Ray Newman
@raynewman.bsky.social
He/him. From Bridgwater, in Bristol. Writer, editor, content designer. Ghost stories, films. No alt text, no repost. Not here for politics. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/raynewman Header: my book Intervals of Darkness https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DDR8X9QY
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Ray Newman
@raynewman.bsky.social
· Mar 22
Between them ‘Municipal Gothic’ and ‘Intervals of Darkness’ have 27 stories full of haunted buildings, haunted people, and working class weirdness. Obviously *I* think they're great – but so do strangers who owe me nothing!
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Municipal-Go...
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Municipal-Go...
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...
Reposted by Ray Newman
Alt text that that has humor and personality and sounds like it was written by the person who took the photo is great, but you gotta do that while remembering that the fundamental purpose is communicating what the image is.
Alt Text isn't the space for seo, secret notes, or inside jokes. It's for people to access media and any context or information that that media has.
If we gon make things right, we gotta find ways to make things right that don't leave us behind.
If we gon make things right, we gotta find ways to make things right that don't leave us behind.
Some are suggesting you deliberately write inaccurate or confusing alt text, because they say this confuses AI scrapers that are analyzing images.
The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
November 27, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Alt text that that has humor and personality and sounds like it was written by the person who took the photo is great, but you gotta do that while remembering that the fundamental purpose is communicating what the image is.
EYES WIDE SHUT: Recreating New York with Stanley Kubrick
YouTube video by CRITERION
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Ray Newman
In the Cycle Shop waiting for my fixed bike. A lady walks in with a puppy Jack Russell, which gets free and runs about; she sniffs me, darts away, back to sniff, retreats again.
“Don’t be silly Molly. He’s a nice man. A safe man. Look..I’m stroking him”
And this stranger starts stroking my jumper.
“Don’t be silly Molly. He’s a nice man. A safe man. Look..I’m stroking him”
And this stranger starts stroking my jumper.
November 27, 2025 at 11:28 AM
In the Cycle Shop waiting for my fixed bike. A lady walks in with a puppy Jack Russell, which gets free and runs about; she sniffs me, darts away, back to sniff, retreats again.
“Don’t be silly Molly. He’s a nice man. A safe man. Look..I’m stroking him”
And this stranger starts stroking my jumper.
“Don’t be silly Molly. He’s a nice man. A safe man. Look..I’m stroking him”
And this stranger starts stroking my jumper.
Reposted by Ray Newman
This BBC kids tv advert from 1998 is still very impressive and very lovely
November 13, 2025 at 9:56 AM
This BBC kids tv advert from 1998 is still very impressive and very lovely
Reposted by Ray Newman
My stupid brain just told me that Lewis Carroll was one of The Professionals.
November 27, 2025 at 6:15 AM
My stupid brain just told me that Lewis Carroll was one of The Professionals.
Reposted by Ray Newman
I once blithely asked my wife which part Philip Michael Thomas played in Miami Vice, Cosmo or Dibs?
November 27, 2025 at 6:40 AM
I once blithely asked my wife which part Philip Michael Thomas played in Miami Vice, Cosmo or Dibs?
“Florence Briscoe’s illustrations tend to be of a type that I refer to as ‘people standing about in rooms’... stories of cerebral industry and ratiocination being rewarding for the reader, less so for the jobbing illustrator.”
www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2...
www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2...
Carnacki’s first manifestation
Visual manifestation, that is. The first Carnacki story to see print was The Thing Invisible, published in 1909 as a part of The Ghost Pirates, A Chaunty, and Another Story. The book wasn’t i…
www.johncoulthart.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:36 AM
“Florence Briscoe’s illustrations tend to be of a type that I refer to as ‘people standing about in rooms’... stories of cerebral industry and ratiocination being rewarding for the reader, less so for the jobbing illustrator.”
www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2...
www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2...
