Stephen Fine
@stephen-fine.bsky.social
Classical Music - Books - Teaching
BM-Rice (‘06), MM-SFCM (‘08)
I did some mining of academian ore, but Lord Chaos held something else in store; I was vomited from a beast’s belly onto the shore. But this is no firmament. Where am I?
BM-Rice (‘06), MM-SFCM (‘08)
I did some mining of academian ore, but Lord Chaos held something else in store; I was vomited from a beast’s belly onto the shore. But this is no firmament. Where am I?
Countdown to Bari Weiss hiring her… 3… 2… 1…
Vanity Fair is parting ways with West Coast editor Olivia Nuzzi amid ongoing controversy over her coverage of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while she was the Washington correspondent for New York magazine.
Vanity Fair parts ways with Olivia Nuzzi amid Robert F. Kennedy Jr. controversy
Vanity Fair is parting ways with West Coast editor Olivia Nuzzi amid controversy over her past coverage of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
bit.ly
December 5, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Countdown to Bari Weiss hiring her… 3… 2… 1…
This looks insane, just not trek aesthetic. But I did enjoy Lower Decks and that was a completely different aesthetic as well.
And some of my favorite shows are high school dramas (Buffy, Veronica Mars). I won’t pre-judge, but the art does not inspire confidence.
And some of my favorite shows are high school dramas (Buffy, Veronica Mars). I won’t pre-judge, but the art does not inspire confidence.
December 4, 2025 at 8:57 PM
This looks insane, just not trek aesthetic. But I did enjoy Lower Decks and that was a completely different aesthetic as well.
And some of my favorite shows are high school dramas (Buffy, Veronica Mars). I won’t pre-judge, but the art does not inspire confidence.
And some of my favorite shows are high school dramas (Buffy, Veronica Mars). I won’t pre-judge, but the art does not inspire confidence.
British food is mostly meh, but fish and chips and beans on toast are both elite.
December 4, 2025 at 8:50 PM
British food is mostly meh, but fish and chips and beans on toast are both elite.
Reposted by Stephen Fine
What are we doing here folks
🚨 BREAKING - New Star Trek: #StarfleetAcademy Poster!
The first season of the new #StarTrek live-action series premieres January 15th on Paramount+
🖖 Will YOU be watching?
The first season of the new #StarTrek live-action series premieres January 15th on Paramount+
🖖 Will YOU be watching?
December 4, 2025 at 5:54 PM
What are we doing here folks
Rather than confused I think I see it as Impressionistic or adhering to a logic of dreams.
I don’t think it was reactionary at all except in the context of film history. To me it feels like a blockbuster, it WAS a blockbuster. The talent, the music, the photography, everything about it.
I don’t think it was reactionary at all except in the context of film history. To me it feels like a blockbuster, it WAS a blockbuster. The talent, the music, the photography, everything about it.
I think my hottest take of the year remains that Sinners is kind of thematically confused and accidentally reactionary
December 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Rather than confused I think I see it as Impressionistic or adhering to a logic of dreams.
I don’t think it was reactionary at all except in the context of film history. To me it feels like a blockbuster, it WAS a blockbuster. The talent, the music, the photography, everything about it.
I don’t think it was reactionary at all except in the context of film history. To me it feels like a blockbuster, it WAS a blockbuster. The talent, the music, the photography, everything about it.
The more times you read it, the worse it gets.
“bloo a bloo bloo a bloo” has to be a bit, right
December 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
The more times you read it, the worse it gets.
Jews just out here wondering why we can’t all get along.
We found that social trust doesn’t vary much by religious affiliation in most countries surveyed. A notable exception: In the U.S., 70% of Jewish adults say most people can be trusted, compared with 56% of Christians and 55% of the religiously unaffiliated.
December 2, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Jews just out here wondering why we can’t all get along.
The only movie we ever owned on LaserDisc:
December 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM
The only movie we ever owned on LaserDisc:
I always think about how Conrad grew up speaking Polish and French and didn’t become fluent in English until he was grown. And then he just electrified English prosody and grammar with his writing.
Interesting that Nabokov didn’t have English first either and he too was a master.
Interesting that Nabokov didn’t have English first either and he too was a master.
December 1, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I always think about how Conrad grew up speaking Polish and French and didn’t become fluent in English until he was grown. And then he just electrified English prosody and grammar with his writing.
Interesting that Nabokov didn’t have English first either and he too was a master.
Interesting that Nabokov didn’t have English first either and he too was a master.
If your orchestra plays a lackluster Hanukkah medley, I recommend the one Sonya Stahl wrote for our orchestra a few years ago. I think it’s excellent and most others are… not.
December 1, 2025 at 5:13 PM
If your orchestra plays a lackluster Hanukkah medley, I recommend the one Sonya Stahl wrote for our orchestra a few years ago. I think it’s excellent and most others are… not.
I love the Hanukkah song in Yiddish and English. The dreidel song should be lost and forgotten.
Mi Yimalel is also pretty good. If you have to sing about a dreidel, Sevivon sov, sov, sov is okay. Maoz tzur is very nice.
Also, it goes without saying the blessing over the candles is excellent.
Mi Yimalel is also pretty good. If you have to sing about a dreidel, Sevivon sov, sov, sov is okay. Maoz tzur is very nice.
