#William Samuel Johnson

[yr-obedt-cicero]

“Hamilton.” - Dr. William Samuel Johnson, delegate from Connecticut, in his diary

Only twice during the year did Dr. William Samuel Johnson (CT) indicate in his diary what had occurred in the Congress or the Convention. Today he followed the routine notation “In Convention” with one word, “Hamilton.”

(source — National Historical Park Pennsylvania)

This was the date of Hamilton's six-hour speech at the Constitutional Convention. I think it's telling why he wrote such.

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend

In 1803 Joseph Johnson (1738-1809) published the fifth edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, in twenty-one volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators to which are added notes. Originally written by Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) and George Steevens (1736-1800), this fifth edition was edited by Isaac Reed (1742-1807) and became known as the first variorum edition of Shakespeare.  

Reed’s collation of previous variations of Shakespeare proved to be a massive undertaking (twenty-one volumes!) that would be reprinted in 1813 and inspire future variorums like that of James Boswell the Younger in 1821 and the New Variorum Shakespeare Project that began in the 1870s and continues to this day as an official project of the Modern Language Association of America (which, btw, was headquartered here at the UWM libraries for 20 years, and the reason we have such a strong Shakespeare collection). The edition opens with a frontispiece engraving of Shakespeare by British engraver James Neagle (d. 1822) followed by an advertisement by Reed. Reed takes this opportunity to sing Steevens praises, including a eulogy written by William Hayley that reads in part “This tomb may perish, but not so his name who shed new lustre upon Shakespeare’s fame!” 

Volume One continues with various prefaces and essays by the usual Shakespearean scholars and critics of the time, Malone, Pope, Warburton and of course Nicholas Rowe’s Life of Shakespeare. Printed by John Plymsell out of London, our edition features marble endpapers in a Stormont pattern. 

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[anghraine]

I should be working on my dissertation, and have been, but I thought it'd be fun (for me :P) to loop you all in somehow. Therefore I bring you a very silly poll!

*best means whatever it means to you; feel free to propagandize

**yes, I deliberately excluded Shakespeare (from the poll, not the dissertation, lol)

[guentzel]

[scenesandscreens]

Menace II Society (1993)

Directed by The Hughes Brothers, Cinematography by Lisa Rinzler

"Being a black man in America isn't easy. The hunt is on, and you're the prey. All I'm saying is... All I'm saying is... Survive! All right?"

[grandhotelabyss]

What is Shakespeare's biggest flaw?

I agree with Samuel Johnson that the constant punning gets old, even sometimes trivializes his subject matter. That among other reasons is probably why we prefer the tragedies to the comedies, where the punning is more prominent. And the fact that Shakespeare is admired or even revered in other cultures (German, Russian, Japanese, etc.) where he's read in translations that can't possibly capture all the wordplay suggests to me that it is not the most essential aspect of his achievement. Johnson wrote in his Preface to Shakespeare:

A quibble [pun] is to Shakespeare, what luminous vapours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way, and sure to engulf him in the mire. It has some malignant power over his mind, and its fascinations are irresistible. Whatever be the dignity or profundity of his disquisition, whether he be enlarging knowledge or exalting affection, whether he be amusing attention with incidents, or enchaining it in suspense, let but a quibble spring up before him, and he leaves his work unfinished. A quibble is the golden apple for which he will always turn aside from his career, or stoop from his elevation. A quibble, poor and barren as it is, gave him such delight, that he was content to purchase it, by the sacrifice of reason, propriety and truth. A quibble was to him the fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world, and was content to lose it.

This doesn't apply to the sonnets, though, where the wordplay is both exceptional and more genre-appropriate in compressed lyric poetry.

[ljones41]

Ranking of "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST" (2024) Episodes

Below is my ranking of the episodes from the PEACOCK limited series, "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST"., the 2024 adaptation of Jeff Keating and Jim Roberts' podcast, "Fight Night". Created by Shaye Ogbonna, the eight-part miniseries starred Kevin Hart:

RANKING OF "FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST" (2024) EPISODES

1. (1.08) "Round Eight: Testify" - In this surprisingly tense finale, numbers bookie Gordon "Chicken Man" Williams and Atlanta Police Detective J.D. Hudson face off against the mastermind of the "Fight Night" robbery at the former's post-fight party in a daring hustle.

