Take a look into my mind and see the process that turns an idea into a story. mattkelland.substack.com/p/the-cop-st...

Interesting take: a lot of early filmmakers like Melies and Edison were just playing around with the medium to see what it could do. It was many years later before we really figured out how to tell engaging stories with film. theconversation.com/spectacle-we...

There are two meanings to FAFO. 1. Do stupid stuff, the consequences are on your own head 2. Do crazy stuff, learn from new experiences You don't FO if you don't FA. I've been doing a lot of FA this week, and have found out a lot. And it's been fun. www.reddit.com/r/sciencemem...

It's the same as the promise of so many other technologies: it'll reduce your workload. No, it'll just enable you to do more in the same time. www.itsnicethat.com/features/the...

I do most of my best thinking while walking. www.upworthy.com/linguist-exp...

I enjoy reading Dan Brown, and I'm not ashamed of it.

There's an Airfix podcast? Of course there is. open.spotify.com/show/7tJK81q...

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that Billy Joel did a (bad) heavy metal album, and I can't decide whether or not I want to listen to it. ultimateclassicrock.com/billy-joel-h...

Started reading a novel where the premise is a vast explosion in Beijing in 1626. I assumed it was alt-history or sci-fi, but no... thechinaproject.com/2022/06/01/a...

Enjoying the sound of rain. Unexpected, lovely, wet, rain. It's barely rained since June: our veggies have barely survived, and I'm beginning to worry about our well.

“Letting your mind play is the best way to solve problems.” – BILL WATTERSON

You've been told you must write an author newsletter. Sigh, you'd rather write something worthwhile instead. Actually, your newsletter could be that. @deleyna.bsky.social writersinthestormblog.com/2025/09/news... #writinglife #writingcommunity #authorlife #publishing #skywriters

Then arises the third and inexorable question: If Civilisation has increased the producing power of the average man, why has it not bettered the lot of the average man? There can be one answer only—MISMANAGEMENT. (Jack London, The People of the Abyss) Much like Orwell's Down & Out in Paris & London

Thank you for coming to my Teddy talk.

I did a newsletter thing. (And yes, it says Spring, not Autumn, cos I'm not very good at MailChimping this morning.) mailchi.mp/be0d36fb4f2d...

It was only a matter of time. www.techradar.com/pro/security...

Who knows what treasures can be found on those shelves - or in the reserve stacks that nobody visits? They’re destined to remain unopened, unread, until they finally crumble into nothingness a couple of centuries from now. mattkelland.substack.com/p/the-unexpl...

New Paperback Show "Book to Movie" podcast covers Ira Levin's novel, Rosemary's Baby, and its 1968 movie adaptation by Roman Polanski. Special guest host: Matt Kelland. paperbackshow.com/ep-27-book-t...

Woah. That's a lot more than I was expecting. www.nova.ie/deezer-revea...

@rickygrove.bsky.social and I have been talking about books and movies again. open.substack.com/pub/paperbac...

Contains a nice explanation of why using AI to create moving images is not the same as using it for actual video production. www.creativebloq.com/ai/flow-stud...

Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning is fun, but wildly implausible. A Black female US President? That's absurd!

Thinking of all my former colleagues from Full Sail. I don't think there are many of them still there now - and many have quit teaching completely. www.wusf.org/education/20...

Really enjoyed this - comparing AI to wishes. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Just did a marathon of all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and now I'm feeling a Tim Powers re-read coming on.

I’ve read Illusions countless times over the last forty years, and I’ll probably keep re-reading it at least once a year until I die. open.substack.com/pub/mattkell...

Simply the best slide I have ever seen in a powerpoint presentation care of @premeemohamed.com’s talk at @banffcentre.bsky.social re: Putting the Science in Science Fiction

Oxytocin controls both sides of the mother-pup relationship in mice, influencing how pups communicate when separated from their mothers, a new study finds. By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/oxytocin/oxy...

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Chocolate biscuits on a conveyor belt operated by mechanical mice. I watched a wooden woodpecker have a crisis and peck himself to death. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“As I look along the shelves, I find myself thinking of the authors and publishers who created all these books I've never heard of - and neither, I suspect, has anyone else.” Why I’ve begun to find used bookstores depressing. open.substack.com/pub/mattkell...

Bohemian Rhapsody in Zulu. Just… woah. Goosebumps. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gblj...

Fantastic piece about the gradual loss of color in our world. witwisdom.tomgreene.com/p/fifty-shad...

I'm not always good at remembering to add alt text. Nice to know there's a one-click setting in BlueSky that'll make sure I take five seconds to do it.

I don't play RPGs any more, but if I did, I'd be very tempted to give this a look. Inspired by Moebius, Borges, Hoban, Calvino and Dune? And I can play a sentient plant or crystal? Hell, yeah! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/v...

mattkelland.substack.com/p/my-septemb... Here’s what’s on the shelf this month. Renaissance art, early science fiction, more Eastern European fantasy, and maybe some French and Italian comics.

Utopai Studios is making movies from 'unfilmable' scripts - movies that are too niche or too expensive to produce any other way. I don't think that's a bad thing. www.creativebloq.com/ai/an-ai-sta...

A psychedelic that doesn’t cause you to hallucinate. It switches off your thinking & puts you into a state like what some forms of meditation aim for. No thoughts, no emotions, no sensations, no ego, just a sense of being. Great topic for Unhack Your Brain. open.substack.com/pub/bigthink...

Using AI to help create videos, that's one thing. Using AI to re-re-edit people's videos without telling them or asking permission, that's a whole different level of nope. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

The lesson I take from this isn't that social media is toxic. It's that using algorithms to curate people's feeds and presenting them only with whatever they're most likely to engage with is destined to lead to a toxic outcome. futurism.com/social-netwo...

After a while, you develop a sense of when it's the right time to write, and when it isn't. So part of the skill of being a writer, I believe, is knowing how to cultivate those writing times. mattkelland.substack.com/p/flow-my-wo...

Apparently cows like jazz. I'm assuming they're digging Cow-Cow Boogie by Ella Fitzgerald, and Milk Cow Blues by the Wynton Marsalis Septet featuring Willie Nelson. Or if they're into fusion, Steely Dan's Black Cow. www.bbc.com/news/article...

It’ll likely be winter before I start writing Unhack Your Brain again. I want to get back to working on a novel, and spend time researching some new material. open.substack.com/pub/unhackyo...

Apparently today is Black Cat Appreciation Day. This one's been my companion for 15 years. Samhain, I appreciate you!

Whales, dolphins, rain, waves, trees... yeah, I get those. But I'm not sure I want to fill my house with the sound of frogs. Apparently, though, that was seriously cool in 1958. www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...

This week's post in my "neuroscience meets new age" blog. How I use B5 for meditation - really! unhackyourbrain.substack.com/p/the-seven-...

Woah. (The pic is misleading, most of it's done on traditional Chinese instruments.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4iI...

Underneath the shouting, Americans agree on a surprising number of fundamental values. Approximately 9 in 10 Democrats and Republicans believe in things like government accountability and respect across differences. buildersmovement.org/2025/08/13/6...

Sometimes, it just takes one word to tell you that a show's about to become tedious and tropey. mattkelland.substack.com/p/red-flag-w...