Cory Oldweiler

@coryoldweiler.bsky.social

661 Followers 288 Following

Book critic. Champion of translated lit & translators. Cinephile. Disillusioned vagabond. (Injured) runner. “For I, you see, dwelling upon the rim of life, see everyone in the arena as acting blindly.”

Flight board of LGA Delta departures, some 80% of which are canceled
A bicentennial flag pin, comprising two American flags flying in opposite directions, the original 13 colonies flag and the one from 1976, attached to a piece of cardboard that says American Bicentennial across the top and has the years 1776 and 1976 in the bottom corners.
Back cover of a paper with some partial text and only completely visible: “U.S. $11.00 Can. $14.50 Design by Susan Mitchell Photography by Grace Huang”
Cover of a novel, the top half of which is a woman’s profile in a blueish sepia, the bottom half orange and red, including the title TRUCK STOP RAINBOWS, and the author’s name, Iva Pekárková, but sadly not the translator’s name, David Powelstock
Dirt mesa with a guy (me) doing a headstand with his legs spread in a V. In the background is a glacier.
Statue of Lenin pointing skyward atop a residential building in NYC.
Cover of Bohumil Hrabal’s TOO LOUD A SOLITUDE
Jack Nicholson in a tuxedo presenting the Best Picture Oscar to “Crash”
Screenshot of a Corriere della Sera hed reading: Trump al Corriere: «Meloni non vuole aiutarci nella guerra, sono scioccato». Nuovo attacco al Papa: «Non ha idea di cosa sta succedendo in Iran»
16:9 photo of a verdant field with tall grass and several old olive trees. In the center, some distance away, are a dozen bee hive boxes. The sky is blue, with clouds far off along the horizon. The city of Florence, Italy, is just below the horizon on the right half of the photo.
Screenshot: CENTERED AROUND Even as a spatially challenged person who doodled and dozed his way through geography class, I recognize that "centered around" doesn't make any sense, so I will always opt for "centered on" or "revolved around." You should too.
Screenshot of a black YouTube displaying reading that Paramount Global has blocked the upload of Pearl Jam’s “Black” on “copyright grounds.” The group who uploaded the video is Pearl Jam.
Standup signboard for the Italian newspaper La Nazione that says, in large all-caps sans serif font: CORONAVIRUS PRIMO MORTO E 16 CONTAGIATI L'ITALIA HA PAURA
Maniacal looking bearded man with wings and a Viking-like helmet maniacally smiles while staring at the camera
Screenshot of a Bluesky post by me from 22 days ago saying “Marty Supreme is a very fun movie but Everybody Wants to Rule the World belongs to Real Genius, show some respect.”
Daniel Day Lewis centered in frame from Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece THE PHANTOM THREAD when he says “Are you a special agent sent here to ruin my evening and possibly my entire life?”
Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke sitting on a stage holding microphones, the latter of whom wears a brown corduroy suit and looks real good and cool in it
Letterboxd wrap summary showing 285 films logged in 2025, 277 films reviewed, 551 hours watched. The most watched actor is Nicole Kidman and the most watched director is Kleber Mendonça Filho.
John Cusack sits forlornly at a bar between two hangdog guy, one wearing a baseball hat, the other a cowboy hat. A pink neon martini is outlined on the back wall.
A picture of green rays of Aurora Borealis light shooting skyward from what looks like a cloud bank over Lake Michigan with a dark silhouette of the shore running along the bottom and some trees on the right side.
Shoulder with two red bandaids with a white W on each
Cover of Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut album
New York Times Reader’s Choice Ballot for 21st c movies: Grid showing covers/titles: The Handmaiden, Parasite, The Florida Project, The Piano Teacher, Wendy and Lucy, Drive My Car, Phantom Thread, Carol, Portrait of a Lady On Fire, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
Child-sized mannequin wearing a silver-sequined dress and sporting a dark brown wig that resembles a Daley Crockett hat sans tail more than it looks like an actual hairstyle.
A Letterboxd grid of eight Mission: Impossible films ranked Fallout, Rogue Nation, the original film, Dead Reckoning Part I, Ghost Protocol, the third film, the second film, Final Reckoning (despite it having the best stunt sequence of the series!)
Spelling Bee screenshot showing that POMPON is not in the word list
Val Kilmer, as Chris Knight in the film Real Genius, wearing his Surf Nicaragua t-shirt and smiling after Dr Hathaway, who is out of camera range, has just told him “I thought you’d become another Einstein.”
Three people, one woman, two men, running down a kind of tunnel with chain-link sides.
NYT Spelling Bee screenshot showing that gliff is not in the word list even though the NYT Book Review covered a novel with this title and defined the word in the review.
Bookshop table with several titles, including Alex Zucker’s translation of Magdaléna Platzová’s LIFE AFTER KAFKA.
Screenshot of Gary Shteyngart skeeting: For those watching White Lotus, there are far better ways to take Lorazepam than gulping it down. Put it under your tongue and let it dissolve. Happy trails!
Letterboxd grid of eight Sophia Coppola films, with Lost in Translation at no. 1 and The Bling Ring at no. 8
Five favorite works of translated fiction published this year: Antonina W. Bouis's translation of The Lady of the Mine, by Sergei Lebedev Monica Cure's translation of Too Great A Sky, by Liliana Corobca Michele Hutchison's translation of My Heavenly Favorite, by Lucas Rijneveld Christina MacSweeney's translation of Fury, by Clyo Mendoza Annie McDermott's translation of Not A River, by Selva Almada Favorite previously published work of translated fiction that I read this year: Julian Semilian's translation of Nostalgia, by Mircea Cârtârescu
Close up of an incredibly wee brown tabby kitten licking its paw
Screenshot of New York Times Spelling Bee game saying that MUON is not in the word list
Daniel Zovatto and Mackenzie Davis squatting down next to a creek in “Station Eleven,” which believe it or not I find incredibly comforting!
Photo looking up from the bottom of a long concrete stairway at the top of which is a sky with daylight either fading or beginning.
Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung pass each other on a narrow outdoor stairway.
Five cast members of My So-Called Life
Louise Glück’s poem “The Wish” from Meadowlands