This thread was inspiring. I've never run anything more ambitious than short creative workshops for middle school kids, but even those can be electric. We're wired to be creative. Too often I think that circuitry gets bypassed by everyday life. But it's still there.

'Country House at Negishi' - Takahashi Hiroaki, ca. 1936. #JapaneseArt

LEO NARD BERN STEIN

Hand-painted celestial escape in the Méliès fantasy THE KINGDOM OF THE FAIRIES. The film was available as an entire presentation or as separate sequences. Fairy extravaganzas were big business on the stage but the movies made them available to all.

I prefer to think of it as "being earnest" but it's probably cringe to say that.

Weapons is a helluva good time. The atmosphere is relentlessly creepy, the acting is excellent, the story is expertly told. Unsettling, funny, gross, and hugely satisfying. Reminded me of seeing Misery on the big screen.

Just here to say The Limey is a really really good movie and Terence Stamp was perfect in it. Lots of moments that have stayed with me from this film but this one is the one I think about most often youtu.be/tJLdaKUBGzo?...

One of the loveliest things anyone's ever said about my books, and a more perfect description of the thing I try to do with stories than any I would have come up with. 🙏 🙏 🙏

Post one of the most haunting shots in movie history from a film made before the year 2000

Incredible. Obscenity-free, absolutely devastating, and just at a first, non-Romanian-speaking effort, it rolls smoothly off the tongue.

Love this.

That fretless, nylon (or is it gut)-strung baritone banjo with the fiddlehead stock, ALL BY ITSELF, feels like it's from a forgotten branch of the past. But the way she plays it, and the way she sings? I don't think I've ever heard a modern performance that sounded like this.

They finally made the milk from that hotel

The other night I took a late night taxi from the airport & my driver was from Sudan. We got to talking, & he asked what I do - he is a sports journalist who writes about soccer & has been to many World Cups - so I explained what I write...

A worthy follow-up to Morris Honor Book Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef, Bird of a Thousand Stories is about a modern girl who can speak with and help magical creatures. Like the original, it's interwoven with magical tales from across the world. Read my review: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fi...

Listening to Fox Confessor last night.... What an absolute all-timer by Neko Case. Haunted and sacred and timeless and rich from start to finish. The way the second verse of Margaret and Pauline unfolds itself is so perfect, so masterful, so devastating, and every song after hits just as hard.

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Hey #filmsky, do any of you know of movies besides this one and #Sinners that does roughly this with diegetic music? This has always been one of my all-time favorite scenes in anything, and I was so happy when Sinners did something similar. youtu.be/JyxSm91eun4?...

Implement a 100% tariff and ruin a movie Quadruple Indemnity

That moment of intellectual vertigo when someone shares a peek into a whole deep body of work that you never knew existed

Forget it Jake, it's ... Chintown

Jeanne Dielman

Amazing breakdown of both the creative process and what it's like to ambush audiences with a powerful and moving song 8x a week, from the cast and creators of the wonderful Operation Mincemeat (a bit spoilery so if you're planning to see the show, do that 1st) www.theatermania.com/news/operati...

An excellent toolkit by @natcassidy.bsky.social for crafting suspense, but I think its utility extends a lot further than horror and suspense precisely because all these tools are so deeply rooted in character. www.writersdigest.com/how-one-nons... PS I agree w this controversial quote

I will be at YALLWEST in Santa Monica on Saturday May 3, along with a small army of amazing young adult and middle-grade authors and illustrators. If you're in LA, and looking for a fun and free(!) way to spend your Saturday, come by SAMOHI and say hi!

This is a delightful reminder of how great indie bookstores are, and I wish I was in OKC so I could play.

I've got a joke about Ganymede but it's not age appropriate

I have a joke about Athena that'll make your head hurt.

I thought I had a joke about Eurydice but I turned around and it was gone.

I have a joke about Odysseus but it takes like twenty years to bring it home.

This thread is invigorating. Support the indies, they are the best. Embedded outposts of true community in the vortex of late stage capitalism

"Look we will change everything, all the meanings" "Go a new way" That's really good. Noruz mobarak!

Author interview with Kiyash Monsef! Read on the blog about the author's writing process, this lovely companion book to Once There Was, and more. #kidlit #middlegrade #MGlit #WritingCommunity

I so enjoyed @kiyash.bsky.social 's thoughtful answers to my questions for this @themixed-upfiles.bsky.social piece -- and the line, "There are plans, but there are also pants," will now define my own writing style. Check it out (and Kiyash's fantastic new book!) -

This is one of my favorite interviews I've done.

"listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door; let’s go" —E.E. Cummings

I will be a featured author at the Third Coast Author and Book Fest on March 22 in Grand Haven, Michigan. I'm quite excited about this one! I love Michigan -- especially the lake towns -- and I love meeting other authors. If you're there, come say hi! www.thirdcoastfest.org/festival-info

I really love Bird of a Thousand Stories by @kiyash.bsky.social. Reading it is almost a magical experience. pamelakramer.com/2025/03/06/b...

Wonderful to see Bird of a Thousand Stories included with all these amazing February releases!

FLOW is a magical film. Feels a lot like a puzzle platformer game in how it reveals and demonstrates its many levers of action and agency. Each setpiece is its own elegant spatial/logic challenge. Absolutely gorgeous visuals, a poetic and poignant story. And made in Blender!

Here's a nice juicy excerpt from BIRD OF A THOUSAND STORIES and a fun little interview with me: thenerddaily.com/kiyash-monse...

LAUNCH DAY IS HERE!!! The Bird has flown and you can find it at your favorite bookstore/library! Crack the cover! Try the first chapter (it's short)! If it speaks to you, I hope you'll give it a read, or better yet, give it to a young reader. #booksky #mgbooks #middlegrade #kidlit #mglit 📚🪐

It’s New Book Tuesday & we’re down here on 9th New Book Goofin’! Here are a few of the books out today that we’re particularly excited about: •Bird of a Thousand Stories by @kiyash.bsky.social, which we have been waiting for with bated breath since we finished the final page of Once There Was 🧵1/3

My publisher made this beautiful animation for part of the opening sequence of Bird of a Thousand Stories. Enjoy (with sound) #booksky #middlegrade #mglit #kidlit #spookymg 🪐📚

My publisher made this beautiful animation for part of the opening sequence of Bird of a Thousand Stories. Enjoy (with sound) #booksky #middlegrade #mglit #kidlit #spookymg 🪐📚

Seven days until this book is in the world #booksky #mglit #middlegrade #kidlit #ya #mgbooks 🪐📚

Book launch celebration! For anyone in the SF Bay Area, come say hi -- Books by the Bay is a wonderful store in a beautiful location #booksky #kidlit #mgbooks #middlegrade 🪐📚

I think this is the year where adults who read kidlit really have to pay attention to middle grade novels, especially considering the book bannings happening around the country. Sales are down for a lot of reasons, so (if you can) buy that MG novel that piques your curiosity.

Every now and then I remember that the Schmidt Sting Pain Index exists and that sometimes science is gleefully unhinged