Norm Wilner
@normwilner.bsky.social
Consultant! Writer! Programmer! Host! SEMcast, SHINY THINGS, ex-Secret Movie Clubber. I can probably help you with your movie. He/him. https://linktr.ee/normwilner
Pinned
Norm Wilner
@normwilner.bsky.social
· Dec 2
What’s the worst question someone can ask after you tell them your profession? For linguists, it’s definitely “how many languages do you speak?”, but I’m curious what else is happening to the rest of y’all out there?!
"Really? People still go to movies?"
Reposted by Norm Wilner
oh man this is EVEN WORSE than the judge calling out your grammar, it's a judge saying "yo I can tell you didn't write this because when you're writing your grammar sucks"
Do you know how mad a judge has to be to call out your grammatical errors
February 6, 2026 at 5:46 PM
oh man this is EVEN WORSE than the judge calling out your grammar, it's a judge saying "yo I can tell you didn't write this because when you're writing your grammar sucks"
mm-hmm
POLITICO reporting that the White House has now claimed the ape video was an accident and removed it.
February 6, 2026 at 5:09 PM
mm-hmm
👇
Two great reasons not to share Trump’s latest racist post, or screencaps of it, are that a) doing so perpetuates and amplifies the harm, and b) is there really anyone in 2026 who doesn’t know that Trump is a racist but who would finally be convinced he is by this one post?
February 6, 2026 at 5:00 PM
👇
Subscribers to the paid tier of SHINY THINGS just got my reviews of SIRAT, A POET and THE MUPPET SHOW. And for only five bucks a month you can read them too! There's even a free trial, if you're curious: shiny-things.ghost.io#/portal/
What's Worth Watching - February 6, 2026
Your weekly recommendations for stuff that's not on disc. Yet.
shiny-things.ghost.io
February 6, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Subscribers to the paid tier of SHINY THINGS just got my reviews of SIRAT, A POET and THE MUPPET SHOW. And for only five bucks a month you can read them too! There's even a free trial, if you're curious: shiny-things.ghost.io#/portal/
This was the way.
A eulogy for the mass market paperback, "one of the most brilliant technologies in the history of the world."
So Long to Cheap Books You Could Fit in Your Pocket
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:41 PM
This was the way.
Reposted by Norm Wilner
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
February 6, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
Aw, this is nice. It's a fun show!
February 6, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Aw, this is nice. It's a fun show!
Via @kateatherley.bsky.social . Sometimes you just need to lose yourself in highly principled nonsense.
February 6, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Via @kateatherley.bsky.social . Sometimes you just need to lose yourself in highly principled nonsense.
Got that thick blood going
Trump, who rarely does White House events in the evening, sounds haggard
February 6, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Got that thick blood going
Reposted by Norm Wilner
The best thing about nobody buying tickets to Melania is you can just make up stuff that happens in the movie and people will believe you. My favorite part is when she throws up in her purse after the hot dog eating contest
January 30, 2026 at 11:19 PM
The best thing about nobody buying tickets to Melania is you can just make up stuff that happens in the movie and people will believe you. My favorite part is when she throws up in her purse after the hot dog eating contest
Trump has this condescending tic of overenunciating when he pushes a particularly big lie, as if he's telling a story to children and trying to hold their attention. He does it a lot in this clip.
Trump at National Prayer Breakfast: "They rigged the second election. I had to win it. I needed it for my own ego. I would've had a bad ego for the rest of my life. Now I really have a big ego. Beating these lunatics was incredible ... The first time they said I didn't win the popular vote. I did"
February 5, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Trump has this condescending tic of overenunciating when he pushes a particularly big lie, as if he's telling a story to children and trying to hold their attention. He does it a lot in this clip.
This is, again, a speech to Christians at a prayer breakfast.
Trump at Natl Prayer Breakfst: "We prefer somebody that's a strong, powerful person w/extremely good vision that can shoot a rifle very well to a person that's extremely weak, non-muscular, can't shoot a rifle, has no idea where the hell he is. We have a military where they all look like Tom Cruise"
February 5, 2026 at 2:36 PM
This is, again, a speech to Christians at a prayer breakfast.
controversial but true
I think it should probably be a bigger story that the president of the United States is a raving lunatic
Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast: "We hit 'em. And we want to hit 'em right, sir, and we want to hit them from the top! East, west, north, south. Sir, they won't know what the hell! And we'll knock them out. We did it politically correct. Five years."
