Alex MacFarlane

@aghowes.bsky.social

1551 Followers 291 Following

Book cataloguer and peripatetic scholar, researching the medieval Armenian Alexander Romance and 19th-century Caucasus cosmopolitanism. Films, trains, British. They/them.

a screenshot from a Lupin III film, the camera is panning down to the G7 table under a chandelier as someone says, "It annoys me that the United States have all this power."
Concorde, in the Bond film Moonraker, is moments away from landing, angled up so you can see the triangular wing shape
Roger Moore as James Bond in a Lawrence of Arabia fit riding a camel in the Egyptian desert
it's the collation of an early printed book's signatures but they are so jacked, as a sample there's A-P8, Q6, r1, a-s8, t1, A2, *b*2, *a*-*b*6, A-Ii8, and so on, including one symbol I have never seen before
it's the Sagrada Familia made of sandstone-coloured bricks, lots of pointy towers and intricate details
Roger Moore as James Bond, in a pinstripe grey suit with a white shirt and red tie, looks off-camera while a subtitle reads "The energy crisis is still with us."
A large ring of standing stones extends away from the camera, starting with one up-close and tall, in a grassy field.
a close-up photo of pale pink cherry blossoms with beads of dew or rain on the petals
Is Trump's latest threat serious? Frank Gardner, Security correspondent In a way, President Donald Trump’s "end-of-civilisation" threat to Iran, posted on his Truth Social account, is even more shocking than his earlier one that was rich in un-presidential-like expletives. To suggest, even as a bluff, that "a whole civilization will die tonight" is to invite comparisons with those who have sought to destroy remnants of the great civilisations of the wider Middle East. The Taliban blew up the giant stone 6th-Century Buddhas of Bamiyan, and ISIS demolished parts of the 2nd-Century city of Palmyra. Is Donald Trump planning to go down in history as the man who bombed Iran’s priceless vestiges of its ancient civilisations like the ruins of Persepolis? Or the Unesco World Heritage site of the Friday Mosque at Isfahan? Even Vladimir Putin, in his savage war on Ukraine, has spared the golden domes of Kyiv’s cathedrals. Even if the US president is just using the term "civilization" loosely, to mean civil infrastructure like bridges and power plants, this still risks being classed as a war crime. But this, lawyers say, is a grey area, as anything which can be proven to have a military role does not fit the definition of a war crime.
a footpath through a woodland, with bluebells in bloom covering the woodland floor on either side of the dirt path
two different phrases written on the wall of a pub loo. the first says: "the world is full of parasites." the second says: "polyamory is valid!"
Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Death of Stalin, Tornado, The Master
You Only Live Twice, Arabian Nights, The Testament of Ann Lee, Iphigenia
A certain Egyptian monk called Patermouthios, for example, was said to have been taken corporeally to paradise, tasted its fruits, and even managed to bring home a souvenir: a huge fig capable of healing disorders.
No matter how persuasive and eloquent the essays in this volume may prove to be, the term prosimetrum is not currently a household word, has never been one, and will surely never become one. Although many people can intuit what the word means because they understand the definitions of the two elements from which it is compounded, they still find it somewhat awkward and puzzling until it has been explained and defined for them. Probably they sense a paradox or even an oxymoron in the conjunction of two etymons which are often thought to be antonyms; the word belongs in an elite class that includes such inherently contradictory and yet complementary concepts as bittersweet, love-hate, sadomasochism, serio-comic and tragicomic, and stop-and-go.
screenshot of a film, on the deck of a German ship, as someone asks "Wo is das Buch Jane's Fighting Ships?"
Castle in the Sky, Noroi, Freak Orlando, Aribada
a finished LEGO that shows a big cherry blossom tree with facial features, in a woodland glade with two human figures and a magical sword in a pedestal
a LEGO build that is the base of a woodland area, mostly green bricks, with some floral and foliage pieces that hint at lushness
a very dark photo of a trilithon at Stonehenge, before there's any light in the sky
a man in a black skirt and black cropped top jumps off a rock while wearing bat-like cloth wing things, and a man in the foreground wearing a kind of corset with straps is waving a stick around, while the subtitle says, "Use the stick, All those bastards make me sick."
an Egyptian woman stands behind a sculpted head of Alexander in a museum, saying, "He's a quack! He spent his life searching for Alexander's tomb." she's addressing one man, while another is in the background, peering around a tall statue.
