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Danny Lavery

@dannymlavery.bsky.social
5.3K followers 138 following 657 posts

Vera said that?

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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 14h
Hot Borscht at the Soviet Consulate: Visiting the Archives for Women's Hotel III www.thechatner.com/p/hot-borsch...
thechatner.com
Hot Borscht at the Soviet Consulate: Visiting the Archives for Women’s Hotel 3
Last week I spent some time at the GLBT Historical Society Archives with a group of residents, and I managed to sneak in a brief dose of research for Women’s Hotel III while there.
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Reposted by Danny Lavery
Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Big cup. Big cup! Bring me the bigggg cup you are the boy who brings wine so be the boy bringing me wine" return of Catullus www.thechatner.com/p/the-return...
thechatner.com
The Return of Dirtbag Catullus
Big cup. Big cup! Bring me the bigggg cup you are the boy who brings wine so be the boy bringing me wine
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Big cup. Big cup! Bring me the bigggg cup you are the boy who brings wine so be the boy bringing me wine" return of Catullus www.thechatner.com/p/the-return...
thechatner.com
The Return of Dirtbag Catullus
Big cup. Big cup! Bring me the bigggg cup you are the boy who brings wine so be the boy bringing me wine
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Reposted by Danny Lavery
Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I wrote about AI in senior living. It's mostly just people watching AI-narrated videos on speakerphone in the break room and people asking if we're ever getting robot servers in the dining room. otherwise it's pretty much not around: www.thechatner.com/p/we-getting...
thechatner.com
“We getting any robots soon?”: AI in Senior Living
Listen, I’m already on the computer. I don’t need to be on the computer any more than I already am.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I wrote about AI in senior living. It's mostly just people watching AI-narrated videos on speakerphone in the break room and people asking if we're ever getting robot servers in the dining room. otherwise it's pretty much not around: www.thechatner.com/p/we-getting...
thechatner.com
“We getting any robots soon?”: AI in Senior Living
Listen, I’m already on the computer. I don’t need to be on the computer any more than I already am.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I talked about Ruritanian romances from The Prisoner of Zenda to Grand Budapest Hotel with Rafe Meager for the newsletter: www.thechatner.com/p/the-lady-v...
thechatner.com
The Lady Vanishes: A Discussion with Rafe Meager
"How often does the male romantic lead tell the female lead he's interested in her because she reminds him of his father?"
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
“Oh, I’m glad you reminded me,” she said. “At least now I’ll have beautiful feet.” “That’s worth having,” I said, “especially if you’re discalced.” How often in life do you get a setup like that? A nun, on her way to a podiatry appointment — never happen again.
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Reposted by Danny Lavery
Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Listen, buddy, I see a hundred of you guys a day. We’ve got a lot of mothers in the building, after all. www.thechatner.com/p/i-like-cov...
thechatner.com
I like covering front desk
“I’m here to see my mom”
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Listen, buddy, I see a hundred of you guys a day. We’ve got a lot of mothers in the building, after all. www.thechatner.com/p/i-like-cov...
thechatner.com
I like covering front desk
“I’m here to see my mom”
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"I understand he makes somewhere in the neighborhood of $400K a year hosting a religious podcast. I find this personally distasteful, but as this work does not enable him to exploit children, I see no reason to oppose his earning an astonishingly good living for what cannot be very hard work."
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"As it happens my father is no longer directly in the ministry at all. He resigned in disgrace back in 2020, after abusing his ministerial position to enable my pedophile brother to spend unsupervised and unrestricted time with children."
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
might be in the wayback machine? hope you can find a cached version somewhere!
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
by far the weirdest AI spam email I've ever gotten: someone emailed offering to promote my book on Goodreads. Only it wasn't my book, but a book my estranged father published back in 2002. www.thechatner.com/p/i-got-an-e...
thechatner.com
I got an email offering to help promote my book – but the book was one my father wrote in 2002
"What's remarkable is the book you're trying to sell me a promotion for is not one I wrote. It's by my estranged father, John Ortberg. I've never called Dallas Willard in the middle of a ministry cris...
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I spoke to some friends about the worst things we ever said to our mothers, as well as the nicest things we ever did for them. "She got the dry cleaning and just drove off without even looking at me. So I walked home from the middle of town." www.thechatner.com/p/turnabout-...
thechatner.com
Turnabout is fair play: I asked my friends about the worst thing they’ve ever said to their mothers
Last week I asked some of my friends about the worst things their mothers ever said to them (and in the interest of fairness, the nicest things their mothers had ever done).
