#Spring Festivals UK

[ghostcatcherire]

Ever heard of *Jack in the Green*? Dive into one of Bristol’s most magical May traditions; a vibrant celebration of folklore, music, and community spirit. Discover the roots of this joyful event and why it still captures hearts today. Read more on the blog: "Jack in the Green: Keeping Folk Traditions Alive in Bristol" #Bristol #JackInTheGreen #FolkTraditions #MayDay #CulturalHeritage #BritishFolklore #SpringFestivals

[thestuffedalligator]

Persephone is the goddess of spring, and it is a very poor deity who knows little about their domain.

Persephone is the goddess of spring, and she has made it her goal to know every feast and festival that takes place when she rises out of the underworld. In secret, in disguise, she has danced around a thousand Walpurgisnacht bonfires; worn a thousand May Day flower crowns; laughed with a thousand faces smeared with gulal for Holi. Wherever there is hope for the spring, wherever there is laughter, wherever there is the end of long, dark, deathly winter, she wishes to know it.

This year she wants to try the cheeserolling thing they do in the UK. She hopes she’ll break an arm or something. She thinks it’ll be great fun.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Announcing the Picks and Shovels book tour

This week only, Barnes and Noble is offering 25% off pre-orders of my forthcoming novel Picks and Shovels.

My next novel, Picks and Shovels, is officially out in the US and Canada on Feb 17, and I'm about to leave on a 20+ city book-tour, which means there's a nonzero chance I'll be in a city near you between now and the end of the spring!

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels

Picks and Shovels is a standalone novel starring Martin Hench – my hard-charging, two-fisted, high-tech forensic accountant – in his very first adventure, in the early 1980s. It's a story about the Weird PC era, when no one was really certain what shape PCs should be, who should make them, who should buy them, and what they're for. It features a commercial war between two very different PC companies.

The first one, Fidelity Computing, is a predatory multi-level marketing faith scam, run by a Mormon bishop, a Catholic priest, and an orthodox rabbi. Fidelity recruits people to exploit members of their faith communities by selling them third-rate PCs that are designed as rip-off lock-ins, forcing you to buy special floppies for their drives, special paper for their printers, and to use software that is incompatible with everything else in the world.

The second PC company is Computing Freedom, a rebel alliance of three former Fidelity Computing sales-managers: an orthodox woman who's been rejected by her family after coming out as queer; a Mormon woman who's rejected the Church over its opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, and a nun who's quit her order to join the Liberation Theology movement in the struggle for human rights in America's dirty wars.

In the middle of it all is Martin Hench, coming of age in San Francisco during the PC bubble, going to Dead Kennedys shows, getting radicalized by ACT UP!, and falling in love – all while serving as CFO and consigliere to Computing Freedom, as a trade war turns into a shooting war, and they have to flee for their lives.

The book's had fantastic early reviews, with endorsements from computer historians like Steven Levy (Hackers), Claire Evans (Broad-Band), John Markoff (What the Doormouse Said) and Dan'l Lewin (CEO of the Computer History Museum). Stephen Fry raved that he "hugely enjoyed" the "note perfect," "superb" story.

And I'm about to leave on tour! I have nineteen confirmed dates, and two nearly confirmed dates, and there's more to come! I hope you'll consider joining me at one of these events. I've got a bunch of fantastic conversation partners joining me onstage and online, and the bookstores that are hosting me are some of my favorite indie booksellers in the world.

BOSTON (Feb 14): Boskone, 4PM, Westin Boston Seaport District

BOSTON (Feb 14): Brookline Booksmith with KEN LIU, 7PM, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline

VIRTUAL (Feb 15): YANIS VAROUFAKIS, sponsored by Jacobin and hosted by David Moscrop, 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern, 6PM UK, 7PM CET

MENLO PARK (Feb 17): Kepler’s Books with CHARLIE JANE ANDERS, 7PM, 1010 El Camino Real

LOS ANGELES (Feb 18): Diesel Bookstore with WIL WHEATON, 630PM, 225 26th Street, Santa Monica

SEATTLE (Feb 19): Third Place Books with DAN SAVAGE, 7PM, 17171 Bothell Way NW Lake Forest Park

TORONTO (Feb 23): Another Story, 630PM, 315 Roncesvalles Ave

NYC (Feb 26): The Strand with JOHN HODGMAN, 7PM, 828 Broadway

PENN STATE (Feb 27): Kern Auditorium, 7PM, 112 Kern Building

DOYLESTOWN (Mar 1): Doylestown Bookshop, 12PM, 16 S Main St

BALTIMORE (Mar 2): Red Emma’s, 2PM, 630PM, 3128 Greenmount Ave

DC (Mar 4): Cleveland Park Library with MATT STOLLER, 630PM, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW

RICHMOND (Mar 5): Fountain Bookstore with LEE VINSEL, 6PM, 1312 E Cary St

AUSTIN (Mar 10): First Light Books, 7PM, 4300 Speedway/43rd

BURBANK (Mar 13): Dark Delicacies, 6PM, 822 N. Hollywood Way

SAN DIEGO (Mar 24): Mysterious Galaxy, 7PM, 3555 Rosecrans

BELFAST (Mar 24) (remote): Imagine! Festival with ALAN MEBAN, 7PM UK

CHICAGO, Apr 2: Exile in Bookville with PETER SAGAL, 7PM, 410 S Michigan Ave, 2nd floor

BLOOMINGTON, Apr 4: Morgenstern Books, 6PM, 642 N Madison St

PDX, Jun 20 (TBC): Powell’s Books (date and time to be confirmed)

I'm also finalizing plans for one or two dates in NEW ZEALAND at the end of April, as well as a ATLANTA date, likely on March 26.

I really hope you'll come out and say hello. I know these are tough times. Hanging out with nice people who care about the same stuff as you is a genuine tonic.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/06/picks-and-shovels-tour/#19-cities-plus-plus

[sophaeros]

arctic monkeys for nme, 26 august 2006

From the Rubble to Reading

A year since Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festivals made them massive, Arctic Monkeys return with a new member and a message for anyone who reckons they're over

By Mark Beaumont

Photos: Dean Chalkley

Crack! Swipe! Stab! Ten minutes to stage time at Gothenburg's Accelerator festival, the Arctic Monkeys come within inches of actual inter-band slaughter. As the band sit in a backstage patio area, somewhat dour-faced, necking lager, without warning drummer Matt Helders grabs a glass beer bottle from the bucket, bashes it open on a wooden bench and, brandishing it like a rapier blade, lunges at Alex Turner's throat.

We know there've been ructions in the Monkeys camp, but is it all to end in murderous Pils-based bloodshed on a patch of car park in Sweden?

Well, no, it's just a little warm-up horseplay brought on by the nerve-wracking tedium of The Road. But it's the reaction that jars — the bottle stops inches from his jugular but Alex doesn't flinch; he simply lifts a lip in his trademark withering sneer and returns to glumly glugging his lager.

The thunderous sound of nobody laughing would speak volumes to the gossip-mongers and back-biters. See, word is the Arctic Monkeys are over.

They've stiffed, crumbled, cracked under pressure, flashed in the pan. Debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', after record-breaking, rock-rejuvenating first-week sales (already declared the best-selling album of 2006, in its first week it sold 363,000 copies making it the fastest-selling debut in the UK and, in the process, earning a Nationwide Mercury Prize nomination) has slipped out of the Top 40 only six months since its release in an era when the likes of Kaiser Chiefs and Hard-Fi are racking up a year in the charts. Their rocketing rise has spluttered, its momentum snuffed by the wilful self-hobbling of releasing the non-chart eligible Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?' EP in April. They've already lost one member — bassist Andy Nicholson, who was replaced by Nick O'Malley after refusing to tour the US this spring pleading "fatigue" — proof if any were needed that it was all too much, too soon. They were forced to run in the big sheds before they could walk in the theatres and what's more, Muse are going to stomp their grumpy Yorkshire mugs into Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festival dust with their gigantic robot alien metaboots.

Monkeymania is dead, that's what they say. And all because they wouldn't play the game.

