Paul Bowman
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paulbowman.bsky.social
Paul Bowman
@paulbowman.bsky.social

Professor of Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Founding Editor of Martial Arts Studies. Author of books on cultural theory, Bruce Lee, Rey Chow, orientalism, film, media & physical culture. Recovering martial arts addict. CV: http://bit.ly/4mrJE1C .. more

Paul Bowman is a British academic specialising in cultural and media studies. He is a Professor of Cultural Studies and Deputy Head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. .. more

Sociology 31%
Political science 26%

We're getting there. Inching closer to publication all the time.

The proofs for my next book have arrived :-)

Meanwhile, I was writing a lecture section for the last week of term, on 'the invention of tradition', in which we'll be looking at the lyrics of 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree'... I found myself listening to the entire song, wayyy longer than I needed to...

Reposted by Paul Bowman

Well that was fast… apparently you can now BUY THE CHAOS IS COMING T-SHIRT thanks to my colleague @scholtom.bsky.social 🤣 chipsandgrady.uk/product/chao... #OpenAccess

'Can the Bodybuilder Speak?' I'm giving this paper both in the real world and online via Teams today (4pm, GMT) Joining information in the link
bowmanp.substack.com/p/can-the-bo...
A stunning response (i.e., more than just a review) of GHOSTING, by Tyran Grillo. If you don't have the time or inclination to read the book, this serves as an excellent bluffer's guide to something we all deal with, at some point.
Dominic Pettman: Ghosting (Book Review)
Ghosting: On Disappearance is a treatise of nonbeing—or, perhaps more precisely, of unbeing. It is not merely about disappearance but about the existential tremors that ripple outwar…
ecmreviews.com

Actual footage of the first figure Trump came up with when his henchmen floated the idea of suing the BBC.
a bald man is holding a ring in his hand and saying `` one million dollars ... '' .
ALT: a bald man is holding a ring in his hand and saying `` one million dollars ... '' .
media.tenor.com

Reminds me of the Jimmy Carr gag: "Once in a lifetime experience? I'm never doing *that* again!"

This month marks the 10th anniversary of the first issue of the open access Cardiff University Press journal that I co-founded, *Martial Arts Studies*: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/29...
Martial Arts Studies journal turns 10
The academic journal, which is published by Cardiff University Press, celebrated the special milestone on 6 November 2025.
www.cardiff.ac.uk

I agree with 'Baudrillard as prophet'. I use 1980s Baudrillard to help my 2020s students understand today's world/media dynamics. (However, I'd also add that the comedy novelist Douglas Adams predicted more, and sooner, and in ways that were a lot funnier)
theconversation.com/how-the-fren...
How the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard predicted today’s AI 30 years before ChatGPT
Baudrillard’s genius lay in foreseeing what these rudimentary devices like fax machines suggested about likely future uses of technology.
theconversation.com

Composing my presentation for a research seminar next week. This one is my favourite slide so far.

Next week I'm doing a talk called 'Can the Bodybuilder Speak?', which will be about this kind of thing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWZ...
Better Health with White Goodman of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | 20th Century FOX
YouTube video by 20th Century Studios
www.youtube.com

"Oh the Grand old Duke of York
He paid 12 million quid
To somebody he never met
For things he never did."

- my wife, 31/10/25

Polemical? Moi? "bodybuilding is the clearest, best and unsurpassable example of 'affect' – of what it is, how it works, and what it does".

substack.com/home/post/p-...
Intensities: Mike Mentzer, Tom Platz, and effective/affective training
Intensity is the measurement of affect; it is the body’s vibratory motion and resonation before it becomes a conscious emotion or feeling – Brian Massumi
substack.com

“Between 2019 and 2024, Reform received more than 90% of its funding, £2.3 million, from individuals and companies linked to polluting industries and climate science denial”

open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...
New research reveals the best attack lines to use against Reform
How to stop Farage...
open.substack.com

Damn, I don't read German! Thanks though.

Yukio Mishima's Embodied Aesthetics. Or: Are all Bodybuilders and Martial Artists Closet Fascists?
substack.com/@bowmanp/p-1...
Yukio Mishima’s Embodied Aesthetics
Or: are all bodybuilders and martial artists closet fascists?
substack.com

Well done, Starmer. Disgraceful

Me cago en Duolingo!

“in order to bring about what I refer to here as happiness, an extremely troublesome set of conditions must first be fulfilled, and an extremely complex set of procedures gone through.” - Yukio Mishima

In case you are confused: Reform’s policies: tax cuts for rich, welfare cuts for poor, scrap net zero, expand fossil fuels, gut nature laws, side with polluters, blame immigration for all problems, cut NHS funding, expand transphobia, side with landlords, abandon human rights.

From journal: You must refer in your article to your images - e.g. "see Fig. 1".
From me: Anyone who might need such an instruction would not be capable of reading the article in the first place.

Reposted by Paul Bowman

The tedium IS the message.

Social tedia

Reposted by Paul Bowman

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social research featured in the I paper showing news audiences want tougher scrutiny of Nigel Farage and Reform UK given the party could be heading for government. Thread 1/6

What do you think it might have been? My FB acc was blocked once but I never understood why…

I told you not to get involved with those hermeneuts!