2. (1.03) "Round Three: Black Vegas" - The city of Atlanta celebrates Muhammad Ali's big comeback victory. Unfortunately, Chicken Man's fight night party turns into a nightmare, thanks to a group of robbers.

3. (1.07) "Round Seven: Jekyll Island" - Detective Hudson and Chicken Man track the surviving robbers to an abandoned resort on the Georgia coast, leading to a violent standoff. Chicken Man's mistress, Vivian "Sweets" Thomas forms a business alliance with powerful gangster Frank Moten, securing her future.

4. (1.01) "Round One: The Ballad of Chicken Man" - Atlanta prepares for Muhammad Ali's comeback fight and Chicken Man sets his eye on the prize by offering to host the post-fight party on behalf of the country's Black Mafia leaders arriving in town. Detective Hudson is ordered to lead the bodyguard detail for Ali.

5. (1.04) "Round Four: Real Policework" - Suspected of being the robbery's mastermind, a desperate Chicken Man sets out to prove his innocence. And the Black Mafia leaders seek revenge for the robbery.

6. (1.05) "Round Five: Ambition Ain't Free" - Now on the run, Chicken Man is forced to form an alliance with Detective Hudson. And the latter finds himself in the spotlight as the media, the law and the Black Mafia contemplate on the robbery.

7. (1.06) "Round Six: Community Men" - The manhunt for Chicken Man increases, making it difficult for him to clear his name. Detective Hudson continues to work outside of the law to prove Chicken's innocence.

8. (1.02) "Round Two: Fight Night" - The Muhammad Ali-Jerry Quarry boxing match commences, while Chicken Man hustles to impress Frank Moten. The robbers begin their heist at Chicken Man's house.

[bellesmots]

Ease #FridayPhilosophy

Some thoughts on ease for this #FridayPhilosophy

Ease #FridayPhilosophy “What we hope ever to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence.” – Samuel Johnson “Minds that are ill at ease are agitated by both hope and fear.” – Ovid “Being at ease with not knowing is crucial for answers to come to you.” – Eckhart Tolle “Being content is perhaps no less easy than playing the violin well: and requires no less practice.” – Alain de…

[insidecroydon]

Tracking the life and suspicious death of Benjamin Bowles Esq

Loughborough House, Lambeth: Benjamin Bowles’s life began as a member of a wealthy family of glass-makers SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Not all the documents and wills in the Croydon Minster archive give up the full details of the lives of long-dead parishioners, as DAVID MORGAN found with his latest researches After reading Inside Croydon’s recent report which highlighted Croydon residents being among the…

[jesuisgourde]

A list of all the books mentioned in Peter Doherty's journals (and in some interviews/lyrics, too)

Because I just made this list in answer to someone's question on a facebook group, I thought I may as well post it here.

