Why was I not made of stone, like thee?

ha ha! Las Vegas?!

Franglish

A foggy morning in the nation’s capital.

From the Pont Neuf in Paris, a gargoyle wagging his tongue and looking a bit out of sorts

WHERE AM I?? Go ahead and have a guess, if you think you’re clever enough.

📽 Character Connections Chart for 🎬 The Big Sleep... #FilmNoir 🎞 #Noirvember

La ville s'endormait Et j'en oublie le nom Sur le fleuve en amont Un coin de ciel brûlait

I’m starting to think that this may not be the year for an all-Texas Super Bowl.

La ville s'endormait Et j'en oublie le nom Sur le fleuve en amont Un coin de ciel brûlait

Not a bad end to the day. But wait. That’s not London …

Rosy fingered dawn really brought her A game today

#OTD in 1539 Abbot John Reeve surrendered the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds to the King's commissioners, 519 years after the foundation of the Abbey and 650 years after the establishment of the shrine of St Edmund there

If anyone lost a bag of books from LRB Bookshop on the Metropolitan Line between Baker St- Watford, I handed it to a cleaner when the train terminated at Watford tube station. And if you have far more followers than me, please share this status. LRB bookshop is not cheap!

I’ll be there

It turns out that all it took for the Dodgers to play to their potential was me leaving town for two years.

Around this time yesterday I stopped at St. Katharine’s Chapel in Limehouse to check out their 14th century misericords. Thankfully it was otherwise empty of visitors, I had to lie flat on my back and shimmy underneath a big chair to photograph the hidden demon and its brides in the fourth image...

It turns out that all it took for the Dodgers to play to their potential was me leaving town for two years.

OTD 1993: Kate Bush in The Red Shoes Why Should I Love You? Why, for the most sublime of Doctor Who New Adventures Kate chapter titles — The Fine Purple, the Purest Gold, the Red of the Sacred Heart, the Grey of a Ghost + fabulous title song and film ( “They burn! They burn!”)

On this Halloween, a reminder that a sculptor included a Xenomorph gargoyle during the 1990s restoration of Paisley Abbey

I admire my neighbor’s Halloween decorating ambition. The Headless Horseman at his front door complete with jack o’ lantern head

The madness continues! Just finished a draft of Chapter 30 (😱), getting me to 1152. Spoiler for my crusade friends: I think we've gotten Melisende's reign largely wrong, starting with basic chronology about the 2 revolts/civil wars. Now, on to Part IV, titled "Land of the Pharaohs"

An autumnal Primrose Hill bathed in the light of a proper dawn.

An autumnal Primrose Hill bathed in the light of a proper dawn.

This effect is especially impressive, the ghostly black horse charging directly out of the doorway

I admire my neighbor’s Halloween decorating ambition. The Headless Horseman at his front door complete with jack o’ lantern head

Here’s where it gets personal for me. When I was 9, I started experiencing suicidal ideation … disinterested in living, and at least some of the time contemplating death and how it might happen … It’s easy to imagine how I would have used programs like these chatbots.

There will only ever be one true “Avengers.” Diana Rigg didn’t need no stinking CGI

This technology is a miracle. How did we live without it?

Early early morning walk to avoid the worst of the weather. The view from Primrose Hill amidst cloudy gray misery.

I saw Grant Lee Phillips in concert tonight in London in a small venue on Denmark Street

Why am I so tired? Oh, yeah. I didn’t sleep last night

I love this thread.

Is it possible to write an account of the Second Crusade without using the word "fiasco"? I don't know, but I sure am going to try.

Is it possible to write an account of the Second Crusade without using the word "fiasco"? I don't know, but I sure am going to try.

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

Moon over Camden

If I had my way, no one would ever again use the expression “much ink has been spilled over.”

OTD 1941: The Maltese Falcon premiere One of the greatest movies ever made. One of the first films noir. A tale of greed, love and betrayal. “I couldn’t be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it’s possible to get another. There’s only one Maltese Falcon.”

Rainbow, unexpected, over Camden

Rainbow, unexpected, over Camden

The view from Primrose Hill this morning. Good early light

The view from Primrose Hill this morning. Good early light

For Michaelmas, here's a fine St. Michael I hadn't seen before, in Alexander of Bremen's commentary on the Apocalypse, CUL MS Mm.5.31, fol. 78v. #medievalsky Digitized MS here: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-MM-0...

Chapter 27 (!?!) is finished. The Bosra expedition was a miraculous failure. And a bigger catastrophe, i.e., the Second Crusade, looms on the horizon (a.k.a., chapter 28).

Morning walk in Regent’s Park amid a pleasantly crisp autumn morning, I’m wondering how much longer the roses will be around

Morning walk in Regent’s Park amid a pleasantly crisp autumn morning, I’m wondering how much longer the roses will be around

And a cameo of Ed Begley, Jr., as the officer in charge of the dogs

The killer in this episode was a sociopathic est-seminar leading Doberman owning movie buff psychologist played by Nicol Williamson, seen here, better known to me as Merlin from Excalibur

Watching a great old Columbo, with a small part played by a, seen here, near unrecognizable Kim Cattrall. Episode title, “How to Dial a Murder”