“If we’d been a bit older it probably would all have been more of a headfuck” Alex

"What do you want us to do?" guitarist Jamie Cook shrugs, utterly un-bovvered. "Milk it like every other band does? We coulda really milked it but we didn't and no matter if you love us or you hate us you can never say a bad thing about how we've gone about pushing our music. We kept ourselves to ourselves. We coulda carried on, released every song off the fuckin' album.."

"If we were a bit older it probably would all have been more of a headfuck," adds Alex Turner, quietly. "We were just young, worked for a bit but then we ended up in this, so I didn't take it that seriously or think it were the end of the world if it all ended. If we were a few years older, with a few more responsibilities and that, we woulda thought, 'We've got to make this right' and that woulda ultimately destroyed us because we'd have ended up putting our singles back out and doing all the bollocks that everybody does, but we weren't obligated to do all that stuff because we had nowt to lose."

How do you respond to the argument that you're a flash in the pan compared to the likes of the Kaisers?

Jamie: "What, because they keep putting advertisements out? I'm not slagging them off, we've met the Kaiser Chiefs a few times and they are nice guys and they've done really well. We're ignorant little shits."

Alex: "You see other bands knocking about at festivals and the looks on their faces... In return for someone perceiving you as big I don't want my face to look like that, because I feel wonderful."

Are you disappointed the momentum hasn't continued?

"Nah!" Alex splutters. "What do you want, fuckin' Shea Stadium?"

"People keep going on about breaking America, says Jamie. "I'm like, 'What you on about?' We went out to America and played to 3,500 in Arizona in the middle of fuckin' nowhere with cactuses inside the venue. We went out there and played a sell-out tour. If we can do that every time then we've broke America for me."

Alex: "But then what? What is there? 'Are you gonna break the moon?'”

How are things in the Monkeys camp now?

Jamie grins broadly. "Wonderful."

"Well, I don't know." Alex drawls. tipping him a comedy Wink Of Death. "You're next."

“People might be like, ‘Write about nine to five again’...I’m sick of fuckin’ people singing songs about all that shit” Alex Turner

Contrary to popular tittle-tattle, i'sa talkative and relaxed Arctic Monkeys that settle on a bench by a river in Gothenburg's Tragarn Gardens — slightly older (Nick celebrates his 21st birthday today, closely followed by Jamie in three days' time), hugely wiser, no longer the prickly young upstarts turning their noses up at the faintest whiff of a Dictaphone. Far from a band in crisis they seem relieved that the hype storm has passed. and that they weathered it with their egos still manageable, their sanity intact and their enthusiasm for their music undimmed. Aside from the change of personnel the Monkeys have only suffered a slight road weariness and sharpened their healthy edge of cynicism and suspicion about the industry workings — all except Nick that is, who's still somewhat wide-eyed about the whole thing Unsurprising; a few months ago he was a Sheffield student stacking shelves part-time in Asda, today he's the bassist in the biggest and best new band on the planet.

Nick grins wide. "It's a bit of an improvement career-wise."

Matt: "He's like Cinderella."

The former bassist with Sheffield grit rockers The Dodgems and a long-term mucker of the Monkeys — he went to college with Alex and they all live within "a hundred-metre radius" of each other in High Green — Nick was the obvious call to make when Andy Nicholson (reportedly the most fame-shy Monkey) announced that he didn't want to play on this year's US tour. Why did he back out?

“We’ve had probably two weeks off in in 18 months," Jamie explains. You get to go home for two days every six weeks. I love touring but you're gonna miss home and until you've done it you can't explain. You're living on a bus with 12 other blokes and when you're driving through the desert for a day..."

What did you think when you got the call, Nick?

"I was a bit scared," Nick remembers, "because I had two days to learn everything and I'd just had a cast on my hand took off [Nick broke his hand being 'playfully' thrown over a wall by a Dodgems roadie just weeks before the tour kicked off] so I weren't really sure how it would go. At first I said no, but then Al rang me up again and went, 'Can you hold a plectrum?' I kinda thought, 'Well, even if I do play shit I'll still have a right good time, go to America and just enjoy it'."

Alex: "It's not as if we've just had to bring in a session guy, it's someone we've known for a long time. We're the last band in the world who can just pluck someone out of nowhere."

Jamie: "I don't think we'd have gone if it were a session guy. I think we'd have had to probably cancel the tour."

"Everyone might say we shit on Andy, but they don't know. We know, Andy knows and that's all that matters" Jamie Cook

Over his month in America, Nick turned out to be a Mani-in-the-Primals style shot in the arm for the Monkeys and, bouts of alcohol poisoning permitting ("I wasn't used to free alcohol," Nick sniggers. "I learnt my lesson"), they unexpectedly found themselves in a more exciting, harmonious and well-oiled jag-pop juggernaut. Hence, within weeks of getting home, Nick received one of those rare and legendary Do you fancy being a rock star?' Golden Phone Calls.

"Those were my exact words," says Alex. "Were you there?"

We have a tap on all your phones.

Nick: "It were, 'Have you got a sequinned vest? If not, get one'."

Matt: "You're coming to Disneyland!""

How did the meeting go when you told Andy he was out?

Alex shakes his head. "It were a really dark page."

"You can imagine, can't yer?" says Jamie. "I don't think it's nice to really talk about it. I don't think anyone will understand. Andy understands and Andy's family probably understands and we understand and everyone that needs to understand understands."

Alex: "But everyone else will probably never get it because they weren't in the band. It's difficult to explain, it's not like a day in a normal job. Five weeks or whatever it were, three weeks, four weeks... time's not the same as it is elsewhere so things happen, you have to make decisions sometimes. Everyone will always fucking speculate about it "

Jamie: "Everyone might say we're wankers and we shit on him, but they don't know. We know, Andy knows and that's all that really matters."

Alex: "It weren't like us wanting to carry on like this as punishment for him wanting to opt out. We sorta found ourselves in a situation where we wanted to move forward."

Three days and two birthday lashes later at Ireland's Oxegen Festival the band look back at a year that could only have been more celebrated if Alex had been made Poet Laureate and Matt had been awarded a Nobel Prize For Paradiddles.

"We celebrated the singles best," Jamie chuckles. "We were in our local and got hammered with a loads of mates."

"That were a special night," Matt nods, swigging cider in one of Oxegen's more salubrious dressing rooms (most bands get a glorified changing cubicle). "I kept saying, ‘I bet no-one who's walked down this road has been Number One, I bet no-one who's used this cash machine has been Number One?"

"We went for a KFC," Alex laughs, "and we were saying 'I wonder if anybody's been to KFC this soon after finding out they're Number One?""

The Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festivals is set to be a landmark event for the Monkeys — it was here in 2005 that The Madness broke free, their mid-afternoon set drawing a headline-slot crowd and launching them into a year of whirlwind ascent set to be triumphantly capped on this year's Main Stage. And while they may have made a fair fist of making the best job in the world look like a bit of a pain in the arse ("I don't think we do though," Alex argues, "I've never given the impression I'm not grateful"), secretly Yorkshire's most famous grumpos have had the time of their lives. They've hung with Jay-Z in New York, bar-spotted actor Edward Norton in LA, gone speed boating in Sweden, trodden the pitch at Barcelona, become the first band that Morrissey has ever apologised to and been given the Liam Gallagher Eyebrow Of Approval ("He went, "That 'Riot Van' — tune!'"), all while selling more records than Pete's had hot heroin. What's more, they've managed to galvanise an indie generation in a few short months. Freaky - how come no other bands want to slag you fellers off?

"It's 'cos we're the best!" Alex grins. "We've done it how we wanted to. The only things people say is daft things like Jeft Monkeys manager wrote all the songs and things like that. Someone will come though, I can't wait 'til they do."

Who do you fancy in the apocalyptic Kooks versus Razorlight rumble?

"Kooks and fuckin' Razorlight?" Alex laughs. "That'd be like a fight between two cyclists."

Has success made you paranoid about what people think of you?

Alex is suddenly serious. "I suppose it does, but my mind wobbles so much that it's one day sometimes you think that and then other times... I think I've learned not to care so much, not to listen, but it's hard not to."

