Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Meet me at the book burning!
Fiction & essays, novel in progress. Co-owner @federalstbooks.bsky.social . Candlepin bowler. Language stuff. A lot of crank air. Used to write the dictionary. Western Massachusetts.
830 followers 692 following 2,168 posts
view profile on Bluesky Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Meet me at the book burning!
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Never can settle on one, but I’ll go with “1,000,000.”
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah, today’s has been my regular start word for a while now. I’ll find another but I need to think of one first.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Wordle 1,535 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 This is how I know something is going to go down today.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Sans serif all-caps & serif lowercase would seem to have clearly defined roles, but only the latter is expressed firmly in the imperative mood.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Supersonic Youth
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Denting Pumpkins
Roxane Gay (@roxanegay.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
We will be publishing cultural criticism every day at The Rumpus. We hope to fill some of this egregious void being created by the mainstream media. Relaunch is in October but we are also publishing between now and then.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
“She’s paying you $3.5 million so you can be married to someone else.”
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
“Having a Coke with you is even more fun than going to San Sebastián” Oh Frank O’Hara we love you get up.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
I will always remember the Saturday morning when I looked out the back door and saw Sophie looking up at me from the porch. She made our home her home. Our girl was sassy, smart, sensitive, warm, and knew the word for cheese in six languages. We said goodbye to her today, and will miss her terribly.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Age verification? When I was a toddler I got an electric shock when I stuck my fingers into an 8-track player.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Joke's on you if you just want some grapes.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
For reasons unknown
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Active: They made mistakes Passive: Mistakes were made. Exonerative active: Mistakes claim lives in copyeditor-involved violence.
Richard Mirabella (@rpmirabella.bsky.social) reposted
Hi! I've been offering one hour Zoom writing coaching sessions, and it's been going really well! I think I've been helping people, which makes me feel good. Hit me up in my DMs for some writing therapy and for more details!
Coach Finstock (@coachfinstock.bsky.social) reposted
If you start posting dictionary entries you've lost the fight a long time ago
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
There was one where some lady was running a shopping errand for 4 items and the thief wanted to delay her return, so he purposefully asked her to pick up seven tubes of toothpaste, forcing 11 total purchases and preventing the use of the 10 items or less lane. SEVEN TUBES OF TOOTHPASTE.
A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
The narrative is that they are defenders in the struggle against the Bad Things not because of anything they do but simply because they are them and everyone else are Bad Things; it’s vital to supremacy that they be allowed to enact the abuse while claiming themselves the defenders against it.
A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) reposted
I think that it’s because to white supremacists Epstein was a load-bearing pillar in their white supremacist narrative. Trump’s actions are a betrayal not because they care about child sex trafficking—they clearly do not—but because it betrays the architecture of their white supremacist view.
Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) reposted
Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Relate. Sorry, Mom.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Probably because they can’t imagine doing anything for a reason other than it’s awful thing to do.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Phew, there are enough “Epstein’s Mother” jokes on here that I didn’t need to post my own.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Go on the Paris website and give it one revenge star.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
🎼🎶 "beautiful like a rainbow..."
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
It’s Crazy Draft Name season.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
I don’t have children, but I suppose it would be like that if the kid were a storehouse of my untold obsessions over the last 5 years and I was married to the babysitter.
Malaclypse the Middle (@malaclypse.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
I think a lot about how when Casablanca was filmed, nobody knew who would win WW2.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Someone* is reading my novel. This feels weird. *my first best reader
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
There are only 10 pitchers in all of MLB history (and 24 players total) with last names beginning with Sk- and two of them are opposing each other in next week's All-Star Game.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Please tell me you at least suggested “Stubborn Little Fuckers.”
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Captive audience. Anderson Cooper. Dan Cortese in Burger King commercials.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
For some reason, the "21 Jump Street" 2-hr pilot. "The Miracle of Life" on PBS. A documentary on Waterford Crystal. Not Challenger. One of the other grades got the TV that day. The principal came in the room and told us.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Verdigris.
Ali Birch 💙 (@irishali13.bsky.social) reposted
This stunner - 🌸 ~ Raymond Carver The Minuet I hope no one comes along. But if someone does, I hope it’s her.
Costa Samaras (@costasamaras.com) reposted
Build it
Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class (@thrasherxy.bsky.social) reposted
HOLY SHIT! RIght before I left my house, a last day of Pride Month rainbow??
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
It's projected to leave all of the parks ... but it didn't actually leave the park it was hit in.
chris. (@azedand2knots.bsky.social) reposted
You're an inconsiderate lover, Charlie Brown.
paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) reposted
'The New American Gothic', Oil on Canvas by Criselda Vásquez
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
He plays a single dad who gets exposed to an alien gas and becomes indestructible (hence "I-Man"). www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnPO...
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
A lot of Disney Sunday Movies (Help Wanted Kids! I-MAN with Scott Bakula! Parent Trap II!), Meatballs, and a snowy, bowdlerized version of Smokey and the Bandit taped off Providence's WPRI Channel 12.
Kory Stamper (@korystamper.bsky.social) reposted
Aah, the inaugural issue of Paper Airplane is out! Think "Highlights" for adults. I've got an article AND A CRAFT PROJECT in here for you. All proceeds--all of them, for reals--benefit the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Do good! Have fun! MAKE CRAFTS! PaperAirplane.pub
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Neither safe nor environmentally sound but I don’t care. I am thinking of the cleansing nature of fire.
