John Semley
@johnsemley3000.bsky.social
writer and researcher, covering books, films, and psychoactivity, in no particular order. a pocket full of spare change and anger unlimited.
Gen X guys are so funny. obviously some great bands, but it’s so funny to think grunge had some sort of rebellious politics because all the guitarists wore tatty sweaters. of course, I may just be reacting to *their* cornball corporate nostalgia in the same way.
As someone who is also this guy’s age I can tell you 100% this wasn’t hard at all. The Beatles were Boomer music and they were shoved down your throat everywhere and they reeked of your parents’ nostalgia. Nobody I knew liked The Beatles.
If you were into grunge, *everything* was your enemy.
If you were into grunge, *everything* was your enemy.
As someone who is this guy's age I can tell you 100% that if you were into Pixies, Nirvana, 120 Minutes stuff, etc. but didn't like the Beatles you had to have worked hard to contort yourself into that special little box. Your enemy, if you absolutely needed one, was hair metal. GTFO here with this.
November 23, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Gen X guys are so funny. obviously some great bands, but it’s so funny to think grunge had some sort of rebellious politics because all the guitarists wore tatty sweaters. of course, I may just be reacting to *their* cornball corporate nostalgia in the same way.
may rock my cowboy killer top today
November 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM
may rock my cowboy killer top today
Reposted by John Semley
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
for the @thestar.com this week, I wrote about the Epstein files, and the weird feeling of realizing that all the cranks, crackpots and paranoiacs were right about everything (well, more or less). www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
John Semley: I’ve long resisted paranoia. Now? Epstein has me apologizing to Roseanne Barr
If the Republicans and Democrat inner sanctums are truly this compromised, then they should be reduced to rubble
www.thestar.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
for the @thestar.com this week, I wrote about the Epstein files, and the weird feeling of realizing that all the cranks, crackpots and paranoiacs were right about everything (well, more or less). www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Reposted by John Semley
just asked for “one ticket to Breathless, the classic of Godard” like I’m the delirious protagonist of an American short story.
November 19, 2025 at 11:58 PM
just asked for “one ticket to Breathless, the classic of Godard” like I’m the delirious protagonist of an American short story.
I worry the Jumanji series has run out of things to say. prove me wrong.
November 19, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I worry the Jumanji series has run out of things to say. prove me wrong.
reporters should be more subordinate to the regime who dismembers them!
Q: Why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?
TRUMP: It's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you're a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who's highly respected asking him an insubordinate question
TRUMP: It's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you're a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who's highly respected asking him an insubordinate question
November 18, 2025 at 7:55 PM
reporters should be more subordinate to the regime who dismembers them!
Reposted by John Semley
I got quoted in this fine @johnsemley3000.bsky.social article on Seven Samurai in @smithsonianmag.bsky.social.
I subscribed to this magazine as a kid, so it’s pretty neat to see my name in the print edition.
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
I subscribed to this magazine as a kid, so it’s pretty neat to see my name in the print edition.
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
Even If You’ve Never Seen 'Seven Samurai,' You’ve Certainly Seen Movies Influenced by It
Director Akira Kurosawa broke all the rules—and budgets—of Japanese filmmaking with his 1954 classic. But the final product influenced a generation of directors
www.smithsonianmag.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:52 PM
I got quoted in this fine @johnsemley3000.bsky.social article on Seven Samurai in @smithsonianmag.bsky.social.
I subscribed to this magazine as a kid, so it’s pretty neat to see my name in the print edition.
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
I subscribed to this magazine as a kid, so it’s pretty neat to see my name in the print edition.
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
Reposted by John Semley
We gotta start close-reading Dead Kennedys album artwork like it’s the writings of Nostradamus
Real tweets from the White House are indistinguishable from anti-Trump AI slop.
Or, in this case, 1990s Adbusters parodies.
Or, in this case, 1990s Adbusters parodies.
November 17, 2025 at 9:53 PM
We gotta start close-reading Dead Kennedys album artwork like it’s the writings of Nostradamus
I think the greatest testament to the NFL's difficulty scale is that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks, and at least half of them aren't even that good.
November 17, 2025 at 7:31 PM
I think the greatest testament to the NFL's difficulty scale is that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks, and at least half of them aren't even that good.
I adore the grit and violence of gridiron. but all this spitting business is a bit much.
Ja’Marr Chase thought he got away with spitting on Jalen Ramsey: defector.com/jamarr-chase...
