Joshua Kosman
@joshuakosman.bsky.social
Retired classical music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Co-constructor, Out of Left Field cryptic crossword. pacificaisle.substack.com. He/him
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
meanwhile blackjack is definitely right-coded because republicans love to hit anything under 21
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 AM
meanwhile blackjack is definitely right-coded because republicans love to hit anything under 21
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
No bailouts. The US should extort these companies when the crash happens so they get minimal compensation in return for nationalizing the entire panopticon industry and then destroying it once harvested for socially useful parts. It won’t happen but it should
November 25, 2025 at 4:22 PM
No bailouts. The US should extort these companies when the crash happens so they get minimal compensation in return for nationalizing the entire panopticon industry and then destroying it once harvested for socially useful parts. It won’t happen but it should
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 AM
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Solution: TSAR
Slander: TAR
involving: containing
debut of Saint: S
Nicholas, say: definition
New puzzle and clue on Thursday!
Slander: TAR
involving: containing
debut of Saint: S
Nicholas, say: definition
New puzzle and clue on Thursday!
Slander involving debut of Saint Nicholas, say (4)
In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I prep for Christmas by talking smack about this guy.
www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I prep for Christmas by talking smack about this guy.
www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
a man with a beard is wearing a red robe and a gold hat
Alt: St. Nicholas with white beard, red robe and gold mitre.
media.tenor.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Solution: TSAR
Slander: TAR
involving: containing
debut of Saint: S
Nicholas, say: definition
New puzzle and clue on Thursday!
Slander: TAR
involving: containing
debut of Saint: S
Nicholas, say: definition
New puzzle and clue on Thursday!
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
Twitter Conservatives finding out all the hot MAGA mom accounts they've been gooning to are actually run by men in developing nations
November 24, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Twitter Conservatives finding out all the hot MAGA mom accounts they've been gooning to are actually run by men in developing nations
can't believe you folks made me block all five great lakes individually just to keep my feed from being overrun by *current spam
November 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
can't believe you folks made me block all five great lakes individually just to keep my feed from being overrun by *current spam
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
people are reading "catch-and-kill" in the journalistic sense but she was probably just finding raccoons for him to eat
November 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
people are reading "catch-and-kill" in the journalistic sense but she was probably just finding raccoons for him to eat
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
Stevie Wonder releases “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” 60 yrs ago today.
At 15, the child star was in danger of being a has-been. His voice was changing. Motown execs “would give assignments to the various producers,” said songwriter Sylvia Moy. “No one wanted Stevie.”
The song saved his career.
At 15, the child star was in danger of being a has-been. His voice was changing. Motown execs “would give assignments to the various producers,” said songwriter Sylvia Moy. “No one wanted Stevie.”
The song saved his career.
November 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Stevie Wonder releases “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” 60 yrs ago today.
At 15, the child star was in danger of being a has-been. His voice was changing. Motown execs “would give assignments to the various producers,” said songwriter Sylvia Moy. “No one wanted Stevie.”
The song saved his career.
At 15, the child star was in danger of being a has-been. His voice was changing. Motown execs “would give assignments to the various producers,” said songwriter Sylvia Moy. “No one wanted Stevie.”
The song saved his career.
I've been summoned, as well as @pwallinga.bsky.social and @matthewcmiel.bsky.social.
Read the article or don't, but the headline was mine and I feel pretty proud of it.
www.sfchronicle.com/entertainmen...
Read the article or don't, but the headline was mine and I feel pretty proud of it.
www.sfchronicle.com/entertainmen...
November 21, 2025 at 8:02 PM
I've been summoned, as well as @pwallinga.bsky.social and @matthewcmiel.bsky.social.
Read the article or don't, but the headline was mine and I feel pretty proud of it.
www.sfchronicle.com/entertainmen...
Read the article or don't, but the headline was mine and I feel pretty proud of it.
www.sfchronicle.com/entertainmen...
Slander involving debut of Saint Nicholas, say (4)
In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I prep for Christmas by talking smack about this guy.
www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I prep for Christmas by talking smack about this guy.
www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
a man with a beard is wearing a red robe and a gold hat
Alt: St. Nicholas with white beard, red robe and gold mitre.
media.tenor.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Slander involving debut of Saint Nicholas, say (4)
In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I prep for Christmas by talking smack about this guy.
www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I prep for Christmas by talking smack about this guy.
www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
New post at On a Pacific Aisle, with thoughts on San Francisco Opera, Samuel Adams (again!), Gautier Capuçon, and more.
pacificaisle.substack.com/p/high-season
pacificaisle.substack.com/p/high-season
High season
The triumphant premiere of "The Monkey King" put a seal on the San Francisco Opera's splendid fall lineup
pacificaisle.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
New post at On a Pacific Aisle, with thoughts on San Francisco Opera, Samuel Adams (again!), Gautier Capuçon, and more.
pacificaisle.substack.com/p/high-season
pacificaisle.substack.com/p/high-season
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
they’re forcing kids to read “the caine mutiny,” because of wouk
November 19, 2025 at 8:56 PM
they’re forcing kids to read “the caine mutiny,” because of wouk
— Have you lived in Blackpool your whole life?
— Not yet
— Not yet
November 17, 2025 at 8:39 PM
— Have you lived in Blackpool your whole life?