Maris Kreizman (@maris.bsky.social) reposted
Rolling Stone has excerpted an essay from my forthcoming book. It's about what happens when you get all of your info about the world from the TV (cops are heroes!), and then go out into the world and see for yourself. www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
There was a post on here a while ago asking which fictional product you wish were real, and I finally thought of it: Edna Mode’s built-in countertop incinerator. m.youtube.com/watch?v=UBfb...
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Lexicography can’t afford beer.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
There’s a music festival happening in our town this weekend, so I got to learn about the attack on Iran while listening to Courtney Barnett from our porch.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
H: “I need to devein the shrimp.” Me: “You need to William Devane the shrimp?” H: “Wow, there’s a reference.” Me: “The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.” H: “Falcon Crest!”
〽️ax krieger does the damn thing (@maxkriegervg.bsky.social) reposted
the thing people call "scary" about an american subway is not having anywhere to hide your face from the reality of poverty in american life, and if that's scary to you it says a lot more about you than about the subway
J. Offir, PhD (@joffirphd.bsky.social) reposted
Sen. Tammy Duckworth just said on Colbert, "We should all live long enough to develop a disability," & the audience laughed uncomfortably. I can tell you what they were thinking. It was "Not me. That would never happen to me." & the underlying, unacknowlged premise was "b/c I'm better than that."
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Happy Bloomsday to all who observe. I am only 26.7% of the way through the book.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
How do I tell it’s Christian at 95 MPH?
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Um, I don’t know, This Old House?
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
He did what they asked him to do, then they asked him to do something differently than what he had trained for. He was still taking grounders. But more to the point, the management seems to loathe the thought that fans don’t root for efficiency or flexibility, they root for players.
Jared Yates Sexton (@jysexton.bsky.social) reposted
There a reason the protests are being covered differently from the Tea Party The Tea Party was a front for the wealth class that owns the media and were used to demonize necessary reform These protests were democratic and populist, which the wealth class and its media opposes Hope that helps
Jemele Hill (@jemelehill.bsky.social) reposted
As someone who lives in Los Angeles, don’t let social or mainstream media gaslight you into thinking there’s a violent uprising taking place here. The Trump administration is trying to punish this state and this city. He’s also setting a precedent to unleash troops on Democratic cities.
onion person (@junlper.beer) reposted
it really doesn’t matter if someone is in america illegally or not. who cares, grow up
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Let Down. Again.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
I'd like to felicitate you for coming up with that one.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
I Shot Andy Warhol.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
That shirt OMG!
Richard Mirabella (@rpmirabella.bsky.social) reposted
Happy Pride! I'm queer. I wrote a book. It has gay shit in it. It is dramatic and sad, but there is love in it. 🥰 It's available in paperback!
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
If Pascal Siakam is indeed named after Blaise Pascal, then I wonder if he's read RABBIT, RUN, a book about a basketball player that cites Pascal's PENSEES.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Grateful to @postroadmag.bsky.social for publishing my story WE DON’T JOKE ABOUT SUCH THINGS, which I workshopped quite a long time ago in a Bread Loaf class led by @alixohlin.bsky.social
Daniel Carlson (@danielwcarlson.bsky.social) reposted
I think about this every day
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
We’re having a whole thing about ADUs in Greenfield that amounts to: poor people make rich people feel bad.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
"We were close in the way you become when you deal with the constant mess of private lives, because that’s what local news is, a constant mess bursting into public..." Fun read. Nice to read a story set in my neck of the woods.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
This reminds me how I always thought it was "hair-brained" (as in a scheme) and assumed "hare-brained" was a pun used in the titles of Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Moby Dick (@mobydickatsea.bsky.social) reposted
He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
The name Pebbles refers to a singular character but the fruity or chocolate cereal named for the character is sold as a plural (as in you can eat a single Pebble), the dichotomy is astounding, Pebbles is/are everything.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Incidentally, I wish sidewalk headline signs were more of a thing in the U.S.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Man’s got a legacy.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Alfred Hitchcock's Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
RIP, George Wendt. Yes, I would have liked to eat beans with you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAkO...
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
I think about this a lot.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
HOW ARE YOU SO SURE?
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
We said goodbye to our beautiful Bailey today. We called her the Weather Service because she reliably told us when storms were coming. Spirited and clumsy.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
You know how kid's toys and board games would say "for ages 5 to 8" or "ages 10 and up" on the box? I thought that was actual law. When I was 8 I got a game as a gift for ages 10 and up and was upset that I couldn't play it for a year and a half.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Boyhood! Took 12 years to produce (with the kid aging from 6 to 18).
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
Thankfully, Wordsworth earlier invented words.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social) reply parent
You know how kid's toys and board games would say "for ages 5 to 8" or "ages 10 and up" on the box? I thought that was actual law. When I was 8 I got a game as a gift for ages 10 and up and was upset that I couldn't play it for a year and a half.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Garfield died on a Monday. He hated Mondays.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
The amount of time that elapses between the first day when it's nice enough to open a window and "Fuck you WFH, you'll listen to heavy lawn care machinery all day" is about equal to the life span of a ripe avocado.
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
The 800 Blows (Les Huit Cents Coups)
Neil Serven (@neilserven.bsky.social)
Choosing my first initial *and* my birth month of all 26 and 12 options, respectively, makes me wonder if I have, as they say, pissed in this man's Cheerios.