This is literally what I've been writing and podcasting about for years. I was planning to do an essay on this, but here's a 🧵. The main reason is psychology. Due to personal, family, and cultural histories, some people are inherently scared of the world.

My mind insists that Adam DeVine's character in The Righteous Gemstones is actually Arseface from Preacher. I just can't unthink it. It's giving his role a certain richness that no-one intended and almost certainly nobody needs.

I’m telling you, this is a line we should not allow to be blurred. Assert that what has been done is illegal. Have it investigated as illegality. Bring prosecutions of company officials on illegality. Describe the basis of each step clearly and without obfuscation or imprecision.

Perhaps social media rage bait exists in tandem with growing inequality in life so that we poors can huddle round our phones and warm ourselves in the glow of the on-screen fury. Smart TV apps showing invective-filled comment sections can now heat your entire home.

There’s an argument people sometimes try that nobody “owes artists a living”, and that’s true. But if an artist makes art good enough for people to enjoy and share and talk to their mates about and have become part of their cultural identity, then you ONE HUNDRED PER CENT owe that artist a living.

Interesting article here about a dedicated non-corporate social app for Wales, for developing a Welsh community without the tech-first angle of the Mastodon ecoverse. the Tŵt app. jaz.co.uk/2026/01/13/t...

For all the folks who insist that AI can be a great part of a student writing assignment: Which part of the writing process do you think is unnecessary for students to experience?

I don't understand websites that have no obvious "about us" page, don't tell you what their acronym stands for, where they are or what they do. It's so common it's almost like businesses and orgs believe they're already household names.

Does anyone know of any articles or studies addressing the similarities between comedy writing and serious horror writing?

You know how I feel about Edge of Darkness, foundational Hookland. I think it needs another #HookWatch soon. Possibly even transcribe my Troy Kennedy Martin interview.

Here's an amusing and unexpected Dr Who theme. youtu.be/nbsoEcXAaiY

Quite enjoying ST5 but there's a bit much exposition and why so many characters doing monologue recaps?

So one of the things pll should be taught in grad school is that if you see the same supposition or phrase repeated in every publication on a topic, see if you can track it back to an antiquarian. Bc, more often than not, those guys were full of shit. Don't get caught out by the Chortlemuffin Effect

The citation chain usually works like this: -supposition stated as fact -supposition with reference to reputable book from c.1930s -reputable book from c.1930s with reference to Sir Edward Chortlemuffin, 1782 - Sir Edward Chortlemuffin, "here's an idea I'll fart out," 1782 /2

Sometimes book reviews, often more than album reviews, will make we want to read the book. I was inspired by a review yesterday so looked on Amazon to check its details. But I'd bought it in 2022. I checked my Kindle, downloaded the book to find it at 100%. No memory of it at all.

well here she is! my very first solo game and all about Ireland's best deli choice: the Chicken Fillet Roll. free to play in browser. LMK what roll you decide to make & if you get the feels or a laugh, even better. this is a roll-driven game. made lovingly in Twine unaminh.itch.io/chicken-fill...

Small Changes: Font colours, Typos, Achievements - Chicken Fillet Rolls unaminh.itch.io/chicken-fill... #gamedev #indiegames

With the Traitors having a "secret Traitor", I am excited for the British public to conveniently remember how to use singular They/Them pronouns for a month.

Very sad to read that Petesy Burns is no longer with us. As a member of Stalag 17, FUAL, A-Political and his work in The Anarchy Centre and Giros/Warzone Centre helped to build and nurture an alternative way of life in Belfast during severe conflict. Eternal respect for that. #LestWeForget #Belfast

I remember all too little of the interviews I did with rock stars when I was briefly employed as the music critic for a national newspaper, but there is this.

On this, the day of my birth, I am pleased to announce that I will be launching my next publication, THE GREATER REALITY AREA, on JANUARY 3RD, 2026. It has been several years since NORTH OF REALITY, and here shall begin my long awaited return to the fray! New logo by @tinyobscurae.bsky.social

This sofa's grip on me is far too strong.

