Has someone written about the monstrous feminine in the context of South Asian films and folklore? I'm too phattu to watch or write about this, but very much up for reading the analysis and literature. If you know of something, point me in that direction?

I will be recovering from Sinners by simultaneously overanalysing every detail I can remember and binge-watching the next five episodes of The Apothecary Diaries.

About Sinners, which absolutely lives up to the hype btw: 1. Buddy Guy! 2. 100% need a spinoff about the Choctaw vampire hunters 3. the time-bending musical number was great, but Pale Pale Moon was INCREDIBLE 4. Love how it all began with a lie (about the guitar).

Meta’s argument for pirating books rather than paying for books to train its AI: “for there to be a market, there must be something of value to exchange, but none of Plaintiffs works has economic value, individually, as training data.” Just evil. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...

This is so beautiful and so sad and ironically, so life-affirming. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Thoroughly charmed by North of North. Lots of complex issues dealt with a light touch. A messy older woman, a knotty mother-daughter relationship, coming out of a bad marriage, the shadow of past trauma, race and colonisation, the importance of community — all this and also laughs.

Such a good examination of ideal masculinity in pop culture and the possible messages they contain (pegged to that bizarre Ashton Hall video, but looking at a whole lot more). www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8T...

Every time I question my life choices, I will remind myself that at least I didn't become the person who announces executive orders about "a war on showers".

"“That is the American renaissance. We are robot fluffers." ~ Jon Stewart on The Daily Show www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfl...

Me showing up to submit final draft of novel.

I want this more than I probably should

Enjoyed every episode of Severance S2 while watching it, but this season is a disappointment for the way the story stagnates instead of moving forward. It's as though the season is nothing more than a setup for the resolutions in the next season.

Brilliant documentary, fantastic moment. Just for the rousing reception that the room gave No Other Land, the Academy gets a thumbs-up from me. If you can find No Other Land — which no American distributor picked up because…? — you must must watch it.

Henceforth, I’m watching cricket if Afghanistan is playing.

Snippets from my column on Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and Satyajit Ray’s Nayak:

Need work music for an 8-hour shift? Apple's got you covered. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRnD...

Zero interest in cricket or Champions Trophy but this classic rock playlist (just heard Sweet Child O’ Mine and Living on a Prayer for boundaries scored) at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium — 🫶🏾

When I first started learning about the ancient Mesopotamian demoness, Lamashtu, about fifteen years ago, it never occurred to me how much I'd end up saying 'semen stealing'... Also this was so much fun!

On the plus side, the algorithm evidently has some way to go before it becomes the master of us all.

Watching Perfect Match is making me appreciate the cinematographer of The Double so much. #Cdrama

Chatting with a friend of the ye olde days of the internet, when it was a place of silliness and fun, I was reminded of Figwit. Thrilled to discover there's a whole page on Wikipedia for an elf extra who was in LOTR: FOTR for three seconds. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figwit

January in four frames. (Art by Katie Mansfield/ more at tragicgirlsco.com)

The Oscar love for Emilia Pérez is proof if anyone needed it that Hollywood is all about tokenism. While it’s excellent that a trans actor was cast in the lead, there’s so much that’s questionable and/ or lazy about that film and its trans representation.

The idea of Homeric heroes being eco-warriors wouldn't have struck us if we weren't in the middle of a climate crisis. (Honestly, wish Uberto Pasolini and his writing team had read some of these modern interpretations and analyses before making The Return.) theconversation.com/the-heroes-o...

Flow, by Gints Zilbalodis, is utterly and completely gorgeous. I suppose one could nitpick about some details, but why would you when it gives you moments as beautiful as these.

Watch All of the Commercials That David Lynch Has Directed: A Big 30-Minute Compilation

Grant me the confidence of being able to introduce myself with nothing more than “we spoke on Instagram a year ago”.

July. That’s when the US could have put a halt to the genocide in Gaza.

Destroyed two pressure cookers in one day.

Wrote about All We Imagine As Light, which didn’t feel as brilliant to me as the hype suggested. These are from the unedited version. Edited version is (behind paywall 🙄) here: www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/ar...

Nothing like being a caregiver to make you thankful for technology and household devices.

Considering Emilia Perez's Golden Globe wins, this seems like a good time to repost this: glaad.org/emilia-perez...

In the last episode of When The Phone Rings, the writer and director are basically like, "Yeah, we know a lot doesn't really add up, but here, take Yoo Yeon-seok + Chae Soo-bin kissing. Kthanxbai." While I'll take every bit of those two eating each other up, this Kdrama kinda sorta lost the plot.

My first watch of the year is Babygirl and this better not be a portent for 2025 because if it is, I'm going to spend the year feeling very angry. Nicole Kidman is awesome for finding unusual projects and women directors to collaborate with, but this film is so damn narrow-minded.

New year, new book? Absolutely not if you’re a tradition-minded Bengali. Wait till the Bengali month of Poush ends for an auspicious start. That’s earning you time to faff till Jan 15th-ish. No one does procrastination quite like Bengalis.

This GIF is one of the greatest contributions to our contemporary culture.

4/ Court's unprecedented approval of warrant for sitting president puts pressure on Yoon to comply with investigation. Standoff between investigators and presidential security could mark the next flashpoint in South Korea's deepening political crisis.

Breaking: Seoul court has issued an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges, marking the first time in South Korean constitutional history that a sitting president faces arrest.

View from the Tropic of Illegitimate Reality (1975-78) by Zahoor ul Akhlaq. Fantastic title by the Pakistani artist and a latitude that so many places seem to occupy today.

ultimate baller move -- Jimmy Carter outlived the man who wrote his obituary.

This is the lash photograph of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyeh, taken as he walks, unflinching, towards the Israeli tanks. An absolutely harrowing image.

Wetflix.

Popping up briefly to point to @dpanjana.bsky.social's year end media recs roundup newsletter wherein she vindicates my reaction of 'meh' to All We Imagine As Light, and also my complete adoration for We Are Lady Parts deepanjana.substack.com/p/the-best-o...

Kill List, Hysterical, Serial, Master, Who Replaced Avril Lavigne and Extrasensory were among my favourite podcasts this year. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Product placement, C-drama style 😄

They better make a show of this.

My New Year’s Resolution. What’s yours?

Blake Lively’s decision to take the legal route and go public has definitely left some people’s knickers in a twist. Love how Baldoni’s publicist’s defence is that they only planned to bury Lively, but didn’t actually do it. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Occasionally, the writing life isn’t too shabby.

Absolutely and unapologetically eating up every crumb of this Lively-Baldoni saga. Just wish I could remember the name of the idiot who said I was thinking like a novelist and not a real person when I said the bad press about Lively during It Ends With Us promotions smacked of being a smear campaign