oh boy this is gonna get a lot of use in the group chats

All his friends like "actually we pretty much knew already"

I've just read that Joyce helped some Jewish friends escape the Nazis.

I visited his tomb on Thursday, while I was on holiday.

[God, about to create the giraffe] Now let's do a silly one

The line from that piece I remember is him saying how, after Ulysses, Joyce could have been the most popular boy in the class. “Instead, he became teacher’s pet.”

Yeah the trick is a) just go with it and b) enjoy what you can. I read it ten years ago and chronicled the experience on the early episodes of Backlisted. Chabon’s essay is very good and my response was similar to his ie. this is like no other book so make the most of what it has to offer.

Seamus Deane’s intro to the previous Penguin edition opened bracingly: “The first thing to say about Finnegans Wake is that it is, in an important sense, unreadable.”

I'm always saying this

Blimey you weren’t lying either.

all of this probably made perfect sense if you were mutuals with Joyce at the time

I guess the preface provides some hints as to what lies behind the gobbledygook? Going in cold is even more maddening than when one has some clue. Everybody is everybody else, every*thing* is also somebody, and a sense of guilt pervades about sexual improprieties which may or may not be imagined.

This evening's viewing

I had this pencilled in for October. You've gone early with Finnegans Club.

I take it your red flags refer to the supposed restoration of a classically unstable text, man

Sunday reading 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

Wait are the manosphere against cleaning your teeth now

This evening's viewing

Not paying attention and wondering why Prince Harry is interviewing a corpse

People getting the internet at home meant young men no longer got a basic grounding in arthouse cinema while looking for nudity on TV.

NP

Well, this seems quite a bold change of direction…

Chris Tucker did everything Jackie Chan did, backwards and in heels

Berlin pals, my wife and I had to move out of our apartment yesterday when the building‘s roof collapsed in a fire. We have a few places to stay over the coming weeks but we’ll probably need a new apartment for the long term. If you know of anyone letting a 2/3 room apartment, please get in touch! x

I quite liked this and it occurs to me that kung fu might be the last type of film that just shows someone who is very good at a thing doing that thing, Fred Astaire or Buster Keaton style

Did someone say beveragino?

The stakes seem pretty high at the moment, what with all the fascism, I reckon we should let Corbyn have another go

My favorite thing about the 1960s Batman show is that sometimes the villains would have to go to court. Like The Riddler would show up wearing his Riddler shit talking about "I don't know what you're talking about"

Dump him, girl www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

just us or should i invite antifa

Mariah-Carey-ass answer

I keep thinking about this. It’s taken over from ‘what’s the biggest leaf?’ as the thing I most have to stop myself blurting in every q&a.

The Reckless Moment (1949). Just delirious. The camera flits around interiors like a moth, like there aren’t any walls there. It’s exhilarating, and quite dizzying at times. Joan Bennett is magnificent. Who else could have done this? Joan Crawford maybe, but she wouldn’t have done it any better

Agreed. It was the first of his books that I read and while I get why it's not considered one of his major novels, it's still serious work. It's also more human than a lot of his earlier stuff and, of course, a right old laugh in places.

Paul Thomas Anderson made a film of Vineland and somehow I only heard of it when I saw this review www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...

if i had a boyfriend i'd carry his legacy

“How many friends do you have, Freddo? Freddo: “Twelve friends!” “Are you *sure* about that number?” Freddo: [quietly] “Approximately twelve.” “And how big are they, Freddo?” Freddo: [more quietly] “Treat size.” “And some them, in fact…?” Freddo: [Almost inaudible] “Some of them are me.”

Don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family Pack again

I draw the jury’s attention to the whole flock of “friends” Freddo has in Australia.

“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t re-Fuse…”

“I don’t want my brother coming out of there with just a finger of Fudge in his hand.”

"He was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time, players couldn't get a drink at the table."

Injecting some levity by sharing one of my favourite memes of all time

They just sit in traffic for an hour listening to Radio One Breakfast Show

Bit upsetting that Freddo's friends are a fudge and a curly wurly. Could he not hang out with the caramel bunny and george the hofmeister bear

Very excited that @florencehrscott.bsky.social is about to introduce me to their favourite classic of world cinema

"I know it was you"

We promised you that we would keep you up to date on the Anthropic case in the US. Read the latest developments in our news piece. societyofauthors.org/2025/09/11/a...

This looks a horrifying journey, why is that man dancing, who will control those children, why are the children dressed as supernatural entities