-The Picture of Dorian Gray/The Ballad Of Reading Gaol/Salome/The Happy Prince/The Duchess of Padua, all by Oscar Wilde -The Thief's Journal/Our Lady Of The Flowers/Miracle Of The Rose, all by Jean Genet -A Diamond Guitar by Truman Capote -Mixed Essays by Matthew Arnold -Venus In Furs by Leopold Sacher-Masoch -The Ministry Of Fear by Graham Greene -Brighton Rock by Graham Green -A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud -The Street Of Crocodiles (aka Cinnamon Shops) by Bruno Schulz -Opium: The Diary Of His Cure by Jean Cocteau -The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson -Howl by Allen Ginsberg -Women In Love by DH Lawrence -The Tempest by William Shakespeare -Trilby by George du Maurier -The Vision Of Jean Genet by Richard Coe -"Literature And The Crisis" by Isaiah Berlin -Le Cid by Pierre Corneille -The Paris Peasant by Louis Aragon -Junky by William S Burroughs -Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes -Futz by Rochelle Owens -They Shoot Horses Don't They? by Horace McCoy -"An Inquiry On Love" by La revolution surrealiste magazine -Idea by Michael Drayton -"The Nymph's Reply to The Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh -Hamlet by William Shakespeare -The Silver Shilling/The Old Church Bell/The Snail And The Rose Tree all by Hans Christian Andersen -120 Days Of Sodom by Marquis de Sade -Letters To A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke -Poetics Of Space by Gaston Bachelard -In Favor Of The Sensitive Man and Other Essays by Anais Nin -La Batarde by Violette LeDuc -Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov -Intimate Journals by Charles Baudelaire -Juno And The Paycock by Sean O'Casey -England Is Mine by Michael Bracewell -"The Prelude" by William Wordsworth -Noise: The Political Economy of Music by Jacques Atalli -"Elm" by Sylvia Plath -"I am pleased with my sight..." by Rumi -She Stoops To Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith -Amphitryon by John Dryden -Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellman -The Song Of The South by James Rennell Rodd -In Her Praise by Robert Graves -"For That He Looked Not Upon Her" by George Gascoigne -"Order And Disorder" by Lucy Hutchinson -Man Crazy by Joyce Carol Oates -A Pictorial History Of Sex In The Movies by Jeremy Pascall and Clyde Jeavons -Anarchy State & Utopia by Robert Nozick -"Limbo" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge -Men In Love: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century by George Haggerty

[arbitrary line break because tumble hates lists apparently]

-Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky -Innocent When You Dream: the Tom Waits Reader -"Identity Card" by Mahmoud Darwish -Ulysses by James Joyce -The Four Quartets poems by TS Eliot -Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare -A'Rebours/Against The Grain by Joris-Karl Huysmans -Prisoner Of Love by Jean Genet -Down And Out In Paris And London by George Orwell -The Man With The Golden Arm by Nelson Algren -Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates -"Epitaph To A Dog" by Lord Byron -Cocaine Nights by JG Ballard -"Not By Bread Alone" by James Terry White -Anecdotes Of The Late Samuel Johnson by Hester Thrale -"The Owl And The Pussycat" by Edward Lear -"Chevaux de bois" by Paul Verlaine -A Strong Song Tows Us: The Life of Basil Bunting by Richard Burton -Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes -The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri -The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling -The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling -Ask The Dust by John Frante -On The Trans-Siberian Railways by Blaise Cendrars -The 39 Steps by John Buchan -The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol -The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol -The Iliad by Homer -Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad -The Volunteer by Shane O'Doherty -Twenty Love Poems and A Song Of Despair by Pablo Neruda -"May Banners" by Arthur Rimbaud -Literary Outlaw: The life and times of William S Burroughs by Ted Morgan -The Penguin Dorothy Parker -Smoke by William Faulkner -Hero And Leander by Christopher Marlowe -My Lady Nicotine by JM Barrie -All I Ever Wrote by Ronnie Barker -The Libertine by Stephen Jeffreys -On Murder Considered As One Of The Fine Arts by Thomas de Quincey -The Void Ratio by Shane Levene and Karolina Urbaniak -The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro -Dead Fingers Talk by William S Burroughs -The England's Dreaming Tapes by Jon Savage -London Underworld by Henry Mayhew

[blackflash9]

Reflections of the Kenway Family

A fascinating aspect of the saga is how each Kenway encounters someone on their journey who mirrors another family member and their respective character arc.

Connor meets Thomas Hickey — a man whose vanity and hedonistic greedy nature are very reminiscent of Edward and are a dark look into what he could've been if he had given entirely into his selfish desires. The way that Hickey's cynical nature contrasts with Connor's idealism is also a very similar dynamic to Edward's interactions with other characters such as Adewale, Mary Reed, Anto, and Ah Tabai.

Edward meets Duncan Walpole - a disillusioned Assassin-turned-Templar, foreshadowing the fate that will later befall his son. Edward's act of killing Duncan and posing as an Assassin mirrors what Haytham will become in the future. Another notable parallel between them is the theme of betrayal.

Reginald Birch's betrayal of Edward transforms Haytham into a Templar, while Walpole's betrayal inadvertently turns Edward into an Assassin. Unlike Duncan, whose commitment to the Creed is nonexistent, self-serving, and morally compromised, Haytham's ideological convictions in the Templar Order are resolute, unwavering, and uncompromising.

