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Brice Ezell

@briceezell.bsky.social

580 followers 450 following 1.9K posts

Writer, critic (@PopMatters), teacher. ATL. PhD in English, University of Texas. Modern drama, theatre, and philosophy. Writing a book on Tom Stoppard. Also a denizen of debate-land. https://boxd.it/1rEO5

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Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical bases of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. He was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. .. more

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · Jan 14

Years ago, I started noticing that post-2016 America could best be divided into days that felt like SOUTHLAND TALES and days that felt like TRUE DETECTIVE season two. I put this theory of mine into words for the good folks at @mid-theory.bsky.social: mid-theory.com/2025/01/14/t...

The Southland-Vinci Theorem

Using Los Angeles as a synecdoche for the nation, these stories ambitiously try to chart the scale of America’s degradation, only to find that it’s easy to become artistically inchoate in the proce…

mid-theory.com

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 17h

These guys’ brand of noodle prog wore on me after COMA ECLIPTIC (PARALLAX II being the fly in the ointment moment for me), but at times, they really do still Got It

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 22h

RIP D'Angelo. Would any person be so lucky as to strike lightning the way he did on VOODOO.

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 1d

HAMLET is not a top five Shakespeare play. Early Joyce trounces late Joyce. The best stream-of-consciousness novelist is Woolf. Arthur Miller is mid.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 2d

my materialist guess on the open concept craze is that it’s a conspiracy to make our AC bills higher

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 2d

…they’re anti-door? lol

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 2d

this… tracks immensely. I can see the countertop wine rack in my mind’s eye

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 2d

*grizzled voice* You either die adorkable, or you live long enough to see yourself become a normie.

Bionic Woman @batmansrobyn.bsky.social · 2d

I would like very badly to understand why Instagram insists on showing me 500 million posts about Zooey Deschanel and the Property Brother's ugly kitchen

Reposted by Andrew Scott, Lesley A. Hall, Daniel S. Goldberg , and 6 more Andrew Scott, Lesley A. Hall, Daniel S. Goldberg, Rebecca Tushnet, R. M. Wilson, Justin Lewis, Tom Stoppard, Mary Burke, Annalee Newitz

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Reposted by Tom Stoppard

Bionic Woman @batmansrobyn.bsky.social · 2d

I would like very badly to understand why Instagram insists on showing me 500 million posts about Zooey Deschanel and the Property Brother's ugly kitchen

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Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Brendan Nyhan, Gavin A. Schmidt , and 23 more Joe R. Feagin, Brendan Nyhan, Gavin A. Schmidt, Steve Peers, Christopher Wright, Rosemary A. Joyce, Jane E. Fountain, Sanford F. Schram, Janet Murray, Aaron Sojourner, Lesley Bartlett, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Scott A. Imberman, Dean Eckles, Brian Keegan, Kent Johnson, Tom Stoppard, Ann Bartow, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Pádua Fernandes, Charles T. Mathewes, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Prakash Kashwan, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Élisabeth Vallet, David Darmofal

Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 2d

ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago

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A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 2d

The NFL once again bringing over some real Southampton vs. Wolverhampton-quality football to the UK

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 3d

Today’s post brought to you by “what should have been a 20 minute drive turned into an hour because at one intersection drivers kept blocking the box.”

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 3d

With all the standard qualifiers that cars are terrible and cities shouldn’t be built around them: yes, Atlanta traffic is bad because of population and development, but it’s not helped by the fact that this city produces seemingly some of the stupidest drivers out there.

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 6d

If this is the future of literacy, my decision to study modern dramatic literature for my PhD will render me an expert in a truly arcane art form. People will be like “but why don’t things end up happily ever after for Mary Tyrone?”

