Nick Hilton

For the same reason, I also don't use calculators.

I actually can't imagine having the lack of ego required to write with ChatGPT. How do you log onto your computer and admit to yourself "I am too stupid for human writing"? It's really a very self-deprecating act.

Hollywood rn

Calling this a 'partial victory' rather than 'partial defeat' strikes me as, well, partial.

People will argue that awards season – which kicks off with the Golden Globes noms today – doesn't matter, yet it's clear that tentpole theatrical distribution, the bedrock of our current entertainment system, is in the process of collapsing. The ego-exercise of awards is one of the last failsafes.

The best 25 films of the century so far | The Observer

Bizarre to me to have a list like this and not include The Intern (2015).

The Liz Truss Show review – hapless ravings from a cupboard Britain’s briefest PM kept her fans waiting before launching her latest plea for Maga attention in the form of a ham-fisted YouTube talk show

I think if one had listed all the jobs in the world and ranked them in order of suitability for Liz Truss's personality, 'Prime Minister' would've been somewhere in the middle and 'talk show host' would've been rock bottom.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

i don't have the moral backbone to do it, but that's clearly the only ethical stance...

This is Donald Trump receiving the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President, Gianni Infantino. It feels increasingly morally icky to imagine watching next summer's World Cup. Football fans are, once again, being forced into an ethical trap by the blight of sportswashing.

This World Cup draw is the most overt sportswashing I've ever seen. Makes the Qataris look like masters of subtlety. They're just pumping out a VT about how Donald Trump has brokered peace in the Middle East (earning the famous 'FIFA Peace Prize') while Gianni Infantino grins like Pennywise.

Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger are currently singing one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Really worth seeking out.

Graham Norton should be commentating this World Cup draw.

I'll be on Front Row tonight discussing Paddington, Panahi and piscine pandemonium (aka, non-alliteratively, The War Between the Land and the Sea). From 19:15 on Radio 4.

On the Media Show on Radio 4 shortly, talking Netflix, podcasts and everything in-between (or beyond).

🤢

Tom Stoppard's biographer Hermione Lee reflects on his dazzling wit and scrupulous integrity

"Biography adds a new terror to death? Well here she is!"
Another great piece on Tom Stoppard in the, consistently good, new Observer.

observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

How Product Replaced Art (or 'A Recipe for the Great Entertainment Soup') About 18 years ago, locked away (like Rapunzel) in a British boarding school, I downloaded my first podcast.

Quick essay on the drift of entertainment formats towards a great, soupy omniproduct.

Does any film have a wilder disparity between the quality of the main cast and the ‘additionally’ cast than Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over?

See also: symposiums. ("top writers on their coffee preference", "20 actors on their nativity play role"; "retired rockstars list their favourite Juno poses"). I'll just gobble that up.

People shit on them because they're seen as lowest common denominator, SEO-bait journalism, but I LOVE year-end best-of lists. Can be the most random subject on the most obscure publication, and you can bet I'm going to read every last word.

Somewhere, up in heaven, Tom Stoppard and Billy Bonds are sharing a beer and trying to decide which is a greater achievement: West Ham’s 1980 cup final victory over Arsenal, or Arcadia 🕊️

Wishing Fish Clock Glug glug glug

It was a labour of love (and I believe the puzzle at wishingfishclock.com should still work!).

Can I completely cynically recommend this podcast I made about Masquerade, Kit Williams and all that..?
open.spotify.com/episode/22oO...

Stranger Things’ final season has gone full Marvel – review Netflix’s mega hit is still fun and immersive. But can it stick the landing?

Stranger Things has exceeded its strangeness quotient – it's losing the charm that made it a global hit. My review ⬇️

I’ve never previously felt compelled to photograph a urinal, let alone post it on the internet. But the urinals at the Geological Society are particularly excellent and fitting to their location, so I’ll make an exception.

I made all the Spectator's podcasts for a couple of years (2016-2018) and in those two years we didn't once cover 'the trans debate'. Not once. I find that mind-blowing now.

Somewhere, Nathan Fielder is smiling to himself and linking to this article on a bodybuilding forum.

Hard pass.

PITCH: An episode of Black Mirror where a married, conservative political figure has to choose whether to be interviewed by Isaac Chotiner or Olivia Nuzzi.