Craig M. Ranapia
@craigmranapia.bsky.social
"This heaven gives me migraine." Old enough to know better at the ends of the earth (New Zealand). I am large and contain multitudes, all of them intensely irritating. (Same-sex) married. Catholic. Conservative-ish. Cis-male. Jane Austen cultist.
Gurl, don't you have another Pope to bore to death with your dumb-ass theology lectures?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6h agoJD Vance: "We don't want the next administration, whoever -- god forbid you're gonna have President El-Sayed in three years ... "
If you have a strong stomach and a dark sense of ironic humour, may I recommend Joanne Freeman's THE FIELD OF BLOOD: VIOLENCE IN CONGRESS AND THE ROAD TO CIVIL WAR. You'll never take seriously again any pious cant from The Hill about a decline in political comity. us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
The Field of Blood
"One of the best history books I've read in the last few years." —Chris HayesThe Field of Blood recounts the previously untold story of the violence in Con...
us.macmillan.com
You know what, if the recovering Republicans who are in an uneasy marriage of Trump-loathing inconvenience with Democrats can be rational about the Michigan primary result cradle Democrats of any hue really have no excuses for being weird in public.
The Bulwark@thebulwark.com · 6h agoThe party of the incumbent president hasn’t maintained control of the House in an off-year election since 2002. And that's without the...particulars of this administration. Today's Morning Shots from @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social and @eggerdc.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4fWCxMg
Definitely one for the "much better than was strictly necessary" Hall of Fame. Inevitably, some of the FX has aged badly but the gross out moments are still nauseating in a good way. The script and cast are solid, and its well executed in every department even when the money was slow in coming.
16mm Inferno@16mminferno.bsky.social · 20h ago🎬 Total 80s cult Horror gem "The Blob" premiered across US and Canadian theatres 38 years ago today (August 5, 1988)! Directed by Chuck Russell and starring Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn & Candy Clark. Photography by Mark Irwin. TERROR HAS NO SHAPE! #Horror
I'm a bear of little brain, but in my book taxpayers should not be picking up the bill for any MP to travel to and from party political events, like election fundraisers or party conferences. Either they do it at their own expense, or from party funds. End of line. #nzpol
kyle@kyledchurch.bsky.social · 16h agoNot for *government duties* for his role as leader of the National Party for a party *fundraiser* for the *election* Surely this is outside the bounds of what the Air Force should be used for?? Seems like an enormous breach of his access to public assets! www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
FFS, I go to the movies for a couple of hours (LATE FAME is excellent and well worth catching at your local leg of the NZIFF) and damn... the world goes extra cray!
Russell Brown@publicaddress.bsky.social · 17h agoNews story here. I'm glad police are investigating, because the chance of this insanity getting out of hand seems very evident. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-in...
Indeed - but before "establishment Democrats" yas queen black voters too hard, it would be becoming to take a second and think on how big a factor in that is never having the privilege of presuming that white people won't go for the most racist option in every situation.
Miss Aja@brat2381.bsky.social · 18h agoI’m not saying Stevens is going to win but I am saying the counties with lots of Black Voters showed up for her big time. If El-Sayed wins he’s going to have to find a way to solve this problem.
OK, so it looks like the result in Michigan's Dem Senate primary is going to be an El-Sayed victory but by a much narrower margin than the (dodgy) polls were predicting. Guess that means EVERYONE gets to be utterly insufferable as Dems have their traditional fit of self-harming explosive diarrhoea.
Is it wrong that my happy place is Christopher Walken's Tom The Hoofer Pimp serving the most menacingly horny dance break in American film history? Sure. Do I care? Not even slightly. #FilmSky #MovieSky www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnX-...
Christopher Walken - Let's Misbehave - Pennies From Heaven
YouTube video by Dr. Lance Boyle
youtube.com
'Let's Misbehave' (Pennies from Heaven, 1981. dir. Herbert Ross) - vastly helped by being laid against the most meancingly weird dance number in American film history. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnX-...
Christopher Walken - Let's Misbehave - Pennies From Heaven
YouTube video by Dr. Lance Boyle
youtube.com
Sophia_Nyx 🏳️⚧️@sophianyx.bsky.social · 21h agoName your fav use of licensed music in a soundtrack.
For the record, the burning irony of this "Emily Wilson, nepo baby" fuckery is that it's coming from film nerds white knighting Christopher fucking Nolan. If I was that condescending about Emma Thomas, his career-long producer and wife, I'd (rightly) be read for absolute flith. Just stop it.
Craig M. Ranapia@craigmranapia.bsky.social · 20h agoI know shitting on Emily Wilson is the only PC blood sport available to film tragics, but the daughter of a B-list London literary figure and an Oxford don who taught Renaissance English literature that has been teaching classics at an American college for 25 years is NOT a "nepo baby."
I know shitting on Emily Wilson is the only PC blood sport available to film tragics, but the daughter of a B-list London literary figure and an Oxford don who taught Renaissance English literature that has been teaching classics at an American college for 25 years is NOT a "nepo baby."
Maggie Smith: 'Just Pull Yourself Together'
Alt: Maggie Smith: 'Just Pull Yourself Together'
static.klipy.com
Uh, even as a bit could we NOT do this? It's a gross way to devalue any woman's work, and it doesn't even have the internal logic of good shade. After all, it's rather doubtful that A.N. Wilson's minor Brit-Lit name opened any doors at the University of Pennsylvania classics department in 2002.
