Hi Lena! Aha, makes sense now.

Perhaps consider mentioning what city this takes place in?

The cover of "my heart and I agree" by Lucy Sante. A Mexican folk art style heart wrapped in thorns with flames coming out of the top.

Lucy Sante reading at a podium surrounded by books.

I'm stuck in London, but I just got good reports from my dear friend Lucy Sante's reading of her new book on Saturday in NYC. Can't wait to read it myself!

(Photo from @privatelibrary.bsky.social)

There's no time to rest--as soon as one round of feeding is finished, the parent heads right back out to get more.

The cover of "my heart and I agree" by Lucy Sante. A Mexican folk art style heart wrapped in thorns with flames coming out of the top.

Lucy Sante reading at a podium surrounded by books.

I'm stuck in London, but I just got good reports from my dear friend Lucy Sante's reading of her new book on Saturday in NYC. Can't wait to read it myself!

(Photo from @privatelibrary.bsky.social)

The cyberattack on The British Library in October 2023 knocked out ebooks and almost ever other computer thing there for years.

Ebooks just came back. They were knocked out everywhere using the BL’s license (legal deposit libraries I think? More libraries?)

Distributed physical copies matter.

Connecticut Pauses AI Use to Create ‘Criminal Reports’ The chief state’s attorney, with support from the State Police and the Connecticut Police Chief’s Association, is pausing deployment of AI-powered tools to deepen understanding and set rules around th...

Skeptics “point to highly publicized AI failures, including one involving a Utah traffic stop during which a police body cam recorded the movie ‘The Princess and the Frog’ playing in the background and generated a report stating, among other things, that an officer ‘turned into a frog.’”

A brief history of techno-negativity From the techne pessimists of Ancient Greece to the computer firebombers of the Information Age, here's a look at the long—and fruitful—legacy of refusing the machine.

From the techné pessimists of Ancient Greece to the computer to the loom-breaking Luddites to the firebombers of the Information Age, here's a look at the long—and fruitful—legacy of refusing the machine.

By @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social, for BITM:

Tim Cook donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration.

He fawned over Trump and gifted him a 24-karat gold plaque (as Apple lobbied for tariff exemptions).

Apple donated to Trump’s White House ballroom.

And it removed ICE tracking apps from its stores following a demand from the DOJ.

Remember this.

Rare existing Storyville jazz club saved from demolition Once called Joe Victor’s Saloon and the oldest of three remaining Storyville structures, the building was recently saved from demolition. 

Rare existing Storyville jazz club saved from demolition

Once called Joe Victor’s Saloon and the oldest of three remaining Storyville structures, the building was recently saved from demolition. 

Niiiice
Look fwd to this...
www.cherryred.co.uk/various-arti...

Me or you?

Kagenusha is my favorite now AND then!

Tim Curry backstage at the original Rocky horror show applying his makeup. He's wearing fishnet stockings, black underwear, and his bare-chested.

Happy 80th birthday to Tim Curry, who profoundly influenced my conception of manhood when, at the age of 10 in 1973, I saw him perform live on stage in the original version of The Rocky Horror Show.

Oh, and almost all of the stands were offering free samples. You could get your fill of cheese just by walking around and trying all the samples without even buying anything.

An overview of the Chiswick cheese market. Green trees, blue sky, 25 stands with sun shades over them, and crowds of white people buying cheese.

I mean, that was just one stand at the entrance to the market! It was one of the largest, but there are about 25 different stands selling cheese of a mind-boggling variety!

I vote for TJs coverage!

Thinking about becoming a cheese influencer. Although I could never reach the heights of @venezuelanbeaver.bsky.social.

A stall at the Chiswick cheese market, with a wide variety of cheese.

My hall from the Chiswick cheese market. Clockwise from lower left: an ash-covered soft goat cheese log, a burrata, a loaf of dark rye, a log of goat whey butter, a slice of Caerphilly, a slice of English blue, and a slice of torta de barros.

A close-up of the amazingly delicious ash-covered soft goat cheese log.

