The amazing thing about the era of filmmaking that ended with "Wonder Woman 1984" is that a script that dumb and joyless could get past dozens of people without anyone pumping the brakes before a firehose of funding was sprayed over the project.

The most entertaining thing about WW84 is the press tour where the filmmakers pretend to be creative geniuses who learned *so much* from the failings of the vastly superior original film, especially its climactic showdown.

"The studio forced us to wrap the first movie up with a loud, cartoony CGI smackdown!" they cried... then delivered a sequel that ends with an even more cartoony and pointless CGI smackdown, followed by half an hour of Wonder Woman explaining why cheating and selfishness are bad.

How do you come off a surprisingly popular, breezy, entertaining movie that began the turnaround for a flagging zillion-dollar franchise and decide the sequel should be a first-grade morality lesson with the logic of a Care Bears cartoon that's longer than a Tolkien film?

Presumably it's because everyone involved decided they had something Very Important to say about the hellish 80s Decade of Greed that would be Highly Relevant for modern audiences, even though many people involved in the production are too young to remember the 80s.

H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and their correspondence.

A thread.

H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard corresponded from 1930 until 1936, when Howard committed suicide. Lovecraft would die the next year. Two of the most renowned authors at WEIRD TALES, their correspondence shaped both men's lives and legacies.

First, before they got acquainted:

Howard was 16 years younger that Lovecraft; he had first read HPL in the early issues of WEIRD TALES in 1923-1925, and aspired to write for the pulp magazine himself - which he did. Lovecraft later claimed to have noticed REH's initial efforts

but did not comment them on his letters. The start of their correspondence in 1930 came after the reprint of Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls," which involved a line lifted from a certain Scottish genderqueer author. Details

Lovecraft's letters were often frequent and lengthy; 10 or 20 handwritten pages wasn't uncommon, and 70 and 100 page letters are known. To new correspondents, this could be incredibly intimidating. Robert E. Howard appears to have taken it as a challenge, and sought to match him.

I love reading books.

I'm also a huge fan of reading newsletters.

Here are 7 newsletters I highly recommend checking out.

(thread) 🧵

1/

The 3-2-1 newsletter by @JamesClear

This is a weekly email that includes 3 short ideas from James, 2 quotes from other people, and 1 question for you to

2/

Monday Musings & Friday Finds by @david_perell

In Monday Musings, David shares the coolest things he learned every week. In Friday Finds, he shares links to interesting pieces of content he discovered that week.

He's a master curator &

3/

Morning Brew by @austin_rief & @businessbarista

A daily email that will recap everything you missed in the business world. It's filled with great insights, funny puns, and quality

4/

BrandStreet by @amlewis4

If you're a brand builder, you'll want to sign up. Ari shares a weekly newsletter with lessons and news about the world of media, marketing, and

MCU RANKED BY EXCITEMENT!
Spider-Man 3
Captain Marvel 2
Loki
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
WandaVision
Secret Invasion
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Ms Marvel
Thor: Love and Thunder
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Moon Knight

Fantastic Four
Black Widow
She-Hulk
Hawkeye
Black Panther II
Deadpool 3
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania
Iron Heart
Armour Wars
What If
Blade
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Eternals
I Am Groot

I’ll reply with reasoning!

Spider-Man 3 - I fucking love Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and that cliffhanger! Zendaya could also step on me so I need more MJ!

Captain Marvel 2 - We stan Carol and also Kamala! Also, lesbian Carol maybe? I hope! MONICA MONICA MONICA MONICA MONICA YES!

Loki - Just Loki himself.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - I love the dynamic these two have and I’d love to see where the Zemo storyline goes!

WandaVision - Monica. Wanda. Vision. Multiverse. Must I say more?

Secret Invasion - I adore this storyline in the comics from what I’ve heard about it! Also Aussie rep is a YES for me!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - I adore Wanda and Strange so much. I can’t wait to see their dynamic!

