Gourd@jaredsnyder.bsky.social · yesterday

It is indeed the summer of Gilgamesh so I read Sophus Helle's translation which I highly recommend. It's very well done and it includes a few essays at the end which I found really interesting. Thread for the Gilgabros and the Gilgacurious with some thoughts 🧵

Chris Grey@chrisgrey.bsky.social · yesterday

This reminds me of my favourite story about Bletchley Park recruitment: Geoffrey Tandy was recruited for his supposed expertise in cryptograms. It turned his expertise was in 'cryptogams' i.e. mosses, ferns etc. (BTW it ended well, as a he became an effective Head of Naval Section VI.)

@pmamtraveller.bsky.social · yesterday

The evocative ruined monasteries of Caspar David Friedrich.

Désespérer@decervelage.bsky.social · last yr.

I underwent surgery about ten years ago. Apparently, while recovering and still under the effects of anesthesia, I recorded an hour long “audio commentary track” for Zardoz on my phone doing a bad Sean Connery impression. Don’t remember making it. I found it six months later and was really puzzled.

Mike Ryan@mikeryan.bsky.social · last wk.

I hadn’t thought about AIR since I went to the premiere in 2023, then it basically disappeared, streaming on Prime. Out of nowhere it was on TNT last month and I’ve now seen it five times. I wrote about why filmmakers working for streamers should be negotiating basic cable runs

Lee David Dalton@leedaviddalton.bsky.social · 2y ago

I avoided Spencer Tracy playing Henry Jeckyll for the same reason he did: how could he possibly top Fredric March? I was unprepared for how terrifying Spence as Mr. Hyde is, especially post-election: a vile, sadistic, murderous rapist, unctuously insistent on debasement & ruining everyone’s life 1/?

Lee David Dalton@leedaviddalton.bsky.social · 5d ago

A passion project of Ivan Dixon, whom everyone remembers as The Black Guy from Hogan’s Heroes, but started as a stunt double for Poitier in THE DEFIANT ONES, had some good roles & later directed Peak TV, including his last episode of The Rockford Files written by David Chase about the mob in Newark

Vslyke@vslyke.bsky.social · 9mo ago

1973's "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" starts off slow but rapidly builds steam as it follows the fictional first black CIA agent. Shockingly confrontational, the themes of racial oppression and rebellion create a harrowing warning of a dark past, personified in a mindboggling riot scene. 9/10

Matt Zoller Seitz@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 6d ago

My pic for the greatest cameo of all time.

dave@gloomfather.bsky.social · last wk.

yeah man "woke 1" sucked ass. I "woke 1" morning from uneasy dreams to find myself transformed into a giant insect

McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · last wk.

"Welcome, Joseph K., to ChuckPhD! Your 30-day free trial starts now! Put the awesome power of AI to work for you today.”

Paul Duane 🥔@paulduane.bsky.social · last wk.

One way of looking at what’s happening with AI is, they've created a Silcon Valley-owned scale model of the world, and now they want us to move inside it, while they retain control of everything outside it.

Odd This Day@oddthisday.bsky.social · last wk.

Well, it’s the 106th anniversary of the death of Gerard Leachman, but I haven’t had time to write anything about him, so your best bet is to read the preposterous true story of the film in which he was played by Oliver Reed

Ben Saufley@bensaufley.com · last wk.

I really like Hong but I'm much less upset that she lost—by less than one percentage point, in a race with no majority winner—than I am dreading all the garbage takes that that narrow loss are going to produce

Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · last wk.

I've read Valley of the Dolls three times and Ivanhoe zero times, and I'm OK with that.

Josh Shepperd@joshshepperd.bsky.social · 2w ago

The most impossible furniture to find is a good bookcase.

Jessica Ritchey@jmritchey.bsky.social · last wk.

Imagine the movie Ken Russell would have made about the only night a year young, unmarried couples can have sex.

hookland.bsky.social@hookland.bsky.social · last wk.

Goodnight from David Blackwood, wishing he hadn’t read the section on the agony crucible from The Book of St. Urian before bed. Goodnight from Thomas Marshburn, racing the causeway tide to be off Os Island before the Salt Brides dance the streets at Tithing. Goodnight from Hookland.

Odd This Day@oddthisday.bsky.social · 2w ago

It’s the 125th anniversary of a jaunt around the gardens of Versailles by two Respectable English Ladies, who may have experienced a joint hallucination—or travelled through time to the 1780s where they saw Marie Antoinette 🧵

Solomon@solomonrmissouri.com · 2w ago

The fifth loko

Paul Duane 🥔@paulduane.bsky.social · 2w ago

What happened next is almost a fairytale ending: the anonymous backing group found a new lead singer, became Fine Young Cannibals & had a series of massive hits, their songs appeared in hit movies etc, while the handsome lead singers never managed to have another hit record in their entire careers.

Paul Duane 🥔@paulduane.bsky.social · 2w ago

There once was a highly successful British group called The Beat, who had two handsome lead singers & a fairly anonymous backing group. They were on a massive US tour when the handsome lead singers revealed to the rest of the group that they were leaving for a lucrative solo gig & the tour was over.

Mr. Twaddleford@mrtwaddleford.bsky.social · 2w ago

There's a quote commonly (mis)attributed to Mark Twain: "If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." And certainly, the irony of the false attribution certainly wouldn't be lost on him.

Jerry Boyle@jecboyle.bsky.social · 2w ago

Sinclair’s The Jungle was primarily about labor exploitation, but the takeaway for Americans was the collateral impact on food safety.