Daniel Leonard

@danielleonard.bsky.social

465 Followers 132 Following

English PhD: animals & self in 20/21C lit Tennis, jazz, jokes Ultrarunner, puppeteer, poet he/him

Poster for the 1964 family comedy film The Incredible Mr. Limpet, featuring Don Knotts facing a cartoon version of himself as a fish
A Perry Bible Fellowship comic. Panel 1: Ancient warriors draw back in surprise at the mouth of a cave. From within the cave, a giant peers out with a single eye. Panel 2: The warriors flee. As they now face the viewer, we can see that the soldiers are all cyclops. The giant stands outside the cave, revealing that he is a human with two eyes; the second eye was formerly obscured by the outer wall of the cave. At his feet stand some sheep.
Screen capture sequence from the "Shirt Brothers" sketch on I Think You Should Leave. Biff Wiff's character and Tim Robinson's character wear the same shirt to an event. Wiff: Hey, look at that. We got the same shirt on... Shirt Brothers. Robinson: Yeah, I guess we do. Wiff: Hey, hey, shirt brother. Nice to meet you.
[Wikipedia screenshot:] An avid New York Yankees fan, Frawley had it written into his I Love Lucy contract that he did not have to work during the World Series if the Yankees were playing. The Yankees were in every World Series during that time except for 1954 and 1959. He did not appear in two episodes of the show as a result.
Cover of Dr. Seuss's picture book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. In the illustration, a light brown bearish creature perches precariously atop a turquoise one-wheeled cart pulled by a yellow humped Seussian draft animal through a lumpy pink landscape.
Modified Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Edits in brackets. Panel 1: Susie Derkins wipes away a tear. "*Sniff* That stupid [William] Why does he [steal my breakfast] for no reason? It's just mean. Panel 2: Susie folds her arms. "I wish I had a hundred [plum]s. THEN I wouldn't care. I'd say, "Who needs YOU, [William]? I've got a hundred other [plum]s!" Panel 3: Susie holds her hands on her hips defiantly. "Then my hundred [plum]s and I would go do something fun, and leave [William] all alone! Ha!" Panel 4: Susie sits crosslegged and rolls her eyes. "...And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a [wheelbarrow]"
I'm wearing long-distance running gear, including a white shirt with many rust-colored stains, a blue hydration vest, a blue-green cooling tie around my neck, and a straw cowboy hat. I'm standing next to a mailbox topped with a homemade (handpainted, presumably wooden) rendering of Snoopy as Joe Cool. He's wearing a red sweater with his name on it, big round sunglasses, and a winning grin. Behind us lies a neighborhood with a road, grass, and trees.
Porco Rosso in his trademark beige trenchcoat, sunglasses, and hat. Next to him sits a blue-suited man I don't recognize because I've never actually seen this film. Caption: I'd rather be a pig than a fascist.
Opus the penguin and Bill the cat, from Berkeley Breathed's comic strip Bloom County. On what appears to be a sticker with a round yellow background, Opus sits on Bill's lap. Bill says "ACK!"
two notable politicians sport trousers cut with a timeless high waist
album cover for Dare to Be Stupid ("Weird Al" Yankovic, 1985)
I face the camera. I am wearing a straw cowboy hat, sunglasses, a cooling scarf with tropical blue-green print, and a blue running vest. Behind me on the left, a longhorned steer also faces the camera. He is mostly white, with light brown patches around his eyes. His horns are very long. Behind him are two more steers: one with short horns scratching its belly, and one with long, dark horns (but less long than the first one) mostly obscured by my large hat. On my right is the road. Above us all is the sky, blue with sparse white clouds. The landscape is mostly flat green fields with a few darker green trees, which look round and wide due to their many leaves.
Bilbo Baggins meme: "After all...why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?"