I stumbled across the Chiswick Cheese Market this afternoon, which is held on the 3rd Sunday of each month. It was glorious. There's a huge selection, much of it sold directly by those who make it from around the country. Pricey as expected, but deals can be had, especially later in the day.

Lester Bowie Brass Fantasy - I only have eyes for you YouTube video by aseaoffaces

Peggy Lou just played (again) Lester Bowie's brassy, melancholy "I Only Have Eyes For You" on WWOZ. This must be the most beautiful song ever done, and much as I love the Flamingos' 1959 version, this one is a serious contender... #musicsky

Two hooded figures with lamps approach a moonlit, isolated cottage. A woman answers the door. We have come for the child, says the hooded figure So soon? she asks It is time, says the hooded figure. The woman is distraught. We should never have got him a library card! What is done cannot be undone, says the hooded figure We couldn’t see the harm! We just wanted him to enjoy reading! For most, it ends there, says the hooded figure, turning away and walking into the wilderness Oh lord, What have I done! says the woman, the child walks past her and out into the darkness with them. Do not cry mother. I am a writer now.

my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

It’s official, @colsonwhitehead.com has won this day in my humble estimation.
(This is the dedication in Cool Machine, which will be published July 21.)

Morning all.

Photographer Tony Ray-Jones.
Weymouth 1968.

Early morning sun tangles the shadows of trees coming into leaf across fresh green grass.

Hampstead Heath, 07:26

An outlet in a stone wall by a river. Bars like ragged teeth across the opening. Weed on the wall. The outlet is reflected in the river water.

Portal number 997.

“It’s a couple of things that work beautifully in concert. First: no music. Audiences are so sophisticated, but what they’re not accustomed to is not being told how to feel,” Wyle says. “You take all that out and it forces a level of engagement where you’re now looking for clues within the frame of the screen, which forces you to look up from your phone. And I think that is extremely engaging, especially to young viewers who aren’t accustomed to being asked to participate in a nonpassive way in the viewing experience.

“Second point, shooting it with almost exclusively 50-millimeter or 65-millimeter lenses, which is the most comparable to the human eye—and only shooting from the point of view of a human being that’s present in this space. There are no cameras on gurney wheels going in the hallway. There’s no cameras on the ceiling looking down from a God point of view. You are limited to the perspective of a participant. You can look away, but you can’t leave, and it becomes an endurance test for you to stay on your feet as long as we’re on our feet. Which [brings me to my] third point: real time. Real time has an aggregate sense of tension that you don’t get in any other form of storytelling. What happened before is happening now, and these two things are going to add up to the next thing. And if we throw more ingredients into this cooker and keep ratcheting it up, it’s going to pop.”

Wyle makes eye contact for his next point, delivering it with a Robby-esque matter-of-factness. “Fourth point: The election went the other way,” he says with a shrug. “We could have been a really good show with a lot of nice things to say in a perfectly normal Kamala Harris universe. And instead we became almost a beacon of hope and humanity in an alternative universe. But in the midst of that, fifth point—this is essentially competence porn. You’re watching really smart, dedicated people do what only they know how to do at a level that you don’t know how to do it, and you’re so fucking glad that they’re there doing it, and compartmentalizing their own stuff to put your broken pieces back together. You’re so reassured by knowing that there are people out there that laugh and joke and have the ability to lock in like that.”

this is fucking unreal stuff from Noah Wyle on the magic of The Pitt. www.gq.com/story/noah-w...

That was a very good year for film. My other favorites include The Elephant Man, Bad Timing, Atlantic City, Mon Oncle d'Amérique , and The Empire Strikes Back. I saw them all on first release in a movie theater, because at that time there was no other way to see a movie.

The Japanese theatrical poster for Akira Kurosawa's film Kagamusha. On the bottom of the frame a row of samurai warriors riding on horses silhouetted against the horizon. Above is a samurai warrior in profile bathed in red light. The overall color of the poster is orange and red. The title of the film in Japanese is written vertically in the middle in bold red script.

Without stating your age, post your favorite film released the year you turned 18.

I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.

Eater ceased to be relevant when they shitcanned Robert Sietsema.

There is more charm and joy in these two guys showing up to read a book than in all the years of that other guy’s miserable tenure.