Lux "Nightmare" Alptraum @luxalptraum.com · 6d

TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it

One Star Review of Waiting for Godot on Broadway
I recently attended Waiting for Godot on Broadway and spent over $1,400 for two Row C seats (103 and 104). I'm a longtime admirer of Broadway productions and even hold a season pass for Shea's Performing Arts Theatre, so I came in with genuine enthusiasm and high expectations. Unfortunately, this show was unlike anything ! have ever experienced —and not in a good way.
What I encountered was not the artistry, music, or emotional storytelling I usually associate with Broadway, but instead what felt like an endless cycle of nonsensical conversation between characters who seemed trapped in their own madness. I tried-truly tried-to find meaning, symbolism, or even a thread of emotional resonance. I stayed through the first half hoping the second would offer clarity. But by intermission, it was clear: this was a waste of both time and money.
Keanu Reeves is an actor I respect greatly, but I cannot fathom why he would agree to participate in such a disjointed, inaccessible production. His talent was lost in a performance that defied reason rather than provoked insight.
To anyone considering attending: unless you are drawn to highly abstract, nearly incomprehensible theater, I strongly caution you against this show. For the average, educated, thoughtful theatergoer, it is far more frustrating than fulfilling. In my opinion, this was the single most disappointing Broadway experience I've ever had - an unfortunate waste of money and, more importantly, of time.

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 6d

Music critic Twitter, which helped me learn extensively about my craft (or perhaps lack thereof), was huge for me as a young writer. Then, through music critic Twitter, I met my wife!

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 7d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

Reposted by Margaret Mitchell, Colin Murray, Martin Paul Eve , and 11 more Margaret Mitchell, Colin Murray, Martin Paul Eve, Robert Black, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Robert Wolfe, Adrian Vickers, Michael D. McDonald, Ben Rosamond, Tom Stoppard, Anthony Burke, Daxton R. Stewart, Evan Roberts

Lux "Nightmare" Alptraum @luxalptraum.com · 6d

TFW you paid $1400 to see Beckett’s most famous work without knowing anything about it

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, Christian Odendahl, David Levinson , and 12 more Anna O. Law, Christian Odendahl, David Levinson, Rafael H. M. Pereira, Elizabeth Stokoe, Richard Waite, Valerie Mueller, Justin Lewis, James Goodwin, Dean Eckles, Tom Stoppard, Robert Proctor, Brian L. Frye, Nicolai von Ondarza, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 7d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 8d

Seeing so many "Great Books" professors either be silent or tacitly approving of the Trump admin really adds another prophecy point to Bolano's column. The passage where Father Urrutia immerses himself in the classics while the Pinochet coup happens in the background is our present.

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 8d

😂😂😂😂

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 8d

tbf, “Wi$h Li$t” and “Cancelled” do sound like soft lib-triggers

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 9d

I get that the Bills are obviously a better team than the Pats, but teams in the Pats' situation do this all the time in the NFL against better teams, when they play well and hold their ground, only to in the 4th be like, "Ok that was fun, now you can win!"

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 9d

It was hilarious when the score went 20-17 to see the Pats as having a 69 percent win probability. The bailout fest that followed belied that line.

Reposted by Will Jennings, Jennifer A. Richeson, Tom Clark , and 4 more Will Jennings, Jennifer A. Richeson, Tom Clark, Rosemary A. Joyce, Ryan Enos, David R. Miller, Tom Stoppard

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 9d

UPDATE: Hegseth today called up 400 members of the Texas National Guard, with Gov. Abbott's apparent permission, to be deployed "where needed, including in the cities of Portland and Chicago." www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 9d

I do reject, though, that TLOAS is some kind of MAGA pivot. Taylor doesn’t strike me as a chud, but rather someone who’s soft left on some social issues but is “fiscally conservative” in all other respects. Which, to be clear, is still conservative. But I thought we already knew this.

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 10d

THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL post facto disproves the already hilarious idea that someone on Twitter one suggested; that Taylor is our contemporary Joni Mitchell

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 12d

The new Taylor album’s best song, from what I’ve heard so far, sounds like something Bruno Mars would have written in 2016, and one song straight up cops the chord progression to “Say It Ain’t So.” Is this your queen, etc

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 12d

(It did take a month to read because it is a Whole Damn Book, but, still...)

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 12d

It's a lot of things about modern living, which will stop even someone who loves reading, like myself, from reading as much as they could. Minimizing distraction helps. I got rid of my gaming console this summer and then immediately read Bolano's 2666.

Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · 13d

Why aren't students reading whole books?
a) phones
b) covid
c) common core
d) other

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Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 13d

I am excited to see the film adaptation of Denis Johnson's TRAIN DREAMS but, not gonna lie, having a hard time imagining how the film will adapt the final paragraph, my favorite in all of fiction.

Brice Ezell @briceezell.bsky.social · 13d

THE MORNING SHOW went from being a more normie version of THE NEWSROOM to something fully unhinged and nonsensical, still here for it I fear