Reposted by Ray Newman
Monthly Link Dump: November 2025
- arts & culture, myth, folklore, landscape punk, hauntology, anarchism, utopianism, the gothic, neo-fabulism, and the Weird
www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/blogs/artist...
- arts & culture, myth, folklore, landscape punk, hauntology, anarchism, utopianism, the gothic, neo-fabulism, and the Weird
www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/blogs/artist...
Monthly Link Dump: November 2025
This is my monthly link dump, a regular monthly series containing a mix of links to interesting blog posts I’ve read from the past month covering arts & culture, myth, folklore, landscape punk, haunto...
www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Monthly Link Dump: November 2025
- arts & culture, myth, folklore, landscape punk, hauntology, anarchism, utopianism, the gothic, neo-fabulism, and the Weird
www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/blogs/artist...
- arts & culture, myth, folklore, landscape punk, hauntology, anarchism, utopianism, the gothic, neo-fabulism, and the Weird
www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/blogs/artist...
Reposted by Ray Newman
When my daughter was seven and really into One Direction I told her they were named after a Malcolm McLaren/Maurice Starr type figure called Reginald Direction who had put the band together. He even used to leave little notes for her.
November 27, 2025 at 5:16 AM
When my daughter was seven and really into One Direction I told her they were named after a Malcolm McLaren/Maurice Starr type figure called Reginald Direction who had put the band together. He even used to leave little notes for her.
There must be a taped-off-British-telly fan edit floating around somewhere.
I have a hankering to watch the original Star Wars in 4:3 with ad breaks for Scotch VHS tapes and the MFI sale, as God and nature intended.
November 26, 2025 at 6:58 PM
There must be a taped-off-British-telly fan edit floating around somewhere.
Reposted by Ray Newman
Yes I have come to them only in the last five years or so and consequently this will be no surprise to anyone else but Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood absolutely went for it didn't they?
There were some seriously messed-up, existential and surreally beautiful horrors in their heads.
There were some seriously messed-up, existential and surreally beautiful horrors in their heads.
November 26, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Yes I have come to them only in the last five years or so and consequently this will be no surprise to anyone else but Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood absolutely went for it didn't they?
There were some seriously messed-up, existential and surreally beautiful horrors in their heads.
There were some seriously messed-up, existential and surreally beautiful horrors in their heads.
Reposted by Ray Newman
My favourite local issue is the ways people have proposed splitting up Staffordshire’s councils.
Latest suggestion: divide along oatcake lines.
Latest suggestion: divide along oatcake lines.
November 26, 2025 at 6:46 PM
My favourite local issue is the ways people have proposed splitting up Staffordshire’s councils.
Latest suggestion: divide along oatcake lines.
Latest suggestion: divide along oatcake lines.
Reposted by Ray Newman
I'm told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who, when Psycho was released, instructed theatres not to allow people in after the start, who introduced the concept of fixed showing times.
a woman is screaming in a shower with her mouth open .
ALT: a woman is screaming in a shower with her mouth open .
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:45 PM
I'm told it was Alfred Hitchcock, who, when Psycho was released, instructed theatres not to allow people in after the start, who introduced the concept of fixed showing times.
Reposted by Ray Newman
Yes, I remember seeing films that way when I was young. Also, my dad had worked as a projectionist when he was young, and said that on occasion reels got mixed up and went on in the wrong order. He said nobody ever noticed (or if they did, they didn’t complain).
November 26, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Yes, I remember seeing films that way when I was young. Also, my dad had worked as a projectionist when he was young, and said that on occasion reels got mixed up and went on in the wrong order. He said nobody ever noticed (or if they did, they didn’t complain).
Municipal Gothic (2022) continues to outsell Intervals of Darkness (2024) by quite some way. That's fine. That's grand. But if you liked MG, don't sleep on IoD. “It's every bit the equal of Municipal Gothic, and if anything it's darker and stranger,” said John Grindrod, who knows wots wot.