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
because turnabout is fair play, I asked my friends about the worst things they'd ever said to their mothers: www.thechatner.com/p/turnabout-...
thechatner.com
Turnabout is fair play: I asked my friends about the worst thing they’ve ever said to their mothers
Last week I asked some of my friends about the worst things their mothers ever said to them (and in the interest of fairness, the nicest things their mothers had ever done).
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Reposted by Danny Lavery
Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
as is my custom, I asked a bunch of my friends about the worst thing their mothers have ever said to them ("you and your brother are living marginal lives") and then, in the interest of fairness, the nicest things their mothers have ever done www.thechatner.com/p/i-asked-my...
thechatner.com
I asked my friends about the worst thing their mothers ever said to them
and in the interest of fairness, the nicest thing she’s ever done.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
as is my custom, I asked a bunch of my friends about the worst thing their mothers have ever said to them ("you and your brother are living marginal lives") and then, in the interest of fairness, the nicest things their mothers have ever done www.thechatner.com/p/i-asked-my...
thechatner.com
I asked my friends about the worst thing their mothers ever said to them
and in the interest of fairness, the nicest thing she’s ever done.
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Reposted by Danny Lavery
Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
They’re your floors. It’s good to keep your floors clean; you can take a good kind of pride in it. People go through a lot by the time they get here. It’s important to be of good cheer. www.thechatner.com/p/once-a-wee...
thechatner.com
Once a week I vacuum the floors
People like to see a young white man vacuuming. It makes them feel good.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I don’t have a mop, I use a Swiffer WetJet. It’s not very good. I don’t recommend it as a product, although it is easy to use and less messy than a mop. It gets the floor just clean enough that you think, “I guess that looks better,” and move on with your day.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
They’re your floors. It’s good to keep your floors clean; you can take a good kind of pride in it. People go through a lot by the time they get here. It’s important to be of good cheer. www.thechatner.com/p/once-a-wee...
thechatner.com
Once a week I vacuum the floors
People like to see a young white man vacuuming. It makes them feel good.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
IDEAL READER I am deeply moved
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
holy smoke
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
YO
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Reposted by Danny Lavery
Chaos @shed.gay · 22/08/2026
This has been on of those posts which has lived in my head rent free to the point that when I DJ'd last month I made sure to reference it, I'm not sure if anyone at #EMFcamp got the joke or not but it was for me so that's not the point.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
we also see the seeds of his future attempts to restart his life as "Dallas" when he covers up for Jenna's attempt to fake her own death in "Jackie Jormp-Jomp," which is presumably where he gets the idea. Not a lot of Jenna storylines get repurposed for Pete!
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
moving ahead with season three, as I continue to rank every Pete Hornberger plotline on 30 Rock. High point: receives chinchilla coat for producing Tracy's porn video game Low point: has to "guide the bull" during family vacation to a working farm www.thechatner.com/p/every-pete...
thechatner.com
Every Pete Hornberger Subplot On 30 Rock, Ranked: Season Three
Previously: Every Pete Hornberger subplot on 30 Rock’s Season Two.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
“I wonder if you realize how rare this is, and how much I ought to be fussed over for not having done one serious epigraph and one funny epigraph.” open.substack.com/pub/dmlavery...
open.substack.com
I’d like an award for my restraint
In my experience the hardest part about coming out with a book is you spend anywhere from one week to one month afterwards going around absolutely furious that you haven’t won an award yet.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I think Maddie’s Secret compares unfavorably to, say, the Brady Bunch Movie, but I nevertheless enjoyed thinking about its limitations
It does not, however, precisely parody the style of Very Special TV episodes, unlike, say, The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), which might otherwise be Maddie's Secret's closest spiritual relative. The Brady Bunch Movie uses the exact visual grammar of the original sitcom, as well as its hokey, aw-shucks tone and earnest plotting to get its satire across. It's both a sarcastic rendition of the corny, flat style of the old show anda loving mockery of its foursquare values. But Early seems to be making a very personal film with a certainly lovely, distinctly Sirk- inflected aesthetic that is nevertheless somewhat at odds with the story being told.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
the Brady Bunch Movie comparison came from my editor, Daniel Drake! I thought it was dead-on. I did enjoy parts of MS and would happily see any future movie from Early
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
as a bonus I have included Elizabeth Inchbald's September happiness-ranking diaries entries
1791. London; after my novel, Simple Story...very happy.