So, sensing the vultures circling, it is with some trepidation and secrecy that the Arctic Monkeys are approaching their second album — 13 songs written to date, including a number they describe as "the bakery tune that goes ‘I wish you would have smiled in the bakery' which is like, you're anywhere in a crowded place and there's a laugh and a smile but you're never gonna be able to get to that person".

Plus, 'Brian Storm', a song about a Derren Brown-esque character they met at an Australian gig.

"People might be like, "Who the fuck is this Aussie guy? Write about fuckin' nine to five again," says Alex. "That's another thing that pisses me off, I'm sick of fuckin' hearing people sing songs about all that shit and I were before we even did our album. I never even wanted to do that, fuckin' write about work and shit like that. I think it's insulting."

But having connected with your audience by portraying a sardonic, yet somehow celebratory, vision of everyday life, surely there's a danger of alienating them with a second album griping about press interviews, long-haul flights and the difficulties of opening a decent Swiss bank account. We've already had the tongue-in-cheek Despair In The Departure Lounge' on the ‘Who The Fuck…’ EP — is the new album going to full of songs called 'Bored Of Bono', 'Catering In First Class Isn't What It Used To Be' or 'So Much Money (Need A Shovel To Get In My House)'?

Alex snorts. "Or 'I'm Not Old Enough To Drive Me Range Rover'. Nah, you still have emotions and you still get angry about things. A lot of our first album is about coming in contact or not coming in contact with girls I suppose, and they're still there. People go, 'You're not gonna write about getting kicked out of clubs again'. Well, no, but who'd fuckin' wanna hear that again?"

Of course, having so expertly captured the fear, excitement, danger, humiliation, anger, desperation and celebration of an uncertain modern youth, Alex Turner should just as artfully lay out the emotional minutiae of a successful young manhood. But first the Monkeys are closing the book on the 'Whatever People Say I Am…’ era with typical anti-industry aplomb by releasing the non-album track 'Leave Before The Lights Come On' (written during sessions for the album but deemed to sit uncomfortably in the tracklisting).

"We thought we'd start the next album with it," says Alex. "Then we thought we wanted to do something to close this off. It's like leaving."

The Monkeys are heading for Reading and Leeds with fire in their scrawny bellies on a mission to casually conquer without even trying.

Finally, have the past 12 months made men of the Arctic Monkeys?

"We've grown up a bit," Alex ponders, "but not enough to spoil anything."

Murder in the ranks? Oh no, these Monkeys are swinging…

The View From the Main Stage

A glorious year comes to a head at the carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festivals

Is this weekend going to be another Monkeys milestone? Jamie: "That's where we're gonna end it and go do the next record, we've always said that. It's good that we've got Leeds an' all, because it's only 20 minutes up the road from my house."

You're on before Muse, is that a worry? Alex: "It's probably good that it's different. Maybe the Muse fans will all wait at the top of the hill and our lot will be at the front." Nick: "Or the Muse fans might all stand down the front taking the piss."

Muse'll have a big stage show with balloons and glitter cannons. Alex: "Well, you wanna see ours!" Matt: "We'll have some hot air balloons. I parachute in." Nick: "I'm coming by underground drill."

Last year you changed some of your lyrics at Reading to have a go at "that sarky bloke from NME" — why? Alex: "I can't remember. We got a review or summat and read it and I went [Disgusted From Sheffield voice] ‘I can't believe this! Right! I'm gonna change this line!""

I wrote that review, actually. Alex: "Riiiight! Cunt! There was summat in it about The Zutons or summat." Jamie: "No-one ever used to write about us so when anyone did we used to get right wound up."

[huellitaa]

𝓫𝓮𝓮'𝓼 𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓮𝓻: 𝓼𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 '25 🎧🎀💬

welcome back to the first edition of bee's record player: 2025! 🎀🎧🗯️👛🎼 (FIRST ISSUE ♡) 31.5.25 ♡

this issue, we will be recapping...

♡ 2025 spring into summer on the music scene!

🎀🎧 ྀི𓂃 ࣪˖ NOTICE

this was released a little later than i'd have liked it to be (original date was going to be may 31st), but life got there first, so we're here now! and, after being on hiatus for so long, bee's record player is officially back, making her returns as the end of each season! look out for bee's record player: summer edition droppin end of august 🗯️💋🧁

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 disclaimer ♡

bee's record player is a simple project i enjoy writing every so often and is in no way final or official. these are all my thoughts, opinions and insights that i have compiled together and are by no means definitive or final. take everything with a pinch of salt. enjoy! ♡

🎀🎧 ྀི𓂃 ࣪˖ NOTABLE ARRIVALS

and now, in no particular order...

♪ eternal sunshine: brighter days ahead, ariana grande 🎼

♡ ALBUM: 19 SONGS ♡ 55 MINS ♡ RELEASED 28TH MARCH ♡

👛 panic, beomgyu ♪

♡ SINGLE ♡ 3 MINS ♡ RELEASED 27TH MARCH ♡

♪ itty bitty, ashnikko 🧁

♡ SINGLE ♡ 3 MINS ♡ RELEASED 31ST MARCH ♡

🎀sunshine & rain..., kali uchis ♪

♡ ALBUM: 14 SONGS ♡ 50 MINS ♡ RELEASED 9TH MAY ♡

♪ hell hill, elita 🦇

♡ ALBUM: 13 SONGS ♡ 45 MINS ♡ RELEASED 25TH APRIL ♡

💄 only cry in the rain, chuu ♪

♡ EP: 5 SONGS ♡ 14 MINS ♡ RELEASED 21ST APRIL ♡

♪ so close to what, tate mcrae 👛

♡ ALBUM: 16 SONGS ♡ 45 MINS ♡ RELEASED 24TH FEBRUARY ♡

🗯️ love language, tomorrow x together ♪

♡ SINGLE ♡ 2 MINS ♡ RELEASED 2ND MAY ♡

♪ oyster, chloe moriondo 🍰

♡ ALBUM: 13 SONGS ♡ 36 MINS ♡ RELEASED 28TH MARCH ♡

🐈‍⬛ DUH!, p1harmony ♪

♡ EP: 6 SONGS ♡ 18 MINS ♡ RELEASED 8TH MAY ♡

♪ fancy that, pinkpantheress 🎀

♡ ALBUM: 9 SONGS ♡ 20 MINS ♡ RELEASED 9TH MAY ♡

♪ 🗯️ sources include my spotify (linked in my intro post... haha.... which u shld totally follow... haha....)

🎀🎧 ྀི𓂃 ࣪˖ PHOTOSHOOTS

in honour of fashion weeks all across the globe earlier on this quarter, i'd like to introduce a new category to bee's record player; photoshoots! my fav shoots n styles from the first quarter of '25 ♡

.⁺ ♡ KALI UCHIS: SPRING/SUMMER SHOOT, 10MAGAZINE 💬🩰🎼 ❜❜ ♡

so excited for sincerely!!! this shoot was so isolation era ♡

.⁺ ♡ HUENING KAI, LEA AND BAHIYYIH AT 2025 SEOUL FASHION WEEK 💬🩰🎼 ❜❜ ♡

the duffle coat the duffle coat the duffle coat the duffle coat the duffle coa t. lea n hiyyih r so cunty omf

.⁺ ♡ TYLA, BRITISH VOGUE, MARCH 2025 💬🩰🎼 ❜❜ ♡

okay so i don't even listen to her very often but she's so gorgeous i actually bought this issue just for her 😭😭😭icon!!!!

♪ 🗯️ sources include instagram, vogue, google images, and my photo gallery

🎀🎧 ྀི𓂃 ࣪˖ EVENTS

♡ coachella '25, april 11th - 20th: honestly just as underwhelming as always. but green day performed so that always makes everything better!

♡ TXT CAME BACK FROM HIATUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

♡ pierce the veil, enhypen, pinkpantheress and skz are all coming to london this year!!!!!!!!! oh my gosh!!!!!!!!! uk gang rise!!!!!!!!!!!