Also, it goes without saying the blessing over the candles is excellent.
AND WHILE WE’RE AT IT: every dreidel I have ever made out of clay fails to rise to the occasion
December 1, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I love the Hanukkah song in Yiddish and English. The dreidel song should be lost and forgotten.
Mi Yimalel is also pretty good. If you have to sing about a dreidel, Sevivon sov, sov, sov is okay. Maoz tzur is very nice.
Also, it goes without saying the blessing over the candles is excellent.
Mi Yimalel is also pretty good. If you have to sing about a dreidel, Sevivon sov, sov, sov is okay. Maoz tzur is very nice.
Also, it goes without saying the blessing over the candles is excellent.
Don’t read classic kids books as an adult for the first time if you want to understand why people love them. It’s impossible.
Hitchhiker’s Guide must be revelatory to a young teenager. I thought it was fine when I read it in my 20s. Same with His Dark Materials.
Hitchhiker’s Guide must be revelatory to a young teenager. I thought it was fine when I read it in my 20s. Same with His Dark Materials.
does Hitchhiker's Guide... get better? I'm a fifth of the way into the book and it just feels corny and meandering
December 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Don’t read classic kids books as an adult for the first time if you want to understand why people love them. It’s impossible.
Hitchhiker’s Guide must be revelatory to a young teenager. I thought it was fine when I read it in my 20s. Same with His Dark Materials.
Hitchhiker’s Guide must be revelatory to a young teenager. I thought it was fine when I read it in my 20s. Same with His Dark Materials.
Reposted by Stephen Fine
Imagine if they just subsidized newspapers and magazines the way they’re subsidizing this slop
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 30, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Imagine if they just subsidized newspapers and magazines the way they’re subsidizing this slop
As long as we coördinate, I’m there.
who up reëntering
November 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
As long as we coördinate, I’m there.
This is the driest looking Thanksgiving spread I’ve ever seen. Even the potato salad with too much mayo looks dry (how?!). Plain macaroni (what?!), ugly crescent rolls (again, how?!), and that turkey might be okay, but who plated it like that and why?!?
Karoline Leavitt's Thanksgiving spread. Please dissect.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
November 29, 2025 at 9:24 PM
This is the driest looking Thanksgiving spread I’ve ever seen. Even the potato salad with too much mayo looks dry (how?!). Plain macaroni (what?!), ugly crescent rolls (again, how?!), and that turkey might be okay, but who plated it like that and why?!?
RIP Tom Stoppard. If you haven’t read Arcadia before, treat yourself to one of life’s greatest pleasures. We won’t see another like him again.
November 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
RIP Tom Stoppard. If you haven’t read Arcadia before, treat yourself to one of life’s greatest pleasures. We won’t see another like him again.
Reposted by Stephen Fine
remember: columbo isn't a cop. he's a fae with a strong sense of justice, who shows up to crimes and glamours people into thinking he's a cop.
that's why he doesn't carry a gun: the cold iron
that's why he doesn't carry a gun: the cold iron
November 28, 2025 at 11:47 AM
remember: columbo isn't a cop. he's a fae with a strong sense of justice, who shows up to crimes and glamours people into thinking he's a cop.
that's why he doesn't carry a gun: the cold iron
that's why he doesn't carry a gun: the cold iron
Reposted by Stephen Fine
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
November 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
I had a joke about Lincoln, but, I’m Honestly unable to emancipate the joke format from my brain as I’m now two score and two years old—humor fully assassinated.
I had a joke about Jacob/Yisrael, but I really wrestled with posting it
I have a joke about Narcissus, but I’d be seriously dating myself
November 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I had a joke about Lincoln, but, I’m Honestly unable to emancipate the joke format from my brain as I’m now two score and two years old—humor fully assassinated.
I’m so confused by this… why not just flunk them? This is college… is there heavy pressure from admin to keep the warm bodies paying tuition?
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I’m so confused by this… why not just flunk them? This is college… is there heavy pressure from admin to keep the warm bodies paying tuition?
Good to remember that the Luddites were fighting for high tech well-paying jobs.
November 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Good to remember that the Luddites were fighting for high tech well-paying jobs.
Whoa. I’m stuffed from a Thanksgiving feast but still… whoa.
November 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Whoa. I’m stuffed from a Thanksgiving feast but still… whoa.
Licking ice cream cones is gay as hell which is why I chomp down with my teeth like a heterosexual who clearly has no issues existing in this reality.
So many men go through life like that. You can play poker because it's right-coded, you can't enjoy fruity alcoholic drinks because they're women-coded, you can't lick an ice cream cone because it's gay-coded. All day, every day, choosing and judging things based on coding for narrow norms.
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Licking ice cream cones is gay as hell which is why I chomp down with my teeth like a heterosexual who clearly has no issues existing in this reality.
Reposted by Stephen Fine
"device hoarding" is a phrase that would have made my grandparents become the Joker
stupid young people, stop buying a new phone every year if you don't want to be broke. wait no, not like that.
November 25, 2025 at 6:28 PM
"device hoarding" is a phrase that would have made my grandparents become the Joker
Nailed a perfect Alfredo emulsion with just butter, Parmesan, and pasta water. *takes a bow*
November 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Nailed a perfect Alfredo emulsion with just butter, Parmesan, and pasta water. *takes a bow*