"Being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it’s the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it." —John Waters, who celebrates his 80th birthday today!

Hard Normal Daddy was life-altering. I blame Squarepusher for a lot of what followed

WALTER WHITE: This is just a setback. We start again and we do it even bigger this time.

SWEEP: [High-pitched squeaking noises]

WALTER: We’re finished when I say we‘re finished, you fucking glove

'I feel profoundly let down.' Is Starmer's government mimicking the Tories and their '14 years of corruption and dishonesty'? James O'Brien says he was 'perhaps naive' to think it would be any different.

It’s not like nobody told James they were like this: he was told over and over what it was he was buying and how these people behave. The problem was, he was told it by people he regards as intellectually, morally and socially inferior to him, so he could not hear any of it.

Pic from an article about how to change Taskmaster

Switch from improv to a tightly scripted format. Replace Greg and Alex with Dame Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift. Instead of tasks, have a woman who aspires to be posh but falls into a hedge when a big dog barks

Displays in Belarusian folk museums can't hurt you.

Displays in Belarusian folk museums:

🧵 #ContraryMusicTakes:

- I challenge the assertion that the only way is up.
- I don't think he heard it through the grapevine; I think he stalked her and found out directly, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

My new article at Ancillary Review of Books has the best title I will ever come up with.

"Bluesky is borked, the vibecoding of this microblogging platform struggling once more-"

You awake. It is 1972, a beach in Greece. The stars are twinkling. You are dancing by a fire pit to Aphrodite's Child's masterpiece 666 with a beautiful woman. Your only concern is that your kaftan is sandy.

Golden Age British detective fic can seem light, all rail timetables, missing twins, and manor houses.
Just below the surface we know it’s aboil with PTSD from two wars, an epidemic, a depression, and tons of colonizer guilt and shame.
Make stories now.
One day the grandkids may see us whole.

"Your own. Personal. Negus.
Someone who rates your chairs,
Someone who cares"

Pile of wood in a field. Definitely not for burning London tourists.

Arrived on holiday to find they’ve built a pyre in the back garden. Probably fine

"Pope says do revolution in the imperial core"
x.com/makbethel/st...
warhammer intensifies bsky.app/profile/70sb...

man stares at water with rabbit stalking him

"As Edward stared at the horizon, he failed to realize his flank was exposed."

Two=part electrical box covered in plastic that mimics the pattern of green vines with mouth and eyes added in black to the top "head" part which makes it look like a zombie from Minecraft.

The only one I've ever seen that was, ahem, altered, is this one (from Burns Bog in Delta) and honestly who can argue with this:

*William Gibson throws his typewriter out the window*

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake By A Horse Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food. I am thinking I would like to try cake. Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape. Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy. Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much. I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on." Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.

It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

“And yet the thieves on the cross interest you [Hobson says]. Vladimir is troubled to account for one of them being lost and the other saved. How can you be so preoccupied with this when you do not believe in salvation?” It was at this point that Beckett became eager, excited. His sharp, rugged face leaned over the table. “I am interested in the shape of ideas even if I do not believe them. There is a wonderful sentence in Augustine. I wish I could remember the Latin. It is even finer in Latin than in English. ‘Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.’ That sentence has a wonderful shape. It is the shape that matters.”

The shape of ideas: Samuel Beckett (speaking to Harold Hobson during the production of Waiting for Godot, 1956) #GoodFriday

To celebrate 100 years since Otto Dix painted his 1926 portrait of Sylvia von Harden, Centre Pompidou recreated it using actress Isa Desplantes

A page from the book 1984

Brown University is home to George Orwell's original manuscript of 1984. Most of it is marked up heavily in Orwell's hand-writing but this untouched page caught my eye.

No one knows who invented the saxophone or why they gave it a funny name but one thing’s for sure, music fans love its unorthodox sound, which is certain to delight listeners for years to come!

Ha ha April Fool. You've actually been having a bizarre dream and it is in fact 1996 right now. We are all going to go watch the new Coen Brothers movie 'Fargo' later. I will call you on your phone that is attached to a wall and can't make you insane later.

Shroud is great, really gripping with a good solidly weird alien presence discovering an all-too-human humanity. @aptshadow.bsky.social really is the master at this stuff.

Thinking you’re apolitical is like thinking you “don’t have an accent”—it just means you haven’t thought about it very much.

It’s hilarious. Loved it.