♡ not an official music event, but i got to go see tomorrow x together on march 25th at the london O2! it was a dream come true and an irreplaceable experience that i'll never get again,,, i love you tubatu 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝

♪ 🗯️ sources include ticketmaster, music festival wizard, and my newsfeed

🎀🎧 ྀི𓂃 ࣪˖ BEE'S FAVOURITES & NOTES

♡ okay so maybe i'm biased because . huuuge moa over here . but txt..... love language....... panic........ absolutely devoured

♡ one of my lovely best friends @sseobrangi actually got me into p1h this spring and duh has quickly become one of my fav kpop albums like. Ever . oh my gos . im nutting

♡ i actually listened to sincerely by kali uchis right after i got out of hospital for my mental health and it was OTHERWORLDLY. this has quickly become one of my favourite albums of all time and i do NOT use that phrase lightly. i love u kali

🎀🎧 ྀི𓂃 ࣪˖ CONCLUSION

thank you for tuning into this spring's review of the music scene for 2025! this was released a little later than i'd have liked it to be, but i thank you for all the love and support no matter what, on all my posts and just in general from everybody 💝💋 i'm beyond grateful, and have a wonderful summer! until next time... 🧁💭

all my love! 🎀💬🐈‍⬛️🫶🏻🩷

[arinzeture]

Let's remember one of the Greatest Guitarist ever, Jimi Hendrix on the date of his birth.

Jimi Hendrix signature James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest guitarist in musical history, and one of the most influential musicians of his era across a range of genres.

After initial success in Europe with his group The Jimi Hendrix Experience, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. He often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback.

Hendrix, as well as his friend Eric Clapton, popularized use of the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated sense of pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends, complex guitar playing, and use of legato. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic phasing effects for rock recording.

Hendrix was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper, and the jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Hendrix (who was then known as 'Maurice James') began dressing and wearing a moustache like Little Richard when he performed and recorded in his band from March 1, 1964 through to the spring of 1965. In 1966, Hendrix stated, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice".

Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage blue plaque was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time in 2003.

[fibula-rasa]

Watch More Movies Notebook: Spring ‘25

In this installment of WMM Notebook, you’ll find a pretty wide variety of French films from 3 different decades, a Charles Burnett film finally released after 25 years, a fantastical techno-musical, 2 documentaries about Black history, 1 Brazilian experimental narrative film, 1 weird Italian horror film, and Cynthia Rothrock doing a lot of awesome kicks. And a partridge in a pear tree. Whew! There’s also a bit at the end about what I’ve been writing, researching, and posting with hints of what’s to come this summer!

Pictured: Neptune Frost (‘21), Sans toit ni loi (‘85), Ménilmontant (‘26), Kean (‘24), The Annihilation of Fish (‘99), There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace (‘81), Estranho Caminho (‘23), The Sect (‘91), La fête espagnole (‘20), The End of St. Petersburg (‘27), Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse (‘25), La maternelle (‘33), Claudia Jones: A Woman Of Our Times (‘89), Lady Reporter (‘89)

Favorite New-to-me Films of the Season

(listed in the order in which I saw them)

As always, if any of these films catch your eye, but you need specific content/trigger warnings, feel free to ask and I’ll try to oblige!

READ on BELOW the JUMP!

Pictured: Neptune Frost (‘21)

March ‘25 Favorites:

Claudia Jones: A Woman Of Our Times (1989)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Claudia Jones was a Trinidad-born, New York-reared journalist, activist, and communist who was deported from the US under the Smith Act and resettled in London. There, Jones’ work brought together the West Indian and Caribbean communities through founding The West Indian Gazette and organizing Carnival events. This UK-produced short documentary was a great accompaniment to some of the reading I did over the winter! Having read a biography of Jones and some of her writing, it was rewarding to see faces and places she affected through her life and work after settling in London. If you’re not familiar with Jones already, this doc probably isn’t the best place to start, so I’d instead recommend checking out her writing! It’s as accessible as it is insightful. Marxists.org has some of her work available here as well as two texts about Jones.

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Manizales City (1925) 

[letterboxd | imdb | youtube]

Manizales City is a haunting (and haunted feeling) silent actuality film produced to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the city of Manizales, Colombia. Director Félix R. Restrepo captured the various festivities for posterity but, later that year, Manizales experienced a terribly destructive fire. The filmmakers returned to document the aftermath—businesses, homes, community and government buildings in ruin and the citizens trying to keep the city going. This footage was appended to the original documentary creating a tragic-but-hopeful coda to the initially celebratory film. I subtitled the film in English over on youtube and also made a few gif sets.

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Neptune Frost (2021) 

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy]

This spring, I had a massive amount of luck with new-to-me films. So many gems! The first was Neptune Frost, which had been on my watchlist since it was released in 2021. Kanopy adding it to their library gave me all the motivation I needed to cross it off said watchlist.

A collaboration between director Anisia Uzeyman and musician Saul Williams. Neptune Frost feels like The Wiz (1978), Quilombo (1984), and the writing of Pat Cadigan artfully stitched together into a techno-opera of digital marronage. (And, if you understood that sentence, we need to be besties.) Okay, so since I actually want more people to watch this film, I should try to be less esoteric: it’s a stylish, poetic, punky, scifi musical about a group of runaways fighting back against their exploitation, erasure, and oppression. I implore you to check this one out! Even if it’s not your typical viewing, you’ll certainly get something out of it.

Note: Kanopy is a service that you may have free access to through your local library or school/university. They have an amazing and varied collection of films, really worth checking out!

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There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace: Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues (1981) 

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy]

Back in March, I was still working through The Black Film Archive’s BHM ‘25 list. This doc is an invaluable piece of visual and oral history of the Negro Leagues. There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace is a solid overview of the history of these athletes. Unlike the Claudia Jones documentary I discussed above, this film would make a great entry point into learning more about this (IMO) still underrepresented part of sports history. The storytelling from the former players especially livens up the film. I should note here that I’m not the biggest baseball fan, (tho it was part of my upbringing) so you don’t even have to be a fanatic to enjoy/learn from this film.

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Children of Montmartre / La maternelle (1933) 

[letterboxd | imdb]

An affecting film about a jilted woman working in a Montmartre kindergarten who forms a strong connection with a sensitive little girl, abandoned by her mother. La maternelle has a kind-hearted social realism that never feels too sentimental or too clinical in its representation of class and social issues. The girl is played exceptionally well by Paulette Élambert. The directing of the children in general is strong—the directors found a good balance of letting them play and be themselves while still getting to the point in their scenes. Overall, it’s a sweet film with a definitive purpose. 

La maternelle came onto my radar when I was reading Sandy Flitterman-Lewis’ To Desire Differently. Part of that book highlights the work of Marie Epstein, co-director of this film. As I’m not the biggest French film enthusiast, I didn’t know much about French filmmaking in the interwar period. To summarize a point by Flitterman-Lewis, what persisted of the French film industry after the war faced increased hegemony of the American industry, despite the incoming of sound film. One of the strategies that French filmmakers at the time employed was the use of hyperspecific localization. To contrast American-financed French-language films that would employ the most generic dialogue, accents, and settings, these home-grown films would be set in specific milieus and eschewed generic French in favor of local dialects and vernaculars. La maternelle was part of this emergent tradition, and if it’s a representative sample, I’ll have to check out more!

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Honorable Mention: The Witch / La strega in amore (1966) [letterboxd | imdb]

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Pictured: Sans toit ni loi (’85)

April ‘25 Favorites:

The End of St. Petersburg / Конец Санкт-Петербурга (1927)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy (US)]

Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution—like Eisenstein’s October (1927)—The End of St. Petersburg tells the story of a peasant who moves to the city for work only to get caught up in a dispute between striking workers and the capitalists trying to break them. As the First World War breaks out and the same capitalists further enrich themselves on the spilt blood of people like the peasant, the revolutions come to St. Petersburg. 

The film is beautifully shot by Anatoli Golovnya and edited with impressive precision of meaning and purpose. Pudovkin’s name might not be as vaunted in the Anglophone world as Eisenstein, but as peers their work is moving to watch in concert. (I’ll probably double feature October and St. Petersburg sometime soonish!) Honestly, I’m pretty embarrassed that it took me this long to see St. Petersburg, as a long-time appreciator of Pudovkin’s Mother (1926)and Storm over Asia (1928). This film is a masterpiece and, unfortunately, the story still has a lot of relevance today. It’s an emotional film, but there’s also so much to dig into formally and technically—in particular the way editing is used to generate meaning and interpretations, to provoke the viewer, or just to get a laugh.