Between them ‘Municipal Gothic’ and ‘Intervals of Darkness’ have 27 stories full of haunted buildings, haunted people, and working class weirdness. Obviously *I* think they're great – but so do strangers who owe me nothing!
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Municipal-Go...
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Municipal-Go...
👉 www.amazon.co.uk/Intervals-Da...
November 26, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Municipal Gothic (2022) continues to outsell Intervals of Darkness (2024) by quite some way. That's fine. That's grand. But if you liked MG, don't sleep on IoD. “It's every bit the equal of Municipal Gothic, and if anything it's darker and stranger,” said John Grindrod, who knows wots wot.
This makes sense.
My dad always says that this where the phrase 'and this is where we came in' comes from. Not sure of the veracity but see the logic.
November 26, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This makes sense.
Still ill, so... Now watching: ‘The Pledge’, dir. Sean Penn, 2001. Based on Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1958 novel, modernised, and transposed to Nevada.
November 26, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Still ill, so... Now watching: ‘The Pledge’, dir. Sean Penn, 2001. Based on Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1958 novel, modernised, and transposed to Nevada.
Reposted by Ray Newman
I read an Elizabeth Taylor (the novelist) book recently, written in the 50s and it had a passage about cinema-going which talks about 'seeing it round'.
November 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I read an Elizabeth Taylor (the novelist) book recently, written in the 50s and it had a passage about cinema-going which talks about 'seeing it round'.
A reminder that watching a film in the 1930s was not a purist experience, from John O’Hara’s ‘BUtterfield 8’, 1935.
November 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
A reminder that watching a film in the 1930s was not a purist experience, from John O’Hara’s ‘BUtterfield 8’, 1935.
I liked Alasdair Beckett-King as the guest sceptic on the latest episode of Uncanny, daring to suggest that "events may not have unfolded exactly as described" and triumphantly revealing that his description of a poltergeist incident was actually a list of panic attack symptoms from the NHS website.
November 26, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I liked Alasdair Beckett-King as the guest sceptic on the latest episode of Uncanny, daring to suggest that "events may not have unfolded exactly as described" and triumphantly revealing that his description of a poltergeist incident was actually a list of panic attack symptoms from the NHS website.
Reposted by Ray Newman
Pleasing trip to the high street.
Bought 50 singles. Here are some of the highlights.
Especially happy to have those Love 45s, finally.
Bought 50 singles. Here are some of the highlights.
Especially happy to have those Love 45s, finally.
November 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Pleasing trip to the high street.
Bought 50 singles. Here are some of the highlights.
Especially happy to have those Love 45s, finally.
Bought 50 singles. Here are some of the highlights.
Especially happy to have those Love 45s, finally.
Reposted by Ray Newman
Middle aisle at Lidl yesterday; was fairly tempted. Resisted.
November 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Middle aisle at Lidl yesterday; was fairly tempted. Resisted.
Reposted by Ray Newman
She’s here, and she’s spectacular.
November 26, 2025 at 11:28 AM
She’s here, and she’s spectacular.
Reposted by Ray Newman
Anyone enjoying the current re-runs of vintage Call My Bluff on BBC Four might like to check out the show's cameo appearance ten minutes into this barking mad NF Simpson parody. I remember watching this in 1973 and being flabbergasted.
Elementary My Dear Watson (1973)
YouTube video by TV Gold
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Anyone enjoying the current re-runs of vintage Call My Bluff on BBC Four might like to check out the show's cameo appearance ten minutes into this barking mad NF Simpson parody. I remember watching this in 1973 and being flabbergasted.
Reposted by Ray Newman
Still looking for a stuffing recipe to serve on Thanksgiving? Try cramming your bird full of Twinkies! Don't forget to baste the turkey with the cream filling to round out the flavor profile.
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Still looking for a stuffing recipe to serve on Thanksgiving? Try cramming your bird full of Twinkies! Don't forget to baste the turkey with the cream filling to round out the flavor profile.