www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d... "Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions."

just watched episode 7 of Pluribus - i think it's one of the best explorations of deep loneliness depicted in and through silence. i think anyone (or only those who have) who has experienced it that deeply in their everyday life would appreciate it.

Looking for recommendations while I have limited discount subscription: Any good Apple TV series? So far watched Severance, The Studio, Down Cemetery Road, Pluribus, Slow Horses, Silo and loved them.

AI and LLMs trend towards sameness of expression - it might just make us all more boring! www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-...

With Alex Dunst, I edited a special issue on the question of literary value. Silkworms, angels, utopias, Edouard Louis, Thomas Pynchon, and much more. www.boundary2.org/2025/12/alex...

When music becomes a—if not the main—character. I love the part where they walk down the stairs with the film’s hypnotic ost blasting in the background. I still think about this film (don’t read or watch interviews before seeing the film — you will get major spoilers). youtu.be/H1hHEI2UIe0?...

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

TDK, 2024 yilinin kelimesi/kavrami: kalabalik yalnizlik. tdk.gov.tr/icerik/basin... 2024, word of the year in Turkish "kalabalik yalnizlik" - difficult to translate, but something that would mean loneliness in the crowd or crowded loneliness (not proud of my translation skills atm)

Important news: the deadline for the joint BAMS/MSA conference in Loughborough has been extended to December 29, 2025! You can review the CFP, and find links to the submission platform, here. www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...

💫 My book is finally in print! Immensely grateful to all my colleagues and to @emilysharp.bsky.social , @elizabethfr.bsky.social, and the whole team at @edinburghup.bsky.social for their support throughout the writing, revision, and publication process! 🚨 (For a 30% discount, use code NEW30)

just watched Oliver Laxe's SIRAT. It shakes you to the core, stays w/you, hypnotizes you. Profound sadness, hopeless pursuit of hope & helpless resignation to hopelessness masterfully combined. The political background is nicely inserted. Captivating ambiance. Intense, jarring, memorable.

Thrilled to announce my new book (electronic version out now, print next month) — it proposes a new value theory grounded in the longue durée of literary institutions, 1800–present.

FYI1: The superb webinar "Turning your Dissertation into a Book" is up! FYI2: It's the 1st for "Publishing with University Presses Webinar Series" co-sponsored by @aupresses.bsky.social (HT, Faculty Outreach Committee) and hosted by Rutgers CMSI. #ReadUP #PublishUP www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SST...

I'll be taking a break from social media for a while (starting tomorrow) and I won't be checking my messages here often. But I have been using the messages function &would like to be able to keep in touch with people I have connected with here. So, if there is anything, please feel free to email me.

Comparative Literature - Assistant Professor (Theory, Modern French literature and Spanish-language literatures of Latin America) - Université de Montréal universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?... (I don't know Spanish 😭 someone get this and hire me for a different/similar position?)

Unique opportunity for postdocs from the University Alliance Ruhr #UARuhr working in the social sciences and/or the humanities: with its #PostdocLab programme, the College for Social Sciences and Humanities offers funding for cross-university working groups. 🔔 Call: www.college-uaruhr.de/postdoclab

I have finished my PhD (with a diss titled "Bored As Hell: Reading Boredom in Modern Literature) a month ago & am now officially in my post-PhD stress era, currently gathering info & looking for PostDoc fellowships--and ofc, needless to say, ideally FT/TT positions. (1/)

Great news! JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month www.jstor.org/action/showL...

Associate professorship in German Literature and Culture at University of South Denmark. (someone get this and then hire me?) - fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Latest Georges Didi-Huberman. This time as a curator of the exhibition, “In the Troubled Air… Image, emotion, utopia": "he questions the nature of human emotions and argues that emotions do not belong to us, but rather exist in space. www.cccb.org/en/exhibitio... www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tMD...

Would make a good AppleTV series. very interesting novel.

Now that I have a dachshund I think I’m obligated to get this tattoo.