Isn't it weird how the "protecting girls and women" mask for gutter transmisogyny drops to the floor and shatters the instant cis girls and women deviate from the party line? Then it's all, "Shut your dirty mouths you ignorant brainwashed sluts, or we will destroy you." Every. Damn. Time.
THIS. It's not as if you need a Ph.D. in investigative sociology to notice that precisely NOBODY cared about trans women peeing and going out for sports until the day marriage equality happened, incestuous polycules with house pets didn't, and the bottom fell out of a once lucrative RW grift.
Rachel Gunter, Ph.D. 🗃️@phdrachel.bsky.social · 22h agoAnd if an issue appears to be dominating politics out of nowhere despite not affecting the overwhelming majority of society, perhaps you should think about who decided to make this an issue, at whose expense, & why do they want you distracted by this?
Again, THIS is a perfectly legitimate news story to cover and, in the end, Jake Tapper's going to be Jake Tapper. But I'm BEGGING media outlets to figure out a way to cover high profile abuse cases without giving them quite so much clear air to serve "lying bitch be crazy" character assassination.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 23h ago🤯 Rep. Max Miller's interview with Jake Tapper was one of the most self-destructive things I've ever witnessed on cable news. Here's the whole thing:
Going to see this at #NZIFF this afternoon, and looking forward to seeing how two of my favourite things (Willem Dafoe and Arthur Schnitzler) go together. #FilmSky #MovieSky
Tim Grierson@timgrierson.bsky.social · 22h agoFor the @avclub.com, I reviewed LATE FAME, a tender but unsentimental story about the danger in believing that your genius was never appreciated in its own time.
I miss the Golden Age of Hollywood, when douchebag studio heads didn't depend on AI chatbots to write their terrible dialogue because they'd laid off all the human writers.
Steve Herman@newsguy.bsky.social · yesterday"While I was silent, others were happy to write my story for me. No more." - David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount Skydance www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/op...
Crazy like the proverbial fox. I don't know about you, but I'm not too proud to admit I'd take a lot more public shame than this if some GOP lobbyist or sugar daddy mega-donor waved a high six, low-seven figure contract for doing next to nothing in my face.
Sam@samd.bsky.social · yesterdayit’s actually crazy how every Republican who claims they will stand up to Trump is just a total cuck with a humiliation fetish
Every time I look at the stack of large print library books on my bedside table, I am reminded that Time makes fools of us all.
Hey Kiwis! I'll be at Little Unity in Auckland next Saturday so please drop by and I'll scribble on your books! 😻🔎✏️
What "Bluesky liberal bubble"? I've gotten more grief around here for opining that Martin Scorsese has dropped a turd or two in the cinematic punchbowl than I ever have for my baby step right-of-center small-c conservative Catholic politics I'm not a trollish ass about. #BlueSkyBubbleBabble
Floating Soap Bubbles
Alt: Floating Soap Bubbles
static.klipy.com
You know what should bring down this Government? That the Finance and Police Ministers aren't even very good at being pathological liars. #nzpol
henry cooke@henrycooke.bsky.social · 2d agoNicola Willis and Mark Mitchell suggested this morning that firing Winston Peters would bring down the Government. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...
So, the GOP keeps fielding candidates who should be on sex offender registers and terrorist watchlists. But sure, let's be existentially terrified of "Democratic Socialists" who, even if there's a MFing Red Mega-Tsunami in November, will still comfortably caucus in a broom closet.
Chris Hayes@chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d agoEarlier tonight, @michellegoldberg.bsky.social read *another* quote from this weirdo that reflected the same general sentiment. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...
A gentleman never reveals his age, but I'm old enough to remember when "ghetto" fell out of the genteel white racist vernacular to be replaced by "urban".
Steve Buscemi: How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?
Alt: Steve Buscemi: How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?
static.klipy.com
"As a mother..." is a lot more often than not a prelude to a geyser of nonsense from a fatuous ding-dong under the misapprehension her uterus mystically confers subject expertise on everything from epidemiology to comparative literature. Which, as far as I know, is not how any of this works.
Good basic reporting on "did they do the thing they agreed to?" turns up a story of govt incompetence as well www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-adv...
Bittern protection fund stalled while wind farm powers ahead
Post-consent discussions have shifted Mercury's obligations to bittern protection.
nzherald.co.nz
Fraser Nelson isn't just an illiterate idiot, but he obviously has never read the magazine he used to edit, The Spectator. There was a time when you could find the editorial line of the Speccie repugnant but still appreciate its wit & satirical bite. Nelson dumbed it all the way down the crapper.
Mic Wright@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 2d agoFraser Nelson reckons Rod Liddle was “the greatest satirist since Swift” while Michael Gove is comparing him to not just Swift but Orwell. Amazing the comparisons you can get if you’ll pump out exactly the racist opinions even they are too squeamish to commit to print.
I know this is probably the pettiest takeaway from Councillor Fairey's insightful and fascinating peeks behind the curtain, it it never ceases to bemuse me how many politicians are in dire need of a compulsory time management workshop. Punctuality isn't just the courtesy of kings...
Julie Fairey (she/her)@juliefairey.bsky.social · 2d agoCr Newman arrived at 10.29am. Only councillor not present now is Filipaina who is lateness on council business and will be online. (I may miss his arrival as it's harder to notice when onliners join). Discussion happening about local board powers and staff delegations, have we got this right...