The only reason "AI will replace journalism" is a thing is because we're at the end of a 30 year project to turn journalism from a job where you physically had to go places, see things, talk to people, and build up knowledge of your beat, to reprinting press releases and deliberately idiotic op eds

*Everybody since the 1960s has always recited the "cure cancer" and "go to the moon" thing *Absolutely standard "American Technological Sublime," it's a cultural shibboleth, has next-to-nothing to do with what happens

Reading "AI could compress a century of medical research into a decade. Cancer, Alzheimer's, infectious disease, aging itself... these researchers genuinely believe these are solvable within our lifetimes" on the day the US gov / FDA kneecapped basic vaccine development suggests maybe not

That "who is the most famous person from your school" question is wank - all the answers are either "this mid-list muso" or "uh well me actually", when in reality the correct answer is "some boring dipshit who went on to be VP at some massive firm where half a million people see their name daily"

There's a big difference between a film that's legitimately weird and excessive and one that just repeatedly tells you "hey, aren't I totally weird and excessive!", and if you're unsure of which is which then there's a new version of Wuthering Heights out this week that should clear things up

Things I may have said out loud in an otherwise empty house: “Comics - they’re the best!”

Every single media outlet on earth reviewing the Trump concubine movie, and paying to do so, to further enrich the cunts, in order to tell everyone what we already knew, which is that it’s utter trash, while they invariably ignore numerous worthwhile works of art every fucking day. Nice system.

Threads is good for nothing but the most insane writing “advice” and literary gossip you will ever read - it’s a demented circle jerk where AI slop peddlers tell each other publishing 40K-60K words a month they haven’t actually read makes them the real authors and everyone else is just jealous

The Herald Sun are running a lot of “we’re for Victoria” ads on commercial television at the moment - they must be getting ready for a big push telling Victorians they need to vote for a red-haired Queenslander who just put out a movie insulting the entire state

My question is: will Neil Gaiman publish something new under his real name before Warren Ellis does?

The most unbelievable thing in Neil Gaiman's latest bullshit outburst is that he's "close" to finishing a new novel

I've got three novels (and a play) stashed around here - the first novel was a parody of a (terrible) illness memoir that even I felt was too mean-spirited, then a formalist office drama that was basically one long subtweet, then a crime novel that became a little *too* topical so I had to drop it

Future of public healthcare is at 18 you get given a Predator medkit and anything you can’t fix by pouring some glowing goo on it you have to pay for

The best part of the news that my favourite stupid thriller of the last 7 years - that'd be THE CHAIN - is being made into a streaming series is that "Lindelof is said to be expanding the mythology of McKinty’s thriller", which is code for "new ending" www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/h...

I've read two separate people arguing that AI is bad because it's inert data incapable of innovation or creativity and that we should embrace death as the price we pay for creative thought, and whatever the merits of that argument I'm pretty sure "death is good, actually" isn't a great sales pitch

It’s going to be crazy here when people realise that Annabel Crabb’s Kitchen Cabinet is returning in 2026

Based on every single (film) critic I've ever met, this would instantly turn into a circular firing squad only everyone would be going after everyone else with flamethrowers

Just told my partner about some minor plumbing repairs I completed and then got a MyGov notification that my text had been rated "R" by the Australian Classification Board for excess use of the words "pipe" "hole" and "root"

Tomorrow's session will look at current levels of wheel use, with an eye to stricter regulation.

Civilisation was fun while it lasted

This is subtweeting someone who isn't even on Bluesky, but: the reason the government doesn't pour millions into "actual development programs for screen content" is because they'd have nothing to show for it - nobody running a network / streamer is out there demanding even more Australian content

I hear rich people can get away with murder these days

I was going to name each Australian crime series guilty of the cliches in this feature I wrote for @screenhub.bsky.social, but it really did turn out to be pretty much all of them: www.screenhub.com.au/news/feature...

