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vaguestideas.bsky.social
Ex-pat in the New Forest; conservationist; dog walker; mobile projectionist; would be writer; film nut; ersatz improviser, baker, artist & gardener; Chair of the New Forest Consultative Panel; Wildlife & Conservation rep on the New Forest LocalAccessForum.
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King somehow manages to keep me interested, even if this is SOOOO drawn out -- half this volume is dedicated to getting one character to walk through a door. It may take me getting through the other four volumes before I can decide whether I'm annoyed by this. #BookSky

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

My February Reads 2: While waiting for part 2 of the Alcott, delving into Fleming for the 1st time is even stranger. The barest bones of a spy thriller, a Spillane brusqueness, oddly clumsy in its leery parts (protuberances?), bipolar in its emotional palette, constipation to adoration. #BookSky

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

My February Reads 1: I'd meant to finally read this since the Gerwig film, but oddly couldn't find it in my trawl of used bookshops. Her language is vibrant, characters vivid, and however many my try to trivialize it for its almost sardonic cheerful tone, it is a deserving classic. #BookSky

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

My January Reads 4: I think its unfair to label Aaronvitch's Peter Grant as merely Procedural meets Potter. His world building is organic, driven by plot, not the other way around. This keeps things unpredictable, flowing, while balancing jocular tone against adventure. #BookSky

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

My January Reads 3: Having put off King's bookshelf filling fantasy, picked up the lot on the cheap. His bash at fantasy, there's interesting character and world building, cadges the worst of Tolkien, a whole lot of walking. By the end of this volume its 3 protagonists don't go very far. #BookSky

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

My January Reads: 2 King's capacity for quantity has often put me off, however page turning I find him. I even avoided this slim volume as it was the first of an undefined series, since completed with increasing thick tomes. An intriguing prologue, but purposefully vague. #BookSky

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

My January Reads: 1 This excellent series continues. Its vibrant feel of London reminds me of my decade there, and how I still miss those haunts. More literally haunted in these pages. #BookSky

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

This week marks my 35th year in the UK. I drifted into an opportunity to indulge my anglophilia, and it stuck. Look at this hapless fool, he got something right.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

We have to fight to keep independent arts venues. One of the last (London) rep cinemas standing, vital and important. #SaveThePCC

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

Among all the blizzard of bullshit distraction proposals, this genuine threat, an attempt to dismantle oversight. Schmuck à l'Orange illegally dismisses Inspectors General. At least one is calling him on it.

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment

Bittersweet to have this as a positive thing to do today.

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

David Lynch spoke with Terry Gross in 1994 about how Philly inspired 'Eraserhead.' The archival interview: tinyurl.com/4237563p

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

Deconstructing the wreath... (the circle of life....)

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Cole Porter gets more mileage from a copy of Grey's Anatomy than anyone could hope for.

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Untrue Fact! In the old days when we had to realize everything manually it was called piphany.

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

I've not seen A Complete Unknown yet, but I recognize this feeling of seeing characters wheeled on and off, usually women. I've felt this distinctly a few times this year. The tragedy, I can't point to those films, likely all too many, even if that itch was subliminal.

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

“I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. … I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.” https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-quitting-the-washington-post?utm_campaign=post&triedRedirect=true

submitted 50 days ago • 18 comments

My love for P&P is enormous. While I'd hope the films stand on their own to garner continued appreciation, no doubt this sweet relationship helps preserve their legacy. As it should be, their work puts their personal stamp on the universal, poetic, and whimsical.

submitted 53 days ago • 1 comment

Giving this a refresher reread as a brief to continue the series. Aaronovitch manages world building, cracking procedural, fantasy, and a very Douglas Adams / Terry Pratchett turn of comical phrasing. Hope he keeps up that high wire act. #booksky

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Possibly my first attempts, aged 8, at film criticism. First a Disney nature documentary double bill, then Nic Roeg's Australian odyssey which starts with a father trying and failing to murder his two children, and two suicides. Somehow, this explains all too much.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

1. I can't imagine that anyone could top this for well plotted, sharp, historical fiction. 2. I need to read more Elmore Leonard. #booksky

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

My contrarian anthem is "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do, ...Bitter"

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

Although both a Carter supporter, and Ansel Adams fan, I didn't know about their intersection. And the happenstance that we've a numbered print of the Wonder Lake photo Adams gifted to Carter (see below). www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

submitted 54 days ago • 1 comment

Your friends' indulgence of you when you're being truly tedious is the most hideous expression their love for you.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments