I love the idea that getting a majority of the vote and being publicly endorsed by various rabbis and Jewish politicians doesn't make Mamdani "legitimate", but Spielberg talking to him in private does.

The literal translation of Exodus is "and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt." There is some discussion in the Talmud of how one frog became many frogs. The idea that maybe it was a giant frog isn't new, but the phrase "kaiju frog" seems to have been coined only in the last decade.

Yep. But I don't know if they filmed any of her scenes there (I've only been to the New Bedford Whaling Museum).

Ahab believed in the white whale, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will sail faster, throw our harpoons farther... And one fine morning— So we beat on, whaleboats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I just got this from the library (partly for the whale connection)!

I found an explanation at melville.electroniclibrary.org/editions/ver...

Both my printed copies have “eastward”

He's supposed to be the don! Unfortunately, his consiglieri are still the Baileys.

Is this guy really swapping out his tires every time he drives to Oklahoma?

Maybe. I enjoyed it when I read it decades ago, so it might be good to revisit.

That's on my shelf, for after I get through my main TBR pile, along with this bok.

Yeah. Most folks did international orders. I had a family member who was visiting London bring me back a copy.

Yep. A few of us read it together on here last spring. Sadly, it wasn't very good.

Melville tried to get a job on the Erie Canal before he went to sea, but got rejected. He made have been nursing a little bit of a grudge here.

I’ve been reading that along with Moby Dick this month.