.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
In America, the power belongs to the people.
This Election Day, millions will make their voices heard — choosing governors, mayors, school boards, and judges who will shape their communities and our future.
Find your polling place at IWillVote.com.
This Election Day, millions will make their voices heard — choosing governors, mayors, school boards, and judges who will shape their communities and our future.
Find your polling place at IWillVote.com.
November 4, 2025 at 4:56 PM
In America, the power belongs to the people.
This Election Day, millions will make their voices heard — choosing governors, mayors, school boards, and judges who will shape their communities and our future.
Find your polling place at IWillVote.com.
This Election Day, millions will make their voices heard — choosing governors, mayors, school boards, and judges who will shape their communities and our future.
Find your polling place at IWillVote.com.
I imagine/hope that the William F. Buckley impression in "Aladdin" will eventually be the only remaining cultural remnant of that guy
I think everybody has a “Wallace Shawn from Young Sheldon” — my first one would probably be “Vincent Price, the guy who did the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective”
November 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I imagine/hope that the William F. Buckley impression in "Aladdin" will eventually be the only remaining cultural remnant of that guy
Reposted by Ben Soskin
is clean dilithium really a thing
November 2, 2025 at 9:40 PM
is clean dilithium really a thing
Reposted by Ben Soskin
The many monarchs of Europe, the slaver's Confederacy, the Kaiser, the Nazis, the Italian fascists, Imperial Japan and many more all assumed that because liberals value peace and human life, that they were weak and feckless and easily beaten.
Go look for them now.
Go look for them now.
I think fundamentally the problem with post liberal thinkers is that they seem to assume that vanquishing liberalism results in their enemies being converted or defeated and not becoming radicalized into enemies who no longer extend the mercies they once did.
October 31, 2025 at 12:27 AM
The many monarchs of Europe, the slaver's Confederacy, the Kaiser, the Nazis, the Italian fascists, Imperial Japan and many more all assumed that because liberals value peace and human life, that they were weak and feckless and easily beaten.
Go look for them now.
Go look for them now.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
now here's a good take goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-mantra-f...
October 29, 2025 at 4:10 PM
now here's a good take goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-mantra-f...
Reposted by Ben Soskin
I guess I wrote cranky today after seeing one too many Dem post-mortems. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-mantra-f...
A Mantra for the Democrats
And stop pretending that party platforms are just messaging.
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I guess I wrote cranky today after seeing one too many Dem post-mortems. goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/a-mantra-f...
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Today's item: Off-year elections, midterms, & what the Dems have to do. Get their act together? Nope. Move to the left/right? Uh-uh. Adopt my favorite policy positions? Still no. Be the out party when there's an unpopular GOP president? Bingo! goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/elections-...
Elections Update
It's simple: Democrats don't need to get their act together to benefit from Trump.
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Today's item: Off-year elections, midterms, & what the Dems have to do. Get their act together? Nope. Move to the left/right? Uh-uh. Adopt my favorite policy positions? Still no. Be the out party when there's an unpopular GOP president? Bingo! goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/elections-...
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Fifty years ago on this date: Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha made its Broadway premiere, in a production from the Houston Grand Opera.
Joplin received a posthumous Tony nomination for Best Score.
This exuberant second-act finale was also the production's curtain call encore.
Joplin received a posthumous Tony nomination for Best Score.
This exuberant second-act finale was also the production's curtain call encore.
October 21, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Fifty years ago on this date: Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha made its Broadway premiere, in a production from the Houston Grand Opera.
Joplin received a posthumous Tony nomination for Best Score.
This exuberant second-act finale was also the production's curtain call encore.
Joplin received a posthumous Tony nomination for Best Score.
This exuberant second-act finale was also the production's curtain call encore.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Actually, building denser housing in cities so more people can live in cities instead of in overbuilt exurbs is conserving resources and saving the climate:
October 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Actually, building denser housing in cities so more people can live in cities instead of in overbuilt exurbs is conserving resources and saving the climate:
Reposted by Ben Soskin
Correct (well, I'd say 2024 was inflation and general post-pandemic grumpiness; hard to know).
And then add: ~40% of the US electorate is solid GOP/Dem partisan but since our pol culture discourages voting for party, their vote choice in every election *precedes* their reasons for that choice.
And then add: ~40% of the US electorate is solid GOP/Dem partisan but since our pol culture discourages voting for party, their vote choice in every election *precedes* their reasons for that choice.
The way to stay sane is to remember that Joe Biden lost because of inflation, which drove down real incomes. Clinton lost because it's hard to win 3 consecutive terms, the economy was good/not great, and her support was misaligned with the Electoral College.
September 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Correct (well, I'd say 2024 was inflation and general post-pandemic grumpiness; hard to know).
And then add: ~40% of the US electorate is solid GOP/Dem partisan but since our pol culture discourages voting for party, their vote choice in every election *precedes* their reasons for that choice.
And then add: ~40% of the US electorate is solid GOP/Dem partisan but since our pol culture discourages voting for party, their vote choice in every election *precedes* their reasons for that choice.
Stetson, famously known as the Harvard of Volusia County. Well, *West* Volusia County, at least.
Just a heads up: The real college football season begins today, with Ivy League teams warming up with out of conference games. The real real season begins with Ivy vs. Ivy games next week. Meanwhile, inexplicably, today’s Harvard-Stetson matchup isn’t on regular broadcast TV.
#Outraged
#Outraged
September 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Stetson, famously known as the Harvard of Volusia County. Well, *West* Volusia County, at least.
Reposted by Ben Soskin
When y’all cancel your Disney+ subs, please consider giving some of that money to your local NPR or PBS station, or other independent media like @boltsmag.org or @propublica.org
September 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
When y’all cancel your Disney+ subs, please consider giving some of that money to your local NPR or PBS station, or other independent media like @boltsmag.org or @propublica.org