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Area Man

@areamancm.bsky.social

950 followers 520 following 2.2K posts

I’ve never been wrong. I used to work in a record store.

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · Apr 12

BLACK MIRROR 1848:
Dagguereotypes allow widows to see ghostly countenance of their beloved after death
Deposition of monarchs leads to people electing leaders who still make terrible decisions
Too much use of the telegraph leads to people no longer gathering around the pianoforte

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Li Chen @exocomics.com · 18h

the ultimate price ✨

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 18h

This could be any one of so many people I follow on here

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 20h

Dad used to moan about how I hadn't grown out of Doctor Who. I now get paid to write about it, so when I visit him I wear Dalek socks.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19h

one response to this (correct) observation is to say “well, the cops will attack you no matter how you dress and behave.” that’s right. images of cops and ICE beating grandmas and kids in inflatable frog costumes is a win for the opposition.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 20h

one of the reasons they're so mad at "no kings" is that they thought they were going to get a different kind of protest. they *want* the black bloc to be out there fighting with the cops. those are the images they've been trying to generate from "go." instead--

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

MAGA Rage at “No Kings” Boils Over—and It Quickly Backfires on Trump

As Trump allies smear the coming protests, a good writer on MAGA skewers the absurdity of these attacks on large swaths of Americans—and explains why our best recourse will be to turn out in force.

newrepublic.com

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katy manning @manningofficial.bsky.social · 22h

i made it to 79
& feel
just fine , now the next stop
for katy is 80 thank you all for being in my life ❤️

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 20h

If you’re in or near Swansea, we’re doing this in Mumbles tomorrow night (Wed at 7pm, Mumbles Tabernacle). Come and see @juderogers.bsky.social talk to me about 80s pop history and my new book, #IntoTheGroove!

(Plz repost. Ta!)

Justin Lewis
Into the Groove: The 1980s

In conversation with Jude Rogers
Wed 15 Oct 7.00pm
Mumbles Tabernacle
Tickets £7.50

‘Justin Lewis tells pop’s never ending story brilliantly’
David Quantick

‘Like a treasure chest of pop riches… I loved this book!’
Samira Ahmed

‘Forensic, forthright and downright unputdownable’
Ian Wade

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Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social · 22h

Leaf skeleton. Ghost leaf.

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 1d

YES

ex-Lethality Jane @lethalityjane.bsky.social · 1d

The Catcher in the Rye is about a teenager struggling with the grief of losing his younger brother to cancer and it's strongly hinted that the narrator has been a victim of childhood molestation or worse and everyone who takes that story and turns it into "rich kid won't stop whining" is illiterate.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

Halfway through and hugely enjoying it. Astonishing how Justin covers all facets of eighties music, from pop to soul to "world music" to even Microdisney, and somehow makes it all cohere. Each entry packs a lot of vital information and trivia so concisely, entertainingly and effectively. Do get it.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 12d

OUT NOW, my month-by-month guide to 1980s pop, from ABC to XTC, and from Madonna to Neneh. #IntoTheGroove, published by @eandtbooks.bsky.social.

Cover of
INTO THE GROOVE: THE 1980s:
THE ULTIMATE DECADE IN MUSIC HISTORY
by Justin Lewis (me)

'An epic compendium of stories and trivia from the 80s music scene'

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 1d

It’s the hyperbole from otherwise reasonable beings I find extraordinary - “all 1970s music is terrible”, “Dunkirk made me incredibly angry” etc. Just inexplicable

Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 1d

“AI is an abomination and a crime against art produced by human beings, the pinnacle of human endeavour. Apart from the art you like which is despicable and makes me want to break things”

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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 1d

"Post you from a different era" is middle-aged Bluesky code for "lemme see you when you were hot"

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 1d

Barely a day passes on here where a book, film or song I love is not described as the worst thing in history which, by all rights, should be destroyed

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 1d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Boo!-per Lund @cooperlund.online · 1d

I've been blaming memes for this, and I think it fits. A lot of the angriest people out there aren't actually consuming news, they're consuming news-flavored content, and the content is a funhouse mirror version of reality that they're mistaking for being real.

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 1d

If you’re a Londoner or a regular visitor and you haven’t been on any @minimumlabyrinth.bsky.social walks, I cannot recommend them highly enough. You can sign up for updates on the Minimum Labyrinth website. They are always fascinating and spectacularly entertaining

Minimum Labyrinth @minimumlabyrinth.bsky.social · 1d

26 Oct 25: By A Long Chalk, a guided walk of Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill, through the lens of ‘pace layers’, Stewart Brand’s model for the ever-interacting layers of civilisation: steam trains and secret vaults, geology and gin, duels and druids, tunnels, taverns and towpaths. minimumlabyrinth.org

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 1d

Just seen a “Liebore” in the wild lads

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Ed Hammond @se13ed.bsky.social · 1d

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 2d

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 3d

SEAL CULT 🦭

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John J. Hoare @dirtyfeed.org · 4d

Evening repost for this!

John J. Hoare @dirtyfeed.org · 5d

Brand new on Dirty Feed: what was special about the Fawlty Towers episode "Basil the Rat"?

Short version: it had two days in the studio, while every other episode only had one.

Long version: www.dirtyfeed.org/2025/10/tc8-...

Fawlty Towers, "Basil the Rat": the Major spots the offending creature in the bar.

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 4d

“Did somebody say beveragino?”

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cow tools daily @cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social · 4d

it's not FOR us

edited comic panel. Batman is breaking a lump-with-handle cow tool over his knee and saying "this is the tool of the cow. we do not understand it. we will not use it."

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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 9d

Zoom out 🙏 🤩 #wonder

Cartoon strip by me who is Stephen Collins. The imagery of the comic starts off with a single electron and then each panel zooms out one step - first to the microchip, then the OLED screen, then the iPhone, the person holding the iPhone, and onwards

Script:

An electron, forged in the first fire of the Big Bang

Courses through a deeply intricate maze of transistors and diodes

mined with unfathomable ingenuity from our planet’s deep geological past

and assembled from all over the world

Into a device perfected through centuries of technological evolution

to perform a beautifully synchronised pixel dance on an OLED screen

in an intricate moving pattern of shifting light

[Show a phone screen with an Instagram post featuring Ryan Gosling and bearing the legend:]

WATCH RYAN GOSLING EAT A PASTY FOR THE FIRST TIME!

whose choreography is powered by an global information network of unknowable complexity

which is specifically tailored to the interests of the being observing the screen

who is a member of the most advanced species on Earth

[Show a shlubby looking GUY idly looking at the Ryan Gosling/sausage roll Instagram reel on his phone while sitting in his pants and a stained t-shirt and eating a massive bag of crisps]

with a brain perhaps more capable of reconfiguring these signals into conscious thought than any other for billions of miles around

[Guy has a thought]:
“Mmm…"

in this endless, silent void.

[Pull back to show the Earth as a tiny blue dot among the stars with a thought bubble coming from it]

"… I want a pasty.”

[ends]

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Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 4d

Little shout out on Lauren’s 6Music show there

a man in a kitchen with the words which was nice

ALT: a man in a kitchen with the words which was nice

media.tenor.com

Area Man @areamancm.bsky.social · 4d

If you owned a Dragon 32 in the 1980s - or if you’re just interested in 8 bit computers of that era, as I am - recommend highly this lovely video from the ever excellent Seb’s Place on YouTube youtu.be/P73pIGbJ4lU?...

We All Had That One Mate… | A Dragon 32 Story

YouTube video by Seb's Place

youtu.be

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