Oh it's the "the rest of the world can never truly understand the United States" discourse again, where citizens of a nation that rules the planet and firehoses their media into every corner of the globe complain that everybody else - who they barely think of as real, let alone human - has opinions

The trouble with having Gaiman leap to your defense for not completing a novel or three is that even at the time it was obvious Gaiman enjoyed swanning around performing "being a writer" more than he did writing, and he felt that once you hit a certain level of fame work became an optional extra

I watched THE RIP last night and I don't think I've ever seen a movie get less interesting as it went along. It's a mystery where they tease a whole bunch of interesting and exciting angles and then go "nah, what if we just made it the dumbest, most simplistic shit ever"

I take a 90 minute trip on public transport (one way) to go see movies multiple times each week. A friend of mine (who doesn't review movies) drives over an hour to see movies at one specific cinema whenever possible. People say "going to the movies" for a reason

Thinking about this, I reckon the current / next few years of SFnal movies based on the idea of US scientific prowess and superiority will end up feeling a lot like the adventures of Dan Dare, where in 1951 it was possible to still imagine a future that was the British Empire in space, but only just

Saw the trailer for PROJECT HAIL MARY at the movies tonight and in 2026 the prospect of intelligent alien life seems a lot less far-fetched than a US-led mission that believes threats to the future of Earth are real

Want to make a submission into the inquiry on the "Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill that was released yesterday? You got till 4pm Thursday (ie TOMORROW) That is quite disgraceful www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

Honestly, if you believe *any* story being told on Threads you need to hand in your internet pass. That place is deranged top to bottom

The reason why Australian governments throw billions at sport while ignoring or crushing arts festivals is because the arts help people think about and question society, while sport is nothing more than a relief valve for social and economic pressures they want us to shut up about and endure

Seems this week's workload is 90% replying to screening invites informing them that, as V/Line has decided to double my travel time to & from Melbourne for the next fortnight (& turn a train journey into one that involves two separate trains & a bus), I will be unable to attend pretty much anything

The “Champagne Comedy Podcast” and “People Want Ducks” podcasts. Available on your preferred podcast platform.

Nothing like spending an hour on a ladder in 42 degree heat and gale force winds trying to gaffer tape down a plastic roof from underneath

If I seriously wanted to avoid being murdered, I'd simply refuse to attend any trip, event or holiday that began with the words "Agatha Christie's"

Old enough to remember when "satire" wasn't just accurately describing what the rich and powerful were doing right out in the open anyway

In much the same way as Lee Harvey Oswald became the next President of the United States after killing Kennedy

Hi, I'm Jim Schembri's naked arse sticking out of a toilet cubicle

Whenever I see a Herald-Sun front page (only ever at the supermarket) it's like it's from another dimension where people in supermarkets actually give a single solitary shit about what "major business leaders" are demanding

The only issue of Playboy I own is a 70s issue I bought because it had a Jules Feiffer interview in it, which I maintain is a perfectly legitimate reason to purchase pornography

Spent New Year's Eve rewatching THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and after the last decade or so I'm pretty sure you could make a rock-solid case that it's an official New Year's Movie with the house at the end being the New Year

Now watching an Australian TV drama set in 1987 where a character just took a selfie using a film camera and it’s like they asked for a USB cable so they could charge up a rotary phone

Had an extremely detailed dream last night about watching a movie where Jack Nicholson played a struggling stand-up comedian who turned violent when he found out someone (also played by him) was stealing his jokes and having more success with them, and man, he's still an amazing actor

Every year I review Mitch McTaggart's review special The Last Year of Television and every year it's pretty much the best thing on Australian television. Is this the year I break the cycle? Well, no, but read my @screenhub.bsky.social review anyway: www.screenhub.com.au/news/reviews...

There were a lot of movies released in 2025. Is it in any way fair to pass judgement on them all as a group, comparing one against the other despite their wildly different approaches and subjects? Of course not. And yet, here I am, doing it once again: itsbetterinthedark.blogspot.com/2025/12/best...

Your seasonal reminder that the only true Christmas movie is that scene in GANGSTER SQUAD where Sean Penn (as 50's gangster Mickey Cohen) mows down a Christmas tree with a tommy gun

I don’t want to say I thought someone was going to shoot the baby out of Steve Rogers’ arms and he was going to look up at the sky and scream while the screen went red and AVENGERS came up and then the RS vanished, but yeah, I kinda wish that had happened

I really really hope that’s the ship’s actual name

Toggling between articles about streamers plotting to kill theatrical releases and overviews of “a year when it became harder to see films in theaters because of the disruptive behavior of the audience” and I’m starting to wonder if anyone *really* wants cinemas to stay open