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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 11h

Me: "I've lived in Spain for the last 37 years. I live, work and socialise exclusively in Spanish. My kids are Spanish. I even mostly dream in Spanish."

Also me: "For my tea tonight only beans on crumpets will do."

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 11h

Hang on. Call me naive but I thought the executive and the judiciary were supposed to be separate powers. Should we even know to which side of the political spectrum judges may lean? Is impartiality now thought to be too quaint* a concept?

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* If you're American, insert an extraneous "of" here.

Lolo the Dreaded Court Jester @thelolo.bsky.social · 12h

🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 11h

Either that or they speak like eight-year-olds, as in "big bang". They should do it more, though, replacing "globular cluster" with "jocking great clump", for example so they'd be numbered JGC 3478 and so on.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 12h

Adam.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 18h

I'm a third of the way in and I'm rapturously thrilled with it so far. I don't even care if, as I've seen some reviewers claiming, the plot crumbles as it progresses. I'm here for the turns of phrase, the character names, the under-ice rogue Austro-Hungarian U-boats and the stupid acronyms.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 18h

Who's saying it's bad? I'm about a third of the way in and it's spectacular. I can only assume anyone who thinks otherwise must be a rogueaustrohungarianuboatophobe.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

Steve Lukather on lead guitar, Jeff Porcaro on drums, David Paich on keys, Waddy Wachtel on rhythm guitar and Lenny Castro on percussion. Yeah, I think we can say that was an L.A. record.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

Nah. I bailed after 35 minutes. Ridiculously over-written dialogue that may just about work in a novel but is risible even in the mouths of competent actors.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

iPlayer.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

That bad, eh? I was about to give it a go. Have you tried Ragdoll, the other one on my maybes list?

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

She claimed her peke, at its peak, had been best in breed, but she left in a fit of pique when I asked to have a peek.
#GoodLuckESLers

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

No, no, I agree. This year's award was probably decided weeks or even months ago, long before the Satsuma Satrap had done anything remotely peaceable. But if this agreement really does end the horror, then, yes, he will certainly deserve an award that Henry "Peace 'n' Love" Kissinger once won.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 1d

Fine. But I'm not a big fan of any of them. My point: top singers used to have vocal traits making them easily identifiable even if you only listen to pop passively. Consider these and you can already hear them in your head:

Tina Turner
Cyndi Lauper
Whitney Houston
Grace Jones
Bonnie Tyler

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 2d

There are quite a few in and around Manchester. Blackley, Boarshaw, the "p" in Crumpsall....

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 2d

Even accepting that classifying of people by skin colour is a bizarre thing to do, it's also arbitrary. I was once in the crowd at a football match when right in front of me on the touchline Thierry Henry was talking to Pep Guardiola. The "black" man had notably lighter skin than the "white" man.

isabella mori @moritherapy.bsky.social · 2d

Sometimes I really wonder why Caucasians are called "white." I look at my skin and it ain't white. The parts that are exposed to the sun are light brown and the rest a lighter colour that you could call beige. Really, we're all brown, just to a greater or lesser degree. Racism is weird.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 3d

The new Pynchon is astonishingly good. It's a pity he's never really shaken off his early rep of being an impenetrably extravagant writer of hippie tosh when in fact his self-discipline, imagery and plotting - not to mention his ear for the American vernacular - are better than Raymond Chandler's.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 3d

I've acquired 20-odd new followers here (hi!) over the last 48 hours and I've no idea why. Anyone else?

Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 6d

Bollocks of Arabia
Twelve Angry Bollocks
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Bollocks

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

"Based on US agency"? But the despicable ICE will only deport 300,000 this year. Given that the UK's population is only one fifth of the US's, that means they're planning on setting up a goon squad that's considerably more despicable than the despicable ICE.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

I blame that Johann Hari.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

That's a pity. My Harry Carpenter died in 2010, aged 84.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

Harry Carpenter? He was the UK's foremost boxing commentator during the Ali years.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

Egon Schiele says, "Hold mein bier."

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

Brass drawing pins are essential. None of those multicoloured plastic efforts.

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Archie Valparaiso @archiev.bsky.social · 7d

I haven't read them. Maybe you'll enjoy Clown Town more than I did. It just left me with the impression of someone tiring of doing the same thing over and over again, so to maintain his own interest - if not the reader's - he throws in mood-busting silly gags and quasi-shark-jumping plot beats.