1792. London; in Leicester Square...cheerful, content, and sometimes rather happy....

1794. Extremely happy, but for poor Debby’s death.

1795. My brother George’s death, and an intimate acquaintance with Dr. Gisborne—not happy....

1797. After an alteration in my teeth, and the death of Dr. Warren—yet far from unhappy.

1798. Happy, but for suspicion amounting almost to certainty of a rapid appearance of age in my face....

1802. After feeling wholly indifferent about Dr. Gisborne—very happy but for ill health, ill looks, &c.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"I only occasionally find myself describe rooms in my novels not because I wish to but because I feel that I ought to, and then I stop and think, but I don’t care what’s in the room, and I let the spirit of Mrs. Inchbald carry me back out of the physical realm."
I think Austen is the GOAT (of any sex), but she did not write in a vacuum. As in the case of Burney, Austen’s comparison to Inchbald should be celebrated to their mutual standalone benefit. If the high-ironic style so often attributed to Austen is frequently indistinguishable from Burney’s prose, the idea that Austen invented imperfect heroines must, with A Simple Story, fall similarly by the wayside. Inchbald’s greatest merits exist not, as Strachey suggests, “in spite of” her “artificialities,” but in the depth of character her so-called artificialities allow—in the novelistic truths of her insights; in the psychological and philosophical dramas of her pointed parallelisms.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I asked @joukovsky.bsky.social to talk about my favorite eighteenth-century authors with me: Elizabeth Inchbald. www.thechatner.com/p/a-chat-wit...
thechatner.com
A Chat With A. Natasha Joukovsky about Elizabeth Inchbald's "A Simple Story"
Relevant to this exchange: Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and a mild defense of Edmund Bertram.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
“like all ingenues, she is blonde and has precisely two enemies”
Jake might be described in modern online parlance as "an eater," someone who readily telegraphs a mighty appetite for pussy and food.
He openly lusts after Maddie (although he stops just short of offensive perversion), eats whatever she cooks with obvious relish, and instinctively shuts down her self-deprecating comments, seeing no faults in either her body or her cooking. He is beautifully paradigmatic of the oblivious partner of someone with an eating disorder: he can be easily dismissed and lied to without guilt, since he's too unobservant or stupid to realize he ought to hate her, as she hates herself.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Early plays dishonesty magnificently, although he has typically focused on the dishonest and venomous, not the dishonest and kind. www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...
nybooks.com
Insincerity Case | Daniel M. Lavery
I often like John Early’s work. I love John Early’s taste. I came to one of my favorite movies, the bracing, pensive 1990 Canadian docudrama Strangers in
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I asked if she minded the habit, or merely noticed it. She gave it some thought. Mostly noticed it, rather than minded, especially if I knew I was doing it That’s fine, I said. You let me know if you start to mind it more than notice it, and I’ll see what I can do www.thechatner.com/p/im-a-man-w...
thechatner.com
I'm a man who likes to talk
You're the man for me, sir
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
It’s in season two that we see the beginning of Pete’s desperate hope of total personal transformation via hat. www.thechatner.com/p/every-pete...
thechatner.com
Every Pete Hornburger Subplot on 30 Rock, Ranked: Season Two
Previously in 30 Rock coverage:
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
btw come to the Mechanics' Institute in SF tonight at 6pm if you want to hear me talk about my latest book www.milibrary.org/events/34323
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
btw come to the Mechanics' Institute in SF tonight at 6pm if you want to hear me talk about my latest book www.milibrary.org/events/34323
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
working on ranking every Pete Hornberger 30 Rock subplot one season at a time: open.substack.com/pub/dmlavery...
open.substack.com
Every Pete Hornburger Subplot on 30 Rock, Ranked: Season One
Season One Pete Hornberger is a little tricky to figure out.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
the very first thing Babar says, after great grief, is "I want clothes," much like Job who, after his restoration from suffering, names his daughters after cinnamon and eye makeup. www.thechatner.com/p/babar-the-...
thechatner.com
Three Parents Talk About Children's Books: Babar the King