— Not yet
— Not yet
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
Great news. This is what an ICE agent looks like in a mugshot. Meet Gerardo Rodriguez, 45, of Temecula, courtesy of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. Arrested for "illegally detaining a minor at gunpoint while off duty last week." 🧵
November 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Great news. This is what an ICE agent looks like in a mugshot. Meet Gerardo Rodriguez, 45, of Temecula, courtesy of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. Arrested for "illegally detaining a minor at gunpoint while off duty last week." 🧵
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
brb, setting the big tent on fire with my jewish space lasers
Raskin: We are a big tent. We must be a huge, vast tent. I say this is a party that’s got room for Marjorie Taylor Greene if she wants to come over.
November 17, 2025 at 6:19 PM
brb, setting the big tent on fire with my jewish space lasers
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
full spectrum of writing on display the past 48 hours as the two highest profile excerpts released are "brigning 2 vans of girls 2 jacoozee" and "He resembled a frozen volcano erupting, a haunted carwash, both sandwich and bodega master. He wanted wanting. The circle. The square. Tiananmen Square."
November 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
full spectrum of writing on display the past 48 hours as the two highest profile excerpts released are "brigning 2 vans of girls 2 jacoozee" and "He resembled a frozen volcano erupting, a haunted carwash, both sandwich and bodega master. He wanted wanting. The circle. The square. Tiananmen Square."
30 years after the fact, our hero finally listens to — and consequently cannot stop listening to — Jagged Little Pill.
Boy you folks weren't kidding all this time were you #belated
Boy you folks weren't kidding all this time were you #belated
November 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
30 years after the fact, our hero finally listens to — and consequently cannot stop listening to — Jagged Little Pill.
Boy you folks weren't kidding all this time were you #belated
Boy you folks weren't kidding all this time were you #belated
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
Antisemitism is a lot like Qanon child abuse conspiracies in that there’s this real and bad phenomenon and, parallel to that, what can only be described as a large scale mass psychosis about a mostly fictional version of the same phenomenon
November 16, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Antisemitism is a lot like Qanon child abuse conspiracies in that there’s this real and bad phenomenon and, parallel to that, what can only be described as a large scale mass psychosis about a mostly fictional version of the same phenomenon
More extravagant praise for "The Monkey King" at @sfopera.bsky.social, and praise from me for the vividness and brilliance of @gmeline.bsky.social's writing here.
The reading of "Land of Bliss" as an 11 o'clock number in the Broadway tradition is pure gold.
The reading of "Land of Bliss" as an 11 o'clock number in the Broadway tradition is pure gold.
In World Premiere, ‘The Monkey King’ Is a Dazzling Triumph at SF Opera
Destined to be a modern classic, Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's new opera is a thrilling, gorgeous work of art.
www.kqed.org
November 16, 2025 at 10:43 PM
More extravagant praise for "The Monkey King" at @sfopera.bsky.social, and praise from me for the vividness and brilliance of @gmeline.bsky.social's writing here.
The reading of "Land of Bliss" as an 11 o'clock number in the Broadway tradition is pure gold.
The reading of "Land of Bliss" as an 11 o'clock number in the Broadway tradition is pure gold.
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
I am fourteen going on fifteen
Innocent as a rose
Pedophile pesters, creepy molesters
What do I know of those?
Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of shame
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things that aren’t my blame
I had a creep, older, not wiser
'Cause Megyn Kelly said I'm fair game
Innocent as a rose
Pedophile pesters, creepy molesters
What do I know of those?
Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of shame
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things that aren’t my blame
I had a creep, older, not wiser
'Cause Megyn Kelly said I'm fair game
November 15, 2025 at 11:48 PM
I am fourteen going on fifteen
Innocent as a rose
Pedophile pesters, creepy molesters
What do I know of those?
Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of shame
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things that aren’t my blame
I had a creep, older, not wiser
'Cause Megyn Kelly said I'm fair game
Innocent as a rose
Pedophile pesters, creepy molesters
What do I know of those?
Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of shame
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things that aren’t my blame
I had a creep, older, not wiser
'Cause Megyn Kelly said I'm fair game
"If this sounds like a laundry list of hyperventilating superlatives, then my work here is largely done."
I went a bit over the top in my review of "The Monkey King," possibly the finest @sfopera.bsky.social commission since "Dead Man Walking."
I went a bit over the top in my review of "The Monkey King," possibly the finest @sfopera.bsky.social commission since "Dead Man Walking."
Review: S.F. Opera’s ‘The Monkey King’ delivers a brilliant fusion of East, West and wow
Composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King” brings Chinese mythology to vivid life in a spectacular San Francisco Opera premiere.
www.sfchronicle.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:33 PM
"If this sounds like a laundry list of hyperventilating superlatives, then my work here is largely done."
I went a bit over the top in my review of "The Monkey King," possibly the finest @sfopera.bsky.social commission since "Dead Man Walking."
I went a bit over the top in my review of "The Monkey King," possibly the finest @sfopera.bsky.social commission since "Dead Man Walking."
monkey king donkey kong is this anything
November 15, 2025 at 3:34 AM
monkey king donkey kong is this anything
Reposted by Joshua Kosman
‘Father’ and ‘dad’ are synonyms.
‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms.
But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…
‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms.
But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…
November 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
‘Father’ and ‘dad’ are synonyms.
‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms.
But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…
‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms.
But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…