If I turn for relief and contrast to some image if his opposite I at once encounter it, and with a completeness that leaves nothing to be desired, on any "old" ground, in the presence of any "old" life, in the vast example of Balzac. Henry James, preface to the New York edition of THE GOLDEN BOWL.

Joe Phelan ☀️🌻@jpinnv.bsky.social · 14h ago

"Ah, that's good," the old woman said and actually rubbed her hands together, a gesture Brunetti had read about in the novels of Balzac. --Leon, Donna. THE TEMPTATION OF FORGIVENESS, chpt. 20

"Ah, that's good," the old woman said and actually rubbed her hands together, a gesture Brunetti had read about in the novels of Balzac. --Leon, Donna. THE TEMPTATION OF FORGIVENESS, chpt. 20

Yay! MAPLESS under the Maples. Thanks so much @luaz.bsky.social !

At the dentist again, reflecting on how the decorators were able to be so vapidly and mendaciously stupid well before A.I. was easily available. They worked so hard all on their own, doing their own best creative thinking.

Go ahead: post your lock screen (Poppies by the road on Öland)

Dr ShinyGoth@ghostingdani.bsky.social · 3d ago

No cheating post your lock screen. Phone photo of a total solar eclipse!

12 signed copies of Mapless in the mail on 7/31, to be delivered this week if all goes well. I have ordered more! and still have about 5 copies of Becoming Altar I am willing to sell, if you would like a signed and inscribed copy. Hit me up for either book and I will make it happen. 📚 👀 ❤️

...and the portions are so small

Joseph Rezek@rezekjoe.bsky.social · 5d ago

I’ve been saying “there was no sex, and the food looked terrible” when actually the quote is (i checked): “There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.” Thus illustrating the continuing power of oral transmission/experimentation/revision in a culture seemingly dominated by writing etc

Vautrin.

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️@sophianyx.bsky.social · 5d ago

Name a villain who was actually right.

Isn't it pretty to think so

Joe Phelan ☀️🌻@jpinnv.bsky.social · last wk.

New set of democratic fundraisers dropped

"It is not the object of this work to give a description of Derbyshire, nor of any of the remarkable places through which their route thither lay; Oxford, Blenheim, Warwick, Kenilworth, Birmingham, etc., are sufficiently known." --I love the enumeration of omissions. (PRIDE & PREJUDICE, chpt XLII)

Joe Phelan ☀️🌻@jpinnv.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"There were other poems, but as the wine flowed and the men got drunker, no one was able to come up with anything else worth recording here." (TALE OF GENJI, chpt. XXXIII) Murasaki Shikibu's periodic explanations for omitting things are a great and recurring joy.

"They were hopeless of remedy." --Elizabeth, considering her family in the light of a few rereadings of Darcy's letter (P&P, chpt. XXXVII)

Of course! Plus also: the PEOPLE'S ALMANAC

S. Kramer@libraryephemera.bsky.social · 6d ago

Were you a child who read The World Book Encyclopedia for fun?

It's the canapés. This is all because he left out the canapés, right?

artists! culture makers! midwest boosters! chicago shakers! join ART IN THESE TIMES for the antiauthoritarian show of collectivity at FALL OF FREEDOM! interccect.com/art-in-these...

New set of democratic fundraisers dropped

Joe Phelan ☀️🌻@jpinnv.bsky.social · 2y ago

So yeah, texting STOP will indeed unsubscribe you from the list, but then they pass your number on down to another list, and then another, so that eventually your number is on the slushy list of leads that the Glengarry Glen Ross guys are stuck with

I'd like some bagpipes, please. I'd like them to march in proper formation, in kilts, each with his own tartan, down the middle of the street where I live, each noon. And once again at each midnight. (The ones at midnight can be ghost pipers, since the day pipers need their rest.)

Late afternoon walk. #PhoneSnap #Shadows #cliché

Baz Luhrmann's The Emperor of Ice Cream

Dr Andrew McInnes@drbeard79.bsky.social · last wk.

Terry Gilliam’s Kubla Khan

Also, the 1998 MERLIN, with the astonishing cast of *Sam Neil (Merlin) *Isabella Rossellini (Nimuë) *Miranda Richardson (Queen Mab) *Helena Bonham-Carter (Morgan LeFey) *Martin Short (a gnome) And *wait, she's that nasty incest-queen from Game of Thrones, right? YES! Lena Headey (Guenivere)

Joseph Rezek@rezekjoe.bsky.social · last wk.

Not enough of you are talking about the 1997 TV miniseries adaptation of THE ODYSSEY with *Bernadette Peters as Circe *Isabella Rossellini as Athena *Greta Scacchi as Penelope And *Vanessa Williams as Calypso

Mise à jour du système de mesure métaphorique machinaecrire.com/2026/07/mise... Merci aux contributeurs: @benoitmelancon.bsky.social @at.bortzmeyer.fr @gbetous @dubjoa.bsky.social @jpinnv.bsky.social @mlouisep @UnSeulT

Same here, except it's Austen. There's that "I envy you reading [_______] for the first time" sensation, but I tend to think more and more that it's revisiting favorite works that is an enviable pleasure.

Matthew L Reznicek@drreznicek.bsky.social · last wk.

Reminded once again that reading Dickens is such a pleasurable experience.

Stair mural, Helsinki. #Caturday #PhoneSnap

Willa Cather's THE PROFESSOR'S WAFFLE HOUSE®️

Kvetch & Release 🎣@kvetchrelease.bsky.social · 2w ago

20,000 Bowling Leagues Under the Sea

If you put it that way, it's Maria Callas covering Rossini's "Una voce poco fa". Makes life worth living. m.youtube.com/watch?v=9bbr...

Maria Callas sings Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia: "Una voce poco fa" (Hamburg, 1959)

YouTube video by Warner Classics

m.youtube.com

phone rings, Josh skeets, here comes company@shmeppy.bsky.social · 2w ago

what's your favorite cover song, I think mine is Krystian Zimerman doing the LvB Concerto no 4

It's Half Frame Friday, so ... 📷 Pentax 17 🎞️ Ilford Delta 400 - D23 #BelieveInFilm #filmphotography #HFF

And eight, eight, I forgot what eight was for

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee

Seriously, the absolute last of Widelux-in-Helsinki: at the Ateneum museum. (Widelux F7, ProImage, 1/15 handheld) #Widelux #FilmPhotography #BelieveInFilm #CantHaveMoreFunWithFilmThanWithAWidelux

The prompt is "Without saying your age what is your favorite movie from the year you turned 18." But... my favorite then? Now? Did I have to have seen it then? This is my provisional answer.

Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · 2w ago

fierce competition because we used to live in a society, with a culture industry, but tops

complete PITA to put together, but there is some interesting stuff lurking here, perhaps #shittycamerachallenge #believeinfilm Zenit TTL / Helios 44-M lens / Tri-X reversal 16mm film dev to negative