Tod Brody
@teebro.bsky.social
Flutist, arts administrator, fiction reader
Check out the Strong Language blog posts about the Slow Horses' major-league sweariness. He delves into Herron's books, but the TV show does a pretty great job of bringing the books to life, including that aspect.
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/07/09/e... with two other posts after this one.
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/07/09/e... with two other posts after this one.
Espionage Novels That Give a Fuck about Profanity
A couple of years ago, people I know were talking about the Apple TV series Slow Horses, the television version of Mick Herron’s Slough House novels. I love espionage novels, and I like espionage t…
stronglang.wordpress.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Check out the Strong Language blog posts about the Slow Horses' major-league sweariness. He delves into Herron's books, but the TV show does a pretty great job of bringing the books to life, including that aspect.
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/07/09/e... with two other posts after this one.
stronglang.wordpress.com/2025/07/09/e... with two other posts after this one.
He did frequently bat behind Bonds (Bonds 3, Kent 4), so had someone to advance or drive in a ridiculous percentage of the time. I loved the reminiscence of the circumstances under which Bonds was intentionally walked (basically any circumstances at all).
December 8, 2025 at 11:38 PM
He did frequently bat behind Bonds (Bonds 3, Kent 4), so had someone to advance or drive in a ridiculous percentage of the time. I loved the reminiscence of the circumstances under which Bonds was intentionally walked (basically any circumstances at all).
I'm mostly in agreement with Brisbee here. Kent was special in his own right, though for a fairly brief segment of his career.
Jeff Kent is a deserving Hall of Famer, and so is Barry Bonds
Kent absolutely deserves to be a Hall of Famer. That he's in and his former teammate is not is much harder to rationalize.
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I'm mostly in agreement with Brisbee here. Kent was special in his own right, though for a fairly brief segment of his career.
Biggest AI success: I recently had to address our local Board of Supervisors on behalf of my employer. My remarks, written out, took 37 seconds longer to deliver than the two minutes I would be given. ChatGPT, prompted to keep all of my talking points in 37 fewer seconds, tightened it up perfectly.
December 1, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Biggest AI success: I recently had to address our local Board of Supervisors on behalf of my employer. My remarks, written out, took 37 seconds longer to deliver than the two minutes I would be given. ChatGPT, prompted to keep all of my talking points in 37 fewer seconds, tightened it up perfectly.
Wow -- this is so good. Some of the best baroque flute playing I've heard, and I love their flexible and creative style.
November 13, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Wow -- this is so good. Some of the best baroque flute playing I've heard, and I love their flexible and creative style.
We did a new piece of his with SF Chamber Orchestra last spring, and he’s been getting a lot of performances around here in the last two years. I found him extremely likable and articulate, and his music is pretty good too.
October 25, 2025 at 4:56 AM
We did a new piece of his with SF Chamber Orchestra last spring, and he’s been getting a lot of performances around here in the last two years. I found him extremely likable and articulate, and his music is pretty good too.
(Still Ostler) I looked it up: In his 12-year playing career, Posey struck out looking only 168 times, and all 168 were bad calls. He believes in taking his cuts.
October 24, 2025 at 10:12 PM
(Still Ostler) I looked it up: In his 12-year playing career, Posey struck out looking only 168 times, and all 168 were bad calls. He believes in taking his cuts.
A wee sample: Seriously, this is a stroke of genius by Posey. He's not only thinking outside the box, he's thinking outside the warehouse where the boxes are stored. That's not surprising. Posey might look and sound like the guy who does your taxes, but he's got a bold streak.
October 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
A wee sample: Seriously, this is a stroke of genius by Posey. He's not only thinking outside the box, he's thinking outside the warehouse where the boxes are stored. That's not surprising. Posey might look and sound like the guy who does your taxes, but he's got a bold streak.
The great Scott Ostler's got a great take on this.
Learning to love an out-of-the-box hire
Learning to love an out-of-the-box hire
eedition.sfchronicle.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:09 PM
The great Scott Ostler's got a great take on this.