Ms Marvel - Kamala Khan rights!

it has come our attention that some of our newer followers are struggling to understand the words we use to describe our rare books, and you are in for a treat with this simple guide to "Words That Don't Mean Anything What It Seems Like They Mean"

[thread 1/?]

when we get books in, collectors want to know what the damage is, so we have to find a way to tell them, and over a few centuries bookstores have developed a form of shorthand for this, because business has always been done by catalogue from hundreds of miles away

[btw no rare bookstore uses the same keywords/phrases in -exactly- the same way, dont ask me why, I have no idea why. your mileage may vary. there is no real authority on it, I have checked, it's a bloodbath out there]

if we're in a hurry, we use broad strokes and consult the following table

FINE: the book was crapped out by an angel
VERY GOOD: no-one can prove anything
GOOD: lets just be grateful it has covers, shall we
FAIR: the book is on fire, guarded by a hydra
POOR: no book, only despair

most books we sell actually fit into the common understanding of 'Very Good', but as you can see that could mean anything from "it maybe has all the pages" to "it's almost perfect"

so its not really very helpful. 5 tweets in and we have learned nothing. you are welcome.

[WEBINAR]
Topic- Keys to Governance: Independence of Judiciary
The Webinar is being organized by India International Centre and D.S. Borker Memorial Foundation.
-Thursday 07 at 6:00PM-

Key Speakers:
1. Rtd. Justice Madan B Lokur, Former SC Judge
2. Tarunabh Khaitan, Vice Dean Faculty of Law, Oxford University
3. Maneka Guruswamy, Senior Advocate
4. N Ram, Former Editor in Chief, The Hindu
Moderator: Suhas Borker, Managing Trustee, DS Borker Memorial Foundation

The webinar has started.
Critical questions to be addressed in the webinar:
1. Is the SC performing its functions to defend the constitution satisfactorily?
2. Has the SC become an executive court?
3. Does the collegiums system ensure independence of judiciary?

4. Are post retirement benefits for judges compromising our judicial system?
5. Is there a need to increase the retirement age of judges?
6. Should there be a bar for restricting the post retirement jobs to judges?

7. How do you keep the government of the day at bay from exercising interference on the court?

Music news thread. 👇🍿

I get asked a lot how to help the people I write about. My first response is pretty simple, treat them like anybody else, not someone who is broken, or fallen, or a victim, or whatever.

Give them the dignity to be your equal, as measured by things other than $, status, etc. 1/

Yet clearly by $ they are not equal. So how to help them that way? I believe in charity being as local & personal as possible. I buy people McDonald's meals, let them use my phone, or computer, help them navigate social services. Etc.

Or just sit & talk if they want to talk 2/

So I keep a wad of $10 & $5 bills in my pocket to hand out, if asked, or offer. I also carry McDonald's gift cards, if you worry about $s going to drugs

For those who worry about being scammed. Well, if begging for cash is their scam, they are probably still pretty desperate. 3/

If you want to help more local is IMO the best. Volunteer at local non-profit or church, & over time you will see how you can "help" the most. Like maybe buying the soup kitchen a new fridge, or a kid a bike, or whatever. The more personal the better. For a lot of reasons 4/

For those who don't have the time (life is complicated) & want to give to a charity, here are 4 links of places I tend to ask people to give to.

All are Bronx focused, because the Bronx did so much for me. I owe it.

There are variations of all of these in every city though 5/

Publishing works on long schedules, which means that long-planned books can be overtaken by events...like covid.

2020 was tough for those of us with books in trail, especially nonfiction. But for a few lucky writers, covid imparted a terrible salience to their books.

1/

One such writer is @TimHarford, host of @BBCRadio4's @bbcmoreorless, which is hands-down the greatest statistical literacy program in the world, using the numbers in each week's headlines to impart statistical lessons and render the news in perspective.

2/

Harford's latest book is THE DATA DETECTIVE (published as HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD ADD UP in the UK), which should really have been entitled HOW TO TRUTH WITH

You've likely heard of Darrell Huff's 1954 classic HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS, a classic, accessible guide to statistical malpractice in service to pushing an agenda. What I didn't know (until I heard Harford discourse on it) was that Huff himself had an ulterior motive.