February 5, 2026 at 2:32 PM
controversial but true
Wonder if @jessehawken.bsky.social has heard ELLA McCAY is now streaming in Canada on Disney+, and possibly even in the state she was born and raised in.
Watch Ella McCay | Disney+
A comedy about those you love and how to survive them from James L. Brooks.
www.disneyplus.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Wonder if @jessehawken.bsky.social has heard ELLA McCAY is now streaming in Canada on Disney+, and possibly even in the state she was born and raised in.
Good news, everyone: A fourth AFTER DARK collection from @imprintfilms.bsky.social is coming, including WILD AT HEART, FREEWAY and a 4K edition of UNLAWFUL ENTRY!
After Dark: Neo-Noir Cinema - Collection Four (1990 - 1997) - Imprint Collection #568 - 573 | Via Vision Entertainment
Six more seedy films from the grimy underbelly of cinema, including a worldwide debut on 4K UHD!
viavision.com.au
February 5, 2026 at 3:40 AM
Good news, everyone: A fourth AFTER DARK collection from @imprintfilms.bsky.social is coming, including WILD AT HEART, FREEWAY and a 4K edition of UNLAWFUL ENTRY!
not since the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, I tells ya
This is Lara Trump. She is the daughter-in-law of the President of the United States. She is also the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee. And: an aspiring pop star.
She wants to be the half-time entertainment at the TPUSA event, counter-programming against Bad Bunny.
She wants to be the half-time entertainment at the TPUSA event, counter-programming against Bad Bunny.
February 5, 2026 at 2:42 AM
not since the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, I tells ya
The new Muppet special is just an episode of THE MUPPET SHOW, which as it turns out is all anyone needs it to be.
February 5, 2026 at 12:43 AM
The new Muppet special is just an episode of THE MUPPET SHOW, which as it turns out is all anyone needs it to be.
I cannot WAIT for this little wiener to be President and realize absolutely no one respects or fears his edgelord bullshit
February 4, 2026 at 10:49 PM
I cannot WAIT for this little wiener to be President and realize absolutely no one respects or fears his edgelord bullshit
"One by one, without a fuss, the stars were going out."
February 4, 2026 at 10:24 PM
"One by one, without a fuss, the stars were going out."
Reposted by Norm Wilner
Speaking of alt-weeklies, yes
A great idea! And a perfect excuse to shout out a wonderful film about an alt-weekly and the people who make it: Between the Lines (1977), directed by the great Joan Micklin Silver. It’s currently on Criterion, for those who can access it.
February 4, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Speaking of alt-weeklies, yes
New SHINY THINGS is out, looking at a couple of bad relationships. If you were a subscriber, you'd already have it in your inbox!
The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
In which Norm spins up the new releases of BLUE MOON and KEEPER.
shiny-things.ghost.io
February 4, 2026 at 6:45 PM
New SHINY THINGS is out, looking at a couple of bad relationships. If you were a subscriber, you'd already have it in your inbox!
I really miss this show.
I've posted this before, but if you're wondering what went wrong with Jeff Bezos, THE OTHER TWO has the answer:
Brooke and the Billionaire - The Other Two S3
YouTube video by Alanna
youtu.be
February 4, 2026 at 4:03 PM
I really miss this show.
All the sympathy in the world to the Post staff, who've been trying to do good work and keep the paper relevant despite leadership actively working against them. What an awful way for it to end.
WaPo's Matt Murray told staff the paper is shuttering sports, moving remaining staff to features, shrinking foreign coverage, restructuring metro, closing books coverage, suspending Post Reports podcast
“Whole company now waiting for a live or die email” one staffer said
More in tonight’s Status
“Whole company now waiting for a live or die email” one staffer said
More in tonight’s Status
February 4, 2026 at 2:16 PM
All the sympathy in the world to the Post staff, who've been trying to do good work and keep the paper relevant despite leadership actively working against them. What an awful way for it to end.
Reposted by Norm Wilner
The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody
WaPo also closing Books section and downsizing International and Metro sections
February 4, 2026 at 2:05 PM
The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody