Mike Westphal

a black and white shot looking up into tree branches

the same shot, but in color

I got outside without being dive bombed by lantern flies, so was able to take a few new shots using the Leica iPhone grip and their LUX app. I've been testing wide angle shots and am pleased with the results. The black and white image uses the Natural setting, while the color is set to Vivid.

The people who made TROPIC THUNDER tried their damndest to make it impossible for anyone ever again to use the phrase “those people“ with a straight face but, regrettably, they failed.

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

Back in the USA & beginnig my annual election season rewatch of pre-Halloween favorites. Tonight cueing up a more recent addition to the list, The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

Amazon.com: Agent of Byzantium: 9781504052320: Turtledove, Harry: Books Amazon.com: Agent of Byzantium: 9781504052320: Turtledove, Harry: Books

AGENT OF BYZANTIUM is Byzantine alt hist, not fantasy. It's set in the 14th century of a universe where Muhammad doesn't found Islam. The Byzantines and Persians are still intriguing against each other in the Middle East, and technology is starting to change.
www.amazon.com/Agent-Byzant...

Looking forward to this!!

"We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected... When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains".
"We want their funding to be shut down... We want to put them in trauma". Russell Voight ~ Project 2025

They’re going to be sets for endless sequels of Resident Evil

It must be the season, indeed!! We also had pecan pancakes. At the Sherman Oaks Denny’s after seeing Guillermo Del Toro live, presenting clips of Frankenstein. Pancakes go pecan when they go dark.

A Spirit Halloween store

Because my new book is out today I thought I’d do something completely ridiculous but also necessary.

a man stands at a podium with microphones that say wor on them ALT: a man stands at a podium with microphones that say wor on them

"[A] democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." - FDR (1938)

The statue is cool

Ceiling, Sagrada Familia

Not unlike some critter from the Burgess Shale.

Assholes

as a wee lad in the early 90s who thought it would be fun to make cartoons for a living, I did not expect to chronicle the descent of the so called american experiment into blatant fascism, but I guess you play the hand you are dealt

😟 We will not be forgiven, if there's anyone left to pass judgement. And think of all the animals dying from loss of habitat.

Repeat that bit about him wearing a bicycle helmet to class when he was doing his PhD at UC Berkeley? That would seem to me to be important. It’s also important to note that this guy is a fucking idiot.

Steve McQueen clutched by a crying teen girl in handcuffs

Good morning from Crime Detective.
Yes, that really is Steve McQueen on the cover. The magazine has conflicting publication dates of 1956 and 1958, the latter of which is the same year THE BLOB was released.

Remember when CRIMSON PEAK got a lot of bad reviews because the studio promoted it as a horror film but what del Toro gave us was a dark gothic romance? That's what worries me about FRANKENSTEIN. I have a feeling it's more gothic than horror. Will the studios fuck that up again?

A beautifully simplified complicated sentence.
v @jwomack.bsky.social

everything is just so relentless

Sagrada Familia, all the new construction I think.

Made it.

primary anybody who doesn't talk like this

I’m thinking of all the elected Republicans who are belatedly remembering that insider trading is a crime

You are young yet, my friend, but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see. ~Edgar Allan Poe

The image is an X post by user Joshua Reed Eakle from 20 hours ago, stating: "The end of due process for immigrants is the end of due process for citizens. Few understand this." The post includes a profile picture and a verified badge.

I understand this. Please tell me you do, too.

The Republicans could not block ACA so they passed a budget to get rid of it. Democrats are fighting to keep people from being thrown off healthcare and to keep it affordable.
Definitely worth fighting for.
#ProudBlue#Voices4Victory
#OneV1

apple.news/A2OSb5bfNS4K...

My belief as an American is that every powerful person in this current moment who has facilitated the widespread disruption and harm we're witnessing should be held accountable for what they've done. Any opposition leader who wants to go easy on their pals across the aisle should find new work.

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.