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Vagabond / Sans toit ni loi (1985)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Remember how I said I had great luck this spring with new-to-me films? Here’s another great that I’ve somehow overlooked until now. 

As with La maternelle, I sought this film out because it was discussed in Sandy Flitterman-Lewis’ To Desire Differently. I’d previously only seen Agnès Varda’s work from the 1950s-70s, but wow am I even more motivated to see her later work now. 

Sans toit ni loi constructs the final weeks of a young woman who pursued the life of a wanderer in the French countryside. The story is constructed through the reminiscences shared by the various people she came into contact with, some fleetingly, some more deeply. It’s an extremely powerful film, thoughtfully constructed. Every character feels full and real regardless of their screen time. The way the viewer’s sense of place and time emerges through the construction of the narrative is masterful. I don’t want to give too much away for first-time viewers, but there are two shots in the film that, in context, made my heart drop. So, while I highly recommend checking this one out, know that’s not easy viewing.

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Spanish Fiesta / La fête espagnole (1920)

[letterboxd | imdb | HENRI]

A lot of this winter and spring for me was dedicated to Germaine Dulac. I watched/re-watched a bunch of her films, read two books about her as well as a collection of her own writings. (There are more posts on the way about her work BTW.) 

La fête espagnole is incomplete—26 minutes out of 67—but beautifully restored by the Cinémathèque française, the CNC, and the Hiventy lab in 2020. And, thankfully they have made it available to view for free on HENRI. Even in its fragmentary state, it’s possible to sense the mood and spirit of the film, and I was very impressed with their reconstruction work. 

The story roughly follows the dancer Soledad as she spurns two lovers for the sake of a third, younger lover during a big festival. Perhaps the strongest part of the reconstruction is the cross cutting between Soledad dancing seductively at a party in town while two men fight to the death over her outside her home. Ève Francis is really excellent as Soledad. I totally see why Dulac worked with her so often!

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A Strange Path / Estranho Caminho (2023)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy (US)]

David, a young filmmaker, returns to his hometown in Brazil for a festival showing of his newest film. Shortly after he arrives however, the COVID pandemic shuts everything down. Circumstance leads him to reconnect with his estranged father, but the path to this reconnection is more complicated than David realizes. 

To be honest, I watched this film solely based on its synopsis in a fit of insomnia. I was unfamiliar with Guto Parente before this film, but I’m excited to see more from him. I thought the melding of experimental and avant-garde techniques with what began as a relatively conventional film was clever and well-executed. I found Lucas Limeira’s David easy to relate to and sympathize with and Carlos Francisco’s performance as his father was outstanding. 

I’m starting to think I need to delve into Brazilian film in a more focused way. Though I don’t know that much about their industry, every time I watch Brazilian films, they end up on my round ups! (Note: If I had been writing these consistently earlier, I would have written about Adirley Queirós’ White in, Black Out (2014) and Once There Was Brasilia (2017) too.) 

So, I guess, if you have any recs of your favorite Brazilian films, please hit me up!

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Ménilmontant (1926)

[letterboxd | imdb]

A moving, expressive, sometimes shocking film about the lives of two sisters drawn apart after the murder of their parents.

If you, like me, are not the biggest French film fanatic, you might be shocked at how many French films are popping up in this season’s round up! But, between my digging back into my love of experimental and avant-garde film and my current Germaine Dulac kick, I ended up watching a bunch of French films! And most of them were really very good! So it can’t be helped. Anyway, Ménilmontant is an exquisitely constructed film that could reasonably find a place on any Film Theory 101 syllabus—I mean that in a wholly complimentary way.

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Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse (1925)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Also in my avant-garde kick, Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse is a landmark experimental work depicting the play of movement and reflections and travelling through Paris. There were a few moments that genuinely evoked the feeling in me that I would have every time I travelled into New York City growing up—staring out the windows of the car/bus/train. Personal nostalgia aside, this film is quite the technical feat. Knowing what the technology was like in 1925, Chomette going out onto the train and boats to film with so little control of the environment, yet being able to shoot and construct something with such perfectly aligned visual rhythm almost makes my head spin to think about. I ended up watching it three times, appreciating every shot, cut, and superimposition more with each viewing and even noticing new things on the second and third watches. Considering its short runtime, I have no qualms recommending this broadly! If you need more convincing, I also made gif and still sets!

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Honorable Mention: Change, Not Charity: The Americans with Disabilities Act (2025) [letterboxd | imdb | PBS (US)]

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Pictured: Kean (’24)

May ‘25 Favorites:

The Annihilation of Fish (1999)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy]

It was extremely exciting news that Charles Burnett’s “lost” romantic comedy The Annihilation of Fish was finally getting restored and released! But then it wasn’t scheduled to play in any theatres near me… But then it popped up on Kanopy and I watched it as soon as possible! 

This is a charming, heartfelt story about a Jamaican-American man who literally wrestles his demons into submission (the titular Fish), a woman who flees San Francisco after her relationship with Giacomo Puccini (yes, the Italian composer who died in 1924) flames out, and their unlikely courtship under the roof of their particular and peculiar widowed landlady. The performances of all three leads, James Earl Jones, Lynn Redgrave, and Margot Kidder, are remarkable. Honestly, writing about it now makes me want to watch it again, which is always a high mark! 

If you’d like to know more before checking it out, I recommend Robert Daniels’ excellent review of the film for Roger Ebert.

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Kean (1924)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Ivan Mosjoukine was one of one. Kean is a great biographical film of Shakespearean actor, Edmund Kean, based on an 1836 play by the great Alexandre Dumas. 

Mosjoukine’s charisma drives the film. He is truly doing THE MOST with every scene. Kean is also stylistically playful and creative, with a standout extended drunken dancing sequence, which perfectly illustrates “drunkenness of the eye” (to steal a Ralph Steiner phrase). Nathalie Lissenko isn’t given all that much to do, but this ends up adding to the effect of Kean’s imbalanced passions. Don’t be dissuaded by the long runtime, the film speeds by.

——— ——— ———

Lady Reporter / 師姐大晒 (1989)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Perhaps my new favorite Cynthia Rothrock film, Lady Reporter is chock full of imaginative fight scenes that are exceptionally choreographed, performed, shot, and edited. Rothrock plays Cindy, an FBI agent who arrives in Hong Kong under the guise of a reporter. She reconnects with her college roommate, Judy, played by Elizabeth Lee. When Judy’s father mounts a case against the kingpin of a counterfeiting ring, he is kidnapped and injected with a serum that makes him believe that He-Man is real and that his true enemy is Skeletor. Following an unexpected team up with a Hong Kong cop, masquerading as an insurance claims adjuster, and a real reporter out to save his dad’s failing newspaper, Cindy and Judy have to defeat the counterfeiters and try and save their dad. 

Lee and Rothrock have great chemistry together and I’m always happy to see Chin Siu-Ho. The editing in this movie is electric. There were multiple points while watching that we skipped back just to rewatch a cut! As it turns out, the film was edited by Peter Cheung, who is an absolute legend of Hong Kong cinema. There are lots of great reasons to check out this film, but it’s also just fun!

——— ——— ———

The Sect / La Setta (1991)

[letterboxd | imdb]

I have to admit that I don’t totally understand why Michele Soavi’s films are so divisive, but I’m firmly on Team Soavi myself. 

The Sect is a strange and dreamy horror film about a shadowy mystical cult. Miriam, a lonely school teacher in Frankfurt, takes in a sickly old man after nearly hitting him with her car. As strange occurrences start to pile up after the old man seemingly dies, Miriam starts to intuit something very dark, and very deliberate, is after her. 

You can’t possibly guess what will happen from scene to scene for much of the film, but in the way that a dream lacks the cohesiveness of reason. There’s lots of examples I could pick out, but the sequence where a giant tiled room with a well in the middle is found behind an armoire in the main character’s very run-of-the-mill basement stands out. Not everyone dreams the same way but that’s often how location works for me—familiar, commonplace locations are a turn of a corner or a doorway away from a strange and otherworldly space, but dreamlogic isn’t realworld logic, so dream-you rolls with it. 

