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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 4d

Amused to see that the episode of The X-Files that visits (the fictional) Steveston Massachusetts was shot in (the actually existing) Steveston in Richmond, Metro Vancouver.

So at least they didn’t have to change that street sign.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 9d

They didn’t even bother subtitling the Italian in “All the Money in the World” - which is a good chunk of the film and actually explains plot points.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 10d

The Corner Electric just round the corner from Warren St on TCR (1910-29) was in a basement, but is now a pharmacy. I’ve always wondered if they were getting mangled with the Scala on Charlotte St, though that was only briefly a TV studio.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 11d

Even “The First Train” (maybe the least of their collaborations) has some great sequences. Well worth looking into Urusevsky in his own right.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 13d

One of those excruciating self-promotional moments, this time at least justified by the fact that it's Shostakovich's birthday.
open.substack.com/pub/johnlema...

Shostakovich and Film

Maybe the first of an intermittent series

open.substack.com

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 13d

I saw it at the NFT (25?) years ago. At the end the cinema was filled with the sound of sniffling.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 16d

Brilliant news!

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 25d

They’re not so much “adaptations” as free-standing things inspired by the original, with SS maybe being inspired by AAT.

Lem was, I think, far more outraged by AAT and the way he welded his own concerns (absent fathers, prodigal sons, etc) onto a story that didn’t even hint at those things.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 25d

Yeh, both versions “reinterpret” the novel in their own ways and I like all three on their own terms (I don’t remember much of the German TV version)

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · 26d

Did Lem make any effort to see the Soderbergh version or did he continue to hold that opinion based on the US reviews he read?

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Sep 6

Hopefully you’ll have some reports back

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Sep 5

When your name's Chase Infiniti you haven't really got any other choice than to appear in a Thomas Pynchon adaptation, have you?

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Aug 13

Apparently there’s a new AI thing called ZeroGPT.

But it’s uncannily close to another product with a similar name.

Imagine - an entire product based on stuff you’ve stolen.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Aug 9

Scrolling through my @letterboxd.social I came across this #LetterboxdSentence

Four films listed consecutively on my Letterboxd, which together for a sort of sentence: Lo and Behold, Irrational Man Rams Men and Chickens

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 24

Technocracy has its (small and limited) place and it’s certainly better than “rule by vibes”, but they always seem to go all in for it, like it’s a silver bullet. And the Blairite “he’s rich so he must know…” is a hopeless fallacy. If only PPEs actually included some philosophy.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 24

It would be funny if the UK became some sort of internet refusenik backwater just as Starmer decides that AI is some sort of solution to anything and everything.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 19

Very good discipline. Outline someone’s life and give an impression and assessment of their work and its influence in 700 words. 1200 if they’re really famous and/or prolific. By tomorrow morning.

John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 18

When I wrote an obit of Ray Dennis Steckler, the word count was such that I had to get creative after the first mention of his most famous film.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 18

“You have 800 words to…”
“Yeah, but what about after the 800-word introduction?”

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 18

Why, when trying to map a journey across Canada, does Google Maps take any opportunity to divert you into the USA when there are more straightforward routes wholly within Canada?

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 18

Information wants to be anthropomorphised and given desires, so that people who abuse information can be absolved of any responsibility for the outcomes of their actions.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 13

@bcferries.bsky.social raising so many questions.

“No pets allowed”

“But pets can use this staircase. The one also used by orca.”

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 13

I use them occasionally.

I’m a semi-user.

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 11

Given that people are wanging on about "The Salt Path Debacle", I thought I might weigh in on "The Salt Path Debacle". Salt(y) Thoughts, by @riley_leman substack.com/@johnlemanri...

Salt(y) Thoughts

Not a Book Review

substack.com

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John Leman Riley @lemanriley.bsky.social · Jul 11

The unfortunate thing is that "I'm on the spectrum [or something]" has been trotted out so often by so many completely undeserving cases that there's an immediate suspicion.

But also - your assessment of him is correct.

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