Haytham encounters Shay - an idealist with unwavering convictions, dedicated to protecting the innocent at any cost. Shay serves as a dark reflection of what Connor might have become without introspection, failing to forge his own identity. This lack of self-discovery makes Shay's virtues easily manipulated by others. In contrast, Connor continuously grapples with the demands of the Assassin's Creed and the diverse intentions and motivations of the people he meets on his journey, questioning and seeking to understand the world around him. ______________________________________________________________ ['On Johnson's Trail' Transcript] Connor: I was hoping you could help me locate William Johnson. Samuel: Of course. I'm headed to a meeting with some men who should be able to help. Why don't you come along? It's good to see the people finally taking a stand against injustice... Connor: Says the man who owns a slave. Samuel: Who, Surry? I practice what I preach, my friend. She's not a slave, but a freed woman... At least on paper. Men's minds are not so easily turned. It is a tragedy that for all our progress, still we cling to such barbarism. Connor: Then speak out against it. Samuel: We must focus first on defending our rights. When this is done, we'll have the luxury of addressing these other matters. Connor: You speak as though your condition is equal to that of the slaves. It is not. Samuel: Tell that to my neighbor—who was compelled to quarter British troops. Or to my friend whose store was closed because he displeased the Crown. The people here are no freer than Surry. Connor: You offer excuses instead of solutions. All people should be equal and not in turns. ______________________________________________________________ ['The Midnight Ride' Transcript] Connor: I thought it might bring clarity. Or instill a sense of accomplishment. But all I feel is regret.

Achilles: Hold fast to that. Such sacrifices must never come lightly.

Connor: I had to do it. Not only for my people, but for all the others Johnson would have harmed. ______________________________________________________________ ['Alternate Methods' Transcript]

Connor: I have been reunited with my father, but do not yet know if this bodes well or ill. Our goals are aligned, at least so far as independence is concerned. But he continues to defend Charles Lee— the man who murdered my mother and burned my village... Still, he makes a point about Washington and those who back him. I hear much talk of freedom and equality, but it seems one must be a landed white man to benefit. What of someone like me? Or Surry? What role for us in this new world? Is my father right, then? There is so much I must consider and so little time in which to do it. ______________________________________________________________ In contrast to Connor, Shay falls victim to their own self-induced tunnel vision, becoming ensnared in fanaticism and operating under a pragmatic "ends justify the means" mentality that he turned against his own Brotherhood for harboring. This vulnerability renders him a perfect tool and pawn for the Templars, diverging sharply from Connor's path of self-awareness, principles, and independence.

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

Happy National Dictionary Day!

Although the day was introduced to honor the birthday of American lexicographer Noah Webster, we are more interested in his innovative predecessor Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Johnson was an English writer with credits as a poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. In 1746, he was approached by a group of publishers to create an authoritative English dictionary and agreed, boasting he could complete the dictionary within three years. In the end, he single-handedly completed the task within eight years utilizing only clerical assistance. 

Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language was first published in London by noted Scottish printer and publisher William Strahan on April 15, 1755. While certainly not the first dictionary, it was groundbreaking in its documentation of the English lexicon providing not only words and their definitions, but examples of their use. Johnson accomplished this by illustrating the meanings of words through literary quotes, often citing Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden. He also introduced lighthearted humor into some of his definitions, most notably describing a lexicographer as “a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words”. Of equal amusement, oats are defined as “a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people”. 

A Dictionary of the English Language was published in two volumes with volume one containing A-K and volume two L-Z. Its pages were 46 cm tall and 51 cm wide, and it is said that outside of a few special editions of the Bible no book of this size and bulk had been set to type and that no bookseller could print it without help. Johnson’s dictionary was the pre-eminent dictionary for over 100 years until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1884. Despite some criticism about his etymology and orthoepic guidelines, Johnson’s dictionary was tremendously influential in its methodology for how dictionaries should be constructed and entries presented, casting a shadow over all future dictionaries and lexicographers. 

Several of the words in Johnson's dictionary were painstakingly defined. "Take" has 134 definitions running 8,000 words over 5 pages.