Cambridge Üniversitesi’nden Mete Atatüre, köyümüzdeki etkinlikte edindiği gözlemleri aktarıyor: 'Buranın işleyişi fikren de bana çok yakın. Katılımcı, ortak üretim fikrini burada deneyimlemiş olduk.' #bilimlerköyü #villageofsciences

finished SILO on Apple TV -- very underrated show, i loved it! a lot to think about isolation and aesthetics of isolation.

In the early modern Ottoman Empire, the most valued tulips featured long, pointed petals and slender forms in contrast to the rounded varieties preferred in Europe. 🌷

The book’s intro is ready to go… The final title might still change slightly, but for now it’s: “Uncertain Knowledge: The Science of Making Relevance between the Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe”

new! REALISM AND THE NOVEL: A GLOBAL HISTORY www.cambridge.org/in/universit...

just wanted to share that i've just submitted my diss. and i don't know how to be in the world. and i'm scared that something will go wrong. the image below is from our Bored As Hell essay cluster. post45.org/sections/con...

For this week's @thetls.bsky.social, I wrote about Christina of Markyate, medieval wonder woman and visionary management consultant: www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...

terrible revision day 16 days before my diss submission date. i have a weak chapter. need to hear stories of ppl having weak diss chapters.

does one include the sources mentioned in the footnote in the biblio of one's dissertation? e.g.: I wrote a footnote to provide additional context to my argument & cited a source in the footnote. Do I include that source in my biblio OR do I only write sources I cited in the body of the writing?

As I’m entering the final stages of my diss revisions, often think about *that* person who brags about submitting their diss to be published as a book without changing even one word. I want the same confidence.

I want notes about type to be mandatory for every book.

Maybe it’s just me bc i’m a Housewives fan but this is starting to feel like Housewives level drama and social media posting. a reunion episode with these two would be great.

i watched Jess Armstrong's Mountainhead and did NOT like it. the obviousness of everything it is trying to do made it boring. imho, he should have stopped writing about uber rich/media empires/tech bros etc. with Succession.

Critical theory x Vanderpump Rules: From theories of everyday to non-theatrical refusal as a form of performance, an analysis of Ariana Madix as a reality tv personality. Love this. www.reddit.com/r/vanderpump...

finishing the second season of SEVERANCE. Milchick is such a captivating character and Tramell Tillman dominates the screen and holds your attention. I want to know his story. Severance creators need to team up with Better Call Saul writers for a Milchick prequel or an episode exploring his past.

I’ve started watching the latest season of RHOBH. I can’t stand Dorit - she’s trying to “bring it” & as usual looks fake&sounds irritating but I really enjoyed this reddit post, a sociolinguistic analysis of Dorit’s multiple accents: www.reddit.com/r/BravoRealH...

My new strategy to quickly and successfully finish dissertation revisions to submit everything by July: listening to Apple Music’s Sound Therapy to improve cognitive performance

For cinephiles: would highly recommend TIME TO LOVE on MUBI (Canada). A love story inspired by Sufi tales. Or, one can also see it as falling in love with the image of an idea of a person. a lot to unpack from the perspective of image studies too, as well as its exploration of loneliness.

yes:

Also a philosopher of boredom, who, in 40 Acres says that “the Devil's new playground is boredom.”

🔊C21 are excited to be commissioning a series of new review essays! Check out the suggestion of topics and titles in this thread and get in touch via email or DM our review editors (@heyitsdenisew.bsky.social and @olihaslam.bsky.social) if you’d like to review any of these recent publications!📖

6th edition of Boredom Conference(online) program is out. Registration is FREE. I'm presenting a small portion of one my of dissertation chapters - a lil' something about boredom, work, not-doing, & reclaiming boredom. Paper abstracts included in the program. www.boredomsociety.com/6th-boredom-...

just watched BRING THEM DOWN on MUBI. Wonderful performances by Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott. Sadness, loneliness, even the violence, all very tragic.

here is my new article on mad men, real estate, the past, the future (open access!): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... this is part of an upcoming special issue of rethinking history on "memories of the future" edited by louis bayman and tim vermeulen