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

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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Philosophy 16%
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briceezell.bsky.social
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

briceezell.bsky.social
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?”
luxalptraum.com
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.

briceezell.bsky.social
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!
conradhackett.bsky.social
Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?
luxalptraum.com
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.
conradhackett.bsky.social
Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

briceezell.bsky.social
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.

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

briceezell.bsky.social
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!"

briceezell.bsky.social
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.
kyledcheney.bsky.social
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...

briceezell.bsky.social
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.

briceezell.bsky.social
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

briceezell.bsky.social
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

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

briceezell.bsky.social
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-sinnamon.bsky.social
Why aren't students reading whole books?
a) phones
b) covid
c) common core
d) other

briceezell.bsky.social
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.

briceezell.bsky.social
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
dan-sinnamon.bsky.social
Why aren't students reading whole books?
a) phones
b) covid
c) common core
d) other

briceezell.bsky.social
It is funny how some people will say things like “no one deserved to win that game” but then also get mad ties exist

briceezell.bsky.social
And, of course, two of these guys were linked with Spurs. What we wouldn’t give to have Paz in the mix right now.

briceezell.bsky.social
Reported. You are a submental piece of trash if you exploit the dead like this.
lukeoneil47.bsky.social
Please report this fucking AI slop. Goddamnit. www.amazon.com/KALEB-HORTON...

Reposted by Tom Stoppard

packbenpack.bsky.social
Circle K has what can only be described as “Saints Row Food”

Reposted by Tom Stoppard

briceezell.bsky.social
Watching the Democrats once again talk about needing to sell out core social values, I’m reminded of this amazing moment from the E1 Joe Biden saga. “you’ve performed liminal spaces in bodies, jack”

briceezell.bsky.social
all to say: I too would reject an allegiance to “analytic philosophy” as a category of devotion, but tbh I’m not sure much any more how widely that’s held except as a matter of style

briceezell.bsky.social
tbh, after my diss research I came to see analytic phil as less a thing to defend and more as a particular historical moment, whose methods we’ve inherited to some degree but but not in some structured school to which there are still a large number of adherents

briceezell.bsky.social
he was amazing. a mark of this world’s injustice that he died without a permanent column somewhere

briceezell.bsky.social
Amazing work here by @alexnpress.bsky.social eulogizing Kaleb Horton and gathering his writing in one easy to locate place. If any indie publishers want to do an edition of his work, I’d volunteer time to see it done. thealexpress.substack.com/p/kaleb-hort...
Kaleb Horton
Writing can be beautiful.
thealexpress.substack.com