Martin Fitzgerald
@4hundredblows.bsky.social
3.7K followers 630 following 1.2K posts
Author of Ruth and Martin’s Album Club. Currently writing The Umbrella Man and Other Stories Non-exec @twickets.bsky.social Managing Editor @NottinghamJournal.bsky.social
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4hundredblows.bsky.social
People send me the strangest things about the Kennedy assassination. Part 754
4hundredblows.bsky.social
There’s a ghostface pretzel in my house
A pretzel fashioned like a ghost face
4hundredblows.bsky.social
Shot a journalist just to watch him die
wsj.com
Compared to Dylan and Springsteen, country-music legend Johnny Cash can seem deeply uncool. It took time for me to appreciate his profound, plainspoken strength, writes Jon Fasman.
Essay | Can We Finally Give Johnny Cash His Due?
Compared to Dylan and Springsteen, the country-music legend can seem deeply uncool. It took time for me to appreciate his profound, plainspoken strength.
on.wsj.com
4hundredblows.bsky.social
The Cooper memorial at Bromley House Library
A selection of Jilly Cooper books next to a framed photo of her
4hundredblows.bsky.social
You’ve just made me remember a song I haven’t listened to for too long
4hundredblows.bsky.social
That’s not when you have brunch
A poster for Bez’s Boozy Brunch which, bizarrely, takes place between 5pm and 10pm
4hundredblows.bsky.social
The Great Eastern is your next stop
4hundredblows.bsky.social
Read more Orwell, listen to more Clark
iammilliam.bsky.social
A new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. Sign up as a Locklistener today, read the epic story of a decades-in-the-making diss track, support the podcast. VIVA PET!

This week: Petula Clark, 'George Orwell' (1984)

www.patreon.com/backlisted
INVENTORY: AN UNRELIABLE GUIDE TO MY RECORD COLLECTION by Andy Miller
4hundredblows.bsky.social
The sort of people who want Murder Most Foul shortened to 3 minutes
4hundredblows.bsky.social
I don’t mean to sound all Rob Reiner but if books were supposed to be 2000 words long then why don’t people write 2000 word books?
newyorker.com
Abridging has always been in vogue. Now, apps like Blinkist take entire books and crunch them down to a series of what are called Blinks—which amount to around 2,000 words. “Is that what books are coming to, a handy social lubricant?” Anthony Lane asks.
Can You Read a Book in a Quarter of an Hour?
Phone apps now offer to boil down entire books into micro-synopses. What they leave out is revealing.
www.newyorker.com
Reposted by Martin Fitzgerald
iammilliam.bsky.social
Just the latest way in which technology is enabling people who don’t actually like reading to diminish the cultural relevance of those who do.
newyorker.com
Abridging has always been in vogue. Now, apps like Blinkist take entire books and crunch them down to a series of what are called Blinks—which amount to around 2,000 words. “Is that what books are coming to, a handy social lubricant?” Anthony Lane asks.
Can You Read a Book in a Quarter of an Hour?
Phone apps now offer to boil down entire books into micro-synopses. What they leave out is revealing.
www.newyorker.com
Reposted by Martin Fitzgerald
Reposted by Martin Fitzgerald
youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
THE SECRET PROJECT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS IS FINALLY LIVE

CHECK IT OUT

outsidersartsclub.com
4hundredblows.bsky.social
Looks great and ideally located for selfish old me. I’m unable to make this one but hopefully the next
4hundredblows.bsky.social
Interesting that people would rather walk into the sea than listen to him
4hundredblows.bsky.social
I assumed it was performance art and on the final night, at the Regent in Christchurch, he kills everyone
Reposted by Martin Fitzgerald
franznicolay.bsky.social
“Band People” audiobook is out today (weirdly, with a stock-image cover, but whatever) wherever you get your listening!
4hundredblows.bsky.social
I’m 71.000 words in and the ones that have survived have very much earnt their place. I think there’s a fine line between looking for jokes and letting them happen naturally
4hundredblows.bsky.social
I’d bet that humour gets cut more than anything else in writing.
4hundredblows.bsky.social
That’s why I thought I’d spread the word