Just reposting this for anyone who missed it at the time. You still have until the end of June.

Why, annoyingly, I had to reassess Star Wars’ villains I'm well attested as to having hated The Phantom Menace, well the entire prequel trilogy, and to having been incandescent with rage at Rise of Skywalker's racist, misogynistic bullshit. I'm pretty clear too that The Force Awakens took a turn…

I'm not going to list the female characters from Star Trek who I fancy the most (that is to say, having obviously listed them to my personal satisfaction, I'm not going to post that list here), but D'Vana Tendi is definitely among them.

I've watched it about 20 times, but you're right that coming to it fresh would be a completely different experience. One I no longer remember, though.

DS9 rewatch: the kid, who's never seen amy of it, just walked in at the precise moment Bashir first meets Garak and asked, "Are they about to kiss?"

the magic of the Muppets is that there are two fourth walls. they constantly break the one that reminds the audience they are performers. they NEVER break the one that reminds the audience they are puppets. this dynamic is the key to their entire comedy style

Finally watched the last episode of Stranger Things. It went on too long and needed more 80s music, but in storytelling terms I reckon it did all the right things. It's rare for a multi-year series to get to the end and manage that.

Finished the first draft of a 12,000-word story today, which feels like more of an accomplishment than it should. Nevertheless, whee.

See also heroes getting their shoulder dislocated, then popping the arm back into the socket with the other hand while giving a pained but stoical grunt. It took three strong medics an hour to reset my dislocation, and my arm needed support, rest and physio for months.

My number one piece of writing advice is: don’t do it if you don’t actually like writing

Episode 1 of The Night Manager season 2 makes me suspect this may be plotted more formulaically than the season based on the Le Carre book. Three deaths and a villain reveal all happened right on schedule.

sometimes writing a thing is: deleting a sentence, retyping it, changing two words in it, changing them back again, deleting the whole thing again, then putting it back in nearly the same words but in a different order. sometimes.

I really hope people advocating to ban kids from SM read this. Some kids are isolated by disabilities or circumstances. Furthermore, some kids grow up in abusive households. “Ideally, a child’s exposure to online worlds should be moderated by their parents” isn’t a reassuring sentiment for everyone

Fuck these fucking thieves

Well, that was a swift block.

BLOW IT UP BLOW IT UP BLOW IT UP BLOW IT UP

Unarguable, this.

I'm thinking it might be a sign of wisdom to give up entirely on the idea of "good" and "bad" art, and just talk about what I like and why. In unrelated news, I absolutely loved this week's Starfleet Academy.

I felt weird about doing this, because I know I communicate much better in a written format than the spoken word, but Kenny is an excellent interviewer with a lovely reassuring voice, and I don't appear on the face of it to have said anything too profoundly stupid.

If this is something that appeals, you can hear me talking to Kenny Smith about my latest book, the Black Archive on the 1966 Doctor Who story The Ark, on the Power of 3 podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/4...

Someone should do an Aliens vs Borg comic. As well as the fun of seeing who managed to body-horror whom, you'd get the maximum HR Giger out of the artwork.

After a six year gap. we finally have a new Iris Wildthyme New Adventure novel out! NOBODY’S SWEETHEART NOW by Dale Smith is the Who/Goodnight Sweetheart crossover - sort of, not really! - that we're convinced the world has long been waiting for! obversebooks.co.uk/product/the-...

👁️NEW EPISODE!👁️ Philip Purser-Hallard joins us to discuss his latest #DoctorWho Black Archive from @obversebooks.co.uk - The Ark. on.soundcloud.com/w0GSMXhcEeT3...

Join@Kenny Smith as he chats to Archive editor @purserhallard.com about the latest Black Archive on THE ARK! soundcloud.com/powerof3pod/...

Relocate Parliament and let the building become a marvellously picturesque ruin. Or just blow it up in the biggest Guy Fawkes celebration ever.

I felt weird about doing this, because I know I communicate much better in a written format than the spoken word, but Kenny is an excellent interviewer with a lovely reassuring voice, and I don't appear on the face of it to have said anything too profoundly stupid.

If this is something that appeals, you can hear me talking to Kenny Smith about my latest book, the Black Archive on the 1966 Doctor Who story The Ark, on the Power of 3 podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/4...

What was the Latin word used to introduce questions expecting the answer "Because of racism, obviously"?

It is worth recalling that the position of U.K. Ambassador to the US was not vacant at the time the Prime Minister chose to appoint Peter Mandelson to the role. A highly competent and respected woman was replaced.

THREAD. A collection of photographs of excellent cattle I have met on walks. You will find the captions for the photos in the alt text.

Every individual Native American society I've read about has been fascinating in its own right. It's heartbreaking to think about the incredible diversity of cultures that European imperialism devastated, in America and elsewhere.

That's good, they probably hadn't heard about it before now.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 111: Criticism comes with having readers. If you can't handle criticism - be it fair or unfair - then you should keep your work strictly private.

Maybe Mandelson and Gaiman could set up a detective agency together, going round solving crimes which apparently never happened

The reason I'm posting a lot about Star Trek at the moment is largely because I've gone back to Paramount+ for Starfleet Academy, and am catching up on SNW and Lower Decks while I'm there. I may also rewatch Deep Space Nine.

I'm unconvinced that it's wise for Strange New Worlds to directly parody original Star Trek. (Or indeed, under current circumstances, to revisit the idea that the holodeck AI can digest a series of books then generate stories set in that environment convincingly without the author's involvement.)

I once met a cat sitting on the bonnet of a parked car who needed the underside of her chin stroked intensively for a very long time and was not reticent about making this clear. She was extremely cross when I stopped, and I very nearly missed my train.

Lot of Lolita talk going around. It truly is one the greatest English language novels, written so beautifully you could die of jealousy, but it transparently is a horror novel. Not a romance. It’s a nightmare in which part of the nightmare is our complicity with the narrator.

Mandelson closes barn door to prevent "further bolting" of horse.

I am finding that photo on the Guardian front page of ex-Prince Andrew poised over that poor girl like a fucking Fuesli nightmare incredibly disturbing. Why don't we have mobs with torches and pitchforks any more?

If you play around with your pylon you can end up getting all tingly.

Amazon has placed a VERY specific product warning on the published edition of the Kenneth Williams diaries. The incident that prompted this surely deserved more media attention.

Does anyone else's brain parse Kemal Atatürk's surname as being analogous with "Attaboy!"? Or is that just me?

Emma Bernard, 38, had been looking forward to a classic movie marathon with friends, but found herself unable to enjoy the evening after someone (Becky) incorrectly set the volume to a stupid, wrong number and just left it like that – like a monster.

Basically Starmer threw too many minority groups under the bus, forgetting that if you add up lots of different minorities and the people who love them, you get a majority

I may have just been on a podcast.

As catnip to cats, or Whiffle On The Care of The Pig to Lord Emsworth, is this thread to the righteous.

This is wild. The built environment shapes women and girls lives. From avoiding certain areas to not going out at night. From a lack of services that makes journeys longer to housing estates with no public transport trapping women in abusive homes.