All Quiet on the Western-Super-Mare Odeon Front Row

You and me both, book.

Two brothers go to doctor. Say they're depressed. Life seems harsh and cruel. Feels isolated in an unjust world. Doctor says, “Treatment is simple. The Gracchi brothers are in Rome tonight. Go see them, talk about social reform.” They burst into tears. Say, “But doctor... We are the Gracchi.”

What was Puccini's favourite curry? Nessun Korma.

Are they wearing stillsuits?

"What do you think of my DJ mixing desk carved from a soid block of ice?" "Cool!"

"Don't ski for me, Argentina"

I'm liking this new version of Lord of the Rings, although they may have made the hobbits a little *too* small this time.

Big Head! Big Head! Big Head!

With the new "Wuthering Heights" movie in the offing, here's an old blog of mine on a well-reviewed history of the 19th-century that thinks Brontë's novel was called "Withering Heights": profadamroberts.substack.com/p/cannadines...

I'm going to ask it: why is Marianne wearing a periwig? Is she a High Court Judge in this version?

Marilyn Butler's book about Romanticism, rebels and reactionaries is almost as good as her book about the Romantic reaction against "reel amps".

This is the Iron Man reboot we all want.

"Aloe Aloe"?? "Good moaning" etc.

aperiodic reminder that @adamroberts.bsky.social wrote what is, to my mind, the best (and as they say 'lowkey funniest') critical response to LOST, if too generous toward a show not only 'addictive, daft' but pretentious & faithless & shallow. great essay. strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

Roses are red Orchids are deluxe www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n...

Dara Ó Briain: I have decided to found my own city, based on Poundland stores. Cheap cheap cheap! Me: Take me down to the Dara Price City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Dara Ó Briain: grass and girls are not included in the £1 offer.

Hello copyedits, my old friend.

Catch a Turian and put him in your pocket Never let him fade away Catch a Turian and put him in your pocket Save him for a rainy day

Roses are red And other colours of the spectrum en.ara.cat/internationa...

I yearn for Karl Jung's cosmic balance: I have a Jung yin-yang yen.

The way you can tell this is an actual slaughterhouse is the way a big paper sign with the word "SLAUGHTERHOUSE" handwritten upon it has been taped over the door.

COOUULD BE!

Pens, were they?

Also on the BSFAs, really good to see @thehubble101.bsky.social recommend Adam’s history of fantasy for the BSFA awards (also happily, my essay on the book is also nominated). Gotta say, I find the lack of attention for the book really odd - it’s a super useful text. An SH review is in the works.

MERCIANS: oh Lord send us a king! GOD: I have just the guy for you. M: Hallelulia! So long as it's not the dyke guy. G: what? What's wrong with him? M: are you kidding? He's obsessed with building his giant dyke" It's all he cares about! G: I don't care. I'm gonna make you an Offa. You can't refuse

A lot of great books here. My "Short History of Fantasy" (Bloomsbury) didn't make the cut, but that's probably because it's shit. locusmag.com/2026/02/2025...

Wine-dark sea: profadamroberts.substack.com/p/wine-dark-...

This evening's dogwalk.

TRAIN GUARD: oh no! There has been a murder on this orient express! DOG POIROT: HALTI TRAIN!!

Reading this. Promising new voice in fiction, could go far etc.

Interesting fact: Graham Greene was born "Brian Breene". Before he was a writer, he worked for a time as a ventriloquist in an end-of-the-pier show, and his dummy used to introduce him to the audience. After a while he changed his name to make things easier.

HOMER: they travelled over the wine-dark sea ... ME: do you want to take off those red-tinted glasses, Home? HOMER (removing the glasses): oh wow, that's not the sea's colour at all ... what a fool I've been

The Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin Kirkbride Adrian Tchaikovsky short story collection The Dead Man's Empire by W.P. Wiles The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean Traitor's Nest by Frances Hardinge Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel Frankenstein Rex by Adam Roberts

Not sure that guy in the middle's armour is robust enough, honestly.

Perfect for washing down a meal of the world's oldest fossils.

Pynch, punch, the last of the month. profadamroberts.substack.com/p/pynchons-t...

As a former Latin student who struggled to maintain a C- for 8 years, AND a Trek fan, I'm here for this.

I mean, this is very touching, but I'm surprised he was able to keep his pilot's licence after allowing his infant son to fly a whole planeful of people.

"Is that a cigar in your mouth, or are you just pleased to see me?"

The Number of the Best* --- *remunerated vice-chancellor in the UK

A trivial and avowedly pedantic post to Critical Star Trek: latestartrek.substack.com/p/ex-astris-...

"Pictures at an Exhibition" Modest Mussorgsky "My Fucking Amazing Symphony in A Minor" Boastful Mussorgsky

So, to take this seriously for a moment. The four stars in the Greenland "flag" suggest four states in Greenland: a place with a population 56,500 (20,000 of whom live in the capital Nuuk). So if Nuuk returns one senator, the other three will have electorates of ~12,000 voters. Rotten boroughs!

Unforeskinned Circumstances

9️⃣ In the 1971 issue of The Journal of Organic Chemistry, a paper was written in iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line) - the poetic style often used by Shakespeare. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

"To be or not to be, look you, boyo"

Roughly $200,000 in today's money.