Stephen Berg
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stephenberg2.bsky.social
Stephen Berg
@stephenberg2.bsky.social
280 followers 430 following 1.3K posts
Better than a sharp stick in the eye.
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stephenberg2.bsky.social
A picture of a Christmas tree with wrapped presents and a couple of stuffed animals at its base. There's a couch, a picture on the wall and a window with a stocking hanging in it and curtains. Oh, and the Christmas tree is on fire, flames shooting to and spreading across the ceiling.
December 23, 2025 at 5:34 AM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
No tree this year. Went with the Venus flytrap instead.
Picture of a closed Venus flytrap wearing a Santa hat, googly eyes and a fake beard.
December 21, 2025 at 5:49 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
My dad carved, assembled, and painted this when he was a boy. The lid to the box is long gone.
A crude, hand-carved, hand-painted wooden sculpture of a hunched-over man carrying a large box on his bent back.
December 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, died this day.
A photo of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald's headstone, with this quote from "The Great Gatsby" on the tombstone: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past."
December 21, 2025 at 4:49 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
My partner just sent me this.
A bunch of hair products on a shelf under a sign reading “ICONIC FRIZZ FIGHTERS.”
December 20, 2025 at 11:54 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
A picture of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with words reading "deviation from the norm will be punished unless it is exploitable."
December 18, 2025 at 5:41 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
I resisted that "You will be visited by three spirits" thing going around till I saw these three spirits.
A photo of Nick Cave, Mark E. Smith and Shane MacGowan
December 3, 2025 at 4:57 AM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
First Thanksgiving When she comes back, from college, I will see the skin of her upper arms, cool, matte, glossy. She will hug me, my old soupy chest against her breasts I will smell her hair! She will sleep in this apartment, her sleep like an untamed, good object, like a soul in a body. She came into my life the second great arrival, after him, fresh from the other world—which lay, from within him, within me. Those nights, I fed her to sleep, week after week, the moon rising, and setting, and waxing—whirling, over the months, in a slow blur, around our planet. Now she doesn’t need love like that, she has had it. She will walk in glowing, we will talk, and then, when she’s fast asleep, I’ll exult to have her in that room again, behind that door! As a child, I caught bees, by the wings, and held them, some seconds looked into their wild faces, listened to them sing, then tossed them back into the air—I remember the moment the arc of my toss swerved, and they entered the corrected curve of their departure. -- Sharon Olds
November 27, 2025 at 2:39 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
I know there's a lot of love for Strange Days, so I wanted to point out that it's showing in 35mm at BAM later this month. #filmsky
Strange Days Fri. Nov 21 at 7pm Tue. Nov 25 at 7pm Bassett plays a bodyguard and driver for an ex-cop in Kathryn Bigelow's cyber-punk thriller. Screening in 35mm
November 10, 2025 at 11:19 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
He's got my vote!
Picture of Brad Lander with accompanying text: "Brad Lander at the victory party and, folks, he has the custom one-of-one 'GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE' shirt."
November 5, 2025 at 4:39 AM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Today would have been the birthday of fantastic photographer Walker Evans. Seriously, look him up if you're not familiar.
Photo of three workmen loading a truck with a sign made of giant letters reading DAMAGED.
November 3, 2025 at 10:39 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Dunno what this is doing on MUBI, of all places, but it's certainly worth your time if'n you have that service. #filmsky
Popeye steering a boat, with the text: POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS SINDBAD THE SAILOR Dave Fleischer, 1936 Adapted to the screen by Fleischer Studios, Popeye was able to surpass Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse at the 1930s box office and still remains an ingenious animated series. The only episode in the series to receive a nomination at the Academy Awards, this short is an adventurous feat of animation.
