David Ketelby

Ok now I'm thinking about a Dante hearing aid with four settings for literal, allegorical, moral & anagogical meaning

My new hearing aid is one of the expensive ones that can also pick up the subtext of what someone's saying. Three settings for that: spiritual subtext, ideological subtext and 'Jungian shadow' (though that one does tend to drain the battery).

That was a really good panel - enjoyed hearing from
@griffski.bsky.social, @mfalfrey.bsky.social and yourself, plenty to think about and some new books to read :)

But perhaps you should, eh?

Have you considered it?

If yesterday was Bi+ Visibility Day, today must be Bi+ Procrastinators' Visibility Day.

Procrastinators don't put *everything* off until tomorrow, just at least some things - we shouldn't be propagating harmful stereotypes here.

And procrastination obviously isn't 'just a phase'.

I'm a Christ-follower (it's right there in my bio) - and if your response to a recent high-profile death in the States (all intentional murder is wrong, btw) is "well done thou good and faithful servant" (yep, I've seen this), we can't be friends - or, if we were friends, that just ended.

I'll be attending this online event on Sat 4th Oct - tickets for non-members of the British Fantasy Society are affordable, but selling fast :)

britishfantasysociety.org/events-calen...

A picture of a man with a sword, and a spaceship. BristolCon 2025 is on 25th and 26th October at the Doubltree Hotel, Redcliffe Way, Bristol. Guests of Honour are JE Hannaford, Ben Jeapes and John Higgins. www.bristolcon.org

Who's looking forward to BristolCon?

Two 1960s book covers, side by side - one is 'McLuhan: Hot & Cool' and the other is an Iris Murdoch novel, 'Bruno's Dream' - both are distinctively 'of their time'.

So - which is closest to the Platonic ideal of 'late 1960s book cover design'..?

(The typefaces, layout, creative detailing in the McLuhan one are a joy, also - the medium really is the message).

#PenguinBooks #IrisMurdoch #MarshallMcLuhan

A cover photo of Terry Eagleton's book, 'Humour' plus a black & white group photo of Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Horne.

#TerryEagleton's thoughts about what's funny and why; #KennethWilliams, #RoundTheHorne and #Polari.

ketelby.blogspot.com/2025/08/comedy.html

Cover images of the DVD 'Best of Enemies' plus cover images of the books 'Zbig' by Edward Luce and 'The Rotten Elements' by Edward Upward.

I'm all over the American 1960s and the Cold War at the moment ('The Rotten Elements' is from an older timeslice and British; the cover art to this edition contains a spoiler).

beastly pets Concise reviews of books and films, especially science fiction, politics, poetry, urban fantasy, popular science.

Beastly Pets

ketelby.blogspot.com/2025/07/beas...

YouTube video by CenSAMM A. L. Morton: Revolutions, Utopias, and Life in the English Radical Tradition

Have you checked out our YouTube channel lately? There's a bunch of material, including talks from previous conferences, as well as shorter supplementary videos that pair nicely with our Critical Dictionary, such as this one on A.L. Morton: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr7d...

English Radical Tradition History and Reception of English Radical Politics and Religion

For all things John Ball and A. L. Morton (and much more English radical tradition to follow), see... johnball1381.org

Remember Robert de Niro as a terrorist plumber in Terry Gilliam's film 'Brazil' ..?

These guys operate in stealth mode and fix tinnitus.

🚀 hey people!

Don’t forget great BSFA AGM events today!

These include panels and interviews to entertain and inspire. Some of these are free to members and non-members. See the links below. 👇

AGM Day Activities

The provisional schedule for the day will be 👇

I am so sad to hear of the death of Simon James: my sympathies to his family and colleagues at Durham. I saw him last in January. I admired his work on creativity but also his considerable scholarship on Wells and Edwardian literature.

#BoringDystopia

precious moments Concise reviews of books and films, especially science fiction, politics, poetry, urban fantasy, popular science.

Precious moments.

ketelby.blogspot.com/2025/04/prec...

Death Race 2000 and Rollerball | What they got right about the 21st century In 1975, the sci-fi movies Death Race 2000 and Rollerball depicted 21st century futures that still feel relevant 50 years later.

In 1975, the sci-fi movies Death Race 2000 and #Rollerball depicted 21st century futures that still feel relevant 50 years later.

michael portillo’s gastric juices Concise reviews of books and films, especially science fiction, politics, poetry, urban fantasy, popular science.

Rollerball, Samuel Beckett, Death Race 2000, Beatriz at Dinner, C.S. Lewis, Alan Bennett, Red One, Jarvis Cocker, Stranger Things, The Expanse, Dead Pioneers, Peggy Lee.

ketelby.blogspot.com/2025/04/gast...

There's some specific 1970s British context that so many people miss about Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights'.

ketelby.blogspot.com/2025/03/wuth...

"We live in a simulation."

It's a fun idea to contemplate — but many tech titans now believe it's likely true. Which is ludicrous.

We talked to @wolvendamien.bsky.social and @parismarx.com to make sense of this nonsense, and why it appeals to CEOs.

ouropinionsarecorrect.libsyn.com/no-were-not-...

Odds and Ends #55: The left needs to learn to love AI Plus Waymo's masterplan, life on a container ship, and the one guy responsible for slowing down road building

Odds and Ends #55: The left needs to learn to love AI

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/odds-and-e...

Why not follow @davephelan.bsky.social ..? He's new around here, and one of the good guys.

"I can now say 'retard' like I always wanted to yet - confusedly, sort of - knew that I shouldn't..."

Yes, the David Brent energy is strong in that one.

One regret I have from the 1990s is that I didn't cut out and keep the NME interview in which E, lead singer of the Eeels, tells his fans that - no word of a lie - some years ago he had developed "a pronounced overbite from brooding too much."