The forest spirits want you to turn up your volume 🤭✨ #FindYourSpirit

Oh good. More ‘trigger warning’ discourse. As though a short list of themes at bottom of a webpage is somehow emblematic of cultural decline. God forbid we show consideration towards our audiences. Heaven forfend we give people the information they need to make an informed decision.

His nickname has been ‘The Prince of Darkness’ for decades. And you took his word at face value? That’s embarrassingly naïve. Disqualifyingly credulous. FFS.

Sick of this dystopian tech overlord men with no panache and bad haircuts enabling a pants shitting president and bald hitler wannabe trying to undo things that can’t be undone ass reality we are living. They are so tedious and venal. It’s galling.

I haven’t seen the show in months and months. Very much looking forward to it.

Why does this make me so proud? 🥲

Oh no.

Tell us which ones you'd choose in the comments below! 💚👇 #FindYourSpirit

Wait till Chiles finds out about the ski slope and the mini railway and the Buddhist Temple and the caves! He’ll lose his MIND!

Burnt out by 30, an emotional husk by 40, dead by 50.

I love the bridge. Yes, a gorgeous example of industrial achievement, but doubly beautiful for its recent camp disco makeover.

The US is nothing if not blessed by its storytellers. This is art and protest and narrative and hope. This moment needs stories to combat the lies. Well done, Bruce. Bossing it.

Philip Glass has withdrawn his symphony world premiere from the Kennedy Center: "Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony."

Patreon backers now have early access to this week's interview with @jamesbluecat.bsky.social, who tells us all about the differences between screenwriting and novel writing, including this funny anecdote from his time writing Green Wing... Join Patreon to watch now: patreon.com/ukpageone

They’re either projecting sentience onto something incapable of it - which you should not do - or creating and torturing personalised slaves - which you should also not do. Maybe bin the whole thing off?

4yo: 'Can I go to school in my fleecy pyjamas today?' Me: 'No, not today.' 4yo: 'Do I have to wear my human form?' Me: 'Your uniform. That's right.'

💚🥰💚

good morning EXCLUSIVELY to the myriad hallucinatory tiny people crawling over every surface that you can only unlock with chinese shrooms

My policy of unfollowing accounts that post AI is sadly catching some big beasts. Oh well.

On getting mugged at knifepoint: “The right way to approach an issue of this seriousness is through calm discussion."

I feel like America plotting to annex Greenland while masked state goons terrorise their own communities at will should encourage British press and politicians to reflect on what happens when you act like "far right" is an unfair slur rather than a necessary descriptor of a real political position.

Isn’t everybody’s sixth self a hirsute bog demon?

This is a huge problem: humans are not wired to cope with this daily torrent of disgust & dismay. It's exhausting & unbalancing. It's tempting just to switch off the news. But that surrenders the political arena - & the lives of all those it affects - to the hooligans & vandals who are trashing it.

(with thanks 😉 to @tommortonsmith.com for spotting late night typo on our first posting of this story. The outstandingly humane playwright Tony Kushner has not been appointed to Trump's new Gaza Board of 'Peace'. And more's the pity)

Tony Kushner? 🤔 Did Trump really enjoy the depiction of Roy Cohn in Angels in America maybe?

This week's newsletter. Some thoughts on waiting.

Good to know that Labour plan to reduce the Sheffield to central Manchester commute down to zero. But which city gets to be on the upper level?

Artificial Unintelligence: the government is in full retreat over copyright, and the attempts to make it look dignified only make it funnier. My SKETCH. thecritic.co.uk/arti...

I’ve started a Substack. Predominantly as a motivator to get stuff written. First post is little more than an introduction, but I will be writing actual articles. Head on over and subscribe, if that’s the sort of thing that floats your boat.

Humour me, I’m trying something:

If you’re in Minneapolis and need a place to just BE right now, Big Hill Books and Birchbark Books & Native Arts are both open and ready to welcome you with open arms.

I think my play Ravens is due a revival:

Why does our government have a presence on a platform that generates and distributes CSAM? Morality and principle have been triangulated away. What a bleak fucking world.

I am extremely confused as to why the UK government and police are saying Grok’s mass-scale CSAM generation is an issue for Ofcom. This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.

The text faded to the paywall at the same rate as my eyes would have glazed over anyway

The great great Béla Tarr has left us His films are such a profound influence on everything I do Sátántangó in particular, I can’t even find the words to express it Pure cinematic poetry R.I.P. Béla Tarr

Oh gosh. Oh no. His films are incredible.

I recuse myself from saying Totoro. It’s really close at the top, but I’m going to say Porco Rosso. I love that damn pig.

Honoured to share a birthday with the absolute legend that is Miyazaki.

🥰

Winter scenes in the Peak District.

Obviously illegal. Obviously imperial. Obviously demented. Obviously reprehensible. Strength to the Venezuelans on the receiving end of this bullshit. Strength to the Americans speaking out and standing up.

Gavin appreciation skeet.

It is incredibly important that everyone knows that it is currently snowing where I am. ❄️

Happy New Year! 

I think I’m a clone tasked with watching the last remnants of humanity mutate and evolve before their inevitable extinction. Could be worse.

Received the Monument Valley trilogy for the Nintendo Switch for Christmas, and my five year old has really taken to it. It’s so gorgeous and wholesome and he’s been so quick to pick it up. It makes my heart sing.

Hardworking Professor 📚 Loving Husband 💚 Devoted Dad 🧍🏻 #FindYourSpirit ©️ Manuel Harlan

I’m so excited that my friend Nav is part of @potterythrow.bsky.social! Genuinely one of the nicest fellas there is.

Cheese curds and gravy. Good base for a poutine there.