The utter cruelty of some university management teams is staggering.

Let us salute the rogue genius of Desmond Morris, ape-watcher and last of the Surrealists, gone at 98. Here he is, less than 2 years ago, with his Man Ray tribute work - the photographic lips are those of Diana Dors, whom he dated in the 40s when she was still Diana Fluck.

Gosford Park (2001)

Gosford World (2015)

Gosford World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Did she do it?

Yes!

Arf arf

Best enjoyed with a MASSIVE BOX OF CHOCOLATES

Barbara is coming … and here’s the cover. Out September, available to preorder now. www.amazon.co.uk/Barbara-Cart...

A great honour!

Real Vietnam deserters! Pik-Sen Lim!

As time goes by I feel I really lucked out starting out as a movie hack in the 90s. Papers wanted interviews, stars and directors were accessible. The 1940s actors I loved were still around. Lunch with Deneuve, tea with Phyllis Calvert. I didn't know I was born.

The death of Nathalie Baye makes me feel so sad. Her work with Truffaut, Godard makes her immortal. But her loss reminds me of interviewing her in her hotel suite and coming home smelling of her cigarettes, on a fleeting afternoon 25 years ago.

RIP Nathalie Baye

Anybody at a loose end this evening, I'm playing Page of Madness at 6.10 at BFI Southbank tonight.

whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...

trous d'urine dans la neige

In fact “jumping” described an individual act whereas “bumping” is what kids call travelling without a ticket.

My feeling is that it’s partly technology. The new-ish double barriers for buggies and wheelchair access are easy to get through. Old style ones were like mantraps. People used to talk about jumping the barriers. But now it’s called “bumping” because that’s all it requires.

Genuinely one of the coolest things I've ever seen a cultural venue post

Trump rode to power of a wave of conspiracy theories and their boosters. He's just publicly declared war on several of the most prominent of them.

Look, this is a grey squirrel of a solecism and I hate it. The correct expression is ALL MOUTH AND TROUSERS, implying front, bravado, brashness with nothing of substance within. The needful idiom here is ALL GONG AND NO DINNER. Something that promises much but delivers nothing.

Oh that's good to know. Never heard of it until today.

Someone posted this in the other place. And it led me to this gorgeous Third Programme oddity. A radio play without dialogue by Andrew Sachs. In binaural sound. And inspired by a thought from Tom Stoppard ... archive.org/details/the-...

you know the way "why did the Roman Empire fall" and "what are the causes of the First World War" are big questions that sort of function like Rorsharch tests, allowing people to debate ultimately inexplicable moments in history? "Why did no one stop Trump" a decent future shout for the third.

The Ghosts Of Bush, by Howlround 6 track album

Further ghosts of old BBC haunts… ambient sounds captured at Bush House after the World Service departed.

thefogsignals.bandcamp.com/album/the-gh...

I saw The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, in 1979. It made a big impression on me.

Come out of The Drama with terrible envy for R Patz’s bookshelves.

Thanks!

Yes!

From Kristallnacht to Bottle Boys

Enjoyed this ghostly wander through singing walls, over underground rivers and past a chorus of haunted air conditioners… and particularly @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social’s curse on those who might hollow out our imaginative spaces in order to build luxury flats…