I think that's why it stuck out - that whole series was a sense of the world beyond Batman's shenanigans, and they tried to include as many real struggles and fears ('non-super heroism') as they could. In its way, that series was my introduction to non-genre fiction...
I remember AIDS and safe sex being referenced in the great Gotham Nights mini series that I was too young to really understand- but it stayed with me!
Cover of Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser
Nearly halfway through, some thoughts on Caroline Fraser's Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers.
I'm not a true violence guy, generally - I find the rolling around in factual viscera a little unsettling - but was attracted by the lead poisoning theory.
This is good.
This is good.
“I’ve already lost my son; I can’t lose the Catholic Bridge Club too.”
Quick recommendation for "What the People, Whose Houses I am Breaking Into, Have to Say About the Subjectivity of Art,” by Jay Servedio. It's good!
L’Araignée souriante (The Smiling Spider)
1881 • Odilon Redon
Quick recommendation for "What the People, Whose Houses I am Breaking Into, Have to Say About the Subjectivity of Art,” by Jay Servedio. It's good!
This is good.
“I’ve already lost my son; I can’t lose the Catholic Bridge Club too.”
This is good.
I wrote an essay for Criterion about "Corporate Thrillers," including Wall Street, The Devil's Advocate, Disclosure, Michael Clayton, and more
This was great, thanks!
AI has all but shut down the routes to proving yourself via grunt work in so many industries. All the best juniors I trained came in via that way. They didn’t have the social connections or money to position themselves for the success they proved more than capable of, AI is gutting social mobility
It comes across as a wild time in a wild place. There's a recurring bit about a reversible lane on a floating bridge that keeps killing people but no one can work out how to stop it. Widespread brain poisoning seems a decent explanation.
(That said, after fifty pages of what Ted Bundy and others actually did to women I'm taking a wee break.)
There's a cumulative horror that's more effective for the impressionistic delivery, and which also sets a high bar for admission to the grisly parts. Leading with the viscera is exploitative, pornographic - but 125 pages of opacity first keeps both reader and writer honest.
It starts with little serial killer detail, or even much structure. Just car crashes and infrastructure failure and corporate negligence and poisoned children - until your anxiety rises and you realise that you're picking out the details of the argument as if looking through smog in a smelting town.
Cover of Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser
Nearly halfway through, some thoughts on Caroline Fraser's Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers.
I'm not a true violence guy, generally - I find the rolling around in factual viscera a little unsettling - but was attracted by the lead poisoning theory.
There's work for a Patrick Warburton impersonator!?
I've adored this film since i was a kid and it really stands up to adult scrutiny. The odd, dislocated set design is eerily effective.
Really enjoyed Exit 8 at Mockingbird Cinema in Birmingham. Infinite loop riff with echoes of Cube and good use of Ravel's Boléro.
Free tickets courtesy of the BFI Escapes iniative - which had completely escaped me until a mate sent a link. escapes.cinematik.app
The Peter Principle was a kick in the teeth too
We live in the dumbest time.
BBC News homepage!
thanks, ace cite, I hope ok I've added it to open topic collector doc now generalized, renamed #RubbleFilm with sections for different national cinemas, and section for #RubbleWriting by analogy incl @phenryward.bsky.social's ' #Trümmerroman'
c/ @valarie.bsky.social
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
This is cinema
If I had one of those good, large, culture accounts I'd start crowdsourcing a list of Trümmerroman starting with The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay.
"Are you also a dissociative drunk trapped in an existential loop of self-knowledge and despair but not as hot as Burt Lancaster?"
Fucking hell this tagline goes incredibly hard.
How the fuck could you strike these people? Does this fall under any conception of 'The Job' you would have in imagination or training?
By Santiago Caruso