An hour with Semafor founder Ben Smith discussing the sorry state of the media, followed by a Smith-free hour with the lads discussing, among other things, two very different people who nevertheless shared a very deep love of young people.
So yes, Ben Smith’s interview was kind of inside baseball. But I didn’t hate it. What would have been very interesting is to have a “Battle of the Bens” and have Ben Smith and Ben Dreyfuss on the same podcast, next time. It would be both informative and irreverent. And their voices are even somewhat similar, to my ear anyway. They could be a journalism Jekyl and Hyde.
i was walking through a walmart this morning shopping for a new microwave when moynihan started to say he liked women his own age, then fessed up, & i laughed so hard a woman walking towards me grabbed her little kid to keep her away from me since i looked insane, i guess.
I read the Vanity Fair article today, before I listened to this episode, not having know much of anything about Cormac McCarthy and I came away thinking he was a brilliant, complicated, and flawed human being. I did get the feeling that he was trying to do the right thing and searching for his own redemption which it seems like Britt was able to provide him. It’s unseemly and gross for a man in his forties to have sex with a 17 year old girl, but there is a fuckton of nuance in the situation and the two of them were actually in love. It makes me want to read his books even more than I wanted to before! I thought the bits about the Santa Fe institute and how wealth and influence changed him were actually the juicier bits in the story.
I still happily watch or listen to them and many others. Rejecting art on the basis of bad behavior would require throwing out most of my books and music.
Where to begin with artists who have bad politics/ checkered past?
Pretty sure Caravaggio was a violent mess and believed to have murdered someone (it’s so far back that we can forgive those beautiful paintings of…beheadings)
Picasso, known pig.
Dali, cozied up with fascists.
Pasolini, a self proclaimed Marxist…still wondering if he was a good filmmaker tbh
Wagner, anti semite
Miles Davis, general asshole and woman beater
Gaugin, pederast
Polanski, scumbag and rapist
Coco Chanel, that whole Nazi thing
All kinds of rock band from the 70s, being rockers in the 70s
Agreed on the Reflector episode, which I thought was unusually dull. But, I thought TFC version was good. Liked some of the discussion on the economics of trade newsletters, intersection of business/economics/politics, etc.
Artists I love whose politics/personal foibles I find disconcerting: basically all of them 😄. For example, I love the MC5 and shortly after his death (RIP Brother Wayne) I read Wayne Kramer’s biography and right until the end, he still believed in the far left and the “revolutionary” movement of the 1960s (including still holding the Panthers in high esteem). It made me sad, but, if you are a true rock n roll fan this is a feeling you just get used to.
Moynihan being a higher ed elitist here? Is this opposite day?
Nice to hear him push back on the Elon slurping.
So yes, Ben Smith’s interview was kind of inside baseball. But I didn’t hate it. What would have been very interesting is to have a “Battle of the Bens” and have Ben Smith and Ben Dreyfuss on the same podcast, next time. It would be both informative and irreverent. And their voices are even somewhat similar, to my ear anyway. They could be a journalism Jekyl and Hyde.
i was walking through a walmart this morning shopping for a new microwave when moynihan started to say he liked women his own age, then fessed up, & i laughed so hard a woman walking towards me grabbed her little kid to keep her away from me since i looked insane, i guess.
I read the Vanity Fair article today, before I listened to this episode, not having know much of anything about Cormac McCarthy and I came away thinking he was a brilliant, complicated, and flawed human being. I did get the feeling that he was trying to do the right thing and searching for his own redemption which it seems like Britt was able to provide him. It’s unseemly and gross for a man in his forties to have sex with a 17 year old girl, but there is a fuckton of nuance in the situation and the two of them were actually in love. It makes me want to read his books even more than I wanted to before! I thought the bits about the Santa Fe institute and how wealth and influence changed him were actually the juicier bits in the story.
Re: artists whose work we admire but are creeped out by the artist:
I love Alice in Wonderland but am mortified at rumors about Lewis Carroll and the child who inspired the story.
Re: Creepy and/or otherwise loathsome artists
Among my favorites:
Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)
Dark Side of the Moon (Roger Waters)
I still happily watch or listen to them and many others. Rejecting art on the basis of bad behavior would require throwing out most of my books and music.
I'm starting with the mann in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. But I digress, b/c...
It's the freakin' weekend, baby, I'm about to have me some fun (a little toot toot, beep beep)...
So I just put a little tannis root in my whiskey...
Thinking about heading up to the Yukon with my dog, Buck...
Need to clear my head, start a new, and to remember that the sun also rises...
Because in the end all we need is a little Meta World Peace...
Richard Strauss - incredible composer, shitty politics
I wear my TheFP cap while I’m working out in the gym inside the complex here in the Beltway Swamp. It gets a few sideways glances.
Re: Joe Biden and Trump meeting
Joe and Jill are such a petty self-important people that they definitely voted for Trump and could not be happier with the outcome.
I would lay money they wrote themselves in
Oh I think Reflector did something about this recently. But I am sure the Fifth Column version will be raunchier (and drunker)
You mean the correct version.
Something something pull out of something seventeen-year-old girl
‘ His pullout game is strong’ is just sitting there.
I was leaving it there for you.
He pulled out when he found out that the Justice Deparment was founded before 2007.
Where to begin with artists who have bad politics/ checkered past?
Pretty sure Caravaggio was a violent mess and believed to have murdered someone (it’s so far back that we can forgive those beautiful paintings of…beheadings)
Picasso, known pig.
Dali, cozied up with fascists.
Pasolini, a self proclaimed Marxist…still wondering if he was a good filmmaker tbh
Wagner, anti semite
Miles Davis, general asshole and woman beater
Gaugin, pederast
Polanski, scumbag and rapist
Coco Chanel, that whole Nazi thing
All kinds of rock band from the 70s, being rockers in the 70s
Luis Bunuel, believed in communism too much
Wow, we had some cross-thinking here! Did you read Chaos by Tom O'Neill? Somehow made Polanski look worse.
Tried and true acceptable dating age - take your age, divide by 2, then add 7.
For Moynihan who is 50, a safe dating age is 32 (50/2 = 25 + 7 = 32).
But this rule goes out the window if you are super famous (looking at your Anthony Kiedis! 19 yo gf is gross!).
I thought that was the Nation of Islam's formula. Well, if it was good enough for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad...
Great. Time to find a 30 yr old princess!
First hour was a snoozer of a show the reflector episode with the same fella was just as dull.
Agreed on the Reflector episode, which I thought was unusually dull. But, I thought TFC version was good. Liked some of the discussion on the economics of trade newsletters, intersection of business/economics/politics, etc.
Artists I love whose politics/personal foibles I find disconcerting: basically all of them 😄. For example, I love the MC5 and shortly after his death (RIP Brother Wayne) I read Wayne Kramer’s biography and right until the end, he still believed in the far left and the “revolutionary” movement of the 1960s (including still holding the Panthers in high esteem). It made me sad, but, if you are a true rock n roll fan this is a feeling you just get used to.
Nice DC CAB reference! The 80s had so many great absolutely ridiculous movies