There is also a scene where Miriam’s free-range pet rabbit channel surfs.

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☕Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee! ☕

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Season’s Round-up

Well, you may have noticed that, as I worried in the last round up, the pace of the blog has slowed down a bit. There’s so much going on, so much stress, so many things to do! Evenso, there are lots of projects I’ve started working on, but simply haven’t had the time/energy to finish. With a bit of luck that will translate to more articles, essays, filmographies, etc. coming your way soon!

What I did finish was a small piece accompanying my gifs of the unique 1925 documentary Manizales City. As far as I could find, there’s not an official English release of the film, so I translated the intertitles myself and uploaded that translation to youtube.

Are there any silent films you all have come across that don’t have proper translations into English? I can work with Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, or Slovak, and could probably muddle through German, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Ukrainian. So, for real, HMU!

——— ——— ———

I also did a profile on Germaine Dulac’s short experimental film Disque 957, which went into some details on the film’s conception and execution.

In the Favorites section above, I mentioned that I was on a Dulac kick. I actually have two or three more pieces drafted that profile her circulating, but less seen/discussed films. (For context, the most often discussed Dulac films are The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928) and The Smiling Madame Beudet (1923), but it does seem like La Cigarette (1919) has been gaining traction over the past few years.)

This kick has also led me to do a lot of reading. In the winter I read Tami Williams’ unskippable Germaine Dulac: A Cinema of Sensations—one of the best director biographies I’ve yet read. I followed that with Sandy Flitterman-Lewis’ To Desire Differently: Feminism and French Cinema because Williams’ cited it often in her book. I had more complicated feelings on that book, but it was definitely thought provoking.

From there I sought out a few shorter articles about Dulac, the highlight of which was Valérie Vignaux’s short essay “Les papiers intimes de Germaine Dulac ou le corps de l’archive,” which packed a lot of meaningful observations into a short space! Then I read the new-ish English translation of the collection of Dulac’s film writing, Writings on Cinema. I was happy to find Dulac’s writing so cogent and accessible. Some theorists and critics who have written about her work use exaggerated intellectual language that gets in the way of clear communication and understanding, so it’s invigorating to get to read her own words and find such clarity. Most of her writings are short, so they’re a great accompaniment to a self-education on the history and development of early cinema and the theory that developed alongside it. If you are a reader of my blog, I imagine you’d be in the market for something like that!

Since I ended up on a bent here talking about film-related books, I reckon I might as well tell you about another new film book I read this season! 

I very much enjoyed Cinema Her Way by Marya E. Gates. It’s a collection of interviews with women directors. Reading through the interviews, you really get the sense of how unique each filmmaker is in their approach to their craft, their philosophies, their histories, and how they perceive themselves as artists. There is so much variety among these filmmakers in fact that, apart from being women directors working/who have worked in America, they don’t have all that much in common. EXCEPT for the material conditions that they were/are faced with. The struggles of getting funding for their projects, or getting jobs from studios, or, once they get the job, of getting hired for more work pop up again and again. 

Personally, I found the Julie Dash, Sally Potter, and Susan Seidelman interviews to be the most thought provoking or enlightening. But, I also enjoyed the Karyn Kusama, Lizzie Borden, Josephine Decker, Isabel Sandoval, and Katt Shea interviews and found them interesting and/or entertaining—each for very different reasons! 

Regardless of your familiarity with the work of the profiled filmmakers, you’ll surely find something of interest! For me, I gained insights into the work of filmmakers I already knew and loved and, as for the filmmakers I was new to, it was cool to hear their opinions on their processes in and approach to filmmaking. And now I have a bunch more films to add to my watchlist!

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As for the themed gif and still sets that I made, edited and arranged this spring…

(titles are linked to all sets for that film)

Manizales City (1925)

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Crusher Joe / クラッシャージョウ (1983)

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The Italian (1915)

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The Witch / La strega in amore (1966)

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A Flame Burns in the Igloo / В яранге горит огонь (1956)

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Vagabond / Sans toit ni loi (1985)

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La fête espagnole (1920)

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Disque 957 (1928)

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Kean (1924)

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Romance of a Fruit Peddler / 劳工之爱情 (1922)

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Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse (1925)

——— ——— ———

Until next time, try to stay cool and stay tuned. Happy viewing!

[ginandoldlace]

While we’re busy enjoying that last slice of Easter cake, did you know that Easter Monday used to be a day of wild celebration at country houses and in villages across the UK?

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Easter Monday was known for games, fairs, and even romantic rituals…think egg rolling down hills, morris dancing on the lawns, and matchmaking festivals in the gardens. At some estates, the servants would get the day off and stage their own games in the grounds!

Today, many of our historic houses still open their gates for spring walks, family picnics, and Easter trails. From Rockingham’s Gardens to Harlaxton’s Soring Open Days, there’s still magic to be found.

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2025-03-24

*poking spring with a stick* come on already

Listening: Bandcamp had a nice rundown of Math Rock this past week which includes an excerpt from Don Caballero's album What Burns Never Returns, who specifically do not like being called Math Rock. They're also probably why American Football by American Football has a house on it.

This isn't becoming a Bandcamp link for some reason. The album art looks like this: EDIT fixed now leaving this here though.

They are very Math Rock. Fortunately Prog-rock is another name you can call yourself.

Reading: More Banks, I'll have more to report once I'm done.

Learning many things about Windows, against my will.

Watching: Attended the British Council Five Films for Freedom film festival which featured a drag show, a very cool play about Why Being Nonbinary Is Fuckass, and the aforementioned five short films.

You can watch all five films here:

In particular I want to point out We'll Go Down In History, a docu about TRUK, an all-trans football club out of the UK.

Absolutely incredible thing.

The other is If I Make it to the Morning which is a Chinese language film about the horrible anxiety of your every action being scrutinized when people think you might be a bit fruity with it.

It's so great. Every sound is amplified and ever movement is so deliberate and agonizing. Sometimes the reason you feel like everyone is watching you is because they are! And if you bring it up they'll all get mad at you!

Making: Some more household prints, some more sewing. Bits and pieces. A lot of photography at the Drag Show because I had decided to bring my camera along with and everyone was cool with it. I will sort through those but I really do need to cull it because a lot of them are dogshit and I don't want to dump that much junk into my storage server. I wish I had a faster lens! f/4 is good but it gets rought when you're in a darkened theater. Someday I will have a 24-70 2.8. Someday.

Playing: Slowly, slowly making my way towards the end of Cyberpunk. Oscillating between clearing out the Dogtown story and following up on sidequests in the City. Finished up the Kerry storyline mostly. There's a few Cyberpunk missions that really stand out in terms of offering you a diversity of choices, and I can feel something good coming near the end of the Dogtown missions. It feels like the early early Malestrom mission where you're flooded with opposing points of view and conflicting interests.

Ante 8 of Balatro White Stake. Haven't touched it since, I'll get back in as soon as I crash on the couch for a while probably. 9" PC tablet is a great formfactor for card games.

Tools and Equipment: I made some Mac and Cheese with Spinach and Green Beans Thing earlier in the week and it did totally fuck me on the first day because I remain lactose intolerant even when most of the lactose has been removed from the milk and the cheese. Here is a pitch for lactase pills. They're pretty cheap and if you have garden variety lactose intolerance they can handle most common milk products. I got a bottle for about CZK 10/pill and they work great.

[mzannthropy]

I'm thinking now that The Count of Monte Cristo series with Sam Claflin might not be out worldwide until autumn.

The French premiere is at the end of April and that's only at the Canneseries festival. If it premieres on their TV right after that, with 8 weekly episodes that's just in time for it to end before the summer starts--and correct me if I'm wrong but summer's not really the best time for TV shows, or is it? We've not heard about any other countries' releases and if they indeed want to avoid summer, then they need to get it out by May. And if it was out in May anywhere, we would have heard of it by now. (Really I think April-May would have been the best time for this, I keep thinking about Game of Thrones, which used to air in the spring.) So I'm thinking they may as well wait until autumn. Autumn's cool, so that's okay, I wish (for the millionth time) that they at least told us something. It's not the wait, it's the lack of information. The way a year ago I thought it might be out in autumn 2024... sigh. I messaged Sam's PR team asking them about this, but I've had no response. Mediawan never responded to my email I sent in December and I got tired of pestering them on X.

