So maybe THE LOST BUS was the wrong film to watch for a laid back evening. Unlike most reviewers, I actually welcomed the hackneyed soap opera interludes because it meant a break from chewing my fingernails as Matthew McConaughey drove a busful of screaming children through a blazing inferno oh god.

It's a busy day in Bethlehem and nobody really notices the couple who have come to be counted. As imagined by the great Pieter Bruegel.

This shows incredible character on your part, Mr. Pettigrew. The family did not deserve you. I hope you've had nothing but good Christmas Days ever since. (this thread is amazing) (some people, I swear)

In Icelandic folklore Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat, comes to eat those who do not wear their new clothes for Christmas. In this image, you can see somebody did not put on their new Christmas sweater. Or perhaps even more unfortunately, no one got them one! More ... 👇

Dec 24th - The Ref via TheEricGoldman is Christmas movie with a 24th December date on cctv 📽️📅 The Ref (1994)

One of my Christmas Eve traditions is to post this old ghost story of mine. You don't have to read it or anything but you can if you want.

Dec 24th - John McClane prevents Hans Gruber from stealing $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds from the vault in Nakatomi Plaza. 📽️📅 Die Hard (1988)

Dec 24th - Billy Peltzer and Gizmo prevented the small town of Kingston Falls from being overrun by #Gremlins. 📽️📅 Gremlins (1984)

Climbing out of the swimming pool, I saw my flip-flops had been moved, slightly, from where I'd left them. The right size & all, but when I slipped them on they felt vaguely unfamiliar. Am now convinced they're changeling flip-flops. So if I'm away with the faeries even more than usual, this is why.

Dec 24th - Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by ghosts of his former business partners, who tell him he will be visited by more ghosts to teach him the error of his ways. 📽️📅 The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

POSSESSED has made a 10 Best Books List of 2025! "First published in 1927 by a husband-and-wife writing duo, it had virtually disappeared before being recovered by editor Johnny Mains who provides a useful introduction." GET IN!

Lovely thread 😁

Here we go: TCM REMEMBERS, 2025 edition. See if you can make it through this without getting something in your eye.

10 years ago today right before I took them to see The Force Awakens #thestrain #horror

Here we go: TCM REMEMBERS, 2025 edition. See if you can make it through this without getting something in your eye.

Muesli and Sirius, caught napping.

Ok, I put this to the test and I don’t think we’re any closer to an answer.

There's something very pleasing about seeing the sea where it meets land. Bilton Beach, Durness #Scotland #DJIMavic3Pro #DronePhotography

The Princess Louise, nice and quiet before Christmas

Second time in as many weeks, a contact lens got stuck behind my eyelid. Cue frenzied search for an apotheek selling eye baths. And second time in as many weeks, a sluice of eye bath solution washed it out. Hope I don't make a habit of this, but thought other lens wearers might find the info useful.

Young lady with black velvet-covered waste-paper bin on head (srsly!) & bizarrely asymmetrical eyes. Painted by Petrus Christus, 1460s.

Muesli and Sirius, caught napping.

Thinking of the actor Ernest Thesiger, who, when asked what it had been like in the trenches of World War One, replied "my dear, the noise! And the PEOPLE!"

Some absolutely top notch orange cattery here

Dec 23rd - Frank Cross is taken on a taxi ride through his life by the Ghost of Christmas Past. 📽️📅 Scrooged (1988)

i feel that, through sheer strength of character, he's managed to retroactively make his early performances awful

Baloo if his coconut hadn't dropped off, still dancing to "I Wanna Be Like You", no reason to ever stop, trapped in the beat until death, sun battening down on him, fur matted, blisters on his paws, throat dry, eyeballs streaked with red, awopbamroni

There'd be a cat in that box within seconds in our household. And then there'd be beanbag beans stuck to the cat within seconds too.

Sirius in her favourite spot by the window.

Swirly golden sand banks just before sunset seen from above the Kyle of Durness on Saturday (a tiny bit different from the other one I posted and my entry for this week's #ShareMondays2025) #Scotland #DronePhotography #Abstract

Not sure why my phone has passively aggressively sent me this message, it sounds like something you'd say to a drunk ambassador.

This is what sand looks like under a microscope. Amazing.

I'd quite forgotten how amazing this scene (and Paula Pell's performance) is.

I think everybody has their own way of communicating while asleep.

the number of times the character name Pasquini is said in Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976, Deodato) delighted me so much that i made an edit of some, but not all, of the 'Pasquinis'

Don't know if this is of interest but there's a new book on Phyllis Dalton, the costume designer who won an Oscar for Zhivago, in her own words with her own photos. It is a fantastic read. yalebooks.co.uk/book/9781399...

David Lean's DR ZHIVAGO is 60 years old, and there's an article in The Guardian praising it. During lockdown I wrote about a first-time viewing, and was less than enthusiastic, while acknowledging it almost certainly loses a lot on a small screen. OTOH thank god for Rod Steiger.

Hallo Sirius!

The films of the year: 26 discoveries, 10 old favourites, 7 bad movies, 6 re-appraisals and 5 obsessions. Feat. all your faves: Linda Fiorentino, Joan Micklin Silver, Sinners, Wallis Island, Argentinean child noir, and really quite a lot of John Ford. advicetothelovelorn.blogspot.com/2025/12/revi...

As Mudlarks we have to keep records of our foreshore finds and my mudlarking friend Elle (@ellerose_autumn_mudlarks on Insta) makes the most beautiful images of the artefacts she spots, plus the location. She’s just started to make them into postcards and they are STUNNING. Do give her a follow.

Died (alas!) on this day in 1572, François Clouet, portraitist of the renaissance French court. Here, the wonderful Marguerite of Navarre with her lovely pup, in 1544.

Well that's my Christmas Day visit to church taken care of, thank you very much. Paul Feig's THE HOUSEMAID, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, at Pathé Tuschinski. If it's only half as much fun as A SIMPLE FAVOR, that'll hit the spot nicely.

The Netherlands is the red headed stepchild of Belgium, Germany and Britain. So somewhat worse the the first 2 but usu better than the last in that menage.

Every time I go to the Netherlands these days, the train on at least one leg of the journey is cancelled, leading to changing trains somewhere and much toiling up and down stairs with heavy baggage (escalators broken of course). Every. Time. I swear, it's even more shambolic than Belgium.

By coincidence, today is also the anniversary of our adoption of Hank and Hildegard!

Things are Terrible, but this isn't. Be weird.

TFL: “we’ve sent you an email” Inbox: Inbox: Inbox: Junk folder: Inbox: Junk folder: Inbox: Junk folder: TFL: “didn’t receive an email? Resend email” Me: *click* TFL: “we’ve sent you another verification email” Inbox: Inbox: ETC

Opening door number 22 of the Scarred For Life advent calendar... BBC1's 1978 Christmas ident. What could be more festive than Santa's disembodied, maniacally grinning head revolving on a turntable? The horror! The horror!

You know, I had the suspicion that this thread would make me realise the unhinged amount of work that goes into a tiny presentation and I was correct. But also, this is what research looks like. Not whatever they keep trying to persuade us LLMs can do.

2/2 Saint Julian murdering his parents. He thought they were his wife & her lover. Still got to be a saint. Pretty good going! By Masaccio.