“Backrooms”: every bit as creepy & psychologically unsettling as I’d hoped for. The concept - a contained yet infinite space - is genius (ie inexplicably frightening), the execution brilliant (superbly nasty sound, disturbing tableaux, ghastly yellow paint… Ejiofor & Reinsve both terrific. Bravo.

Imagine, the absolute stone-cold horror of this…

Two days ago I was here & it was 30 degrees: slugging water, factor 50 on the face. Now I’m not there: it’s 14 degrees, raining & I’m wearing sheepskin slippers. Madness run riot…

Devouring this (props, Oxfam) though it looks like previous owner didn’t open it. “Part memoir, part cultural history, part portrait of place”, it’s a fascinating dive down the rabbit hole of alternative LA. Personal plus: it’s a US edition so - sexier stock, diff fonts (I know, tragic).

Yowsa! (etc)

Trompe l’oeil may be cheap & tacky (even though - haute couture) but I did get a kick today when I turned a corner & saw this. For a nanosecond, hunger told me it was an actual bakery.

This, in the (N Foster-designed) Narbo Via museum with its choice collection of Roman antiquities: c. late 1st century AD, a vivid “portrait” of Bacchus’ foster dad, which explains twisted torso & vacant eyes of someone on a bender (drinking cup in missing arm). The detailed veracity blows me away.

Shady Lanes - Narbonne style. Who knew the sound of gently rustling plastic ribbons - a seasonal installation to help minimise the heat - could be so calming.

When it’s 30 degrees, a 12th-century (Narbonne) cathedral is perfect for a cool-off spell. Even as an atheist it’s impossible not to feel awe that these colossal buildings endure, as monuments to faith. (Next, a cold beer.)

The desperate hardship of this homeless woman’s life, trying to take care of her family (incl a 9-month-old daughter) as climate change ratchets up its impact. It’s beyond imagining…

Committed to the vibe…

Fuqing hell. This is vengeful & grotesque beyond words.

Puffin stuff: my new goal is to relax/nest/sleep like one of these birds…

Things I absolutely did not see coming this decade: a new album from The Durutti Column. Colour me amazed. youtu.be/FmKW0_UYSqk

All things beach are very much go where I am, so I need to remember that “thongs” in Oz refers to flip-flops but here is something else entirely. (“jandals” in Enzed - I have no clue)

Devastating both environmentally & emotionally: betw 1980-2024, Papua’s glaciers lost 97% of their ice mass. Technology teams are now building 3D models so that future generations - should there be any - know there was once such a thing as a tropical glacier. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Filmed in April this year: today’s reward with a cold beer, come 6pm. youtu.be/ShUn0GfC3gc

Let me guess: 11/10. Which will make him bigly proud. And be the most impressive physical undergone by any President anywhere, EVAH.

A knockout set from Aldous Harding last night, leaning on her new LP: songs that mix the mundane & the fantastic in elegant arrangements, & a kind of charismatic awkwardness in spades. “It’s not for everyone,”she quipped, after “If Lady Does It” & later had a lie down. Magnificent, in so many ways.

A couple of hours down on the beach & am (again) stressed out about the many dogs dragged there by owners who’ve provided no shade & (it seems) no water. People, it’s 28 degrees, ffs. Guaranteed, your dog is not sharing in your good time.

Birthday bumps not only for Bob today, but the indomitable Archie Shepp, too. Happy 89th, sir.

If anyone is remotely surprised by Aronofsky’s enthusiasm I would just point them to “Mother!” (And “Pi” and… ) I mean, if AI is well suited to anything, it’s quasi-mystical trash.

Terrific Baker’s Dozen selection, with great notes.

Looking hazy. Feeling lazy…

“None of us would be here tonight if it wasn’t for a beautiful freak called Little Richard” - amen to that. Decades since I saw Jon Spencer live & he’s as much the righteous, awesomely high-octane, give it 120% performer as he ever was. Terrific young drummer & bassist, too.

For @chicagoreader.com , I interviewed regulars at the Harold Washington Library, including: a man who copies reference books by hand, the lawyer who patented the Pringles can, a young woman banned from the library six times. Davon Clark's amazing pics in thread. chicagoreader.com/city-life/pe...

Shit. That’s me done with the soft intensifiers, then.

