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Achilles Micawber

@achillesthe2nd.bsky.social

2.2K followers 5.9K following 2.6K posts

Runner. Reader. Music and history. Poetry. Shakespeare. Film. Tweets in English and German. Currently listening to a lot of music from 1977 and 1978.

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · Nov 15

Might as well introduce myself:

I'm an English and history teacher (favourite subject: the short 20th century) who likes big books but often doesn't finish them. I'm obsessed with music lists, and especially the music from 1977 and 2000. I wish I had more time to watch movies.

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Dr Dorka Tamás📝🌸🌊 @dorkatamas.bsky.social · 11d

❗COVER REVEAL❗
This photo symbolises so much to me, and I am grateful to the Lilly Library at Indiana University for granting me permission to use it.
Pre-Order it here: www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

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Cole Haddon @colehaddon.bsky.social · 6h

Diane Keaton, 1975. She left us yesterday at 79 years old.

Photograph by Norman Seeff.

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 6h

Ah I guess he's alright.

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Tim Grierson @timgrierson.bsky.social · 7h

Greil Marcus talking about what criticism is. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Question to Greil Marcus: "What is the purpose of criticism?"

Greil's answer: My next book is about Bryan Ferry, the leader of the band Roxy Music. Now, you listen to a song like Roxy Music’s “More Than This” and you say, what makes this so great? How did that happen? What is going on here? That’s what criticism is, just wrestling with your response to something. That thing where someone has captured a moment so completely that you sort of fall back in awe. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life as a writer. There is this urge to, not exactly take possession of something, but to become a part of it to some small degree.

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 12h

i made a model to assign scores for how robustly US politicians oppose fascism & graded 13 leading dems

criteria & method QTed, individual results in 🧵 below:

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 20h

It also takes frogs from the far-right (Pepe), which I like a lot.

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Maureen Thorson @maureenthorson.bsky.social · 1d

“You renounced the world so it wouldn’t leave first.” A poem by Richard Siken.

VOLTA

It was getting very late. I waited for a different ending. I held my breath. June, July. The following July. It didn't swerve. I expected it to swerve, that's the promise, the twist at the end, how it pulls against the way it drives, black ice in moonlight. Something happened and I turned toward you. Something happened and you turned away. You didn't turn back. Listen, this is important. I'm sorry I scared you but I didn't die. You don't get to stay mad about it. You were shitty and you doubled down and stayed down, investing in it. You renounced the world so it wouldn't leave first. It worked. If you can't set it down then fall on your knees and feel the weight of it. I was right about everything. If it's any consolation, I'll never forgive you. You're welcome. Let awe end. Just like that. Fair enough.

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 2d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Christopher Samuels @notsomuch.bsky.social · 1d

For sure the best King Crimson album ever.

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

PORTLAND: “The frogs are multiplying”

(#NotAWarZone Noem Matter what Kristi says)

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Gregory Crosby @monostich.bsky.social · 1d

I concur. An astonishing song and recording. I was obsessed with it as well.

Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 2d

The Roche’s Hammond Song is both life-changing and life-affirming. Blimey.

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 1d

Listening to the entirety of this over the holidays.

William Sieghart - The Poetry Pharmacy (audiobook)

Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 1d

Still obsessed with this. How have I got this old before discovering this?

Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 2d

The Roche’s Hammond Song is both life-changing and life-affirming. Blimey.

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Sam Adams @samadams.bsky.social · 1d

congrats to Nobel Peace Prize winner Portland Frog

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Marie Ruiz-Vidal @ruizvidal7.bsky.social · 1d

Winona Ryder

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 1d

Nobody wrote poetry like James Tate.

"Some mysteries are better left alone."

(Hat tip to @mayacpopa.bsky.social)

Go, Youth

I was in a dream state and this was causing a problem
with the traffic. I felt lonely, like I'd missed the boat,
or I'd found the boat and it was deserted. In the middle
of the road a child's shoe glistened. I walked around it.
It woke me up a little. The child had disappeared. Some
mysteries are better left alone. Others are dreary, distasteful,
and can disarrange a shadow into a thing of unspeakable beauty.
Whose child is that?

Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning, have a good last day of the working week.

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 2d

Our plane to Spain is in the air!

🙌🙌

Thank you so much to the countless people supporting us in every way and in particular all of the Rutgers students and faculty who have supported us every step of the way.

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Holger @holgiaux.bsky.social · 2d

If there is a French version of the audiobook it’s probably not read by Herzog himself: „you will only get some French out of me with a gun pointed at my head“

youtu.be/6pY-0JfEdLY?...

Werner Herzog on Languages ...

YouTube video by TheEcstaticTruth

youtu.be

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 2d

We're all waiting for Pynchon, aren't we? 😉

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Chris @staggerlee42.bsky.social · 2d

I preface this by saying that the choice made was a very fine choice and one that I applaud.
However, if it was going to be somebody else…

Thomas Pynchon?
Agustin Fernandez Mallo?

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 2d

Who would have been your choice for the Nobel Prize for Literature this year?

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 2d

The Roche’s Hammond Song is both life-changing and life-affirming. Blimey.

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Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 2d

Werner Herzog’s memoirs. There’s a German audiobook version read by the man himself. There’s an English one read by him. I don’t know if there’s a French one. But trust me, you want to read this.

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Grant @gdubbstl.bsky.social · 3d

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