Re: Dracula, I'm lying awake wondering why the hell a Romanian prince would be wearing full Kabuki costume - including wig - in his castle in the Carpathians in 1897. Also what the fuck was going on with Lucy's wedding dress - in Victorian England? I think not. Shut up now brain, ffs.

Diamanda Galás was credit in the film with 'Special Vocal Performances'. This included cackling, neighing (!) shrieking and sundry glossolalia. This song featured in the scene with Mina and Van Helsing being beset by the vampire sisters. youtu.be/pT0aj__nCws?...

I have a couple of free hours so I've decided to give Francis Ford Coppola’s Almost-Bram Stoker’s Dracula Featuring 20th Century Lingerie and Some Weird Plastic Looking Armour another go, from the top.

Wayward (Netflix, 2025) is an odd one. It's gripping enough, Toni Collette is as fantastic as always and the young cast are mostly excellent. Praise to Mae Martin for creating its Stephen King-ish vibe and having a great ending. Unfortunately Martin's acting sucked. No chem with their wife either.

Driving today these birds instantly reminded me of Philip Glass' Étude 6, bar 8.

i took mum in the boat today - I can still hear the screams.

Sparrows know knocked a bit of their nest out this morning. I've put it back outside now. The pieces of dead nemesia I cut off and put aside for them went to good use.

Sparrows know knocked a bit of their nest out this morning. I've put it back outside now. The pieces of dead nemesia I cut off and put aside for them went to good use.

My in-car navigation bot really struggles with Irish-sounding place names; she sounds like she glued a lot of phonetic sounds together and then tried *super* hard to pronounce it. It's reminded me of someone but I just couldn't think who. Rewatching Twin Peaks, I remembered. youtu.be/kDTxN4dbN3E?...

Sorry I couldn't hear you over the enormous red flag fluttering next to you. Could you say that again?

While I'm feeling a bit louche youtu.be/sWBVvgqvVTs?...

Isn't it too dreamy? youtu.be/nITuHzF4ryk?...

First significant leaf-fall today. So, as Autumn is properly with us, we've started the first rewatch of the season. It's been ages. We haven't even seen season 3 yet, so we're going all the way from A-Z. Or rather, being (the late lamented) David Lynch, from ⚙ to ࿔

Morrissey cancels two US shows b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ h̶e̶ d̶i̶d̶n̶'t̶ s̶e̶l̶l̶ e̶n̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ t̶i̶c̶k̶e̶t̶s̶ over ‘credible threat on his life’. Honestly, the guy just can't catch a break: the left can't bear him and the right don't know who he is. *sad trombone*

I've accidentally discovered a great fix for nasal congestion: wasabi peas with gin and tonic. I didn't actually have nasal congestion, but if I had, I sure wouldn't have it now.

Perfect for a rainy Friday night. youtu.be/igSDPl65RUs?...

I think we all know what the reality will be: Tr*mp, having had his way, will hand Sta*mer a fiver and tell him to buy himself something pretty. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

youtu.be/6nOdLwlenY8?... So himself is meeting the great and good in the UK today. They must all be knackered from practicing their neutral expressions. "I know my place, Stick to my lines, Stay in your shadow Don't block your light So you can shine divine So you can shine divine, golden boy"

If anyone fancies a print of this let me know. I’m going to take a few pieces down from my shop and put a few new ones up. So have a look in case you’re the one person on earth who likes the one about to disappear. marswasrubbish.etsy.com

All aboard!

Violinist Bub McDuffie disagreed with Glass about which movements represented the different seasons in this concerto. Rather than correcting the difference, Glass intentionally left no instructions or clues to the audience about the correct order. This is Autumn, to me: youtu.be/DCV1Bjc1-U8?...

Derek was beginning to wonder if the decision not to replace his nasal trimmer was the right one at St Kyneburgha, Castor.

Amen! 👇 That and for software designers to stop fucking around with the GUI instead of bug fixes or beneficial operational changes. Can you imagine the user interface messing there's going to be with AI front-end? I can. I used to work in QA, I know yer game!