October 30, 2025 at 6:10 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Seen online:
Corey Robin If you're supporting Mamdani, this stat from the weekend of early voting should get you off of your tuchus: "As of the second day of early voting, City Council districts in the Upper East and Upper West Sides have the highest turnout.” The Upper East Side and Upper West Side were areas of strong Cuomo support during the primary back in June, so we've got to get all those people in Brooklyn and Queens who are supporting Mamdani out to vote, now. Also, the article says the highest turnout so far has been among Boomers and Gen Xers. Again, the olds—and I include myself in that category—are Cuomo Country. So, again, get off your tuchus and make sure everyone you know who is younger than I am votes for Mamdani. Now! And don't be shy about sharing this because the initial news is not great. We have more than a week before actual Election Day, and plenty of time to get the votes that we know are out there.
October 27, 2025 at 9:38 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Just look at all the Werner Herzogs on The Criterion Channel starting in November!
FEATURING: Signs of Life (1968), Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970), Fata Morgana (1971), Land of Silence And Darkness (1971), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974), Heart of Glass (1976), How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck? (1976), Stroszek (1977), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Woyzeck (1979), God’s Angry Man (1981), Huie’s Sermon (1981), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984), Where the Green Ants Dream (1984), The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1985), Cobra Verde (1987), Herdsmen of the Sun (1989), Echoes from a Somber Empire (1990), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Wheel of Time (2003), Grizzly Man (2005), The Wild Blue Yonder (2005), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)*, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) COMING JANUARY 1: Queen of the Desert (2015)
October 16, 2025 at 6:27 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Billboard that used to be up in Brooklyn. #booksky
Drawing of a bald tattooed guy with a goatee reading a book to a child on his lap. They are in a room, surrounded by piles of books. A banner saying READ MORE BOOKS is on the wall behind them.
October 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
The mighty Thelonius Monk's birthday today.
Photo of Thelonius Monk, with his hands on the keyboard reflected in the lenses of his sunglasses.
October 10, 2025 at 8:07 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
“He had never liked October. Ever since he had first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother's house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him. It always went away with spring. "But, it was a little different tonight. There was a feeling of autumn coming to last a million years. "There would be no spring." ― from "The October Game" by Ray Bradbury
October 2, 2025 at 4:04 AM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Tom Waits' "Rain Dogs" was released 40 years ago today. What a tracklist:
The cover of "Rain Dogs" with this tracklist: 01. Singapore 02. Clap Hands 03. Cemetery Polka 04. Jockey Full of Bourbon 05. Tango Till They're Sore 06. Big Black Mariah 07. Diamonds & Gold 08. Hang Down Your Head 09. Time 10. Rain Dogs 11. Midtown 12. Ninth & Hennepin 13. Gun Street Girl 14. Union Square 15. Blind Love 16. Walking Spanish 17. Downtown Train 18. Bride of a Rain Dog 19. Anywhere I Lay My Head
September 30, 2025 at 10:24 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
The hands of pianist Glenn Gould.
The hands of pianist Glenn Gould. He’s wearing fingerless wool gloves.
September 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
OMG, Colbert brought back the "real" Stephen Colbert tonight. I fear his show won't even last till it's supposed to come off the air.
Stephen Colbert as Stephen Colbert, holding his finger to his lips. Text on-screen reads THE WORD and Shhhhhh!
September 19, 2025 at 4:05 AM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Would have been Peter Falk's birthday today. I am convinced he was the Buddha. Here he is with Bruno Ganz in "Wings of Desire."
Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz in Wings of Desire, with the caption of Falk saying, "To smoke, to have coffee...and if you do it together, it's fantastic."
September 16, 2025 at 8:34 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Image of a Village Voice cover showing a hand holding a postcard showing the Twin Towers. The postcard is held up against the NYC skyline, superimposing where the towers used to be. The caption at the top reads "Wish You Were Here."
September 11, 2025 at 6:59 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
This Be The Verse By Philip Larkin They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.
September 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
Happy Labor Day.
Sally Field in "Norma Rae," holding up a sign that reads "UNION."
September 1, 2025 at 7:30 PM
stephenberg2.bsky.social
4K restoration of "Diva" now playing at NYC's IFC Center. To open in a few other cities soon. www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/diva
August 22, 2025 at 10:55 PM