Woodcut tailpieces adorn the dictionary interspersed between letters.

Special Collections holds a facsimile reproduction of Johnson's dictionary, published in 1967 by AMS Press of New York.

View other Milestone Monday posts.

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[mariacallous]

Partial list of the books that Helene Hanff ordered from Marks & Co. and mentioned in 84, Charing Cross Road (alphabetical order):

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice, (1813)

Arkwright, Francis trans. Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon

Belloc, Hillaire. Essays.

Catullus – Loeb Classics

Chaucer, Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales translated by Hill, published by Longmans 1934)

Delafield, E. M., Diary of a Provincial Lady

Dobson, Austen ed. The Sir Roger De Coverley Papers

Donne, John Sermons

Elizabethan Poetry

Grahame, Kenneth, The Wind in the Willows

Greek New Testament

Grolier Bible

Hazlitt, William. Selected Essays Of William Hazlitt 1778 To 1830, Nonesuch Press edition.

Horace – Loeb Classics

Hunt, Leigh. Essays.

Johnson, Samuel, On Shakespeare, 1908, Intro by Walter Raleigh

Jonson, Ben. Timber

Lamb, Charles. Essays of Elia, (1823).

Landor, Walter Savage. Vol II of The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor (1876) – Imaginary Conversations

Latin Anglican New Testament

Latin Vulgate Bible / Latin Vulgate New Testament

Latin Vulgate Dictionary

Leonard, R. M. ed. The Book-Lover's Anthology, (1911)

Newman, John Henry. Discourses on the Scope and Nature of University Education. Addressed to the Catholics of Dublin – "The Idea of a University" (1852 and 1858)

Pepys, Samuel. Pepys Diary – 4 Volume Braybrook ed. (1926, revised ed.)

Plato's Four Socratic Dialogues, 1903

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, The Oxford Book Of English Verse

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, The Pilgrim's Way

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, Oxford Book of English Prose

Sappho – Loeb Classics

St. John, Christopher Ed. Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw : A Correspondence / The Shaw – Terry Letters : A Romantic Correspondence

Sterne, Laurence, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, (1759)

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Virginibus Puerisque

de Tocqueville, Alexis Journey to America (1831–1832)

Wyatt, Thomas. Poems of Thomas Wyatt

Walton, Izaak and Charles Cotton. The Compleat Angler. (John Major's 2nd ed., 1824)

Walton, Izaak. The Lives of – John Donne – Sir Henry Wotton – Richard Hooker – George Herbert & Robert Sanderson

Woolf, Virginia, The Common Reader, 1932.

[hoeforseungcho]

Average Ages Of Mass Shooter’s Victims

It's a long list, so I added a page break.