Christ, I saw what happened in London having just looked up from reading this scene: And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound. Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny Shall here inhabit, and this land be called The field of Golgotha and dead men’s skulls

1/4 It's going to be in mental in work until - and for a couple of weeks after - Budget 2026 youtu.be/ForsQPSfVhk?...

Another joyful Jill McDonald jewel. I constantly marvel at the motion she packed into her illustrations, a distinct sense of them being frames from animations. Always makes me wish such a thing existed. In a just, alternate universe there’s a lovingly crafted colourful caper on the SeeSaw schedules

Today was a clusterfuck from start to finish. Actually the finish is going well; I had a cuddle with Liz, Glinda and Letty. I've decided I've had enough of today though, so I'm in bed with a mug of tea and Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum by the brilliant Kathryn Hughes.

Blackbirds have just realised the Winter menu has begun already.

i believe this masterpiece is a vermeer

Oh my god…

Who needs beauty products when you could have Japanese paperclips?

In these fraught times I'm taking some comfort from Brecht, Eisler and Weill. Eisler composed the music for this song, Brecht the lyrics. youtu.be/TWloYBL_peo?...

You know, I wonder how far civilisation has come. Berenice III was the rightful heir to the dynasty in 80 BC Egypt and ruled alone until, men. Ptolemy XI married her, then murdered her and ruled for a few days before being lynched by furious citizens for her murder. Everyone really liked Berenice.

September: also the month where, early on Saturdays on the pitch beside us, men return to running around after a ball in the rain while lots of other people shout encouraging things very loudly.

Ah September, aka ९: The Month of the Spider. I just got up to make tea, turned on the light in the kitchen and beheld an absolute behemoth. God alone knows what nefarious arachnid-y deeds I interrupted by turning on the light but it did pretty much this:

I just saw a veterinary nurse in the shop in her scrubs and her hair was tied back with a vetwrap bandage with paw prints on it. Honestly, it was an oddly glamorous look. (Big shout out here for vet nurses, while I'm at it)

Just read that Putin is interested in organ transplants and biological immortality.(There's bad news about brain transplants, Vlad) Meanwhile Trump is interested in money, gold things and having the biggest tie. The pair of them resemble a really crap idea for Marvel universe villains.

The lack of support for this strike is shocking. The sole focus of the media is on the constant whining of parents and principals. The work of reception/admin and caretaking staff is vital in every organisation yet they are *always* an afterthought in pay deals. ✊ www.thejournal.ie/exhausted-sc...

The Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended: imagine a 1000 piece jigsaw knocked all over the floor. Then, when you start to try to put it together, even though the shapes are right, you sloooooowly realise the pieces are all from different jigsaws.

It has been an oddly exhausting week and I'm so tired now that I'm having trouble remembering thoughts I had literally minutes ago.

Natural disaster du jour: Mount Vesuvius erupting, as seen from Posilippo, 1788. By Joseph Wright of Derby, born OTD 1734.

My first car was a Renault Clio and the biting point was really high. I have a loaner from the garage - a Peugeot 208 - and the bite is practically under my chin. Apologies to citizens of the North County for the truly horrible noise (like a fight between a tractor and tank) and the stalling.

Fun discourse related fact - curries have been a part of British cuisine for longer than the USA has been a country.

Hostage (Netflix, 2025) has a completely ridiculous plot and the script is dreadful but Suranne Jones is fabulous and almost pulls off her role. The supporting cast all appear to be heavily sedated, which is understandable in the circumstances.

All week it's been bugging me: *what* reminds me of the section at 2.16 of Penderecki's Lacrimosa (1980): youtu.be/Y1NU5kSKzy8?...

1/2 I've had to re-seed part of the lawn (thanks to an asshole builder leaving materials there for 5 months; long story - suffice to say the whole thing was a cacafuego.) Grass seed can cause problems if stuck under small animals' claws, so I roped it off, knowing it would work with Letty.

Casting I'd like to see: Pierce Brosnan as Samuel Beckett

We have just spent several minutes trying to get our black cat in from the front garden - where we prefer her not to go, because road. After hearing much rustling in the honeysuckle/roses and then a surprising hiss, we walked back into the house where our cat was staring at us from the landing.

Gary Numan watching a seagull fly away with his paper #totp

Untitled rabbit warrior person.