This is lovely Someone put £500 behind the till of my local independent bookshop (Storytellers, Inc in St Annes, Lancashire) to celebrate their 50th birthday, and the owner is giving the books it paid for out at random to customers ♥️ @cloveroverover.bsky.social

Joe Pera Talks With You

I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.

This was great fun, if you've not seen Ian Visible yet (who has?) he had a cracking night here.

I am hypnotised by the ad where the lady in a fake podcast studio says "crispy chicken, handcut fries, top it all off with Heinz tomato ketchup. It's perfection." Every time it appears in a feed I watch it three or four times. I want to know more about the Heinz podcast universe.

Hamnet is a devastatingly good film. Take a hankie.

2026 is going to feature more Luxury Bedtimes. Currently the count is 1.

If you were too busy having festive fun yesterday you may have missed that #ChatoutofHell dropped an interview with the brilliant and very kind Rory Dodd. Why not force your family to enjoy it over cold turkey today? open.spotify.com/show/7mvE0uk...

Live your life in such a way that a city full of muppets doesn't sing about what a tosser you are whenever you open your front door.

The one thing I don't get about Muppet Christmas Carol is why anyone has kept trying to make new adaptations after it. Like that musical one with Kelsey Grammar, that would be fine in a pre-muppet world but afterwards it's just embarrassing.

Want to hear about my worst ever Christmas Day? Sure you do. 20-ish years ago, my then-girlfriend said her brother had invited us to spend Christmas day with him and his girlfriend at said girlfriend's mum's house. Sounds cosy, right? Nope. 1/

This is a great thread on the US-UK Christmas Music disparity.

There's plenty not to like about British Xmas music, especially if you ever had to work in retail or pubs in December, but it's fundamentally *party* music. US Xmas music is schmaltz.

This was some top notch nonsense to record. And the whole series had been dead good so far, too!

Excited to announce that winter coat season has begun.

Chat out of Hell is cracking on with series 5! Continuing the theme of doing themes, this episode we take a look at two rockin' songs about heroes. And somehow made it through the whole thing without once talking about Cadbury's Heroes. Well done us. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

One for @urbanprehistorian.bsky.social - I was reading this morning about the Asda 'Price Promise' stones that were erected across the country in the 90s loststonesofasda.wordpress.com Some are definitely on the way to being archaeological monuments, such as this one in Trumfleet, South Yorkshire

This is among the worst ideas I've ever seen.

Big shout out to the band of teenagers playing a very loud cover of Creep in the middle of Leeds today.

It is proper dweeb behaviour. Yorkshire does have loads of brilliant stuff, and maybe even more brilliant stuff than other counties, which it achieves by being bigger than them. Brilliant stuff distribution per square mile is pretty standardised.

Am I supposed to recognise the three tossers on the Trivago advert?

We ended Chat out of Hell series four by giggling about Meat Loaf's Meat Loaf and two Veg Loaf. And rightly so. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Idea for a film: a poor working class boy in 21st Century Sheffield is bullied by his siblings and teachers but finds happiness in his copy of Kes on DVD. At the end his brother puts it in the bin because who watches DVDs nowadays.

In Chat out of Hell this week we dive into Meat's first recorded album and then some shouty angry MAN ROCK from one of his later ones. Find it wherever you find your podcasts. Or on this link here! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Switzerland is giving me Regina Spektor vibes. #eurovision

"Let your brother do this #eurovision thing! He can just sit at the front and play cello, nobody will notice."

It's a lovely song, Italy, but why the Boosh tribute act? #eurovision

Latvia is quite nice, but it's the theme to a Civilization game, not a #Eurovision entry.

I saw Estonia in the semis and may I say I have no idea why they remain unmurdered by the Italian delegation. Looking forward to the UK song next year "onh onh onh, je suis beaucoup French" #eurovision

Shit, it's the set from Finders Keepers, the less good sibling to Fun House #eurovision

Norway is all dressed up like Cate Blanchett in that Thor film she was in. #eurovision

Here we go lads! Turn the nonsense up to 11. #eurovision

Ah, go on then. Space Eurovision Doctor Who was excellent all around.

This whole Whoniverse thing is an upsettingly pathetic act of "look at us, we're just like Marvel". It's fine. Leave it alone. You can make spinoffs without it.

I love Spring. This bit is the best two weeks of the year.

Chat out of Hell is back to go where other podcasts won't - in this case, to Jim Steinman's very first musical. Produced at Amherst College in 1969, burning a trail through rock and roll history for the rest of time and not very good. Listen where you get pods! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Next Chat out of Hell is going to be extra good now.

My hottest take is that Night Tracks finishes too early these days.

Nice people are struggling over the revelations on Gaiman, and something I keep hearing is, 'His work had a big influence on how I shaped my own identity.' So here's something to remember: You did that. He didn't do it for you. 1/

Mary when he actually starts to play a fucking drum for a sleeping baby

Today, the UK government announced a proposal to change copyright law - for the benefit of AI companies - that would cause huge, irreversible harm to creators. More info below, but most importantly here's what you can do (wherever you live): 1. Email your MP. Template letter in 🧵 👇 1/10

Trigger warning: This story about Caroll Spinney, the man inside Big Bird, might make the room dusty

The poll tax riots. I remember them being a general thing on the news, then when the tax was shelved I saw on the news and ran in to tell my dad. Dad asked me why that was good news and I had no idea.

There's no greater sight at this time of year than driving through some country village in the dark, seeing it festooned in multi-coloured lights, and taking bets on if it's incredibly welcoming or incredibly unwelcoming.

Did you know @captaintwitchy.bsky.social and I do a silly podcast called Chat out of Hell? It's about the works of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman but even if you find Meat Loaf rubbish you'll still like it. And that's (probably) a fact! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

The Ring is a film about the importance of looking after your emotional well-being

Geoffrey Chaucer: Whan that Aprill with his shoures Beastie Boys: SOOTE Geoffrey Chaucer: The droghte of March hath perced to the Beastie Boys: ROOTE

Watching what happens when voters believe mouthy TV presenters can fix what’s wrong with our country “not politicians”, just confirms my belief that we split into our dark timeline with the release of Noel’s HQ. Here’s a clip comp from various of our Wipe shows c2009. youtu.be/XShH--nZ-Yw?...

Team, Big Coat Weather is finally here. We can all relax knowing we look our coolest.

Timothy West was marvellous, a Proper Actor (TM). I saw his Lear when I was doing my A Levels and it was great.