7.0 - Patrick Purdy

7.4 - Thomas Hamilton

9.0 - Charles Roberts IV

13.4 - Salvador Ramos

13.8 - Wellington de Oliviera

14.3 - Jaylen Fryberg

14.5 - Li Zhongren

15.4 - Adam Lanza

16.0 - Ethan Crumbley

16.3 - Victor Hoffman

16.6 - Dylan Klebold

16.8 - Kosta Kecmanovic

17.0 - Robert Smith

17.8 - Tyler Peterson

18.0 - Michael Clark

19.6 - Nikolas Cruz

19.9 - Eric Harris

20.0 - Elliot Rodger

20.1 - Larry Ashbrook

21.0 - Matthew Murray

21.6 - Mauricio Garcua

23.0 - Steven Kacmierzak

23.3 - Travis Reinking

23.6 - Tim Kretschmer

23.7 - Marc Lepine

24.1 - Matti Saari

25.3 - Dimitrios Pagourtzis

25.3 - James Huberty

25.7 - Vladislav Roslyakov

25.8 - Chase Garvey

26.2 - James Holmes

26.5 - Gonzalo Lopez

26.8 - Pekka-Eric Auvinen

26.8 - Seung-Hui Cho

27.0 - Noah Esbensen

27.7 - Timur Bekmansurov

28.2 - Jeff Weise

28.3 - Michael Silka

28.5 - Ruslan Akhtyamov

28.8 - Wesley Higdon

29.3 - Sterling Hunt

29.4 - Omar Mateen

29.8 - Muhammad Abdulazeez

30.0 - Charles Whitman

30.0 - Colt Gray

30.8 - Kimbrady Carriker

31.7 - Phasid Trutassanawin

32.0 - Todd Kohlhepp

32.6 - Anderson Aldrich

32.8 - Chris Harper-Mercer

33.1 - One Goh

33.2 - Connor Betts

33.2 - Howard Unruh

33.3 - Ryan Palmeter

33.7 - Solejman Talovic

33.8 - Thomas McIlvane

34.8 - Audrey Hale

35.0 - Cedrid Ford

35.3 - Snochia Moseley

35.7 - Richard Farley

35.7 - Richard Poplawski

35.8 - Chai Vang

36.0 - Robert Dear Jr.

36.3 - Mark Essex

36.4 - Nidel Hasan

37.0 - Noah Harpham

37.3 - Radcliffe Haughton

37.9 - James Pough

38.0 - Ivan Lopez

38.2 - Gary Martin

38.4 - Mark Baton

38.7 - Patrick Sherill

38.8 - Leo Held

39.3 - Joaquin Roman

39.5 - Maurice Clemmons

39.6 - Stephan Paddock

39.7 - John Parish

39.7 - Michael McLendon

40.1 - Gian Ferri

40.2 - Andre Bing

40.4 - Edward Allaway

40.7 - Albert Wong

41.0 - Gavin Long

41.0 - Jonathan Sapirman

42.0 - William Bonner

42.3 - Michael McDermott

42.4 - Lyndon McLeod

42.8 - Eduardo Sencion

43.0 - Zane Floyd

43.2 - Ian Stawicki

43.6 - Micah Johnson

44.3 - George Sodini

44.3 - Terry Ratzmann

44.9 - Jennifer San Marco

45.0 - Randy Stair

45.1 - Samuel Cassidy

45.4 - Brian Uyesegi

45.7 - Jiverly Wong

45.8 - Herman Klink

46.1 - Robert Card

46.3 - Timothy Hendron

46.6 - Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa

47.0 - Brandon Hole

47.3 - Kenneth Tornes

47.5 - William Baker

48.4 - Zephen Xaver

48.7 - Ronald Taylor

48.8 - Anthony Ferrill

49.4 - Robert Hawkins

49.8 - Joseph Wesbecker

50.3 - Carl Brown

50.7 - Jimmy Lam

50.8 - Isaac Zamora

51.0 - Douglas Williams

51.0 - Kevin Neal

51.2 - Andrew Engeldinger

51.3 - Amy Bishop

52.6 - George Hennerd

53.8 - Connor Sturgeon

53.8 - John Neumann Jr.

54.1 - Scott Dekraai

54.4 - Omar Thornton

54.6 - Robert Long

55.0 - Jarrod Ramos

55.2 - Charles Thornton

55.5 - Jared Loughner

55.8 - Aaron Alexis

55.7 - Jason Dalton

55.9 - Wade Page

56.1 - Dylann Roof

57.3 - Anthony Polito

57.6 - Arcan Cetin

58.3 - Chunli Zhao

59.1 – Patrick Crusius

62.0 - Robert Crimo III

62.1 - Payton Gendron

66.9 - Huu Can Tran

73.8 - Robert Bowers

79.3 - Robert Stewart

83.3 - Beau Wilson

[w1ldthoughts]

AJ’s Analysis- Week Three Preview⚡️: Chargers (2-0) at Steelers (2-0)

Disclaimer: I am a Chargers fan so this will obviously be biased BUT I have been a football fan for the last 12 years and absolutely love dissecting the game and making comments so I figured I would give this a try! Please feel free to make comments and let me know your thoughts in my inbox!

Players to watch

Los Angeles

#10 Justin Herbert QB- Oregon- Year 5🩵

14/20 and threw for 130 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception last week. Suffered a high ankle sprain but did finish out the game and has played through more pain so I would be surprised if he didn’t gut it out and play tomorrow.

