22 Comments
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Simon's avatar

The crankiness is part of the appeal

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dysphemistic treadmill's avatar

Thanks for the essays. You‘ve given me lots to think about. I bought my son a subscription so that he could think along, too.

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Michael Lipkin's avatar

Happy holidaze, dude. Thanks for a great year.

Oh, and as I know you sometimes take requests: I would love to hear what you're doing with the Gotti material? Over the years, I've dipped into the tapes myself--don't know if you recall back in 2002, the website, "WMOB: Frankie and Fritzie", where you could stream all of the non-criminally relevant stuff from two soldiers I think who had gotten indicted--but I find the stream of consciousness jabbering really fascinating, kind of bordering on the DeLillo-esque. I was really struck by just how much the HBO movie cleaned Gotti up into someone with like... a discernable motivation and worldview and personality and like actual charisma, which surely he must also have been.

Seems like in your wheelhouse as well, but wasn't Geraldine Ferraro's vice presidential campaign constantly dogged by the fact that her husband rented a warehouse or something from Robert DiBernardo, a Gotti associate who ran all the porn in New York City?

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John Ganz's avatar

oh yeah "deebee"... won't see him around anymore

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Rodney's avatar

Please - Frank Vincent/Shah of Iran.

In bocca al lupo con il libro!

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Michael Lipkin's avatar

I’ll be forever thankful to Unpooular Front for putting me in contact with another person who actually likes this movie. Some years ago I tried getting my dad to watch it, aal well as a friend’s parents—they were somehow hung up on the fact that Anthony Quinn was supposed to be Italian.

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Rodney's avatar

Well, Fellini was pretty happy with Quinn doing Zampanò.

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Michael Lipkin's avatar

Ha, in the same conversation my friend's mom praised his work in Lawrence of Arabia.

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Michael Lipkin's avatar

Oh, and didn't Anthony Quinn catch some kind of flak for being like too close to the Gotti and the Gambinos, at least during the trial? I thought that, later in his career, he had the reputation of being a mob-adjacent actor, like Ben Gazarra.

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Michael Lipkin's avatar

Ha, yeah, your boy didn’t make it.

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John Salvati's avatar

Eager to read your book, get cracking on it!

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J.J. Molloy's avatar

Happy Holidays. I am glad I found your site this year.

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Ro's avatar

Enjoy the break. Your twitter and substack was a highlight of 2022. Good luck on the book.

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Will Wargo's avatar

Have a great holidays!

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Sophie Clayton's avatar

Cranky niche is my jam... hope you have a lovely holiday... see you in 2023!

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Sophie Clayton's avatar

And also meant to say, would love to see a reading list on Marx and Marxism... my level of knowledge is very much just cultural (haha! but I actually mean it!) and I'd like to have a deeper understanding. But I have no idea where to start .. thanks!

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elm's avatar

Of course - it´s an outstanding blog, and it can´t be any crankier than I am about fascism.

¨Naturally, they didn’t ask me permission or give me credit, but I guess I’m flattered?¨

Yeah, been there and done that; you get used to it.

¨Maybe even an Unpopular Front stress ball.¨

The Unpopular Front calendar of Fascist Milestones.

elm

or fascist assholes

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Madoc Cairns's avatar

have a good break john!

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AD63's avatar

I hesitate to say that finishing a book is a holiday, but I hope you also get some actual time off!

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Adam Gurri's avatar

Have a lovely holiday.

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pasta_ben's avatar

I bought one of those shirts you mentioned, but do you have like a venmo or something so I can send you like $3.43 or whatever your royalty would've been if they'd licensed it properly lol

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