Rowan Davies
@rowandavies.bsky.social
Just had a lovely time watching Christmas Eve in Millers Point. Hit me right in my childhood feels about holidays with a large and rowdy extended family. Be warned though: it has absolutely homeopathic levels of plot (think Dazed and Confused.) variety.com/2024/film/fe...
With ‘Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,’ Director Tyler Taormina Reinvents Cinema’s Most Old-Fashioned Genre and Makes an Instant Holiday Classic
In an interview, 'Christmas Eve at Miller's Point' director Tyler Taormina explains his holiday movie's expansive cast and arthouse inspirations.
variety.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Just had a lovely time watching Christmas Eve in Millers Point. Hit me right in my childhood feels about holidays with a large and rowdy extended family. Be warned though: it has absolutely homeopathic levels of plot (think Dazed and Confused.) variety.com/2024/film/fe...
‘There is something of the April Fool about most comic songs: it’s comedy for children, and for people who know, in theory, that humour is a thing. But every now and then, you get someone can truly pull it off.’ RIP Tom Lehrer, you were one of the good ‘uns. open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
An Evening (Wasted) with Tom Lehrer
The best time
open.substack.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM
‘There is something of the April Fool about most comic songs: it’s comedy for children, and for people who know, in theory, that humour is a thing. But every now and then, you get someone can truly pull it off.’ RIP Tom Lehrer, you were one of the good ‘uns. open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
Apparently (according to Mumsnet) single women on nights out are covering themselves in glitter to repel attached men and/or send a silent message to an attached man’s partner. Absolute trebles all round.
March 15, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Apparently (according to Mumsnet) single women on nights out are covering themselves in glitter to repel attached men and/or send a silent message to an attached man’s partner. Absolute trebles all round.
I’m not claiming this is a dispositive insight, but I once asked an NHS England manager for an NHSE org chart* and he threw his head back and laughed for really quite a long time.
*It was for a good reason, I don’t collect org charts
*It was for a good reason, I don’t collect org charts
March 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I’m not claiming this is a dispositive insight, but I once asked an NHS England manager for an NHSE org chart* and he threw his head back and laughed for really quite a long time.
*It was for a good reason, I don’t collect org charts
*It was for a good reason, I don’t collect org charts
It’s some sort of unwelcome marker of my Oxbridge Reject identity that I *do* know (contra this piece) of one extremely eminent (literally) reject: Roger Penrose, who only won the Nobel
The second Oxbridge rejection piece I’ve read in the last fortnight. When I was looking for a university, I expected to be rejected if I applied, so didn’t apply. How the experience changes you, not as much as failing the 11+ did, but still.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/edu...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/edu...
The curse of the Oxbridge reject
As offers and rejections go out across the country, Britain needs to learn that Oxford and Cambridge are just universities.
www.newstatesman.com
January 16, 2025 at 6:42 AM
It’s some sort of unwelcome marker of my Oxbridge Reject identity that I *do* know (contra this piece) of one extremely eminent (literally) reject: Roger Penrose, who only won the Nobel
Re-reading Smiley’s People, which is just not as good as TTSS is it? But there’s that long passage in the middle, when Smiley is having a little breakdown in Bywater Street; an unending, circuitous, anxious, drunken night. It’s a perfect invocation of mental and physical unease, and I hate it.
December 31, 2024 at 7:28 PM
Re-reading Smiley’s People, which is just not as good as TTSS is it? But there’s that long passage in the middle, when Smiley is having a little breakdown in Bywater Street; an unending, circuitous, anxious, drunken night. It’s a perfect invocation of mental and physical unease, and I hate it.
Reposted by Rowan Davies
We’re considering the social effects of social media this week, so it’s worth brushing up on the history of the medium with Tess Dixon’s piece on how we got here
https://buff.ly/4eYW3FJ
https://buff.ly/4eYW3FJ
November 27, 2024 at 1:00 PM
We’re considering the social effects of social media this week, so it’s worth brushing up on the history of the medium with Tess Dixon’s piece on how we got here
https://buff.ly/4eYW3FJ
https://buff.ly/4eYW3FJ
Reposted by Rowan Davies
Immensely interesting piece.
Twenty-two years ago, I was one of fifteen Year 13 pupils who qualified for the final of the British Physics Olympiad.
With the cohort now entering our 40s, where are we all now?
And was does this say about the role of intelligence in life success?
www.edrith.co.uk/p/whatever-h...
With the cohort now entering our 40s, where are we all now?
And was does this say about the role of intelligence in life success?
www.edrith.co.uk/p/whatever-h...
Whatever happened to my Physics Olympiad cohort?
And what does this say about the role of intelligence in life success?
www.edrith.co.uk
November 27, 2024 at 10:31 AM
Immensely interesting piece.
I wrote about website flame wars, being mad online and the obstructiveness of young children, and I only mentioned Bluesky/X a couple of times: open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
Freaks and Geeks
A flame war veteran writes
open.substack.com
November 23, 2024 at 2:36 PM
I wrote about website flame wars, being mad online and the obstructiveness of young children, and I only mentioned Bluesky/X a couple of times: open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
Reposted by Rowan Davies
I wrote about Paul Simon’s 1986 album ‘Graceland’ this week and was slightly surprised to find, forty years later, that I am still a fan. I was even more surprised to find, judging from the response, that everyone else is too.
open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
1986: Graceland
There goes sanction-bustin’ Simon
open.substack.com
November 20, 2024 at 9:25 PM
I wrote about Paul Simon’s 1986 album ‘Graceland’ this week and was slightly surprised to find, forty years later, that I am still a fan. I was even more surprised to find, judging from the response, that everyone else is too.
open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
open.substack.com/pub/metropol...
The problem with the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall is that all Cromwell’s interior dialogue has been dumped into direct speech, meaning that he maunders around various National Trust locations offering unasked-for opinions like an early modern Billy Bleach
November 17, 2024 at 9:34 PM
The problem with the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall is that all Cromwell’s interior dialogue has been dumped into direct speech, meaning that he maunders around various National Trust locations offering unasked-for opinions like an early modern Billy Bleach