Monkey Buckles

I had the Matsudai Sunset Tonkotsu today.
And the Shoyu Triple Yuzu Ramen yesterday (the closest that I have come to finding a match for my favourite ever ramen, the Afuri Yuzu Shoyu Ramen).

Oh, the one next to the Japanese Sword Museum!
I knew it felt familiar!

On the stairs of Korakuen Hall. Shocked there’s not a fuckton of ads all around it.

Okay, I have to know. Which garden was this? I thought it might be Kiyosumi but I don't think the angle on the Sky Tree is right.

Kieran went with the Shoyu, which is the not spicy one.

Oh, I love that idea. Also, love seeing T. Kingfisher in there. Paladin's Grace and What Moves the Dead are both so good, in very different ways.

Congratulations!

A scene of various animals wearing roughly WW2 kit, relaxing with tea and cigarettes. A platypus, scorpion, barn owl, ourang-outan, jumping spider, crab and monitor lizard.

This week's Oktobersketch vignette. All quiet on the front.

In todays tech fails, I set up my DVD player with a monitor only to realise that the monitor doesn't have speakers...

When parakeets cosplay

Two photos side by side. On the left is Karl Urban as Judge Dredd, labelled “Karl Urban”. On the right is Karl Urban as Eomer, labelled “Karl Rural”.

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

People signed with WWE to work for WWE, not AAA. The moment it became clear that they have effectively built a new glass ceiling for Mexican talent - and it's one that also involves working somewhere many of them were glad to see the back of - it was obvious it would ruffle some feathers, at best.

I've never seen a whole episode of The Office (either version), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Seinfeld, The Walking Dead or Breaking Bad.

I've never seen a Godfather movie either.

Tawny owl

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

Did you hear about the darts fan who kept mucking up when baking?

It was because everything had to be 180(C ).

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@iversen83.bsky.social returns to discuss the 17th Discworld novel, Interesting Times.
We talk about updating the Rincewind formula, how comedy ages, Mustrum Ridcully’s flexibility, Pratchett's middle class revolutionaries & Scottish footballers.

🟢bit.ly/4o2wHvf
📦 bit.ly/4pUa8uy
🍎bit.ly/4mEuogD

ALAN 4L’S TAKE: Celebration and Frustration – New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2025 This coming Sunday sees New Japan Pro Wrestling present “Destruction In Kobe,” a staple event on their calendar every year. To say that there is a lack of buzz for this show, and New Japan in general,...

I wrote about the sensational GENERATION CRASH match from New Japan's Sep 13th Korakuen show and the frustrations of why the promotion can't stick to a presentation like that.

www.pwtorch.com/site/2025/09...

@pwtorch.bsky.social

Ken Campbell once used a medium to contact the ghost of Laurence Olivier. He asked the spirit who was the greatest actor in the world right now, and received the answer “Jackie Chan”. So Campbell rented as much Chan on VHS as possible and watched the lot. “And do you know, the man was RIGHT!”

The most accurate recreation of DS9 I've seen.

Spiderlight by @aptshadow.bsky.social was a great, entertaining read.

It feels similar to Redemption's Blade in how it looks at the "default" fantasy settings & asks questions.

This borders on satire at times, with heroes seeing their perception of reality shift in the presence of a man-spider.

Whenever it comes up in cultural conversation, I wonder, what would “curing” my autism look like to the people who demand it as an option? Would my being better with eye contact be worth losing so much of who I am?

Reminds me of a mate being at a Britwres show. Doug Williams was on the card and as soon as Doug is out, some other fan starts chanting "Doug stole my wife. He's a home wrecker."

Mate, if that's true then why are you paying Doug money?

I really need to go back to Kanada-Ya when I'm next in London. They've updated the menu since I last went, and I am a sucker for Yuzu ramen.

The commodification of interest, the implicit notion that a failure or lack of desire to monetise one's hobbies renders them a worthless, frivelous waste of precious time.

"Witness now the fossilization of a culture that has ceased to believe in anything beyond its own capacity to generate value."

I mean, is he wrong???

I legit keep forgetting that Aleah James still exists.

Once upon a movie corny, where some boys lust, mad and horny,
Over many a buxom maiden they were forbid to try—
While I watched it, nearly napping, suddenly there came a slapping,
As of some one gently fapping, fapping into his mom’s pie.

- American Poe