iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I went with albums that I loved between the ages of 5 and 18, since the formative part seems key to the whole thing?

My 9 Albums: "The Sound That Made Me." Grease soundtrack, Thriller by Michael Jackson, Turnstiles by Billy Joel, Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi, Tracy Chapman self-titled, Indigo Girls self-titled, Out of Time by R.E.M., Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet, Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub.

John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I made room for two more here by leaving off The Wire and 30 Rock, which transcend the exercise; those are my two best, easily. Wasn't shocked but still sad to see RECTIFY not only miss the list but, as far as I can tell, not be named on a single ballot. For shame!

Succession, Fleabag, Rectify, The Office (UK), Friday Night Lights, Happy Valley, Girls, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Curb Your Enthusiasm

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I tried to steal this card from a friend of mine when I was 8 or so. I’m not proud. But Murph belongs in the Hall.

Dale Murphy’s rookie card, on which he’s featured with three other players, including Rick Cerone, who was actually more important to this Yankees fan back then.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

My collection of media from back then. The more time passes, the stranger it seems to have been in the city that day. I hadn’t looked at these since, and flipping through, I remembered the general tone pretty well. 25 years is a stretch of time, but I do think our moment’s roots are still there.

Newspapers and magazines from the days and weeks after 9/11.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Reorganizing my library a bit and opening this one again has stopped my progress cold.

“The Adversary” by Emmanuel Carrere. I read it probably a decade ago or so, and now will reread it seems.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

New leader in the spam headline least likely to fool me sweepstakes.

Your Foxons Fishing Tackle account has been created

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Just remembered and dug out this poster I bought in Nashville nine years ago. Good job, 2017 self.

Reprint of vintage poster advertising a concert by Dolly Parton and her Family Traveling Band.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I’ve been thinking along similar lines, of how amazing the breadth and vitality of her existence was, and also how good it feels to celebrate someone who was so uniquely American.

Mara Wilson on Bluesky: “Sometimes, when someone dies, what helps me is thinking about how wonderful it is that they were even alive in the first place. Dolly was the closest you could get to an American saint. We all loved her. And really, she was the epitome of what an American can be at their best: yes, ostensibly superficial, but humble, with quiet depths; genuinely friendly and warm, and endlessly generous and giving. I don’t really believe in having role models, but I wouldn’t mind if more people had her as theirs.”

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

A book, a martini, and Van Morrison’s “Full Force Gale” just came over the speakers. Sensed it was a good night to take myself out.

“Dead Souls” by Gogol, a gin martini, and (unheard here) Van the Man.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Twain’s essay on him is priceless.

Mark Twain having great and pointed fun at the expense of James Fenimore Cooper.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Listened to this today for the first time in an age. Still hits.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

This one always bothers me. I guess it’s somewhere between on the list and not on the list.

“BARDO” not accepted by the New York Times game Spelling Bee.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Thank you for putting this on my radar, it's so great. ("I wish I was a chocolate-covered flying horse / I wish the boys were pigs except my brother." !!) I have this book on the opposite end of the spectrum, about Koch teaching seniors.

A copy of "I Never Told Anybody: Teaching Poetry Writing in a Nursing Home" by Kenneth Koch.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

This really does seem like the most anyone can promise these days.

“Less nausea” on an outdoor ad for a weight loss drug

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

This list is indistinguishable from parody.

The seemingly 500 places you are "able to watch" a 2020 movie, including "Tvlgle" and "VIVA by videofutur."

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

In two very different tones of voice... On the court: "Wow, LeBron still doing it at 41." Off the court: "Wow, LeBron still doing it at 41."

Headline from The Athletic: "What we're hearing about LeBron James' decision and the role of Rich Paul's podcast."

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

As the saying goes: I am so very tired.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This is great. And may I look this happy/delightfully surprised at least one more time in this life.

A young boy, having turned to see that Erling Haaland is in front of him, looking like the platonic ideal of happiness. Another boy next to him, having already greeted Haaland, looking no less delighted.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

One nice thing about free agent season is that it alerts you to the very existence of some players. Some players who will now earn in three years more money than you will see in several lifetimes.

