Jonathan Bygraves

tweet by the late Dawn Foster from Sep 4th 2020 "Matt Goodwin once emailed me to accuse him of being racist when I called him a “racist whisperer” and I had to explain to him that horse whisperers aren’t horses."

RIP to a real one

The long 2010s are finally over

Eusébio buying soul LPs in Harlow's Startime record shop in 1968

This is what I've been doing with my time recently. Can't remember when I last enjoyed helping to compile a festival retrospective programme so much. These films are subversive, outrageous, WTF & bonkers, a full complement of extraordinary horror & sci-fi classics that deserve to be rediscovered.

YouTube video by Austin Film Society Frederick Wiseman: TITICUT FOLLIES

Requiescat, Frederick Wiseman. My man had Foucault-levels of things to say about the role of institutions in our lives, but was also a hugely talented filmmaker on top of it.

If you have not seen Titicut Follies (1967), prioritise it: right out the gate, our guy was NOT here to fuck around

A still from SMILEY'S PEOPLE (1982) showing London's Palace Theatre in Cambridge Circus, which is decked out in colorful signs advertising Royce Ryton and Ray Cooney's play "Her Royal Highness"

Finally getting round to watching SMILEY'S PEOPLE (1982), and strangely finding it easier to recall a time of Cold War intrigue and pre-internet analogue telecommunications than I am one in which the Palace Theatre had something on other than Harry Bloody Potter:

Something compelled me to make this

Once again, we have given new life to an old book. @backlisted.bsky.social @regretteruane.bsky.social

Been keeping an eye out for a copy and just stumbled across the listing for the new edition. Can't wait to finally read it!

Been itching to read Joan Barfoot's Gaining Ground / Abra since @regretteruane.bsky.social's appearance on @backlisted.bsky.social a while back, so delighted to spot that Faber is reissuing it later this year:

www.foyles.co.uk/book/gaining...

The only thing I’ve seen in the last ten years that has given me hope for the future.

Rare Elio Petri film alert! Stars Marcello Mastroianni and Gian Maria Volonté; music by Ennio Morricone. (Probably helps if you're au fait with 1970s Italian politics; I am not, but loved it anyway - the blocking! the design! It's like an arty, almost abstract, intellectual slasher movie!)

People from outside Ireland occasionally ask me, "Why is Bono, an international music titan from Ireland, not all that loved in Ireland?". The answer in its entirety is a complex one, but "He sent Dolly Parton a birthday cake and put his own name on it" goes a long way to summing it up.

a still image from LONGLEGS

A still image from SLEEPAWAY CAMP

A still image from THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

I am very excited to announce that I'm going to be hosting a Miskatonic Institute lecture on March 16th, and I'll be talking about the Trans Feminine Grotesque. Full details below:

miskatonicinstitute.com/events/gazin...

Looks like someone has Had A Word

PhilipGlass After thoughtful consideration, I have decided to withdraw my Symphony No. 15 "Lincoln" from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony. Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership.

Philip Glass leading by example, withdrawing a premiere from the Kennedy Center

A screenshot from the Graham Linehan Facebook page, dated January 26, 2017. "Here's something to watch for: sub-par entertainers/hacks etc smelling that sweet right wing sucker money and making their move."

Nine years to the day since Graham Linehan foresaw his own fate.

this is the only way to appreciate someone playing a bitchin guitar solo

Actress Joan Greenwood — dressed in a light-coloured sweater, dark-coloured trousers and cardigan — captured in profile while lying on her stomach and looking down at a bound script in front of her, reading intently, her chin resting on her left hand, farmland, cottages and hills visible in the distance, in a full-length black-and-white shot taken outside on the Isle of Barra in Scotland during a break from location filming for Whisky Galore! (1949)

Joan Greenwood on the Isle of Barra in Scotland during a break from location filming for Whisky Galore! (1949)

Alexander Mackendrick's On Film-making is wonderful

Bela Tarr in a pirated DVD store in Peru posing with the owner and a selection of his films

Béla Tarr visiting a store in Peru selling pirated DVDs and posing with the owner and bootlegs of his own work, one of the realest ones, RIP

Mogwai

Fuck it I don’t care anymore

YouTube video by Turner Classic Movies TCM Remembers 2025 | TCM

Here we go: TCM REMEMBERS, 2025 edition. See if you can make it through this without getting something in your eye.

The Norwich Cathedral Cat, on the pulpit, drinking from the glass of water left for the Reverend.

“He lives here” we were told, as if the church had had no say in the matter and his presence pre-dated the building. “He’s named Budge because he doesn’t budge. He thinks the water is left for him”

Where's Emi Martinez when you need him? #WorldCupDraw

YouTube video by Kino Lorber Bacurau – Official U.S. Trailer

If you're looking for an Udo Kier film to watch, may I recommend BACURAU (2019), starts off like a worthy slice of sociopolitical realism and ends up as demented Brazilian neo-western exploitation. Don't read anything else, just see it. Contains one of my favourite film moments of the 21st century.

Wow, congratulations to you both! ❤️