Today, I learned that everything that cinema taught me about siphoning gasoline from a car IS A LIE. Probably should unpack that.

Serious #nzpol question: could Winston withdraw from the coalition and force a snap election? And if so, how much more abuse by his coalition partner will he tolerate before doing that?

Trying to scare people about Labour by bringing up something that National's coalition partner said like three days ago and who Labour finished its coalition with six years ago is peak post-Key National

I will never forget the experience of seeing LEAVING NEVERLAND at its Sundance premiere. For @avclub.com I wrote about a devastating, definitive documentary about surviving sexual abuse that cannot be erased.

I *think* these are staged in the incorrect order, given the flow of the words, but a) the pictures work better in this order IMO and b) it makes it harder to say "the musician who preyed on children" at the end and have it scan as well

There's only one Annea Lockwood.

What is the least broken search engine in the year of our AI 2026?

And while they're doing all that, half the shit they manufacture isn't fit for purpose, ships broken, or has priced out their former consumer base. These ghouls aren't even making products and services that everyday people can use anymore, now it's all Skullify for the US Dept of Phrenology

I never got to experience SOMETHING WILD without foreknowledge, so probably that.

This Is Just To Say I have turned off the AI features that were in the update and which you were probably hoping to monetize Fuck you they were stupid so unnecessary and so annoying

Been terrible at doing a book thread this year, but here's some recent reads. That Wajda is a treasure that I put off for three decades before reading because I hadn't seen any - still have only seen KANAL, but I'd call it obligatory reading for aspiring directors.

If you see this, post something orange from your gallery.

More direct link to that Nate Hagens podcast (got buried in nested RTs)

Nate Hagens doesn't seem to have many adherents here, but a friend of mine introduced me to him last week, and I'm drawn to his systemic scenario thinking and understanding of how deeply multivariable the future is. Some of you - esp those spinning out about potential apocalypse - might appreciate.

Christchurch friends, keep an eye out for this.

Pasolini 101 Man Ray: Return to Reason World Cinema Project 4 and 5 Kiarostami Eclipse Werckmeister Harmonies Faya Dayi ... that's probably when they kick me out, as I reach for films I haven't seen but am super curious about like THE BLADE, A MAN AND A WOMAN, & WAR AND PEACE or upgrade DVDs to 4k

My friend Kyle Bruckmann (whose music features prominently in GUT INSTINCT) has released his new EP of electronic "breakfast music", and as I am taking the day off I'm listening while I drink coffee and it is a freaking delight. As gentle as he gets, still restless and playful and idiosyncratic.

NZ @greens.org.nz Co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick 19 April 2026

I'm going to be in Istanbul for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks (for two days on our way to Rome), name a film (or episode of a travel series on Netflix or Neon or Prime) set there to inspire me.

Wicker Galore! (1949) Life on a small Scottish island is changed forever after a ship full of wicker runs aground on the coast, and proves too much of a temptation of the local inhabitants.

Let it never be said that THE PITT doesn't realise when it's made the viewer a promise that has to be kept, structural conceit be damned

A friend steered me to Werner Herzog on Freakonomics Radio and I'm only starting but he just shared that he voices an undersea creature in the new Bong Joon-Ho animated film, so we have that to look forward to. freakonomics.com/podcast/wern...

Saw the trailer for TOY STORY ...5? today and while I still am conceptually repulsed by beating a dead horse I have to say making a film whose story is "get kids off devices" is if nothing else a genius way to get parents to buy tickets

I admire the decision to call it a "pied-à-terre tax," because no one who's not rich thinks they own a pied-à-terre so won't feel personally threatened by a tax on them.

Not interested in recirculating the images, but the pics of protest outside the Jacinda Ardern event reminds me that my wife politely approached a protestor recently with a sign against vaccine mandates asking "but aren't the mandates over?" and getting the reply that they couldn't afford new signs

This is actually the first time in over a decade that a rock band has been supported by their label, so I can see why Wired is confused

Tossing up if Werner Herzog is a great or terrible idea

I'd watch this.

