I liked but didn't love the first of Mike Mignola's LANDS UNKNOWN books; hoping this new one really clicks.
Martyn
@martynpedler.com
Writer, academic, brain in a jar. Creative Writing PhD in superhero stories. You can see my stuff at http://martynpedler.com
"No skull measurements necessary. You can tell if someone should be deported or locked up for life just by looking at them."
Eventually Everyone Will Be Called A Terrorist | Defector
Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened representatives from 66 different nations on July 16 for a “ministerial meeting” on the resurgence of “political terrorism.” The White House described the summi...
defector.com
Just realised I could make bank writing a YA book about the three wise men – now gifted teens – crossing the wilderness to find Baby Jesus.
"You might ask, does a rom-com fail just because it refuses to actually engage with its political premise?"
One Night Only review: Pull out from this sex-negative rom-com
If this is what it takes to get a rom-com greenlit these days, maybe we should just let them die.
rogerebert.com
You've got to love when someone dies, and people post a bunch of their actual quotes, and then their fans are all HOW DARE YOU ACCURATELY QUOTE THE DECEASED?!
This astonishing article reads like an action movie: "The realization was terrifying. The rushing, still-rising water had lifted the house off its pillars. It was afloat. And then it wasn’t."
“The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.”
The July 4 Texas flooding ripped our Kerr County home from its pillars, pulling us into the water and into the night. Then morning came.
texasmonthly.com
"When did the word ‘new’ lose its luster? Now the past is supposed to hold the hopes we once confided to the future."
Race Among the Ruins
This Book I Read is a new Flaming Hydra series about books worth talking about How To Stop Time: Heroin From A to Z By Ann Marlowe (Basic Books, 1999) I don’t much remember what I was reading in 19...
flaminghydra.com
In a Martyn's Mental Health update, I am on a new antipsychotic and the food noise is *real*. Why do all antipsychs come with ravenous hunger?
Apologies, I know quote-dunking is bad form, but this genuinely made me laugh out loud. Could I get through an ENTIRE DAY... without AI?! Like it was... 2023?!
Lying about hand-drawing a sequence when you actually used AI? Stay classy, Eli Roth.
Eli Roth Confirms He Used Generative AI in His New Movie 'Ice Cream Man':
The horror director confirmed using generative AI for the film, but it's still unclear exactly where it appears in the finished film.
polygon.com
As THE ONLY ONE inches sloooowly towards a release, here's a little proof that it exists. It was very exciting to be there for the very first shot!
It's like UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, but everyone only sings "da dum".
weinberg@weinbergs.bsky.social · 7mo agolet's pretend: Universal announces a screenwriting contest for Jaws 5. What's your pitch?
And I hope you go gold I hope we both go gold
the Mountain Goats@themountaingoats.bsky.social · 2d agoI don't even know what to say. This is real, this is true, so, like, thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. This took over 25 years to happen so if there's any lesson here it's either "keep at it, who knows" or "many people are divorced"
"Put simply, there is too much money, some of it too untraceable, giving a small group of unelected people too much power over the people. That’s data politics."
Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here.
A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.
nytimes.com
"A new study by Australia’s internet regulator has revealed that more than eight in 10 young Australian teens and preteens are continuing to use social media platforms despite the government’s prohibition for children under 16."
Australia’s under-16 social media ban failing, study shows: What it means
Australia's internet regulator revealed in a recent study that teenagers are continuing to use social media despite ban.
aljazeera.com
Yeah the "preachy vegan" cliche is nothing on how some people make eating meat 90% of their personality.
Sara Century@saracentury.bsky.social · 2d agoI went vegetarian at 14 and had people trying to sneak meat into my food, calling me slurs, waving pieces of ham in my face, telling me I was going to die from poor health, refusing to provide options at meals, etc, but to this day I say I'm vegan and people are like "omg, so you're JUDGY."
watching X-Men '97 is such a peculiar experience that I can only compare to having the Walt Disney Company send a rep to my house to be like "hey remember that weird dream that you had when you were 12? Remember the in-joke you and your brother invented? We are beaming it into millions of homes"
"The spike in media references to ‘social cohesion’ came in response, part of a concerted attempt by politicians and pundits to quell popular anger over Gaza. In that context, the anti-democratic connotations of the phrase could not be clearer."
Why 'social cohesion' is a dangerous phrase in Australian politics – Jeff Sparrow
The establishment loves this phrase. But as Ed Husic found out, imposing consensus from the top isn't democracy – it's erasure.
deepcutnews.com
"This site is a liberal bubble! = "This house party has too many people I like!"
One of my favourite things about superhero comics is that they make regular guns seem so ridiculous. "Oh, you have an assault rifle? That's adorable."
This is fun: BECOMING NOSFERATU, which has a story by me and @horrornonna.com in it, was runner-up for a Rondo Hatten Horror Award.
"...and what does it mean that images of rape were decorative backgrounds for the last 2500 years?"
Listening to Cassandra: Misogyny, Classical and Modern
Last weekend, the film The Odyssey was released and the Tate brothers were arrested in Florida at the behest of the British government, which seeks to extradite them to face a long list of charges. An...
meditationsinanemergency.com
Median UK voter in 2026, as predicted by Hugh Laurie some decades ago:
Pet Shop Boys: Please (1986), Actually (1987), Introspective (1988).
Mia Murphy 🏳️⚧️@miamurphy.com · 4d agoWhat's the best three album run from a band? (the correct answer is Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure by Rush, but I'm excited to learn second place)
"Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" is actually an ancient curse for freelance writers.
In this list's defence, it did turn out that Harry Potter was a gateway to dark forces...
