People feel connect to and familiar with media. Most of us have lived within in all our lives in one way or another. This leads to a lot of people assuming an expertise they have done nothing to qualify themselves in. It's Dunning-Kruger effect across entire populations.
I'm going to see some pals today. We'll have a good time as we wait for the rivers of shit to encroach. Living in relative comfort during these times makes me think more and more of Neil Young's Powderfinger. "Look out, Mama, there's a white boat coming up the river."
And you have people saying stuff like, "This is because of Breaking Bad." Fuckin' hell. Being able to decode the jets of poison filled shit being hosed at you every second is pretty important, I'd argue. A looooot of people seem wholly unable to do it. And here we are.
I think @danwhitehead.net made this point earlier in the week. Media & communications degrees have been treated like a wet fart degree since before I got mine in the late 90s. Ffwd 28 years and the US have elected a despotic TV personality who celebrates bombing kids with clips from Marvel films.
They’ve deleted the take, which is its own special victory for people with brains who’ve taken quite enough psychic damage lately, thank you very much…
Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a Tory shadow minister on Kuenssberg talking about axing funding for arts degrees. I'd imagine communications and media are in that mix. Then daily we're shown why media literacy is vitally important, by morons in authority who have none.
Some basic tenets for media literacy:
1. Depicting something is not automatically glorifying it.
2. Lies written in dialogue should not be taken as objective fact/the creator’s worldview just because it’s the main character saying them.
3. Finding a villain compelling/cool isn’t a moral failing.
This sort of gesture, to release what many have wanted for decades and give all the proceeds to your late comrade's charity, that is friendship.
fugazi.bandcamp.com/album/albini...
For those missing FIREFLY, might I recommend a Space Western/Noir that's quite, quite excellent?
COWBOY BEBOP.
It's the jam, the peanut butter, the sandwich entire.
Listening to Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams, an absolutely stunning record. Man, it’s so good. I bought the 25th anniversary re-recording recently and it’s ugh... just not for me at all. But the original? Oof, incredible record.
SHOULD THE U.S BLOT OUT THE SUN AND USHER IN AN AGE OF ETERNAL DARKNESS? - Gallup 2/20/26-3/5/26
NO - 41%
YES - 38%
UNSURE - 21%
Stop literally everything.
Steve Albini's Fugazi sessions, widely bootlegged and full of lore, now available officially for the first time.
fugazi.bandcamp.com/album/albini...
"You guys are all about masks when they're used for controlling the spread of a deadly virus, but when someone wants to wear one to murder with impunity you're like, no"
All young and beautiful 🤩
Team SINK from a while back
Having a wee listen to a Humble Pie record I never got around to. Imagine letting Peter Frampton sing when you have Steve Marriot in your band. I mean Frampton is pretty good, but it’s a bit like passing up a steak dinner for a ham sandwich. 🥪
Comes to us all mate!
Black Sabbath: Heaven & Hell (1980, Vertigo) The Pursuit of Happiness (1989, Chrysalis)
An album that came out when I was 10 and an album that came out when I was 20. Revisiting a couple of old loves this afternoon.
It's almost like billionaire agents of discord and hate have created a narrative that is starkly at odd with the reality of life in Britain isn't it.
Imagine being able to do this. It's just mindblowing.
Stramash colour bits , have put together a little book of black and white sketches type thing more to scratch my own itch but will print some up once I work out the best way to do it.
there are like 50 people in the country who want the UK to get involved in the Iran War, one of them is Kemi Badenoch, one of them is Nigel Farage, and the other 48 are newspaper columnists
Full report:
committees.parliament.uk/committee/17...
Quite aside from the debate over the Lords and how it is made up is the actual function of the house. It exists essentially to review and guide on proposed law, to flag up ill-considered legislation. It has emphatically done so here. The Government must listen.
The House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee just published their report on AI, copyright & the creative industries, and their conclusions could not be clearer.
🧵 1/5
I'm so glad the op went well mate, great article as always.
For the @theobserveruk.bsky.social today the third part of my cancer journey, detailing my operation.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Nah, cap it at something ridiculous, like the UK average wage. That'd put them off even more.
Garage is a particularly egregious example of this, but he's not the only one making fortunes from other gigs while not doing his primary job as MP. Ban this, or at least cap it, as Unlock Democracy suggests. It'd make being an MP slightly less appealing to total grifters.
LOVE AND ROCKETS HUMBLE BUNDLE, NOT A DRILL. www.humblebundle.com/books/love-a...