Keeps your music from being cluttered with information you no longer need.
October 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Keeps your music from being cluttered with information you no longer need.
I'd say do whatever it takes to learn the music fastest and most deeply. I adopted a principle that my primary teacher strongly suggested, which is: once the thing you've written down (presumably because it was going to help you learn fastest and deepest) is internalized, erase it. I recommend this.
October 24, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I'd say do whatever it takes to learn the music fastest and most deeply. I adopted a principle that my primary teacher strongly suggested, which is: once the thing you've written down (presumably because it was going to help you learn fastest and deepest) is internalized, erase it. I recommend this.
Now use it nearly every time. It used to work really badly -- now it works well. My math is all about "do I want to wait in line for 5 or more minutes, or do I want to get out of here right now." The reason for the wait is that they've reduced staff, so yes, hateful. I'm in a selfish hurry.
October 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Now use it nearly every time. It used to work really badly -- now it works well. My math is all about "do I want to wait in line for 5 or more minutes, or do I want to get out of here right now." The reason for the wait is that they've reduced staff, so yes, hateful. I'm in a selfish hurry.
As one who has done a lot of writing that needed to maintain a diplomatic tone while expressing important principles clearly, I thought this was an exemplary letter. The sub-messaging that you drew out of it didn't come across to me that way.
October 17, 2025 at 5:23 PM
As one who has done a lot of writing that needed to maintain a diplomatic tone while expressing important principles clearly, I thought this was an exemplary letter. The sub-messaging that you drew out of it didn't come across to me that way.
That's right -- it was the first half repeat.
October 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
That's right -- it was the first half repeat.
He said -- and he may well have been making this up, I don't know him well enough to know if he's reliable on things like this -- that Brahms said that that repeat was for the premiere, and now that everyone knew how the piece went, it was unnecessary. Seemed sus to me.
October 13, 2025 at 9:12 PM
He said -- and he may well have been making this up, I don't know him well enough to know if he's reliable on things like this -- that Brahms said that that repeat was for the premiere, and now that everyone knew how the piece went, it was unnecessary. Seemed sus to me.
The conductor I worked with this past weekend claimed that Brahms instructed the orchestra in the third or fourth performance of his first symphony (the piece we were playing) not to do the second-half repeat of the first movement.
October 13, 2025 at 9:12 PM
The conductor I worked with this past weekend claimed that Brahms instructed the orchestra in the third or fourth performance of his first symphony (the piece we were playing) not to do the second-half repeat of the first movement.
Notice the quotes around both the words "liking" and "music." I like me some music, quite a lot of it, in fact, but not so sure about that "music."
October 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Notice the quotes around both the words "liking" and "music." I like me some music, quite a lot of it, in fact, but not so sure about that "music."
Ouch -- I know the feeling, never fun.
October 3, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Ouch -- I know the feeling, never fun.
It can be either, but contextual clues keep us from being too confused. Usually the interjectional form has the hint of an exclamation point after it.
September 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
It can be either, but contextual clues keep us from being too confused. Usually the interjectional form has the hint of an exclamation point after it.
Come on, do the math!
September 15, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Come on, do the math!
I hate this kind of stuff, though -- tells me that the composer (or publisher, or editor) couldn't be arsed (as your 20-year old sis likes to say) to give it even a cursory examination before putting it out there.
September 15, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I hate this kind of stuff, though -- tells me that the composer (or publisher, or editor) couldn't be arsed (as your 20-year old sis likes to say) to give it even a cursory examination before putting it out there.
I think you're right, that they're just residue of that other section with the real quarter-note triplets. They're clearly lined up with the 16ths in the right hand as eighth-quarter-eighth.
September 15, 2025 at 10:39 PM
I think you're right, that they're just residue of that other section with the real quarter-note triplets. They're clearly lined up with the 16ths in the right hand as eighth-quarter-eighth.