americans urgently need to get better at imagining ourselves as perpetrators not victims

oof (from The Magician, Colm Tóibín's fictionalised biography of Thomas Mann)

David Simon said it best

It's now under five weeks until the Belfast City Marathon and every donation to Refuweegie makes my training runs easier (honest!) www.justgiving.com/page/carmen-...

My piece on navigating the Orientalism of Turandot, for @nytimes.com

Two hours to go!!! All donations doubled!

They asked an AI to determine which books were inappropriate and among many other dumb outputs it flagged Reni Eddo-Lodge and Michelle Obama because their books deal with racism.

Truly overcome to be included in @thesondheimhub.bsky.social's round-up piece celebrating what would have been Sondheim's 96th birthday - look at all the things he's done for me (and us all)! www.thesondheimhub.com/p/96-gifts-f...

Capitalism did this ⬇️

First walk home of 2026 where the sky was (just about) light the whole way!

MJ's @carmenchloie.bsky.social says, "Heartfelt, humorous, and a great watch throughout its relatively brief run time, CORNBREAD MAFIA celebrates all-American ingenuity ." #CornbreadMafia premiered at @sxsw.com

I'm on the board for this wonderful organisation - if you're looking to support community cinemas across the UK, your donations are matched until the target is met during the Big Give! donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...

Want to keep cinema accessible for communities? Supoprt Cinema for All during this year's Big Give! donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...

I'm waiting for three months of freelance invoices + ramping up for the busiest time of year at the day job so of course I've ordered a book of life-sized frog illustrations to cheer up

In the strange and thought-provoking THE GOOD BOY, Anson Boon plays a 19-year-old hoodlum who receives some unconventional rehabilitation from Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-rel... [review by @carmenchloie.bsky.social]

This is Amy Madigan and Ed Harris refusing to applaud Elia Kazan's honorary Oscar in 1999. During the Blacklist Era, Kazan named names. Good on Amy and Ed.

the central point of One Battle After Another—which Paul Thomas Anderson reiterated while accepting his first Oscar—is that middle-aged white men should not be the voice of this political moment

OBAA feels less and less like fiction

love to see Ivo v*n H*ve back on his bullshit

New today, THE POSTERED WALLS. A closer look at 3 Billboards Not Outside Ebbing, Missouri — the iconic posters for Follies, Sweeney Todd, and Sunday —and the visual language of rupture that connects them! www.thesondheimhub.com/p/the-poster...

Huge day for capital-R Romance

Super Nature pulls together Super 8 footage from contributors in 25 countries in a heartfelt testament to the natural world and DIY filmmaking – our review from @glasgowfilmfest.bsky.social, by @carmenchloie.bsky.social

I've been so busy I haven't been posting my thoughts about @glasgowfilmfest.bsky.social's 2026 edition! It's another great year from a fantastic team and city

back on my soapbox, sure, but if you're going to use genAI, let's not use the one powering the war machine www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Preaching to the converted on this site but really good hard clear evidence of AI’s hallucinations here:

Maybe you need some joy at the minute. HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS will deliver

From Hunter S. Thompson’s ESPN page 2 column one week after 9/11.

did not vibe! A mean film with weirdly colonial undertones

love to ask classical music-adjacent people if they've seen Lisztomania (1975, dir. Ken Russell) and watch the light either go into or out of their eyes

Happy Twin Peaks Day to all who are rightfully suspicious of owls.

University student opera in the UK is cheap, messy and a blast. Maddie Lay explores a form that professional opera could learn a lot from: van-magazine.com/mag/student-...

This doesn't seem worth having a Discord account

I'm so excited to be running the Belfast City Marathon in May (a great excuse to go back to one of my favourite cities!) with the goal of raising £500 for Refuweegie, supporting new Glaswegians in this wonderful city www.justgiving.com/page/carmen-...

Amidst the physical media release I finally finished my piece on the two 28 Years Later films carmencp.substack.com/p/green-and-...

Amidst the physical media release I finally finished my piece on the two 28 Years Later films carmencp.substack.com/p/green-and-...

Great film! I never want to watch it again! But you should!

bought tickets to see Ramin Karimloo in Sweeney Todd last week and just now saw the Meow Meow Mrs Lovett casting news, everything is coming up Carmen!!!

UK people, please do this consultation before tonight

I used this guide to fill out the consultation which was useful bc it's purposefully not very clear and also biased! do it before midnight tonight please www.gov.uk/government/c...

I'm so excited to be running the Belfast City Marathon in May (a great excuse to go back to one of my favourite cities!) with the goal of raising £500 for Refuweegie, supporting new Glaswegians in this wonderful city www.justgiving.com/page/carmen-...

The UK government has launched a consultation on 'earned' settlement with the aim of making immigration more difficult and, if you wish, you can tell them what you think of those plans before 11.59pm on Thursday (12 February). www.gov.uk/govern.../co...

Ooo, this is very incorrect, @apnews.com. You may not have to get permission from a long-dead composer, but you absolutely do need permission from the people who own the specific recording you’re using, which is generally not in the public domain yet.

the news I was waiting for! Only a month and a half to go 🥲

For this week’s Silents Sundays I wrote about when HUAC came for Charlie Chaplin after he spoke up about fascism.

CONTINUE TELLING EVERYONE YOU KNOW THAT AI IS THE STUPIDEST SHIT EVER IT IS WORKING CONTINUE TO MAKE ART YOURSELF CONTINUE TO WRITE THINGS THAT INSPIRE YOU THE WHOLE POINT OF BEING ALIVE IS TO CREATE COOL SHIT AI STRIPS US OF THE POINT OF BEING HUMAN

Had some thoughts on new year's resolutions (possibly) working carmencp.substack.com/p/new-year-s...

this is because Dolly Parton is the equal or better of most strung- instrument players you can name, a fact often obscured by the vocabulary of iconography sometimes used to discuss her work. thanks for coming to my presentation this’ll take about half a hour

my thoughts about Barbican Sunday - - The leads are *excellently* cast - It's not a bad thing an entirely new audience will be introduced to one of Sondheim's (imo) trickiest and most beautiful works - If said new audience misbehaves, it's war

Girl Scout cookies don't ship internationally (a tragedy among all the others) but Americans wanting to treat themselves really ought to order from here