an Egyptian woman turns to an Egyptian man, saying, "He wouldn't fit the part. Alexander was tall and blond."
France is renowned all over the world for its medieval villages nestled on rocks which appear frozen in time. La P'tite Pierre wines, in the heart of French regions, pay tribute to this heritage full of traditions and stories. Among these traditions is the production of wine. At La P'tite Pierre, we are committed to continuing this heritage by working with local winemakers to produce the best wines possible. Let yourself be enchanted by their unique taste and rich history.
Beau Travail, This is Not a Burial it's a Resurrection, Croupier, The Epic of Everest
two ink cap mushrooms, which are pale and upright ovoid in shape, fruiting from acorn-covered ground that's otherwise covered in acorns
clusters of white, slimy-looking mushrooms growing from a fallen log amid leaf litter and small green plants, with white staining around the mushrooms
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, The Day of the Jackal, Lupin III: The Hemingway Papers, Honey Don't!
a small purple mushroom growing amid mud, grass, brown leaves and small green plants
a mostly white cat with a ginger tail and some small ginger dots on his head is lying on his side on a table, forepaw splayed in play
the BBC iPlayer screen at the end of a film, where it says "if you liked Point Break" it suggests that I watch the Scottish Parliament budget statement from 24 June, while also recommending the far more congruent action films Die Hard with a Vengeance and Miami Vice
cream text on a black background says DIVINE PRESENCE TO BE SHOT
a common frog or toad clings to the side of garden furniture, in a close gap between the furniture and wooden slats
The Invisible Fight, The White Reindeer, Insomnia, Topkapi
Calendar, Godland, A Dog Barking at the Moon, L'île Rouge
good: interesting scenery, easy to navigate, lots of paths if you want to extend the walk. bad: in a live firing range.
Hausu, Hard Boiled, Sword of the Stranger, The Great Ecstacy of Woodcarver Steiner
grey long-haired cat sprawled across an unmade bed
The Story of Yanagawa's Canals, The Andromeda Strain, Mars Express, Hi Mom!
four people in beige clothing stand in front of a silvery desk where a fifth person in beige clothing is seated. the curving wall behind them is red, with lots of small tv monitors and lit-up panels of lights. the floor is white.
The Wild Road by Gabriel King
David Cameron, who made seven visits to Afghanistan as prime minister between June 2010 and November 2013, the period now under scrutiny by the SAS public inquiry, was repeatedly made aware of the concerns by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to multiple people who attended the meetings. Mr Karzai "consistently, repeatedly mentioned this issue", former Afghan national security adviser Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta told Panorama. He said Lord Cameron could have been left in no doubt that there were allegations of civilians, including children, being killed during operations carried out by UK special forces.
so much wild garlic in the woods, an abundance of wild garlic, a plethora of wild garlic
two google products results for a tingly mint and tea tree shower gel that's a very bold green colour
Saint Maud, Ieoh Island, Logan Lucky, Escape from Mogadishu
Howl's Moving Castle, Cyclo, Anaïs in Love, Chiara
a screenshot of a film, where a nun in fairly humble clothes faces the pope dressed in an elaborate cream and turquoise coloured woollen overcoat with a broad-rimmed cream-coloured hat, with turquoise and yellow tassels hanging off it
Querelle, Secret Reunion, The Devil's Advocate, Princess Mononoke
a mat of waxy green leaves on the ground, with a couple of small purple flowers
Inside Man, The Road to Sampo, The Bell Tower, Sopyonje
pale purple crocuses in a lawn, next to snowdrops and deep pink hellebores, with a bumblebee on the crocuses, on a sunny day
Funeral Parade of Roses, Dog Day Afternoon, A Wedding of Jays, Atman
a still from Dog Day Afternoon with a white guy in a suit who looks to me, a fairly faceblind person, like George W Bush
grey wagtail page on the RSPB website, with a photo of a smallish bird with a yellow body and vent, and grey-black wings, with a fairly long tail for its size
a poster for a film called The Search, showing a man in profile and a 4x4 vehicle, both overlaid with people's faces in red-brown tones
a laptop showing a film (three Chinese men walk towards the camera) on a bed with a silver cat lying next to it
a man holding a red flowered kimono over his head stands in a field of yellow flowers with a yellow sky
the logo of Yamato Transport on the side of a cardboard box, which is a black cat holding a black kitten in its mouth, on a yellow oval background
Attenberg, Kikujiro, Mami Wata, Showing Up