Jake Casella Brookins
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casella.bsky.social
Jake Casella Brookins
@casella.bsky.social
2.5K followers 710 following 2.9K posts
Appalachian in the big city. Editor at Ancillary Review, host of A Meal of Thorns, bookseller, coffee pro, SF reviewer & scholar. He/him.
https://linktr.ee/jakecasellabrookins
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casella.bsky.social
Tip with the weather report
A white and black dog on a green lead, looking at the camera, dusted with snow.
January 22, 2026 at 8:27 PM
casella.bsky.social
spent the morning in the Eastman (Kodak) Museum and now might be obsessed with André Kertész
Photo of a balcony railing looking out over water. The left third or so is frosted glass with a blurry figure behind it. Photo of a side of a building and cobble street at night, witb one figure in a coat and hat casting their shadow on the wall.
January 17, 2026 at 10:50 PM
casella.bsky.social
that whole thread & responses: not good
Gorst, the torture guy from Andor, saying "a sort of choral, agonized authors responding to criticism."
January 16, 2026 at 2:26 PM
casella.bsky.social
advertisement
Screenshot of an ad from a major news website that says "Advertisement" above an utterly ambiguous photo of some large object in a garage or warehouse, tightly wrapped in white plastic and bulging mysteriously. Based on a nearby stepladder it's at least 2x2x3 meters. It could be industrial, or an art installation, no way to tell, and seems vaguely obscene.
January 15, 2026 at 9:54 PM
casella.bsky.social
finally got around to reading WORKS OF VERMIN and folks: we are so back
Suzy Eddie Izzard as Disco Bandit Tony P. in Mystery Men, declaiming "New Weird is not dead! New Weird is life!"
January 11, 2026 at 5:18 PM
casella.bsky.social
this one
My hand pointing to the plateau of Maple Hill on a topographic map
January 9, 2026 at 4:45 PM
casella.bsky.social
Edited version of Flagg's "I Want You for the US Army" poster, so it's figures from one of Pepper's Gormenghast illustrations saying "We want you for weird city creation! Public transit & water sanitation sub-plots but the city's made of vines or the abandoned shell of a giant nautilus or the dreams of parrots before they're forced to learn language, you know how this works."
January 8, 2026 at 2:51 PM
casella.bsky.social
Kombucha meme: Metricizing literature: ew, gross. Radar charting literature: oh interesting, appealing.
January 6, 2026 at 9:40 PM
casella.bsky.social
6-panel image from the frequently-memed 1992 film SNEAKERS: Timothy Busfield as Dick Gordon, presenting NSA credentials: “Cozy Horror” Robert Redford as Martin Bishop: “Ah. You’re the guys that are the opposite of grimdark.” Gordon: "No, that’s hopepunk. We’re not chartered to weaponize optimism." Bishop: "Oh, I see. You just carve out friendly spaces. Set up affectionate silliness." Gordon: "No, that’s sweetweird. We enjoy horror without jump scares and gore, try to keep the endings happy. We’re the good guys, Marty." Bishop: "Gee, I can’t tell you what a relief that is, Dick."
January 6, 2026 at 2:44 PM
casella.bsky.social
Gorst, the torture doctor from Andor, saying "A sort of choral, agonized authors responding to criticism."
January 4, 2026 at 11:01 PM
casella.bsky.social
You wouldn't ship an ARC before copy edits
January 2, 2026 at 1:02 PM
casella.bsky.social
Noted zoomer Bill Nighy:
Q: I have started dating a man who is very nice but does not share my politics. Any advice? A:You just have to get the fuck out of there. What are you thinking? He must be incredibly attractive-looking. I mean, what is it? Is he tall? Does he remind you of your father? There's only two kinds of politics these days; and you can't breathe the same air as the other kind.
January 1, 2026 at 5:46 PM
casella.bsky.social
a seriously good bookstore in an airport is almost insulting in a "oh we should just always have that huh" kind of way
Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction, a white guy with shoulder-length dark hair, in a car talking about how you can get a beer in Amsterdam movie theaters, but edited so it says "And I don't mean like no cheesy self-help. I'm talking about a work of literature."
January 1, 2026 at 3:58 PM
casella.bsky.social
Okay we're doing this
An illustration for January in Darnielle's "This Year", by John Keogh: an interior of a room, with two windows with curtains blowing. The floor, a couch, and a radiator are covered with some kind of drifting material, snow or sand or dust.
January 1, 2026 at 3:01 PM
casella.bsky.social
did not expect more evidence that US independents are not beating the "dumbest folks you know" allegations
Independents read less than members of either party, both on average and as a median.
December 31, 2025 at 4:52 PM
casella.bsky.social
this @badmachinery.com psa flits through my head every time I find my feet on anything higher than the floor
On a yellow background, an image of a tall ladder with a figure having fallen backwards off it: Warning. Don't Tit About On Ladders. From the British Ladder Council: "What goes up must come down, safely."
December 30, 2025 at 3:10 PM
casella.bsky.social
you must never go there
Simba from Lion King asking "But what abouy all those tabs besides Following?"
December 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
casella.bsky.social
yowza
The prosecutor stated she was weary of charging Bardot with offences related to racial hatred.
December 28, 2025 at 1:40 PM
casella.bsky.social
judge reading out the charges at the arraignment, shouting "order!" as the gallery gasps and screams at each one:
A photo of a cafe sign: Egg Nog Steamer Egg Nog Cortado Egg Nog Cold Brew London Nog
December 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM
casella.bsky.social
today in "cursèd AI use" crossing my feed
A picture from Otherland bookstore showing a hand holding a German edition if Caitlin Starling's The Death of Jane Lawrence in front of a blurry background, but the AI they've used for the image picked up the cover art scheme for part of the human hand and it looks ghoulish. And it is ghoulish!
December 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
casella.bsky.social
When you were reading about dragons I studied deconstruction. When you were having arguments about dieselpunk I masteres Greimas squares. [Image of a young man solemnly unsheathing a katana.]
December 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
casella.bsky.social
Matthew McConaughey smoking, looking simultaneously stressed and obsessed.
December 16, 2025 at 7:22 PM
casella.bsky.social
Top: Gimli says "Never thought we'd be fighting fascists side-by-side with centrists." Middle: Gimli looks beside him but there's no one there." Bottom: Gimli says "Oh right, we're not."
December 16, 2025 at 4:39 PM
casella.bsky.social
Gyllenhaal looking down a rifle scope saying "I wantes the festive mist."
December 12, 2025 at 6:46 PM
casella.bsky.social
listen to blood work
Two dogs, one with short brown and white fur, the other with long white and black fur, in poses of exaggerated violence on a red couch.
December 10, 2025 at 12:09 AM