If we get rid of the peerage system we’ll lose out on very funny names If Mark Arm from Mudhoney and Anthony Stewart Head were made peers we’d get closer to a full noble anatomy

Now reading - Pick Up (1955) by Charles Willeford Seemingly can’t get out of the noir mood this winter 🤷‍♂️ Having just finished Fredric Brown’s Far Cry (1953), I’ve accidentally chosen another ‘Alcoholic Noir’ I’m sure it’ll be a quick read, with Willeford’s prose as crisp as usual #booksky

This was a lot of fun. Like if Highsmith wrote for Hitchcock Presents (which Brown did). The ending is a variation on “the phone call’s coming from inside the house” but in a really messed up way. Will be reading more Fredric Brown

Hardly news but I love how Eno saw the future in 1973 (punk) and decided to skip straight to inventing post-punk instead? 'Dead Finks Don’t Talk' the template for Wire. ‘Third Uncle' the template for Joy Division, Bauhaus et al. The warble in ‘Blank Frank’ pure PIL-era Lydon. All time bangers.

You know who’s good? Lowry A section of one of his Ashton-under-Lyne landscapes spotted at Cartwright Hall in Bradford

The joy of getting new bookcases. Not much logic to the sorting but will re-do that when less knackered #booksky

You know who’s good? Lowry A section of one of his Ashton-under-Lyne landscapes spotted at Cartwright Hall in Bradford

The joy of getting new bookcases. Not much logic to the sorting but will re-do that when less knackered #booksky

Hardly news but I love how Eno saw the future in 1973 (punk) and decided to skip straight to inventing post-punk instead? 'Dead Finks Don’t Talk' the template for Wire. ‘Third Uncle' the template for Joy Division, Bauhaus et al. The warble in ‘Blank Frank’ pure PIL-era Lydon. All time bangers.

Its 2032. The Parkrun Party has introduced a one child benefit cap whilst the Sunday Roast and a Walk Party continues to defend its association with paramilitaries

Big fan of this title page for EF Benson’s Spook Stories (1928)

Its 2032. The Parkrun Party has introduced a one child benefit cap whilst the Sunday Roast and a Walk Party continues to defend its association with paramilitaries

Richard Lloyd just announced that Television bassist Fred Smith died in hospice today RIP to one of the greats

Big fan of this title page for EF Benson’s Spook Stories (1928)

Turned this thread about SHOOT (1976) into a @letterboxd.social review, for the hell of it #filmsky

Watched BLACK BAG (2025) and enjoyed it so much that it inspired my first foray into @letterboxd.social reviewing 🤷‍♂️ “The chutzpah of making a more lurid version of Tinker Tailor and instead of hiding this fact naming your main character George? Bravo” Follow boxd.it/HQVF #filmsky

Watched BLACK BAG (2025) and enjoyed it so much that it inspired my first foray into @letterboxd.social reviewing 🤷‍♂️ “The chutzpah of making a more lurid version of Tinker Tailor and instead of hiding this fact naming your main character George? Bravo” Follow boxd.it/HQVF #filmsky

Late-stage Kapitalism

What 5 Non-Fiction books have made the most lasting impression on you? For me probably Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971), Thomas The Germans (1989), Elias Somebody’s Husband Somebody’s Son (1984), Burn Excellent Cadavers (1995), Stille King Leopold's Ghost (1998), Hochschild #booksky

Was walking down a busy high street and recognised Mark Gatiss as he was walking towards me. He clocked that I’d recognised him, so he gave me a very enthusiastic wink. A class act tbh

Was walking down a busy high street and recognised Mark Gatiss as he was walking towards me. He clocked that I’d recognised him, so he gave me a very enthusiastic wink. A class act tbh

the blair witch project manager

What starts off as a police procedural becomes, by the end, a deeply cynical and sour political conspiracy. Francesco Rosi's film opens with a detective (a knackered looking Lino Ventura) being assigned to investigate the mysterious murders of some Supreme Court judges.

