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Simon Groth

@simongroth.com

1.4K followers 970 following 580 posts

Curious writer. ‘Heartwarmingly blunt.’ New book ‘Ephemeral City’ is available now. Stories and ephemera published in a box that can be read in any order you like. simongroth.com

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 9d

An elaborately constructed book in a box filled with stories and ephemera? In this economy? Fear not. @tinyowlworkshop.bsky.social has discounted the boxed edition of Ephemeral City to A$45 (pp) for a limited time. If you’ve been on the fence, now's your chance. www.simongroth.com/shop/ephemer...

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Reposted by Simon Groth

Jillian Reilly @jillianreilly.bsky.social · 5h

"We'd like to wish you all what you would wish yourself"
youtu.be/0svrEpittNs?...

George Harrison 'It's Johnny's Birthday' (Official Video)

YouTube video by George Harrison

youtu.be

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 5h

The final scene of the story Battle takes place in the heart of the city as spontaneous celebrations break out at news that the war is over. At one point, a group of women break into the song ‘Wonder When My Baby’s Coming Home’, a detail lifted directly from contemporary reports.

Wonder When My Baby's Coming Home ~ Jimmy Dorsey & Orchestra (1942)

YouTube video by MrRJDB1969

youtu.be

Reposted by Simon Groth

Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 8h

Never forget that Australia went to war with emus in 1932 and the emus won

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 1d

For most of that night they would have jitterbugged to hot jazz, but I chose to fast forward to the end of the night. I was surprised to find this song by Thelonius Monk was a hit in Australia and I can picture Frank and Margaret in each other’s arms with this playing as the place winds down.

'Round Midnight - Thelonious Monk (1947)

YouTube video by djbuddylovecooljazz

youtu.be

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 1d

Scenes from the story Battle take place at the Trocadero, a dance hall frequented by Australian and American military stationed in Brisbane in 1942. There we find my characters Frank and Margaret falling for each other as they dance awkwardly together.

The Trocadero Dansant Dancehall on Melbourne Street, South Brisbane, probably late 1920s. Don’t look for it; it’s not there anymore.

A rare view at the Troc’s interior looking back from the stage. A huge class of debutantes and officials occupy the dancefloor in rows while the shadows of onlookers can be seen in the balconies.

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Reposted by Simon Groth

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 1d

Back in the day people used to have a slide at the end of their presentations saying "and that's how the brain works" as an inside joke about Hinton since he was known to talk confidently out of his ass.

Now, the Nobel committee brought this upon us like they give the peace prize to genociders.

⚡️🌙 @dystopiabreaker.xyz · 4d

anyway, here is 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Geoffrey Hinton discussing what we know about large AI models on 60 Minutes.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 2d

I was reading about how the keyboard was a heavily modified clavioline, a bit of one off sound.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 2d

On a personal note, this is one of the songs my dad transferred to tape from his old 45s. Those tapes—stacked with hits and obscurities from the late 50s and early 60s—were the inescapable sound of my childhood weekends.

A Panasonic portable tape player with built in mono speaker.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 2d

The story Heavens is set in mid-1961 in the shadow of the space race and anti-communist paranoia. This song is a massive hit from that year, complete with a spacey-toned keyboard solo, anticipating by more than a year the more overtly spacey ‘Telstar’ by the Tornadoes.

Runaway

YouTube video by Del Shannon - Topic

youtu.be

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 2d

You’ve got it. My copy of Wreck this Book is so tightly bound it is in fact hard to wreck. And I’m realising in real time the hypocrisy of saying that when I did this to my own book. 🤔

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · Sep 14

My book Ephemeral City is a box of stories and ephemera that can be read in any order. It’s also published in paperback for the normies, though with a little effort, that too can be read in any order.

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 2d

Keri Smith's books are fun, but it's frustrating publishers keep using perfect binding for them.

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

One (not sweary) expression that's so cliché (but that I actually sometimes use) is "mad as a cut snake".

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

"Stop grabbing my dick/balls/cunt" is not an expression here as far as I know, but I've no doubt if you said it you would be completely understood.

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

This conversation is getting more hilarious with each post. I was thinking about an expression like "Cheers, cunt" for "thank you" which would be beyond insulting in the US and probably UK too, but *in the right context* is actually affectionate in Aus...

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

And yes, I always approach the machine with a healthy dose of scepticism.

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

¡Me encanta! 😂 Los huevos was one I did know and love that Spanish has a very Australian sensibility of liberally throwing (linguistically) genitalia into its expressions.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

Although, my instinct for what it meant was completely correct, so... (Aunque, mi instinto para lo que significaba era completamente correcto, así que...)

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

Learn a new language, they said. It'll be good for you, they said. (Aprende un nuevo idioma, dijeron. Será bueno para ti, dijeron.)

A screenshot translating a post from Spanish to English: "I'm up to the dick." Clearly an expression with which I am unfamiliar.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

For the story Sixpence, we jump back to 1930 and follow a group of six siblings as they walk through Paddington to South Brisbane for a lottery draw. The sound of Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians would likely have accompanied them on their journey, playing on radios from pubs and front rooms.

Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians - Little White Lies 1930 Clare Hanlon

YouTube video by warholsoup100

youtu.be

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

Any questions you have are clearly answered by the pie.

Joel @itsjoels.bsky.social · 3d

I made a great big fuck off pie.

Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

The car.

The original 1965 magazine ad for the EH model Holden: Smooth & Quiet. I took this template and turned it into something far weirder for Ephemeral City.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

The bridge.

A postcard from the late eighties showing an aerial view of the Gateway Bridge and a ship passing under it.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 3d

Later in the story, that same model car is roaring up the arch of the Gateway Bridge, ready to take flight. This song captures the mood in the car’s interior and the growl under its bonnet.

Everybody's Getting A Three Piece Together

YouTube video by The Fauves - Topic

youtu.be

Reposted by Simon Groth

Marina Mediano @marinamed.bsky.social · 4d

AI is ineffective. It's just the latest ✨shiny✨ excuse for layoffs and exploration. In short, it's yet another tool for the rich to oppress workers.

David Slack @slack2thefuture.bsky.social · Aug 20

I haven’t been this excited for a bubble to burst since I was a toddler.

Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · Aug 20

MIT’s NANDA initiative found that 95% of generative AI deployments fail after interviewing 150 execs, surveying 350 workers, and analyzing 300 projects. The real “productivity gains” seem to come from layoffs and squeezing more work from fewer people not AI.

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Simon Groth @simongroth.com · 4d

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]

YouTube video by Joy Division

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