Ja'Marr Chase Thought He Got Away With Spitting On Jalen Ramsey | Defector
Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals spit on Jalen Ramsey of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not because he’d taken a swig of water to flush his mouth and then turned to the side and, oops, oh Gosh,…
defector.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I adore the grit and violence of gridiron. but all this spitting business is a bit much.
have a piece in the new issue of the @smithsonianmag.bsky.social about Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI, how its director melded American and Japanese storytelling sensibilities, and the long cultural legacy of that melding. www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
Even If You’ve Never Seen 'Seven Samurai,' You’ve Certainly Seen Movies Influenced by It
Director Akira Kurosawa broke all the rules—and budgets—of Japanese filmmaking with his 1954 classic. But the final product influenced a generation of directors
www.smithsonianmag.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:03 PM
have a piece in the new issue of the @smithsonianmag.bsky.social about Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI, how its director melded American and Japanese storytelling sensibilities, and the long cultural legacy of that melding. www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...
Reposted by John Semley
If anything puts the lie to “we’re going after the criminals,” this shocking video should be it. Kudos to the @nytimes.com on a tremendously well done look into the immigrants here on legal visas whom we’re detaining. An absolute must watch: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/o...
Opinion | We Came Here Legally. ICE Locked Us Up Anyway.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM
If anything puts the lie to “we’re going after the criminals,” this shocking video should be it. Kudos to the @nytimes.com on a tremendously well done look into the immigrants here on legal visas whom we’re detaining. An absolute must watch: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/o...
tfw I see three blind mice.
I never saw such a sight in my life.
November 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
tfw I see three blind mice.
this is why people make fun of the NFC…
November 17, 2025 at 2:18 AM
this is why people make fun of the NFC…
classic case of the media manufacturing…well…not consent, exactly.
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 5:48 PM
classic case of the media manufacturing…well…not consent, exactly.
Reposted by John Semley
Pizzagate: If you replace the word “hot dog” with “little boy” and “pizza party” with “child sex orgy,” you will see the lengths these elites go to cover up their crimes.
Real elite emails: Send me nude pictures of those 8th graders we abused last weekend post-haste! I am the Ambassador to Turkey.
Real elite emails: Send me nude pictures of those 8th graders we abused last weekend post-haste! I am the Ambassador to Turkey.
November 12, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Pizzagate: If you replace the word “hot dog” with “little boy” and “pizza party” with “child sex orgy,” you will see the lengths these elites go to cover up their crimes.
Real elite emails: Send me nude pictures of those 8th graders we abused last weekend post-haste! I am the Ambassador to Turkey.
Real elite emails: Send me nude pictures of those 8th graders we abused last weekend post-haste! I am the Ambassador to Turkey.
White House taking the classic Jax Taylor line: “I’m being honest NOW…that I’ve been caught! nobody is more transparent than me!”
November 12, 2025 at 6:55 PM
White House taking the classic Jax Taylor line: “I’m being honest NOW…that I’ve been caught! nobody is more transparent than me!”
Reposted by John Semley
Edgar Wright’s violent, incoherent remake is hard to view as satire in a world where right-wing narratives and reality-TV-style ICE raids dominate the media.
‘The Running Man’ Conjures a Dystopian Vision of America That’s Still Not as Bad as Reality
Edgar Wright’s violent, incoherent remake is hard to view as satire in a world where right-wing narratives and reality-TV-style ICE raids dominate the media.
wrd.cm
November 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Edgar Wright’s violent, incoherent remake is hard to view as satire in a world where right-wing narratives and reality-TV-style ICE raids dominate the media.
oh your cocktails are *crafted*? thank god.
November 12, 2025 at 12:46 AM
oh your cocktails are *crafted*? thank god.
confusing detail in THE RUNNING MAN: an image of Schwarzenegger appears on the $100 bill. so either his original chaaracter ascended to high office, and just…redid the Running Man? OR, Arnold exists, and thus the original Running Man. and so the government just…did the Running Man movie for real??
November 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM
confusing detail in THE RUNNING MAN: an image of Schwarzenegger appears on the $100 bill. so either his original chaaracter ascended to high office, and just…redid the Running Man? OR, Arnold exists, and thus the original Running Man. and so the government just…did the Running Man movie for real??
Edgar Wright’s new RUNNING MAN is flat, dull, and most of all unnecessary. And not because we already have the original movie. Because we already have the world.
On Ben Richards Mark 2.0, for @wired.com. www.wired.com/story/the-ru...
On Ben Richards Mark 2.0, for @wired.com. www.wired.com/story/the-ru...
‘The Running Man’ Conjures a Dystopian Vision of America That’s Still Not as Bad as Reality
Edgar Wright’s violent, incoherent remake is hard to view as satire in a world where right-wing narratives and reality-TV-style ICE raids dominate the media.
www.wired.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Edgar Wright’s new RUNNING MAN is flat, dull, and most of all unnecessary. And not because we already have the original movie. Because we already have the world.
On Ben Richards Mark 2.0, for @wired.com. www.wired.com/story/the-ru...
On Ben Richards Mark 2.0, for @wired.com. www.wired.com/story/the-ru...