Was on the receiving end of a 'woke? Pffft' rant from an elderly relative yesterday. She angrily told us that a pat on the bum was not sexual harassment and that men she worked with did this to her all the time and it meant nothing to her, so other women need to just be quiet. 1/2

Reading some complaint discourse around 'perfect albums', in this case from the 90s, and the lack of accompanying explanation. It's got me wondering now too. The why is the only interesting part.

Is there any writing about women as the antagonist in 70s/80s ghost stories, with perhaps a focus on media that connects supernatural events with female puberty trauma? I'm thinking about the Enfield haunting and similar framings.

a podcast isn’t a podcast if it’s filmed & is primarily meant to be watched, in this TED talk I will instigate the long-overdue uprising against

One day some of the kids from the neighborhood carried Aretha's mother's groceries all the way home. You know why? It was outta R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Fucking loved Tond. Go for a drive in the countryside and play it loud.

This is a really good thread about a thing that I've noticed, but have not had a good word for. My experience of my various disabilities is not as uniformly negative as the OP's, but I certainly do get hungry for more portrayals of disability that make room for messiness, confusion, and struggle.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even Tiny Tim may die.

SIDNEY POITIER

ambiguum (n): a problem space best treated as unsolvable for the sake of problem solving

I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%). Lay article attached:

I just changed the tube on my bike's front tyre, and when I pumped up the old one to find & fix the puncture, it exploded! Thinking about it, I think I last swapped tubes in April or May 2023.

Having yet another read-red-mist-type-delete-move-on kinda day. But who knows, it could easily become yet another read-type-overshare-delete-move-on kinda day instead. But, and hear me out, why not both?

Maybe the rich won't explode into loot like a video game character when they die, but we won't know for sure until we do some empirical testing.

I'm nearly finished watching the 2nd series of Broadchurch. It's the first time I've seen Olivia Coleman in a serious TV role, like multi-episode, character arc stuff. I believe her. Utterly.

A gentle reminder if you've received an invoice from a Freelancer/Self employed person which is due before Christmas. Be a love, and pay it today.

Quoting William Burroughs at my cat each time he shows us his arse has, frankly, not improved any of the relationships in my house.

In anticipation of The Greater Reality Area, and in the spirit of the Holiday Season, I have stripped the entirety of paywalls out of my old compartive tarot publication, Compound Eye! Total jubilee! All missives are now fully available to the public! compoundeye.substack.com

Men who can't mend a hole in their pants or cook a meal from scratch will insist to me that I need to be drilled on gun safety despite not handling any because "you never know when you might need those skills, it's about being prepared to navigate life's surprises!"

Doing some celebrity spotting at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin. Who'd've thought Christian Bale would be in town for Christmas shopping? 😁

Have just figured out that Welcome to Derry is not, in fact, some sort of imitation or follow-up to Derry Girls, and several things I’d on my timeline make a lot more sense now.

Day 9 of the #HooklandChristmasTree has us pulling the Apple Man from the box, finding him a branch. A painted china charm of him sleeping in his tree, a group of boys at its base whipping and hollering to wake him. How else to get apples for roasted cider to feed the Bone Horse?

I think Beth Upton is a fucking hero for putting up with the shit she put up with in the NHS Fife case, but we seriously need to legislate to make the law on trans people and sex and gender in the UK less nonsense.

The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)

Thanks Google, you've just destroyed my primary use-case for Keep by requiring at least one other app. Another part of your shitshow to leave behind. #enshittification #google #googleKeep

Something I'd like to address. There's this idea that TQ+ folk are all 21 year-old art students... and all the 'normal' old school folk are LGB and entirely left behind and confused by 'pronouns'... Every talk I give, know who the most outspoken trans allies are? Queer folk in their 70s!!