BB 11, including jazz trivia night

business blast + links and tiny reviews

Just got to Montreal, where I’m going to give a masterclass at McGill University. Canada tour starts tomorrow:

9/21 Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill, Montreal with John Geggie and Nick Fraser
9/24 McKay United Church, Ottawa, with John Geggie and Nick Fraser
9/25-28 The Rex Hotel, Toronto with Dan Fortin and Nick Fraser

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I played Jazzology with Willard Jenkins, where I was matched against famous publicist Matt Merewitz. It was a lot of fun! WHO WILL WIN??

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Nate Silver’s recent bestseller is On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything.

A centrist positive review: Tim Wu in The New York Times.
A lefty negative review: Leif Weatherby and Ben Recht in The Point.

I enjoyed the book tremendously. At first it is a contemporary guide to poker and sports betting before ending up as a grand theory of human behavior in Silicon Valley. Silver’s thing is percentages and probabilities. There’s nothing about art in this book, but nonetheless it connected some dots about the algorithmic margin. Everyone in the arts is fighting for tiny bit of the attention economy. It’s hard news, but at the same time, there is a margin. If you know that when going up to the bookie, you can still get a bet down. No risk, no reward.

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Like everyone else, I am tired of reading about Trump, but this Mark Leibovich article in The Atlantic is hilarious and spectacular.

I disapprove of digging around in old dissertations for contemporary plagiarism sins. (Academia is a closed system that demands the worst prose known to humankind.) However, Robin DiAngelo made many millions furiously criticizing small (or nonexistent) social infractions, so this article by Aaron Sibarium in The Free Beacon does dispense a kind of rough justice.

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When Sean Connery died recently I realized that — while I liked Connery — I couldn’t think of single movie which I could say was honestly very good. However, I hadn’t yet seen The Offence, which Ray Banks unearthed recently on Under the Influence. What a great movie! It also has a mysterious score by the fabulous Harrison Birtwistle, which I believe is relatively “normal” chamber music treated electronically by Peter Zinovieff. I can’t say I command the Sidney Lumet filmography yet; this is a director I want to investigate further.

While I still had my Netflix account I wasted some time with high-end productions of guns and explosions. The Accountant is a big “whatever,” only the opening scenes of Ben Affleck being disconnected and with (excellent) Anna Kendrick are good. The rest of the movie is a big sentimental fail. Too bad. If the whole film was Affleck and Kendrick goofing off it would be fabulous.

In terms of basic excellence undercut by a total failure to land on an acceptable aesthetic, The Killer (directed by David Fincher and starring Michael Fassbender) is the worst hitman movie I've ever seen. Others have found more to explore than me, including Nick Kolakowski, who shares my general dismay but actually tries to drill into the problem and find answers. A good essay! Welcome to Substack, Mr. Kolakowski. Everyone should subscribe to Ink-Stained Wretch.

Prequels: It is interesting to compare good Godzilla Minus One with bad Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga. Minus One’s CGI is unusually grimy and naturalistic, while Furiosa is full of pretentious digital glare. Minus One recalls old-school Mad Max, Furiosa looks like the Marvel franchise. It’s really too bad, because Fury Road was great and George Miller is an OG of practical effects.