Someone named Quinten Post, God bless him, is going to make $30 million over three years, or about $8M for every rebound he's averaged in his brief career.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Funny little echo of Rhys; I just now happened to flip open Diana Athill's publishing memoir "Stet" (life is thrilling over here) to this passage:

“Here we settled down to enjoy the sixties which were, indeed, good years for us; although they never seemed to me essentially different from any other decade. Perhaps they would have done if I had been younger and still fully responsive to the pull of fashion, but as it was I saw them as an invention of the media. Most of the people I knew had been bedding each other for years without calling it a sexual revolution. Jean Rhys agreed, saying that people were using drugs like crazy when she first came to London before the First World War, the only difference being that the papers didn't go on about it. But of course the fact that we now felt that we had finished recovering from the second world war did make for cheerfulness.”

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

From a piece by Vivian Gornick in The New Republic, 2023. newrepublic.com/article/1695...

A year or two from death, Rhys cried out at her friend, the novelist David Plante, “Oh David, I’m unhappy … all my life I’ve been so unhappy. It’s unfair … I’m dying, my body’s dying, and inside I think: it’s unfair. I’ve never lived, I’ve never lived.” But then she wiped her eyes, had another drink, and said to Plante, “Listen to me, I want to tell you something very important. All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. And there are trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake.… It is very important. Nothing else is important.”

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Interested in this issue myself. And the cover art made me remember a headline/image from a long-ago satirical newspaper out of Massachusetts:

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Posted these on the cursed place nine months before he was even elected the first time, so the left-hand image feels downright quaint. But re-upping in an attempt to think about the other half of the dichotomy as much as possible today.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

This is a very solid and redolent stretch of ‘90s.

Five consecutive songs off of Belly’s album “King” — Silverfish, Super-Connected, The Bees, King, Now They’ll Sleep.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Didn’t post this yesterday since it contains an important word they took, but why not this?

“ALCHEMICAL” not accepted by Spelling Bee

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Noah Wyle did not waste his time in the Criterion Closet.

20 movies discussed by Wyle in his Criterion Closet clip.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Listening to and enjoying this for the first time in a while. And a bit transfixed by the cover art.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

You inspired me to finish gathering mine (or most of them) for a group photo.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Better late than never. Brilliant prose and almost insane levels of psychological and social observation combine to go nuclear here. What an incredible book. Goes on the modestly sized but very potent shelf labeled “why bother to write.”

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Found a great product review this morning.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I have an older edition that I’ve now taken down and added to the (literal) TBR pile. Thanks for the nudge.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Genuinely love when I look up a longer trip while still on “walking directions.” A reminder that life could be much more interesting.

A map for walking from just north of New York City to Rhode Island (2 days, 11 hours). Would probably stop at even more bookstores this way.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Some people: Threads is capable of sustaining life. Threads every time I visit it:

Multi-step advice about health and finances that I don’t want from people (or bots) marching in droves to give it to me.

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Genuinely sorry for posting hog slop from over there, but I want to add to other comments I’ve seen: Plenty of conservatives (certainly by Bluesky standards) have made art. But there is literally nothing conservative (by any definition) about DJT or anyone who worships/profits off him.

Matt Walsh on X suggesting that conservatives should “elevate [their] own artists.”

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I know what you're thinking: Why is no one talking about the Guardian list anymore?? I get it! Here, a few more mostly contemporary(ish) options I'd consider for a personal list of 100, and then no more posts about it, I promise. (This is just more fun than ... everything else happening.)

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Re: the Guardian's 100 novels list, I can't help myself: Trying to balance subjectivity with objectivity (good luck!), my 10 best *not* on that list would be drawn from this group.

Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
Look at Me by Anita Brookner
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
Job by Joseph Roth
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Mishima
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Her First American by Lore Segal
All the Pretty Horses and/or The Crossing
by Cormac McCarthy (certainly ahead of The Road!)

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Oh no? Then what did I clear a dozen of this morning?

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John Williams @johnwilliams.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

OK, OK, I get it, it’s time to log off and go to bed.

Drake’s 8-year-old son and Shane Gillis are in Drake’s new music vid…—zzzzzzzzzzz.

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