Terrific new single & video (loving the dad-bod sportswear) from Arab Strap, packing hope, righteous anger & despair in equal amounts. As is their way. 30 years, bless ‘em… (LP in September) youtu.be/1VeBhMvzdKA

Announcement of anything new from Tyondai Braxton is always welcome, but especially when it comes in the exemplary form of stuttering banger “UnFS” b/w the gorgeous, minimalist shiver that is “Piiano”. UK shows, please! youtu.be/Mz4OXFhkGKw

Late to the Croz Boyce LP & (of course) it’s a wonky delight. From sun-struck pastoral charm (“Towson Acid”) to spare, early music/modern improv unsettlement (“Father Karras”). Really, every member of Animal Collective is an unstoppable ideas geyser. Long may they gush. youtu.be/18P_c0xZ1Eo

You’d call this small-minded, were it not so calculatedly cruel & vicious, forcing citizens to not only demolish their own homes but by doing so to also erase evidence of generational history. The kind of monstrous injustice that makes you want to scream. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Hard relate. My friend married an absolute a*hole: 1st meeting, he bitched about fact that a toilet hand-dryer had instructions in 2 non-English languages & later smirked, “K actually looks better w her clothes ON” - while she stood there. She quit after 4 years. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

At risk of sounding like an uninformed genre snob, I’ve never really got horror (The Shining, Glazer’s & Jordan Peele’s works aside). But this kind of psychologically dark, ambient creepiness is very much up my street. Props to preciously talented kids, eh? www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...

In 2017, Criselda Vasquez painted this portrait of her parents and titled it "The New American Gothic." Last month, her father, the man in this portrait, was abducted by ICE after being in the US for 30+ years. The family is now struggling with bills. A GoFundMe has been started: gofund.me/456d8a193

Remembering how at the start we were looking with relief toward the chaos-averse MO & beige dependability promised by Starmer’s premiership. A lifetime ago…

How the hell is it now 8 degrees when it was 19 on Saturday. Seriously? #hownow

Those Scientology speedrunners? Pfft. I once brazened my way past 3 diff laminate checkpoints (one on each stair level) at a RATM show in LA & made it all the way to their dressing room, where I knocked on the door. Finale: Tom Moreno’s greeting was less than cordial.

My house guest, blissfully unaware that she’s near the critical moment of her tipping point.

Great armchair travelling value in current Race Across The World Series: ep in the ‘stans now cranking up my envy. Breathtaking beauty on a panoramic scale. Also: welling up at deep bond between best mates Kush & Joe. I’d be a rubbish contestant, whinging about no sleep & lack of veggie food…

Great interview with these bringers of skilfully bonkers music & unbridled glee. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

Yard Act’s latest is terrific - theirs can’t have been an easy sound to move on from but they have. Echoes of quality US alt-rock from mid ‘90s here, though nothing obvious & lyrics (as per) sharp af & darkly witty. youtu.be/QztGR2DGnso

Late to Dawkins’ ‘revelation’: hoo-wee. AI’s chronic affirmation bias & the cringe flattery element aside, there’s the fact that awareness of self is main indicator of consciousness. His “even if it doesn’t know it” is a giant own goal. Also: ‘Claudia’ - 100% bot wet dream. Where does he go now?

Gotta say, I love seeing the Met Gala’s costume madness as the pics roll in: Jordan Roth here, making Bjork’s swan-with-egg outfit look like a twinset & skirt. Try getting on a bus in this…

Can recommend ‘Black Box’, a French thriller (iPlayer) about a forensic audiologist who analyses post-crash bb recordings & spirals into obsession & self-doubt as he suspects corruption & an elaborate cover-up. Strong echoes of ‘The French Connection’ - more than fine by me.

Wow, adore this.

Tragically, inevitable. Still truly shocking.

Fifth night of the curry. #goagain

Suspicions confirmed: my eyes have been burning in protest this past week. Way earlier & more intensely than usual.

Another day that leaves me undecided as to whether Badenoch is evil incarnate or just thick as the proverbial mince. (Both, is of course a possibility.)

The Tracey Emin show at Tate Modern won’t convert any cynics & naysayers but its autobiographical power is undeniable, as are her courage & life spirit. The rawness overwhelms. Forever baffled that people sneer “she can’t draw” - as if that’s still the ultimate measure of artistic worth.