A stunning response (i.e., more than just a review) of GHOSTING, by Tyran Grillo. If you don't have the time or inclination to read the book, this serves as an excellent bluffer's guide to something we all deal with, at some point.

Actual footage of the first figure Trump came up with when his henchmen floated the idea of suing the BBC.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first issue of the open access Cardiff University Press journal that I co-founded, *Martial Arts Studies*: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/29...

I agree with 'Baudrillard as prophet'. I use 1980s Baudrillard to help my 2020s students understand today's world/media dynamics. (However, I'd also add that the comedy novelist Douglas Adams predicted more, and sooner, and in ways that were a lot funnier) theconversation.com/how-the-fren...

Composing my presentation for a research seminar next week. This one is my favourite slide so far.

Next week I'm doing a talk called 'Can the Bodybuilder Speak?', which will be about this kind of thing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWZ...

"Oh the Grand old Duke of York He paid 12 million quid To somebody he never met For things he never did." - my wife, 31/10/25

Polemical? Moi? "bodybuilding is the clearest, best and unsurpassable example of 'affect' – of what it is, how it works, and what it does". substack.com/home/post/p-...

“Between 2019 and 2024, Reform received more than 90% of its funding, £2.3 million, from individuals and companies linked to polluting industries and climate science denial” open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

Yukio Mishima's Embodied Aesthetics. Or: Are all Bodybuilders and Martial Artists Closet Fascists? substack.com/@bowmanp/p-1...

Well done, Starmer. Disgraceful

Me cago en Duolingo!

“in order to bring about what I refer to here as happiness, an extremely troublesome set of conditions must first be fulfilled, and an extremely complex set of procedures gone through.” - Yukio Mishima

In case you are confused: Reform’s policies: tax cuts for rich, welfare cuts for poor, scrap net zero, expand fossil fuels, gut nature laws, side with polluters, blame immigration for all problems, cut NHS funding, expand transphobia, side with landlords, abandon human rights.

The tedium IS the message.

From journal: You must refer in your article to your images - e.g. "see Fig. 1". From me: Anyone who might need such an instruction would not be capable of reading the article in the first place.

Social tedia

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social research featured in the I paper showing news audiences want tougher scrutiny of Nigel Farage and Reform UK given the party could be heading for government. Thread 1/6

Yet another normal everyday context... substack.com/@tritaparsi/...

Proof

What does bodybuilding say? substack.com/home/post/p-...

Every self-respecting lecture on Lacan must be structured by the five fundamental examples: One Direction, Snow Patrol/Martha Wainright, Pulp, Fight Club, and Black Swan.

“Immigration has been the main political theme in British politics for months, despite net migration to Britain almost halving to 431,000 last year” New research from @stephencushion.bsky.social & @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social reported in The Guardian www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

The ache. substack.com/home/post/p-...

'It's Not A Peace Deal': BBC Expert Delivers Brutal Reality Check To Donald Trump Over Gaza www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/its-no...

How Fitness Conquered the World (and What It Still Teaches Us) open.substack.com/pub/physical...

This Is Fascism