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djaehnig.bsky.social
@djaehnig.bsky.social
Napoleon shows power, intimacy, and war at enormous scale, but never settles on what it wants to explain. Ambition without focus turns spectacle into drift.
tinyurl.com/mwc774aa
Napoleon and the Failure to Choose
I realized something was wrong about halfway through   Napoleon , and it wasn’t a detail I could point to on screen. It was quieter than tha...
tinyurl.com
February 1, 2026 at 1:07 PM
my theme song until all this is over - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj3E...
The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine In Cover
YouTube video by Justin Noroyan
www.youtube.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:35 PM
The next recipe in the 1963 Good Housekeeping Cook Book was a cheese-and-rice soufflé. No warnings. No reassurance. Just instructions.
It worked. Not because of drama, but because of trust, patience, and teamwork.
Essay here: tinyurl.com/mpbh24vf
#Cooking #TrustTheProcess #Collaboration
Susan Expected Us to Know What We Were Doing
I have avoided soufflés for most of my adult life. Not because I dislike them, but because soufflés carry stories. Stories of doors slammed...
tinyurl.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:59 PM
My Fair Lady isn’t a romance so much as a wager.
A test of who gets reshaped, who gets praised, and what it costs to be allowed in the room.
Less nostalgic than disturbingly current.
tinyurl.com/yc8ff8c6
#Film #ClassicCinema #Culture #PowerAndLanguage #SocialClass
tinyurl.com
January 18, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Reposted
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell.

This is fucking crazy!!!!
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Reposted
NOEM: “We can’t trust the government anymore.”
BASH: “You are the government.”
NOEM: “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”🤔

The only honest thing @KristiNoem said today
January 11, 2026 at 10:04 PM
When truth threatens the system, which does the system protect?
John Lescroart’s Hard Evidence feels newly relevant, exploring how incentives, authority, and justice collide when a case becomes bigger than the people inside it.
tinyurl.com/5cn7anmy
When the System Becomes the Case; John Lescroart's Hard Evidence
We do not talk about the justice system the way we talk about other failing systems. We talk about education as strained, healthcare as fra...
tinyurl.com
January 11, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Week two of our 1963 Good Housekeeping Cookbook project stayed in Susan’s section. One extra potato (donated to the trash pandas), a sauce that taught me why double boilers exist, and scalloped potatoes that looked nothing like modern versions but tasted great.
tinyurl.com/22jsnzbr
Good Houskeeping Week 2 - A Potato Too Many and the Case for the Double Boiler
Week two arrived with confidence. Possibly misplaced confidence. Same book. Same Susan section. Same belief that by now I had a decent handl...
tinyurl.com
January 10, 2026 at 9:31 PM
In The Sketchers (1913), John Singer Sargent shows artists at work but withholds the proof. One painter’s canvas is barely visible. The other blocks his own by being fully absorbed in it. Labor without display. Attention without performance.
tinyurl.com/56zda32c
Where the Viewer Is Not Needed
You notice it only after the first assumption fails. You expect to see a canvas. You expect to see where the work is going. But the longer y...
tinyurl.com
January 10, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Canada’s armed forces are planning for threats from America
economist.com/the-americas...
from The Economist
Canada’s armed forces are planning for threats from America
They started rebuilding in 2025, before Donald Trump’s most recent bid for hemispheric dominance
economist.com
January 9, 2026 at 12:58 AM
In Donald Trump’s world, the strong take what they can
economist.com/leaders/2026...
from The Economist
In Donald Trump’s world, the strong take what they can
That will be bad for America—and everyone else
economist.com
January 9, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Reposted
"If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue." -Donald Trump

So tell me Mr "President", who's going to come to our rescue?
January 8, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Trump says Venezuela to give up to 50 million barrels of oil to US
Source: USA TODAY just keeps getting grosser
January 7, 2026 at 12:48 AM
Back to the “might is right” philosophy straight out of Thucydides. SMDH
January 7, 2026 at 12:20 AM
Europe Rallies for Greenland as Trump’s Threats Continue www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/w...
Europe Rallies for Greenland as Trump’s Threats Continue
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:16 AM
A 1929 film tries to reconcile worlds that were never allowed to meet on equal terms. Redskin is often called sympathetic for its era, but sympathy has limits. Visual choices, casting & even an expanded final reveal what early Hollywood could feel & what it refused to give up.
tinyurl.com/3e25zy24
A Film That Wanted Peace More Than Justice
There is a moment late in  Redskin  when the screen quite literally grows larger. The image expands, the music swells, and the film announce...
tinyurl.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Every Sunday we’re cooking from a 1963 Good Housekeeping cookbook. First lesson: “cooked potatoes” means yesterday’s potatoes. Old recipes assume competence, patience, and failure. This is about relearning all three.
tinyurl.com/4dr83j37
Sunday, the Book, and the Potatoes That Needed a Day to Think
There are many ways people decide to cook again. Some buy new knives. Some watch too many videos. Some declare a health goal and announce it...
tinyurl.com
January 3, 2026 at 2:16 PM
In Austin for a conference, I found dinner by accident and walked into discipline instead of hype. Gus’s fried chicken isn’t trying to impress you. It knows what it is, and that’s the point. I wrote about it as art, not a review.
tinyurl.com/9esst3rd
A Conference, a Wrong Turn, and Perfect Fried Chicken
I was in Austin for a conference, so I was already tired when I arrived. Conferences do that. Windowless rooms, informative sessions, lots ...
tinyurl.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:51 PM
A Hard Day’s Night isn’t just joyful chaos. It’s a film about motion as obligation, humor as defense, and what it costs to be constantly seen. Still sharp. Still relevant.
Read more: tinyurl.com/4nyhaejf
#aHardDaysNight #TheBeatles #FilmCriticism
A Hard Day’s Night and the Work of Performance
The first thing you see is not a chord, not a face, not even a name. It is motion. Four young men in suits run like they are late for their ...
tinyurl.com
December 30, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Trump Administration Live Updates: President and Zelensky Cite Progress but Peace Deal Remains Elusive www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12... - what happened I’d solve that in 24 hours?
Trump Administration Live Updates: President and Zelensky Cite Progress but Peace Deal Remains Elusive
www.nytimes.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Cyber conflict isn’t a technology problem. It’s a judgment problem. How we define an incident shapes everything that follows. Some frameworks are worth rereading with distance. This one held up.
tinyurl.com/zf269vns
#CyberConflict #Strategy #Leadership #DecisionMaking
Thinking Strategically When the Field Disappears
I’ve owned  The Art of War  longer than I can remember. That’s not a boast. It’s an admission. Some books don’t arrive as events. They arriv...
tinyurl.com
December 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Most images of death try to comfort or dramatize it.
This one shows something harder: acceptance without reassurance, the moment resistance ends.
Why that stillness matters, and what it says about us:
tinyurl.com/3a4abzxn
#ArtHistory #Symbolism #CulturalCriticism
A Study in Acceptance
Most paintings about death want something from you. They want belief, or fear, or reverence. They want you to leave reassured that the end h...
tinyurl.com
December 25, 2025 at 2:27 PM