"It therefore makes perfect sense that Babar’s thoughts, after an interval of confused and wordless wandering, drift in the direction of exquisite trifles"
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
the very first thing Babar says, after great grief, is "I want clothes," much like Job who, after his restoration from suffering, names his daughters after cinnamon and eye makeup. www.thechatner.com/p/babar-the-...
thechatner.com
Three Parents Talk About Children's Books: Babar the King
"It therefore makes perfect sense that Babar’s thoughts, after an interval of confused and wordless wandering, drift in the direction of exquisite trifles"
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
QUESTION #1: How long was this decision in the works? Was there a planning committee, and if so, did you follow Robert’s Rules of Order, Erskine May’s Parliamentary Procedure, an alternate decision-making process, etc? ANSWER: It was entirely unplanned. www.thechatner.com/p/fielding-q...
thechatner.com
Fielding Questions About How I Parallel Parked The Big Bus At Work This Week
Word has gotten around lately that I successfully parallel parked the big bus at work this week. The word is true.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
we emperors tend rather to look down on those among us whose viziers do not scheme. "Poor fellow," we say to ourselves, "his throne must not be worth intriguing for." www.thechatner.com/p/emperors-w...
thechatner.com
Emperors With Viziers Who Don't Scheme
Previously in Vizier Studies: If you’re having problems with your liege, look within.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
EURYADES: Is she as pretty as Helen? ANTINOUS: I don’t think it’s sporting, comparing women’s looks like that. EURYADES: Well, was she born in an egg or anything? ANTINOUS: I think in the ordinary way. www.thechatner.com/p/the-courts...
thechatner.com
The Courtship of Penelope
There was always so much to do, you know, during the Trojan War, and it was very noisy most of the time, because of all the weapons and so forth – chariots – so I couldn’t always hear my own commander...
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
had a lovely chat with Isabel Pabán Freed about humidity and Henry Fonda in the Twilight series: www.thechatner.com/p/bella-swan...
thechatner.com
"Bella Swan is a lot like Henry Fonda as Young Mr. Lincoln"
A chat with Isabel Pabán Freed about humidity, Twilight, and carrying a man on your back for 100 miles until he becomes your husband
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
well well well open.substack.com/pub/dmlavery...
open.substack.com
That's Director Lavery To You
I got a new job at my job
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
by pure coincidence @jordyrosenberg.bsky.social and I both wrote novels about difficult older women named Barbara this year, so I talked to him about it: www.thechatner.com/p/whats-the-...
thechatner.com
"What's the Worst Thing Your Mother Has Ever Said To You?"
A Conversation With Jordy Rosenberg, The Other Trans Man Who Published A Novel About A Difficult Woman Named Barbara This Year
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
gamesmanship is the key to winning mutual friends after a friendship breakup: "One must behave shrewdly at every moment, while all the time appearing to behave naturally, as one moved solely by instinct." www.thechatner.com/p/how-to-suc...
thechatner.com
How To Successfully Employ Gamesmanship After A Friendship Breakup
One must behave shrewdly at every moment, while all the time appearing to behave naturally, as one moved solely by instinct. The lack of self-consciousness must be both perfect and complete.
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
A common technique is the 3-3-3 rule: Name three things you can set on fire in the room with you, look for three fire sources close at hand, and improvise three stacks of kindling www.thechatner.com/p/did-i-forg...
thechatner.com
“Did I forget to leave the stove on?”: Dealing with intrusive thoughts for arsonists
Managing intrusive anxious thoughts can be challenging for anyone, but it’s doubly difficult for the arsonist, who often has to flee the scene of his or her latest attempts at fire-starting before bei...
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Danny Lavery @dannymlavery.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
"A highly detailed writing suggestion if you’re aiming, like me, for reliable middlebrow success of the sort the twentieth century once easily supported (which doubles as a highly specific reading suggestion if you have no interest in writing novels)" www.thechatner.com/p/end-of-jun...
thechatner.com
End of June Roundup: The elevators broke down at work, the second "only piece of writing advice" I'll ever give you, the monk who wants crème brûlée
Hello from Chatner Central!
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