Liam did the 2-D animation in GUT INSTINCT, as well as making shedloads of awesome short films (some award winning!), and I am so freaking excited for him to make a feature. If you have any interest in indie animation or just cool creative projects, follow along!

This horror comedy about cannibal weed (produced for $20k) is insanely accomplished, funny, and super gross (I had to walk out at one point - I suggest not eating meat beforehand - but I came back!). Opens locally at the end of April, but I bet it becomes an international cult hit.

More than a decade after announcing their "indefinite hiatus", Parts & Labor reveal the details of their upcoming album, Set of All Sets, and share lead singles "Endless Cycles Pts. 1-4".

Liam did the 2-D animation in GUT INSTINCT, as well as making shedloads of awesome short films (some award winning!), and I am so freaking excited for him to make a feature. If you have any interest in indie animation or just cool creative projects, follow along!

Two Moonshake shows three years apart - so you get both the EVA LUNA/BIG GOOD ANGEL Margaret Fielder era *and* the DIRTY AND DIVINE era. The second show was with New Kingdom and Run On?!? As well as something called Ultra Bide. That's one hell of a lineup.

SPECTACULAR OPTICAL LAUNCHES FILM DISTRIBUTION BRANCH - First Slate of Titles Includes new restorations of Waris Hussein’s MELODY (1971), Bert Deling’s PURE SHIT (1975) and Andrew Horn’s DOOMED LOVE (1984), plus BAFTA Award Winning Documentarian Christopher Morris’ A YEAR IN A FIELD (2023) and more

Americans quick to shriek that Magyar is a conservative might want to sit this one out and just let Hungarians celebrate tonight. Promise you Hungarians from the LGBTQ community who voted for Magyar know, and have understood opposition politics against autocracy better than you.

Dignity. Always, dignity.

Every time a new Soderbergh interview drops, there's a piece of insight that I feel like "I should carry that with me for the rest of my life". My brain is like a sieve so only a few bits stick (like the lone asshole theory) but this dissection of good, clear and obvious is way up there.

Thanks to Stephen Colbert for quoting from "Sax Rohmer #1" yesterday and thus prompting its performance tonight. One of a few extraordinary moments in this latest evolution of The Mountain Goats - possibly the most striking being the new loose limbed and slowly surging arrangement of "Tallahassee".

Seeing @themountaingoats.bsky.social tonight for at least the 12th time in 9 cities, never less than special but this show was the night of the Sandy Hook shootings, I attended w/ a schoolteacher friend, we were all shook up. It was a real "live music can heal" moment. archive.org/details/Moun...

I can't stop laughing at this post. It's perfect.

Love this

Great read!

Well hell yes I want to see Chat Pile with Beastwars, thanks universe for arranging that.

My favourite will always be "A film by a lot of people" at the start of CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS

I would watch the hell out of this. Worth noting that the opening of JASON X is literally competing government agencies vying for rights to Jason

Knox's book launches tomorrow at the recently reopened Wellington Central Library, feeling fortunate to be here for it.

I really don't think FACES OF DEATH is for me, but I'm 100% behind any filmmaker subverting the "a film by" credit. See also: Lord & Miller putting an "and" after theirs in PROJECT HAIL MARY.

I interviewed filmmaker/DP Fred Kelemen (The Turin Horse) about his long friendship with the late Béla Tarr: oldnew.substack.com/p/all-starte...

Instead of buying Bluetooth headphones I decided to recharge my old iPod and honestly having to choose from a couple hundred albums I cared about ten years ago >>>>>> the tyranny of choosing from the entirety of Tidal and a bunch of podcasts I can't keep up with

On the basis of 2 seasons of JURY DUTY, I would say using their casting directors to find the next head of state would be a better form of government than any currently devised.