The most intriguing thing for me about this alternative way of looking at The Great Wave is that I had never before realised there were boats in it! Here's the original (first photo) and flipped (second). The idea is that since Japan... https://devilgate.org/2026/07/20/the-most-intriguing-thing-for/

Watched: Billion Dollar Brain 🎥. The third Harry Palmer film, and considerably more bizarre and confusing than the the first or second. Also a Ken Russell film, so that’s probably why. A mad Texan oil billionaire with a private army tries to trigger a third world war, basically

That BBC self-ad at half time of the World Cup Final was OK, but Mitch Benn did it better years ago with ‘I’m Proud of the BBC’ (YouTube link).

📚 Books 2026, 16: Use of weapons, by Iain M Banks: https://devilgate.org/2026/07/18/finished-reading-use-of-weapons/ In which I interrupt a major work to reread a favourite (again), this time inspired by a podcast.

I have no idea how Dave Winer comes to this conclusion: "One of the silver linings of AI use is that it makes you a better writer." Especially when one of the main things people (at least non-programmers) tout it for is doing your writing for you!

Watched: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason 🎥. I was sure I hadn’t seen it before, but I remembered some scenes as they happened. I have a vague memory of a DVD in a holiday house, perhaps. Partial falling asleep may have been involved. It’s daft but fun in places.

📚 Books 2026, 15: The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson: https://devilgate.org/2026/07/06/finished-reading-illuminatus-by-robert/

This from @JohnPhilpin sounds like reviews by John Clute in Interzone back in the day: "👁️ That moment when you open a blog post and you need to look up 4 words just in the first sentence." Source: https://john.philpin.com/2026/06/25/that-moment-when-you-open.html

Well that was a bloody waste of time! Don’t know why I stayed up for that.

"Minute Cryptic - 24 June, 2026 “Hermit perhaps returning alone, wandering city” (9) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 3 under the community par (81,255 solvers so far). www.minutecryptic.com" Tough one, this. My first instinct was right, but I made a wrong guess.

This is what we’re faced with as the year hinges into its second half. Astronomically, if not by the calendar.

Just realised I hadn’t added Moby Dick to my Currently reading’ list. I’m only about a third in, totally loving it, and wondering why people think it’s hard. 📚

God, there are a lot of Scots in Boston! Listen to that!

Selfish Genetics but No AI: https://devilgate.org/2026/06/18/selfish-genetics-but-no-ai/

Going to see Richard Dawkins at the Barbican tonight. The title of his talk is ‘Genes & the Meaning of Life’. It’ll be interesting to see — among other things — if his beliefs about the aliveness of ‘AI’ have changed.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 🎥 is a lot funnier and also more compact than I remembered. More compact, because in my memory the business of trying to decode ‘POE’/‘OPE’ etc, went on for much l... https://devilgate.org/2026/06/03/watched-dr-strangelove-or-how/

Sad to read of the death of Anthony Head (or Anthony Stewart Head, as he always used to be credited).

📚 Books 2026, 8: The Spirit of Science Fiction, by Roberto Bolaño, Translated by Natasha Wimmer: https://devilgate.org/2026/04/13/finished-reading-the-spirit-of/

📚 Books 2026, 7: Raven Black, by Ann Cleeves: https://devilgate.org/2026/04/07/finished-reading-raven-black-by/

If You Hail Mary, Will She Stop to Pick You Up?: https://devilgate.org/2026/04/11/if-you-hail-mary-will/

📚 Books 2026, 6: The Twenty Days of Turin, by Giorgio De Maria, Translated by Ramon Glazov: https://devilgate.org/2026/04/06/finished-reading-the-twenty-days/

I’ve posted here every day so far this year. That’s unusual for me — unprecedented, in fact. I might take a break now , though. Except… hello.

Against the Far Right but not Against Antisemitism?: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/27/against-the-far-right-but/

I’m currently reading The Twenty Days of Turin A Novel by Giorgio de Maria. 📚 It’s a very odd work, which in part slightly prefigures (because it’s set in the 1970s) some of the negative effects of social networks. But it’s about a lot more than that.

Why Can't We Find Out What the Green Party is Proposing?: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/25/why-cant-we-find-out/

Putting this interview with Andy Weir here for future reference. We’re going to see Project Hail Mary next week, and it claims the book and film are ‘built on solid science’. But it’s described as: "a story about humanity’s last... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/24/putting-this-interview-with-andy/

The music app on iOS: what does this icon on the top right do? Or what is it supposed to do, because nothing audible or visible happens when I tap it?