#27 JK Dobbins RB- Ohio State- Year 5

Leading the NFL in rushing yards. Looking to add to his recent dominance this week.

#26 Asante Samuel Jr. CB- Year 4

Haven’t heard his name much yet this season (7 total tackles, one assisted) so I’m sure he’s due for a breakout game. Played in all 17 games last year with 63 total tackles and 2 picks.

Entire Offensive Line

My brothers might be in for a long-ish afternoon and with a quarterback who’s mobility is sure to be limited if he plays so keep an eye on them and what the pressure looks like. Good luck to them.

#70 Rashawn Slater LT

#75 Bradley Bozeman C

#76 Joe Alt RT

#77 Zion Johnson LG

#79 Trey Pipkins III RG

Will Brenden Rice make his debut this week and how will the WR room do?

Steelers

#2 Justin Fields QB- Ohio State- Year 4

First year as a steeler after being kicked to the curb by the Chicago bears this past offseason to draft Caleb Williams and take away most of our offensive weapons like Keenan Allen and Gerald Everett. But moving on, he deserved better and I hope Pittsburgh is a wonderful fresh start for him.

Went 13/20 last week throwing for 117 yards and one touchdown. Dual threat QB who rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022 so we need to watch out for that too.

#22 Najee Harris RB- Alabama- Year 4

Has yet to score a touchdown this season so we should keep it that way. 17 carries for 69 yards last week but did have a 1000 yard rushing season last year with 255 carries, 1,035 yards and 8 touchdowns.

#14 George Pickens WR

Also has yet to score a TD this season. Two catches for 29 yards last week but had 63 catches for 1,140 yards and 5 touchdowns last year so I would keep an eye on his production tomorrow as they continue to open up their offense.

#97 Cameron Heyward DT- Ohio State- Year 14

He is only on here because I am messy. Last time these teams played Cam basically used Justin’s body to stand up and it looked like he punched him in the stomach. Seven tackles so far this season, 33 tackles and 2 sacks last season in 11 games played.

*Here is the 2021 play for reference*

#90 TJ Watt LB- Wisconsin- Year 8

Six Pro Bowls. Four time DPOY finalist, one win. Four time First team all-pro. 3 seasons leading the league in sacks and tied for most sacks in one season with 22.5. 7 tackles and 2 sacks on the season so far. Will be an issue and make his presence known.

#39 Minkah Fitzpatrick S- Alabama- Year 8

Four Pro Bowls. Three time first team all-pro. NFL interceptions co-leader in 2022. 14 total tackles, no picks so far on the year.

[grandhotelabyss]

Thoughts on Samuel Johnson’s view that Shakespeare was most natural with the comedies and was straining himself a bit in the tragedies? From Johnson: “ In tragedy his performance seems constantly to be worse, as his labour is more. The effusions of passion which exigence forces out are for the most part striking and energetick; but whenever he solicits his invention, or strains his faculties, the offspring of his throes is tumour, meanness, tediousness, and obscurity”

I associate it with his disapproval of the supernatural in Shakespearean tragedy (and literature at large), and with his view that literature had to offer moral exemplars to an impressionable audience. He was writing in the century that gave Lear a happy ending. Taken on its own terms and considered as an aesthetic object in its own right, I appreciate Johnson's critical temperament, its desperately won counsel to fortitude and optimism despite a natural bent toward despair. But as a judgment on Shakespeare, I can't agree with it. The meanness and obscurity are part of what lifts works like Hamlet and King Lear out of the strictures of classical decorum, what inaugurates modernity itself with its portrayal of the sheer surplus of the human. (I contrast Johnson with Hegel among other more modern commenters in my essay on Macbeth if you'd like an elaboration on this idea.) I don't object to the comedies, except to their sometimes indeed tedious recourse to meanness and obscurity, but one of Shakespeare's real inventions is to have suffused tragedy with comedy to create the modern freedom of genre that will produce Romanticism and the novel. The best comedies early and late actually work the same way: both Much Ado About Nothing and The Winter's Tale, for example, are like Othello with a happy ending, in the same way that Hamlet is line for line among the funniest of the plays. But if he had not mastered tragedy proper, he couldn't have synthesized it to comedy in this way.