Oh my giddy aunt, I knew The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1948) would be a corker but that blew my socks off

Anyone’s else’s cat insist on drinking out of a pint glass? Wouldn’t dream of drinking from a bowl

What 5 Non-Fiction books have made the most lasting impression on you? For me probably Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971), Thomas The Germans (1989), Elias Somebody’s Husband Somebody’s Son (1984), Burn Excellent Cadavers (1995), Stille King Leopold's Ghost (1998), Hochschild #booksky

bands are just not hot like this anymore

I’m really enjoying having a @lrb.co.uk subscription again, even though I can’t shake the guilt that I should always be reading books and not reviews of them in my spare time Great recent piece on William F Buckley #booksky

Now reading - The Far Cry (1952) by Fredric Brown My first Brown. It feels particularly ‘modern’, with very crisp, dialogue-heavy prose. A page turner from the get go basically I know Brown was really prolific - I’m definitely gonna check out his sci fi (praised by PKD and Eco no less) #booksky

I'm getting quite close to having the next collection, 'Thin Places in Hard Concrete', prepped for publication. If you're one of those interesting small presses that sometimes publishes collections of weird fiction and you might be interested in publishing mine, do let me know.

Thought that was the Criterion logo

Really enjoyed the novel Walkabout (1959) In case you haven’t seen the film, it’s a tale of a young brother and sister crash landing in the outback, aided by an Indigenous Australian boy who’s undertaking a walkabout On the one hand it’s a Rousseauian allegory of man’s return to nature…🧵 #booksky

An underappreciated element of Bullseye is the often batshit questions I also very much did not know this piece of trivia

Watched ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958) for the first time Dug it. A Sisyphean paean to a certain English postwar self-image of ‘reasonable humanism’, much more than stiff upper lippism Washed up alcoholic Mills is such a leftfield lead, and the love affair was unconvincing (studio concession?)… 1/2

The #TransitCat of the day is in Nightmare on Elm Street?!

A game of UNO down the pub - utopian pastime

Watched ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958) for the first time Dug it. A Sisyphean paean to a certain English postwar self-image of ‘reasonable humanism’, much more than stiff upper lippism Washed up alcoholic Mills is such a leftfield lead, and the love affair was unconvincing (studio concession?)… 1/2

A game of UNO down the pub - utopian pastime

I had that dream again

An underappreciated element of Bullseye is the often batshit questions I also very much did not know this piece of trivia

Back at The Big 6, Halifax. Such a banging pub

Spotted on the 12th century Norman tower of St Ricarius's, Aberford. Could be a Sheela-na-Gig? Undocumented if so 🤷‍♂️ #medievalsky #sheelanagig

Reposting this amazing Adam Curtis piece, subtitled THE RISE OF GEEZER CAPITALISM IN MODERN BRITAIN

Beryl Bainbridge’s first novel Harriet Said... (written 1958, published 1972) was inspired by the same real life case as Heavenly Creatures, with the setting changed to coastal England. It’s a really great read! #booksky

5 jobs I’ve had Attack Ship Surveyor Orion Regional Manager C-Beam Inspector Tannhäuser Gate Guard Replicant (self employed)

Niche music recommendation for the weekend: Doc Corbin Dart’s wonderful leftfield 1990 solo album Patricia Doc was the former singer of The Crucifucks and lifetime eccentric, with an extremely distinctive (annoying in a good way) vocal style. Produced by Vig/Marker Daniel Johnston fans would enjoy

Niche music recommendation for the weekend: Doc Corbin Dart’s wonderful leftfield 1990 solo album Patricia Doc was the former singer of The Crucifucks and lifetime eccentric, with an extremely distinctive (annoying in a good way) vocal style. Produced by Vig/Marker Daniel Johnston fans would enjoy

5 jobs I’ve had Attack Ship Surveyor Orion Regional Manager C-Beam Inspector Tannhäuser Gate Guard Replicant (self employed)

Fascinated by what’s going on this picture in the background of Nightmare On Elm Street #filmsky

Watched Oceans Eleven (2001) and Oceans Twelve (2004), which I’d inexplicably never seen before, and…they kind of bang? Soderbergh love letters to midcentury Hollywood, when Charm reigned supreme. Brad Pitt doing his best Redford impression, Clooney doing Clooney But what I really liked… #filmsky