The First Band I Ever Saw, 46 Years Later: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/23/the-first-band-i-ever/

Ben Werdmuller tells us ‘AI is changing the style and substance of human writing, study finds’: "the software really does change the substance of your writing in what I would call objectively bad ways: it makes it less personal and les... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/22/ben-werdmuller-tells-us-ai/

Tonight, at London’s historic Roundhouse!

To the Hackney Empire tonight, to see Bridget Christie’s Jacket Potato Pizza, tour which was excellent.

We watched The Man in the Hat 🎥 a few nights ago. An odd, gentle little British/French road movie from 2020. It’s almost silent, at least as far as the main character goes. Others have dialogue, but not a lot. A man goes on the run across Fr... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/19/we-watched-the-man-in/

📚 Books 2026, 5: Red Menace, by Joe Thomas: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/18/books-red-menace-by-joe/

Of course a quick digital lookup answers the question in my previous post: the new meaning of ‘nonplussed’ is its exact opposite. Literally.

kottke shares the teaser trailer for Dune: Part Three, and says he is nonplussed by it, ‘both in the traditional and modern senses.’ I was just annoyed by the whispery voiceover. But: what is this ‘modern’ sense of ‘nonplussed’?

Hari Seldon as an undercover Sigmund Freud? It’s a long time since I read any of the Foundation trilogy, but this article, describing it as a ‘Jewish Masterpiece’ suggests Freud as partly a model for Seldon: "The Foundation trilogy ... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/16/hari-seldon-as-an-undercover/

Identity Is The Crisis, Can't You See?: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/15/identity-is-the-crisis-cant/

Claim Chowdering Gruber's Claim Chowder: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/14/claim-chowdering-grubers-claim-chowder/

Good piece by Jonathan Freedland about the disastrous state of the war in Iran. I know I said I felt supportive at the start, and I still want to see the Islamic Republic’s regime fall, and Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis with it. But sadly it isn’t likely this can make that happen.

🎥 Small Prophets is Mackenzie Crooks new comedy-drama. We watched the first episode tonight. Looks like it’s going to be really good. Interesting similarities to Ricky Gervais’s After Life, in that you’ve got a sad man living al... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/12/small-prophets-is-mackenzie-crooks/

In more ‘AI’ nonsense, Grammarly is giving bad advice and tagging writers’ names to it, without paying the writers or even getting their permission. I tried Grammarly a few years ago and hated it, but that was long before the LLM boom. This is beyond unethical.

I find it deeply weird and surprising to read of authors claiming as ‘mine’ images they requested, or copied and manipulated using ‘AI’. The kind of claim quoted in the linked piece, that ‘it’s all mine.’ When it plainly isn’t. Writers, you’d think, ought to understand that words have meanings.

Purity Poetry: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/10/purity-poetry/

The Olympic Park, the V&A, and Bowie: https://devilgate.org/2026/03/09/the-olympic-park-the-va/

Glasgow Central: Building collapses at station as fire causes major disruption - BBC News Oh no! Glasgow Central! Also my brother and sister-in-law are here and heading back there tomorrow.

To the Arcola theatre in Dalston this afternoon, for Ukraine Unbroken, a set of five short plays about Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2014. Powerful, moving, a reminder of a time we lived through and that the people of Ukraine are still living through it.

In a world of lies, we need the BBC more than ever, the headline to Polly Toynbee’s article says. It continues: ‘This week could be our last chance to save it,’ which makes for a very long headline, if a very good point. My favourite quote is ... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/06/in-a-world-of-lies/

Started watching The Miniaturist Season 1 🎥. Very strange household they’ve got there. Big on atmosphere, costumes, and interiors. Not sure where the story’s going to go yet.

Currently reading: Red Menace by Joe Thomas 📚 This is the sequel to White Riot, which I read a surprising two-and-a-half years ago. Ongoing Hackney cop, criminal, and political shenanigans, starting on the day of Live Aid.

Netflix’s Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials 🎥, written by Chris Chibnall, was excellent. Really compelling story that kept us mostly guessing till almost the end. I don’t know what Agatha did with it, or intended to do with it, ... https://devilgate.org/2026/03/03/netflixs-agatha-christies-seven-dials/