According to the dust jacket, At one time in the Gare Lazare in Paris, seven suitcases of the manuscript were lost—but were retrieved by seven men from Cook's with seven wheelbarrows. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_MacIntosh,_My_Darling
Yellow diamond-shaped FOG AREA road sign, modified to read FROG AREA
quote from Wikipedia page for "The Bridge (Sonny Rollins album)": In 1959, feeling pressured by the unexpected swiftness of his rise to fame, Rollins took a three-year hiatus to focus on perfecting his craft.[9] A resident of the Lower East Side of Manhattan with no private space to practice, he took his saxophone up to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice alone: "I would be up there 15 or 16 hours at a time, spring, summer, fall and winter."[10] His first recording after his return to performance took its name from those solo sessions.[9] Critical reception to the album, which was not the revolutionary new jazz approach many expected, was mixed.[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_(Sonny_Rollins_album)
Arrested Development screen grabs. Lucille Bluth: You said he was all right. Dr. Fishman: Yes. He's lost his left hand, so he's going to be "all right"
René Magritte's 1929 painting The Treachery of Images. On a beige background, a side view of a wooden pipe. Underneath it, in cursive, the caption "Ceci n'est pas une pipe." ("This is not a pipe.")
A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY Some of the terms used in this book will be familiar to some readers.
Three hardcover books, laid side by side on a tabletop: 1) Postbop Jazz in the 1960s: The Compositions of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, & Chick Corea, by Keith Waters (bright blue cover with sheet music background) 2) Egg Marks the Spot: A Skunk and Badger Story, by Amy Timberlake, with pictures by Jon Klassen (deep green cover with illustration of Skunk and Badger in hiking gear atop a forested hill) 3) Into the Weeds, by Lydia Davis (white cover with photo of author sitting on a couch looking into the camera)
tiktok screenshot with caption: "my professor casually dropped that he went to school with sufjan stevens today, and showed us his chapbook of poems." Photo of a chapbook cover with a urinal on a white wall; in the middle of the urinal is printed "piss poems / Sufjan Stevens" in Courier typeface.
The Simpsons' Mr. Burns touches a sign that reads, "DON'T FORGET: / YOU'RE HERE / FOREVER."
red lights shine on a T train pulling away in thick snow, viewed from a bridge
Wuchak A woodchuck won't chuck any wood. She hogs the ground, as groundhogs should. The rodent doesn't warrant blame: we colonists call beasts our name.
Cemetery with sign reading, "NOTICE: CHILDREN NOT PERMITTED IN CEMETARY [sic] WITHOUT AN ADULT." Behind the sign are two very old-looking headstones labeled FATHER and MOTHER, among others. It's early January in Pennsylvania: green-brown grass and leafless trees.
A round table with five upholstered metal chairs. One chair sits separate, facing the rest. Light pours in from a window opposite the camera. This is the room in which my defense took place, photographed two hours before the defense began.
Photo of me with three members of my dissertation defense committee. Left to right: Anna Henchman, in a pink cardigan; me in a burgundy suit; Jonathan Foltz in a gray blazer and turtleneck; and Carrie Preston in a red dress. All smiling.
Screen of an industrial printer displaying various settings for print density, paper size, and zoom. In larger print, the message: Ready to accept another job.
Cropped screenshot of a document. It reads: Dissertation CONTINUOUS CREATURES: THE RELATIONAL ANIMAL IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE
pug scarf sweater
Illustration from short story The Enigma of Amigara Fault. A man on a rocky mountain face climbs into a hole in the shape of a human silhouette. He says, "Th-this is my hole! It was made for me!"
1737 The day-mare Spleen, by whose false pleas Men prove mere suicides in ease. M. Green, Spleen 39
six incognito tabs related to Rocky and Bullwinkle
poster that reads KEEP CLAWING CARRION in the style of the British WWII "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" posters
graphic with text reading "Weed the People" in the lettering style of the preamble to the US Constitution, plus an eagle carrying a stem with marijuana leaves in one claw and a bunch of spliffs in the other
Microwave (Oops!) is a disaster that occurs in SimCity 2000. When the beam from the orbiting satellite misses the microwave power plant and hits something else instead, the microwave disaster is initiated. A large fire will start near the receiver dish.
text: I have a metaphysics exam coming up, and I need help understanding the content.
In an illustration, Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad walk off into the distance. Toad is wearing a hat with a rakish feather. The text reads: "It turned out to be a very pleasant day after Toad's birthday."
