James Coburn, now there’s a guy you’re happy to see when he shows up

George Eliot wields long-winded prose like a rapier. Never really read anything like it

Calzaghe v Lacy -World title unification (Full fight). Both undefeated YouTube video by Ade Eager

Taught about modernity and tradition in Wales today, so I had to slip in a reference to Joe Calzaghe, naturally www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSj...

It's happening all over the post-92 bit of the sector. Moves are afoot in places not making headlines yet and the cover excuse is the TPS pension. The question now is will organised labour react and will this get the urgency it demands from academics in USS?

Scorpions - Wind Of Change (Official Music Video) YouTube video by ScorpionsVEVO

Rickrolling my students by playing The Scorpions' Wind of Change video instead of the Harold Macmillan speech

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Rj...

Next reading project. Good so far!

I make it a point to always give constructive feedback

Typing up a lecture on the Blitz and fighting desperately not to use the phrase "A screaming comes across the sky."

Few things more dispiriting than some dude asking a dive bar to put the golf on

La Place Louis XV from the Old Regime to the Revolution | Home King and People in the Parisian Royal Square

Hey, Victoria E. Thompson has a new book out! Cool
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

I can't imagine who else would think these design decisions would be a good idea

"But Tyson," you might say, "surely your problems derive from your merely average Powerpoint skills and overall lack of techological élan?"

To which I respond: no, I disagree. Cadaver Synod.

In geopolitical terms, it's probably not the *most* critical thing going on right now, but I still think we should consider a Cadaver Synod for whoever keeps updating Powerpoint to be less functional

Brilliance!

L’ancien ou la nouvelle?

Anyways, more of an amanuensis guy, myself

YOU THINK I DONT ALREADY HAVE OPINIONS ABOUT QUILLS??

Trying to build my brand as “tiresome pedant,” also buying stock in monocle factors and astrolabe distributors

Thinking about becoming the kind of guy who spells it “débâcle”

“Remove justice and what are states but gangs of bandits on a large scale?” Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book IV, Chapter 4)

Sports: The Iron Claw (Durkin, 2023)
Runner-Up: Bull Durham (Shelton, 1988)
HM: Challengers (Guadagnino, 2024)

There are some obvious ways that Bull Durham is a "better" movie, but what can I say, The Iron Claw really walloped me

War: Destination Tokyo (Daves, 1943)

Music: Tender Mercies (Beresford, 1983)

Documentary: American Movie (Smith, 1999)
Runner-Up: Heartworn Highways (Szalapski, 1976)
HM: Directed by John Ford (Bogdanovich, 1971/2006)

Wuxia: The Bells of Death (Yueh Feng, 1968)
Runner-Up: The Valiant Ones (King Hu, 1974)
HM: Raining in the Mountain (King Hu, 1979), Dragon Inn (King Hu, 1967)

Very close call, but the thematic depth/grittiness of The Bells of death narrowly edged out Hu's aesthetic mastery and spiritual grasp

Martial Arts: Throw Down (To, 2004)
Runner-Up: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Cheang, 2024)
HM: Life After Fighting (Foster, 2024)

Action: Madigan (Siegel, 1968)
Runner-Up: The Big Racket (Castellari, 1976)
HM: The Heroin Busters (Castellari, 1977)

Yakuza: Sympathy for the Underdog (Fukasaku, 1971)
Runner-Up: Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza (Kate, 1966)
HM: Hokuriku Proxy War (Fukasaku, 1977)

Samurai: Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji (Uchida, 1955)

Noir/Crime/Thriller: The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941)
Runner-Up: The Roaring Twenties (Walsh, 1939)
HM: The 4th Man (Verhoeven, 1983), The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (Ritt, 1965), Dillinger (Milius, 1973), Yokohama BJ Blues (Kudo, 1981), Kansas City Confidential (Karlson, 1952)

Genre Awards

Western: The Big Country (Wyler, 1958)
Runner-Up: The Great Silence (Corbucci, 1968)
Honorable Mentions: Forty Guns (Fuller, 1957), Compañeros (Corbucci, 1970)

Best Rewatch, continued:
Runner-Up: Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
Honorable Mentions: It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934), Summertime (Lean, 1955), Evil Dead 2 (Raimi, 1987)

Best New Watch, Honorable Mentions, continued: The Awful Truth (McCarey, 1937), Shanghai Express (von Sternberg, 1932), My Heart is that Eternal Rose (Tam, 1989), Anora (Baker, 2024), The Fog (Carpenter, 1980)

Best Rewatch: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)...

2025 Movie Roundup:

Best New Watch: Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Akerman, 1975)
Runner-Up: Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (Peckinpah, 1974)
Honorable Mentions: Matewan (Sayles, 1987), Becket (Glenville, 1974), Carrington (Hampton, 1995) ...