For comparison, apparently the 2009 Wuthering Heights adaptation was initially released in the US in January of that year, but they only showed it in UK at the end of August (the bank holiday weekend), despite this being a British production. So idk, maybe sometimes it takes a long time. This is the advantage of streaming.

Also I've seen a couple of people remark that Sam is a well known/liked/a star in UK and US, so why are they not airing it, but the thing is, it's irrelevant what Sam Claflin is or isn't, bc TCOMC is bigger than him. Whoever has the main role, people will tune in bc it's such a beloved story. Although I admit I was relying on the fact that having Jeremy Irons would ensure the series would get out... Shrug.

Tell me what you think, by all means.

[sgiandubh]

Fans subscribed to FMN gin's mailing list receive 'news coming soon' messages. It looks like T is excited to get into the drinks business too...

Dear Mailing List Anon,

I would be quite surprised, even having seen this:

There has consistently been 0 movement in both (UK and IE) companies (and even in the third, IE, company - IYKYK) for at least a year, now. But hey, if the ad says so, amen.

Hell, I even saw this, haven't I?

I have thoughts and questions. Let's unpack:

'We hope you didn't forget about us.' - oh, wait: Forget Me Not -> forget about us. Wow. Seriously? A bit underwhelming. On which planet is a cheap, mild pun classy?

'to find more about our long awaited batch'. Ok, folks. Zero corporate social media engagement since at least December 2020:

30k views and 6 comments in three years and a half is what I would call miserable social media traction. Zero client service: even those hopeful six comments were never answered. It would have taken ten minutes tops to do so!

So, long awaited by who? C's Stans? Orgasmically, if I dare say so. C's fans? Perhaps, but since few people got a chance to sample it, a friendly, but classy nudge was in order - not a 'Dear Jane Doe' email : she is not that famous (yet). Outside the OL bubble? I don't want to sound mean, but I'd be damned if I know why someone would use 'long awaited' for some vanity project by a lesser-known actress.

'In the meantime, why not get reacquainted with our founder (...)'. Cognitive dissonance alert: either the product was long awaited for, by a crowd that knows reasonably well enough about the founder, the projects, the socials (unused since December 2020 - reminds me of that forlorn 🎄). Or you'd have to get reacquainted to all this stuff - I mean, how more obviously can that copywriter sabotage the brand & its creator in two lines and 30 seconds?

How long is that 'meanwhile'? Pics were taken in the spring of 2023 (remember Dr. Eustace? LOL for days) and she looks completely disinterested. That picture could be literally anything: a magazine spread, a tell-all memoir cover, a pic taken at a party. How is this aligned with whatever the brand identity is - mystery. I know it wants to be classy and mysterious, but the color palette immediately made me think of...

[Aaron Shikler - JFK's official Presidential Portrait, 1971,The White House - poignant and soulful, but this is my beloved JFK, not a classy 40-something successful woman]

Why? Gin is fresh and festive and fun and oh, so easy. Why choose a melancholy, emotive color trope is just beyond me.

C is a woman of strength. I miss that woman. I want to see that woman blossom and confidently sell her shtick. Instead, I am shown a confusing, blurry Greta Garbo-esque silhouette.

Last, but not least: you take the time to send all those mails suggesting a 'pre-sale op', you should at least update your socials, because you expect clicks, isn't it? Why sending it at all, if you mean to come back in six hours or more, with an update? That information should have been simultaneously made available on FMN's website and on ALL the socials - all those people who clicked on your links are potential clients, after all.

Right now:

Nothing. Lord give me strength.

My take on it? A second limited batch, with lackadaisical availability, zero client relations and a much belated explanation for the use of profits to charity.

[loremori]

Martin Freeman (183/366)

JANUARY_ 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. World Premiere of Miller’s Girl: Writer/Director Jade Halley Bartlett & Actor MF. PHOTO By Michael Tullberg. FEBRUARY_ Dunhill and BSBP Pre-BAFTA Filmmakers Dinner and Party. PHOTO by Dave Benett. MARCH_ Facebook: Mark Powell Bespoke Tailoring. “Man’s Best Friends. Dogs and Bespoke Tailoring.” PHOTO by Mark Powell. APRIL_ The Responder Season 2 Promotion. MAY_ The Prince’s Trust Awards and TKMaxx and Homesense: Rachel Benaissa & MF. PHOTO by Tristan Fewings. The Responder Season 2 Screening, FACT Cinema, Liverpool. JUNE_ The UK D-Day80 National Commemorative Event In Normandy. MF read veteran Joe Mines' memoirs. PHOTO by Jane Barlow.

Thanks: @martinfreemanspotter & @safedistancefrombeingsmart

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 14th January, 1991 - Queen Story!

'Innuendo' / 'Bijou' single released in UK

(taken from the forthcoming album 'Innuendo', the fourteenth)

👉 Illustrations by Grandville (1803-1847)

🔸"Innuendo"

Jam session in Switzerland amongst Brian, Roger and John in spring 1989. Freddie was upstairs and heard them playing the beat, and turned it into a song, creating the melody and starting off the lyrics.

🔸"Bijou"

was an idea Freddie and Brian had of making a song "inside-out" (having guitar doing the verses and the vocal doing the break). Freddie put the chords, title and lyrics, and the two of them worked on the guitar parts

🔸"The song started off as most things do, with us just messing around and finding a groove that sounded nice. All of us worked on the arrangement. Freddie started off the theme of the words as he was singing along, then Roger worked on the rest of them. I worked on some of the arrangement, particularly the middle bit, then there was an extra part that Freddie did for the middle as well. It basically came together like a jigsaw puzzle."

- Brian May - 1991

🔸"'Innuendo' was an improvisation type song where they actually recorded it here in the big concert hall, it's just next door, and we set up like a live performance, and they just started playing, and sort of got into a nice rhythm and a groove, and some chords and then Freddie said, 'Oh, I like that,' and rushed downstairs into the concert hall and started singing along with it. Obviously then, once that initial idea was down on tape, then there was a lot of rearranging and putting extra things on, but the actual beginning of it was like a live thing. It just happened. It was wonderful. Freddie played a strong role in the writing of 'Innuendo'. Steve Howe just happened to drop in one day to say hello to me. He had been recording at Mountain some ten years before with the group Yes. As soon as he popped his head round the door Freddie recognized him and said, 'Come on in and play some guitar!' He had no guitar with him so he used Brian's Dan Armstrong acoustic guitar with a direct output and tone control. Brian played the rhythm guitar and then echoed the solo afterwards on the Red Special."

- David Richards - 2001

David Richards (1956 – 20 December 2013) record producer in Montreux, Switzerland. He has engineered and co-produced many albums by Queen, David Bowie and several other bands.

🔸American Film and Video Festival 1992 'Intuendo' song Golden Camera Award (annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe)

📸 Inner Sleeve 'Innuendo' album

by Angela Lumley

👉 'Innuendo: released February 4th, 1991

Reached no 1, chart for 37 weeks

Achieved Platinum status

[mkllpz]

DECEMBER 2023 (Part 2)

Part 1

Conventions

I've tabled with Peow at conventions a few times over the years, but this year was the first time I tabled alone, at the Stockholm International Comics Festival. I brought copies of my own books, Berzerkid and A Cold Place Between the Shores, along with a handful of Peow books. It went so well that I decided to table at conventions in Malmö and Gothenburg as well, ending my convention tour back in Stockholm at Heroes Comic Con at the end of the year. I met lots of nice people like @gudgurkan, so maybe next year I'll even try tabling at a convention outside of Sweden!

Autopsy

I was introduced to UK small press Koguchi last year, and this year I contributed to their genre anthology Koguchi; the first two issues of the anthology, Arcana Dawn (science fantasy) and Neo-Future (cyberpunk), were crowdfunded this spring.

Koguchi: Neo-Future, which will be published early next year, includes the story "Autopsy" by me and @mykellpledgerart, in which a mechanic is sent to a walled city to retrieve a machine component but discovers that her mission is somehow connected to the secret history of human clones.