4/

Huff was a shill for the tobacco industry, which, in 1954, was deliberately muddying the waters about the link between cancer and smoking. Huff's book isn't just a guide to statistical malpractice - it's a broadside against cancer

Thread

From “Don’t wear a mask!” to “You must wear a mask!"

A 'video timeline' of 2020, with some great clips and some quotes from WHO about the lack of quality evidence for the effectiveness of face masks.

Ignore Twitter warnings, it's just

A #Thread on the "Actor" #Rajinikanth. This thread is for people asking has he done any meaningful roles other than action, cannot act in Dramas, or especially to those who think he did not put any hard work in his early years..

This is quite a long thread.... #Thalaivar ⏭️

To answer Questions like whether Rajinikanth is an overrated actor? Why the hype? Has he ever done a range of different roles? use this thread as a primer to learn more about the man you know but the path you don’t! #Rajinikanth #Thalaivar ⏭️

#Rajinikanth did not to shoot to fame overnight. He had to toil for it. He was already acting in stage during his school days. In the early years he starred mostly in negative roles but made sure he created a space for him that is still lying with empty chairs #Thalaivar ⏭️

#Rajinikanth has taken formal acting courses at the Madras Film institute, where he was identified by K.Balachander based on his acting ability. KB sir was sure this dark, quirky man is going to hit the ball out of the park & he did foresee the future #Thalaivar ⏭️

#Rajinikanth used to play a lot of character oriented roles in the mid 70’s & 80’s. He was pushed to the commercial front as he was banking in more money but that never diminished his acting skills.The most recent examples of his acting prowess are Kabali & Kaala #Thalaivar ⏭️

If a critical mass of people on twitter generate enough Section 230 hot takes, all that energy fuses to create renewed interest in the #FairnessDoctrine.

I wrote a book on the FD so let me walk you through why reviving it would be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.

First, the Fairness Doctrine was responsible for the most successful episode of government censorship of the past half century. While the Fairness Doctrine was technically created to encourage fair and balanced coverage of “controversial issues of public importance"...

...in the 1960s the Kennedy administration weaponized it to punish conservative radio critics. You see, fairness is in the eye of the beholder--which is the FCC--and the person who appoints the commissioners--the president--gets a say in what looks fair or foul.

(JFK also launched targeted IRS audits of his right-wing radio antagonists; the power to tax is the power to destroy, after all.) Stations responded to the secretly government-organized pressure by dropping conservative broadcasters in order to avoid Fairness Doctrine complaints.

And lest you think this Fairness Doctrine stuff is just conservative bellyaching, bear in mind that the Nixon administration used the threat of Fairness Doctrine enforcement to help bring television network heads to heel.

1/

Mini Thread:

Every time I think there is no more postmodernism in Christianity, I find more postmodernism in Christianity.

This time @KaitlynSchiess

2/
We start out with acknowledging a shift in how "truth" is thought about.

Which, I mean, yeah just read some Stanley Grenz and you can see it coming. It is called *taps mic*
🥐🦭🥐🦭🥐🦭🥐🦭

POSTMODERNISM

🥐🦭🥐🦭🥐🦭🥐🦭

3/
Pic 1: We are sinful and as such we are epistemicly flawed

Pic 2: Because we are flawed and imperfect we must adopt the philosophy of Richard Rorty: "The truth is out there but we can't get it."

Although she hedges slightly with "every time."

4/
Next "There is no universal basis for evaluating our environment."

This is her argument for that:

1. our perspectives are limited,
2. our communities suffer from generational and structural biases,
Therefore:
3. there is no universal basis for evaluating our
environments.

5/
This whole argument (much like the whole essay) is totally confused.

For one, the conclusion does not follow from the premises. She goes from different perspectives and people have bias directly to there is no foundation for the discovery of truth.

now....