Ray Davis
@pseudopodium.bsky.social
Free-range essayist & online publisher at https://www.pseudopodium.org/
My favorite political novels have indeed felt more or less targeted at me. Samuel R. Delany's "Trouble on Triton" was particularly effective (I hope!).
December 11, 2025 at 12:16 AM
My favorite political novels have indeed felt more or less targeted at me. Samuel R. Delany's "Trouble on Triton" was particularly effective (I hope!).
Still slippery enough to give me a spill or two over the decades!
December 8, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Still slippery enough to give me a spill or two over the decades!
Same here, aided by the headline being cut off in my browser window.
December 5, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Same here, aided by the headline being cut off in my browser window.
A brush & a compact-with-mirror can fix a lot of things but not a spacesuit.
December 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
A brush & a compact-with-mirror can fix a lot of things but not a spacesuit.
Ah, never mind, I see that's been answered.
December 5, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Ah, never mind, I see that's been answered.
Not trying to be a hater but if someone loved Knives Out unreservedly but despised Glass Onion to the very bottom of their hearts & the very top of their voices, would you recommend it?
December 5, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Not trying to be a hater but if someone loved Knives Out unreservedly but despised Glass Onion to the very bottom of their hearts & the very top of their voices, would you recommend it?
My first postcollegiate job was night shift in a bank near the top of the neighboring skyscraper. My god, but this looked perfect in the dawn light.
www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/clot...
www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/clot...
Clothespin - Association for Public Art
Facing City Hall tower with its sculpture of William Penn, Clothespin has the jolting and humorous effect of a familiar object seen out of context.
www.associationforpublicart.org
December 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
My first postcollegiate job was night shift in a bank near the top of the neighboring skyscraper. My god, but this looked perfect in the dawn light.
www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/clot...
www.associationforpublicart.org/artwork/clot...
Eve was presented as a bit of a puddinhead, but she sure shines in the interrogation scene.
December 2, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Eve was presented as a bit of a puddinhead, but she sure shines in the interrogation scene.
The UK is right about this if nothing else, and I will continue to protest the errant habits of my fellow Murkins. Why clutter up the place with punctuation that only INCREASES ambiguity? (Yes, I also support the Oxford comma.)
November 30, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The UK is right about this if nothing else, and I will continue to protest the errant habits of my fellow Murkins. Why clutter up the place with punctuation that only INCREASES ambiguity? (Yes, I also support the Oxford comma.)
1980! Well done -- I have some oldies but don't think I can beat that. (My Clash "Takes the Fifth" ticket stub, like the T-shirt, long ago faded into oblivion.)
November 26, 2025 at 11:08 PM
1980! Well done -- I have some oldies but don't think I can beat that. (My Clash "Takes the Fifth" ticket stub, like the T-shirt, long ago faded into oblivion.)
This rings like Christgau at his best. Like Christgau, his best is often misleading & he's often not at his best. Unlike Christgau, he's never made me curious about something I liked more than I expected to.
[standard generational disclaimer goes here]
[standard generational disclaimer goes here]
November 23, 2025 at 12:48 AM
This rings like Christgau at his best. Like Christgau, his best is often misleading & he's often not at his best. Unlike Christgau, he's never made me curious about something I liked more than I expected to.
[standard generational disclaimer goes here]
[standard generational disclaimer goes here]
It's more fun than SF MOMA, that's for sure.
November 22, 2025 at 12:11 AM
It's more fun than SF MOMA, that's for sure.
"But the true reason was the lack of an economic incentive. For such a system to work well, every car would have to use it. But then, what would be the advantage over the competition for a car company to introduce it?"
November 21, 2025 at 11:40 PM
"But the true reason was the lack of an economic incentive. For such a system to work well, every car would have to use it. But then, what would be the advantage over the competition for a car company to introduce it?"
It's a capitalism problem, oddly enough:
www.polarization.com/land/land.html
www.polarization.com/land/land.html
Polarized headlights without glare
www.polarization.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:36 PM
It's a capitalism problem, oddly enough:
www.polarization.com/land/land.html
www.polarization.com/land/land.html
... and the US east coast. Any way you wrap it, though, it's a grand old dumpling.
November 19, 2025 at 8:56 PM
... and the US east coast. Any way you wrap it, though, it's a grand old dumpling.
(That said, I'm now sadly as allergic to autotune as my cool cohort became to wah-wah pedal solos & the Grateful Dead. That's OK; good to leave something for the young'uns to enjoy without me stinking up the room.)
November 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
(That said, I'm now sadly as allergic to autotune as my cool cohort became to wah-wah pedal solos & the Grateful Dead. That's OK; good to leave something for the young'uns to enjoy without me stinking up the room.)
I'm older than any of yez, and the only amendment I'll offer is that "looking for it" is nowadays most likely to send me down a niche I already know. Contemporary music sources as eclectic as one's tastes are scarce on the ground.
November 19, 2025 at 8:41 PM
I'm older than any of yez, and the only amendment I'll offer is that "looking for it" is nowadays most likely to send me down a niche I already know. Contemporary music sources as eclectic as one's tastes are scarce on the ground.
Ah, memories. I remember gay friends telling us they were heading to the piers as we left the bar....
November 15, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Ah, memories. I remember gay friends telling us they were heading to the piers as we left the bar....
Up to October 1994 for me: Jenny Diski on Marlon Brando's "rambling, ghosted" autobiography. A two-fer review of Jerome McGann's Byron edition & New Oxford Book of Romantic Period Verse. And Frank Kermode's WWII anecdotes -- "Call to me all my mad captains.", now THAT's what I call a hook!
November 15, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Up to October 1994 for me: Jenny Diski on Marlon Brando's "rambling, ghosted" autobiography. A two-fer review of Jerome McGann's Byron edition & New Oxford Book of Romantic Period Verse. And Frank Kermode's WWII anecdotes -- "Call to me all my mad captains.", now THAT's what I call a hook!
The Grim Teachaz album was possibly my fave 2010 release, which suggests your time is being spent wisely:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha_Gri...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha_Gri...
Tha Grimm Teachaz - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:49 PM
The Grim Teachaz album was possibly my fave 2010 release, which suggests your time is being spent wisely:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha_Gri...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha_Gri...
It's also unambiguous, whereas "The Philadelphia Art Museum" would suggest that it only exhibits art that was made in Philadelphia.
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
It's also unambiguous, whereas "The Philadelphia Art Museum" would suggest that it only exhibits art that was made in Philadelphia.
"Time Fades Away" may be my favorite Young album, but now I'm curious about how the material would sound with Buttrey. Are any of his performances included on the recently released archives?
November 12, 2025 at 10:46 PM
"Time Fades Away" may be my favorite Young album, but now I'm curious about how the material would sound with Buttrey. Are any of his performances included on the recently released archives?
... which I imagine had a powerful effect on Virginia Woolf, as well.
November 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
... which I imagine had a powerful effect on Virginia Woolf, as well.
Flaubert's Sentimental Education, Book 3, Chapter 6.
November 9, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Flaubert's Sentimental Education, Book 3, Chapter 6.
His weird remarks on jazz seem related.
November 7, 2025 at 12:04 AM
His weird remarks on jazz seem related.