James Bennett

@aliettedebodard.com Happy birthday! 🥳

No, but I've dined with Byron a couple of times at Newstead Abbey.

No circumcision, as the story makes quite clear.

If you're hungry for more Frankenstein, you could always read "Frankenstein Uncut" in my latest collection.

It's faithful to the original text. There's cadaverous willy choosing, naked steam baths and a snack of a Henry Clerval.

"Children should be seen and not heard" was something you heard a lot back then.

Ah, memories.

We'll be forced to sit through Avatar 3 as a penance.

Too much expectation. Even in my comment. See?

Guess I just expected after all his purported love for it, I was expecting a definitive version. But I love Del Toro and his movies, and that informed my approach the second time around.

It's no Avatar: Fire & Cat's Breath though!

I appreciated it more on a second viewing. The first time tweaked the purist in me. The second I realised that I was being unfair and took it for what it was, thereby finding satisfaction. It's a good film.

All a grift.

It isn't a colonialist's wet dream or a white saviour narrative because it's in *space*!

Crazy that ppl should say that!

And to add to my cred, I was recently distressed to discover that I couldn't visit the Villa Diodati on my way through Geneva.

*Sips absinthe* *sniffs*

90s Magic Eye scrawny space cats in a thinly veiled version of Pocahontas.

What's not to love?

You know I love the book. It was the focus of my English A-level and I read it every now and then. Even bought a copy with the Wrightson plates yesterday.

Cinematic Frankie is its own beast and I think Del Toro honoured that just fine.

Oh good.

I remember it well. Lived in Leicester many years ago and Diwali and Guy Fawkes went on for weeks. It's excessive and intrusive af.

Spider web, no? And then he got his face ripped off. Hundreds of them burrowed into his eyes.

Ok I didn't actually read that, but you know it's what happens.

Sorry if you still believe that the BBC is impartial and has integrity, I guess.

It's run by a right-winger who refuses to call fascists fascist. 🤷‍♂️

Wasn't sure at first, but I warmed to "Murderbot". This is kind of along the lines of "Severance", but less heavy so far.

Sooo... "Pluribus" is wild, right?

It feels kinda wrong to laugh so much, but

That's the trouble with Spanish locations. Like when they put the Valencia Science Museum in Doctor Who and various castles in GoT.

Bounces you right out. 🤷‍♂️

But the show is great!

Episode 2 of the intriguing "Pluribus". I recognised Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, right away and said so.

They're pretending it's Morocco though.

Seeing several complaints from back home online. I don't miss November fireworks. They're not good for the nerves, wildly unregulated in the UK, dangerous, and harmful to wildlife and pets.

I'm not one to speak of Catholic revenge or the angry ghosts of executed rebels, but

I always sound like a shrill queen, I think. I always laugh when I listen to myself.

In response to Elon Musk dunking on someone as a "taker, not a maker," JCO quotes and replies "So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates—scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the 'most wealthy person in the world.'"

My theory about Joyce Carol Oates is that all her bad posts are her charging up like Godzilla's spines until she lets loose with a radioactive blast that leaves the world's richest Nazi a pile of ash

I mean, everything preceding this is horrible tbh. But it's pretty much earthly.

25K words into my wip and I'm about to commit a horror. An inaugural weirdness that will be hard for the MC to deny.

Been excited about it since the first line. Like a horrible, demented kid.

We get three of them here with a Yorkshire one thrown in, because that where I'll be.

Sure!