● “Autopsy”

▼ The cover of Koguchi: Neo-Future by @crom-ink▼

▼ Concept art for "Autopsy" by Mykell Pledger▼

▼ A panel from "Autopsy" by Mykell Pledger▼

The Hermes

I started writing my second book, The Hermes, which will be illustrated by Tim Fischer (who I previously collaborated with on "Lápida") and published by Kinaye (in French, as L'Hérmès); English-language publisher to be determined.

The Hermes is set in 1930, when Abelard Berg, captain of the barge Hermes, comes to the city of Les Îles Nobles to smuggle out some goods; Berg meets two children, Luna and Marvin, who are swept into his venture. Can they escape the city without being caught?

Very excited to be writing the book and working with Tim again!

● The Hermes

▼ Color tests for The Hermes by Tim Fischer ▼

One Last Thing

I also wrote a script for an anthology set in the world of an unannounced animated series, but there's no publication date set for the anthology yet.

[brian-in-finance]

Classy lass

Caitríona Balfe attends Harrods Iconic Dining Hall relaunch hosted by Stanley Tucci on October 5, 2023 in London (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Harrods)

All the best Caitríona Balfe photos from her recent appearances at stylish events and on the red carpet

The Outlander actress and former model always looks amazing and she's a regular on the high-society scene in London, Paris and New York

Fans are currently in the midst of another 'Droughtlander' with the second half of season 7 not due to hit our screens until November.

In the meantime, however, at least we are getting to see plenty of Claire Fraser – also known as Irish actress Caitríona Balfe – as she tours the world attending glamorous and glitzy events.

The former model, 44, is often seen with famous faces such as Stella McCartney or Carey Mulligan... and of course, her Scots co-star Sam Heughan, who plays on-screen hubby Jamie Fraser. Here's a selection of the best images from the past 12 months:

Ladies who lunch

(L to R) Caitríona Balfe, Micaela Marconi and Carey Mulligan attend a special lunch to celebrate "Maestro", hosted by Charles Finch, at Maison Assouline on December 1, 2023 in London (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Netflix)

It’s all a blur

Caitríona Balfe attends the LOEWE FOUNDATION Studio Voltaire Award 2023 on October 10, 2023 in London (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for LOEWE)

With the REAL husband (emphasis not Brian’s)

Caitríona Balfe and her husband Tony McGill attend the UK Special Screening after party for "Leave The World Behind" at Kettners on November 29, 2023 in London (Image: Dave Benett/WireImage)

Razzmatazz

Caitríona Balfe attends the Charles Finch & CHANEL 2024 Pre-BAFTA Party at 5 Hertford Street on February 17, 2024 in London (Image: John Phillips/Getty Images)

Polka party

Caitríona Balfe attends the launch of Manzi's Soho, in partnership with Choose Love, on July 6, 2023 in London (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Wolseley Hospitality Group)

A night at the theatre

(L to R) Caitríona Balfe, Gloria Obianyo, Tobias Menzies and Sophie Okonedo attend the press night after party for "Portia Coghlan" at The Almeida Theatre on October 17, 2023 in London (Image: Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Vive la France!

Delphine Arnault and Caitríona Balfe at Loewe Ready To Wear Spring 2024 held at Esplanade Saint Louis on September 29, 2023 in Paris, France (Image: Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images)

A night on the town

Caitríona Balfe attends the private view of "Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto" at The V&A on September 13, 2023 in London (Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

Cait and Stella

Caitríona Balfe and Stella McCartney attend the NET-A-PORTER x Stella McCartney cocktail party during London Fashion Week to celebrate the Stella McCartney FW23 Runway collection at The Box Soho on September 15, 2023 in London (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for NET-A-PORTER)

Here’s where Brian passed his 10-image limit…

With Big Sam 👨🏼👩🏻

Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe attend Outlander Season 7 World Premiere At Tribeca Film Festival at OKX Theatre at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center on June 09, 2023 in New York City (Image: Getty Images for STARZ)

New York, New York 👩🏻👨🏻

Caitríona Balfe and Zachary Quinto attend Outlander Season 7 World Premiere At Tribeca Film Festival at Verōnikaon June 09, 2023 in New York City

The famous four 👩🏻👨🏼👩🏼👨🏻

Sam Heughan, Caitríona Balfe, Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin attend Outlander Season 7 World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in NYC (Image: Getty Images for STARZ)

Check the link for the three missing photos:

Scottish Daily Express

Remember… only six more months of Droughtlander to go… 🙃

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Gregory Edward “Greg” Hemphill born 14th December 1969 in Glasgow.

I think the majority of us will know who Greg is, one half of the successful partnership with partner, Ford Kiernan that is Still Game.

The family left Scotland when Greg was twelve years old, and he spent much of his childhood in Montreal, Canada. Greg returned home to study at Glasgow University, in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, graduating MA in 1992.

Greg made his acting debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1990. His work includes roles in God Plus Support in the Theatre and Only an Excuse. He is a regular on the comedy circuit. He also ventured into radio as the original presenter of football show, Off the Ball on BBC Radio Scotland and The Eddie Mair Show. As well as writing for Still Game and Chewin The Fat he has written for Channel 4 programme Space Cadets, BBC’s Pulp Video and The Ferguson Theory.

Still Game has transferred successfully onto the big stage and has sold out countless times at The Hydro. The third and final run of the shows Still Game: The Final Farewell was officially announced on 1st November 2018. The ninth and final series of Still Game was screened in 2019 The show won an ‘Outstanding Contribution’ TV award at Scottish Baftas that year.

Away from his work Greg is a bit of a card shark, he plays in competitions, he has won over thirty thousand dollars in competitions and was third in the Scottish Championships in 2002

Greg has been kind of quiet of late, but the good news is he returns to our screens on Hogmanay with a new sketch show. The show is set to bring up all the biggest talking points of this year – from COP26 to the wild swimming phenomenon. The show titled “Queen of the New Year” will star Greg and Robert Florence along with Barbara Rafferty, Clive Russell, Gayle Telfer Stevens, Louise McCarthy, John Gordon Sinclair and Juliet Cadzow, so some familiar faces from Still Game and Burnistoun.

Greg is married to Balamory star Julie Wilson Nimmo, 46, they announced they are to their own production company launch Blue Haven Productions Limited. The latest from Greg and Julie who live in the West End of Glasgow, is they will be teaming up who live in the West End, are appearing together in Olga da Polga, the first-ever television adaptation of Paddington creator Michael Bond’s beloved books. The new 13-part, live-action and animation series is produced by Glasgow-based production company Marakids, and it has been made with the full support of the Bond family.

Greg and Julie have been married since 1999, they met while both were working on the 90s sketch show Pulp Video. Greg says of them;

“We met on sketch shows, and we always laughed a lot. We still do. There are lots of laughs, lots of carry on when we work together.”

Greg and his Still Game sidekick Ford Kiernan launched a whisky, named after their characters Jack and Vioctor a few years back, and the knobs at Jack Daniels objected after the pair later applied to register the name as a trademark for whisky and other drink-related services. The matter ended up going to an arbitrator. The Tennessee-based company claimed the drink, named after Still Game’s two main characters, could confuse customers and make them think they were endorsing the Scotch blend.

The firm argued the name could allow the Scottish whisky to cash in on the recognition of the well-known brand.

Hemphill, who plays the character Victor, provided evidence during the dispute while managing director Justin Welch provided evidence for Jack Daniel’s.

Hemphill said Still Game was a popular show across the UK, particularly in Scotland, arguing that “Jack and Victor” has become synonymous with the BBC programme.

It was a great triumph for the small guy versus golliath, Jack Daniel’s was ordered to pay £3,200 to Jack and Victor Limited, the company used to market the whisky earlier this year.

Greg returned to our screens last spring in Dinosaur Scottish comedy drama television series set in Glasgow the series was nominated for four BAFTA Scotland awards, a second series is in the pipeline. Greg and Robert Florence's sketch show Queen Of The New Year is returning to BBC Scotland on 1st January for the fourth year running.

Looking for a perfect Scottish christama stocking filler, Still Game returns in comic book form titled "Still Game: He Who Hingith Aboot Getteth Hee Haw".