England My left hand keeps trying to type another e into the word acknowl- edgment, making it acknowledgement—the British spelling—while my right hand keeps deleting the e. Maybe my left hand grew up in England.
Inspirational illustration of a road leading to the horizon, where it meets a horizontal rainbow(?), a giant half-risen moon(?), and a night sky full of stars. Text: MAY THE >JOURNEY< BE YOUR >JOY.<
On a sandy passage through tall grass and plants, a duck and duckling walk past a sign that reads "NO EXIT / USE PATH"
Still frames from the TV show Arrested Development. George Michael and GOB walk through a store; George Michael holds a box. George Michael says, "You know, say what you will about America—13 bucks still gets you a hell of a lot of mice."
Me (man with beard, baseball cap, neck bandana, and running vest) smiling in front of fields in the sunny early morning
Sickos meme. A man with shaggy eyebrows, stubble, and pointy teeth presses gloved hands against a window, looking in from outside. He wears a black shirt with white letters that read SICKOS. Under a crescent moon, he laughs maniacally to himself: "YES... HA HA HA... YES!"
key in palm, from Maya Deren's film Meshes of the Afternoon
a solution to today's New York Times Letter Boxed puzzle: QUIXOTICAL LOBOTOMY
clown makeup meme, something like: 1. things are pretty bad, maybe i'll become a clown 2. with this makeup I am starting to look more like a clown 3. thanks to my rainbow wig I now really feel almost like a clown 4. oh yeah I've got my classic puffy foam red nose, I am thankful that despite what is happening in the world I get to spend today being a clown!
New York Times's Letter Boxed puzzle solved in 2 words, well under the suggested 6: JACKSTRAWS - SIXTIETH
Conversation with the Chronicle of Higher Education's "Chron" AI chatbot: Chron: Hi, I'm Chron! I will use the Chronicle's archives to answer your higher education-related questions. Me: Students in my first-year writing course wish to begin each class session with an inaugural salute. How should I handle this suggestion? Chron: While the students' enthusiasm is commendable, incorporating an inaugural salute at the beginning of each first-year writing class session would be misplaced and counterproductive. (highlighted by me:) Such ceremonial practices are better suited for rare, formal occasions rather than regular classroom meetings. (end highlight) Instead, consider redirecting this energy toward more meaningful and educationally valuable activities that align with the course objectives and foster student engagement.
Directly below Laine Nooney's message, a message from Gumby Screens: Pokey the horse and Prickle the dinosaur pulling up in a yellow car to a large brown building labeled PIANOS.
A frowning gingerbread man carries his own severed leg on a plate. Next to him are a Christmas tree and a table with a glass of milk.
Bold Weevil: I'm makin' a SEWER-VEY of the swamp mind, Mr. Howland Owl. WHO'S gonna WIN th' 'LECTION, sir? Howland Owl: Whoever BUYS the most of my MACHINE VOTERS, Mr. Bold Weevil. Weevil: Is that FAIR? Sellin' VOTERS that way? Owl: FAIREST way to sell'em in the wide world. OPEN to ALL ...... Weevil: But couldn't the OPPOSITION sort of tippie-toe in an' SET the eother party's machine voters to votin' the WRONG way? Owl: Never THO'T of THAT. Think anybody'd be THAT sneaky? Weevil: Could BE. Owl: Uncle JOE PALMER must be RIGHT---- political honor is DEAD... A man can't depend on gittin' the Election he pays for NO more...
Biff Wiff in the Shirt Brothers sketch from I Think You Should Leave (old man with a long white beard and a patterned blue polo shirt): "Promise me a million times that you will never do another rule."
"Christopher Robin" by Czesław Miłosz - full text here: https://allpoetry.com/poem/14328754-Christopher-Robin-by-Czeslaw-Milosz
Spring Kay Ryan / May 5, 2011 It would be good to shrug out of winter as cicadas do: look: a crisp freestanding you and you walking off, soft as new.
At the edge of a woodsy yard, an assortment of objects—laundry sink? bike wheels? wire storage cubes?—and a hand-lettered sign: FEE
vermin on the ermine