The Isaac Who Came In From the Butler
@isaacbutler
Cultural critic and historian, author, podcaster, non-Zionist Jew. Co-host: CHARM OFFENSIVE. Writer: THE METHOD: HOW THE 20TH CENTURY LEARNED TO ACT
BIRTHRIGHT at MCC is if anything better than the reviews make it sound. A 3.5 hour show of shifting lives and furious argument that *flies* by. A friend I ran into said after the show “isn’t it incredible that in America we can still make plays like this?”
One thing I want to just pick up on because I think it’s helpful for illustrating the kind of person I am… there’s a tendency in both left and right wing critique to point out that a value or principle or ideal is unattainable and via this move tacitly claim it’s meaningless, EG:
I am once again begging people to do the reading rather than look for excuses to be close minded.
Here's some nice things people have been saying about my new book "The Perfect Moment." And hey... you can preorder it today!
Thank you for asking! I *do*yearn for the sweet embrace of death!
Cash me outside… of my home as I tour in support of The Perfect Moment! And please come say hi if you do!
Dream come true to be officially labeled Highbrow Brilliant by the good people at @nymag.com
The Bob Fosse film of Cabaret has the craziest mustache in cinema history.
Some days I think “Bluesky should add a setting that blanket mutes all anime and furry avatar users” but then you’d miss out on gold like this.
Shrek Burlesque has dropped out of the White House concert.
They’re real and they’re spectacular. (And available for preorder!)
Had an incredible time interviewing Paul Dano for The Craft of Acting. We talked about the mysteries of the artistic process, how to be vulnerable, the necessity of failure, and much much more. Catch it in August only on @criterionchannl.bsky.social !
For the non-insta people here’s acclaimed children’s author Nick Bruel blaming Mac Barnett for being the victim of a mob. Keep in mind, there’d be nothing for the WSJ to write about here if people like Bruel hadn’t made an out of context joke into a national news story
In case you’re wondering how bizarre and out of control (and very similar to religious right pile ons) this Mac Barnett situation is, here’s a section of petition that has hundreds of signatures circulating right now:
My buddy @sela.bsky.social made this for me:
What is the matter with these fucking people.
Now that the final ep has aired I gotta say my reaction to the final ep of DTF St Louis was
I’m sympathetic to this point of view and am trying not to use it as much but it is *also* true that language evolves, and if you have to do a Google search to find out the obsolete meaning of a word maybe it doesn’t mean that anymore.
If you’re in Raleigh and, like me, a lover of classic genre books, hie thee to the Newsagents, a used book store that’s like 98% mass market paperback genre. Here’s my haul (middle two are the two sides of an ACE DOUBLE):