Author | Lightnews

Alex Svensson

@alsven.bsky.social

1.4K followers 350 following 110 posts

Emerson College Affiliated Faculty / Film & Media Studies PhD / Researching: Horror, Found Footage, Experimental Film & Video, Promotional Paratexts, Moral Panics Recent at New Review of Film & TV: https://nrftsjournal.org/flash-fright

nrftsjournal.org

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Reposted by Alex Svensson

Kanopy @kanopy.com · 14h

Wake up ghouls and goblins. It's Halloween! 🎃

Check out our horror film takeover on Kanopy. Watch something spooky tonight, like Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979) for free and without ads or subscriptions through participating libraries and universities at https://bit.ly/4hr36cN.

Promotional image from Kanopy featuring a person with dramatic makeup looking eerie, with the text 'wake up! it's halloween'.

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · 2d

The cream to their crimson

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · 9d

Justin and Hailey Bieber at a Maple Leafs nhl game, exhibiting syrupy swagger

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · 13d

I love this city

Image from 10/18 No Kings peaceful protest in Boston, member of the crowd holding a sign reading “in boston we dump tyranny in the harbor”

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · 14d

Did my PhD at IU and had a wonderful experience with my professors, mentors, and colleagues in CMCL (which transformed into the Media School); deeply disappointed in IU, and proud of students for standing up for themselves and what is right.

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 14d

Administrators at Indiana University baselessly fired the student media director and ordered the student paper to cease its print edition, so it'd sure be a shame if this excellent digital front page were to be widely shared today

issuu.com/idsnews/docs...

Reposted by Alex Svensson

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 21d

MIT President Sally Kornbluth just issued a statement to the campus community saying NO to Trump’s authoritarian compact

“And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit.
Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute
was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.

• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available
to any American with an internet
connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly
10%.
• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.

These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific
funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that tree marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences.
Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.

As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the
U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people.
We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth
CC
Ms. May Mailman
Mr. Vincent Haley

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · 26d

Watched late last night - can’t say I was a fan! (and I overall very much enjoy the series and actually think the last few entries have been highlights)

boxd.it/bh0aGH

A ★★½ review of V/H/S/HALLOWEEN (2025)

Some stray thoughts: - Not quite clear on the gushing reviews for this one; nowhere near as fun, ghoulish, or formally inventive as previous entries (and something like V/H/S/99 felt in spots more lik...

boxd.it

Reposted by Alex Svensson

Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 28d

I can see how it’s tempting to sign an agreement to preserve an institution of higher ed, if you’re the one in charge. The problem is, once you sign that agreement, it’s no longer meaningfully a university. It’s a shell: a wood-paneled carapace protecting a rotten core.

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · 28d

Listened earlier this morning, and its the perfect soundtrack for obsessing over people from high school and getting poisoned by AI trad wife content on Facebook while in line at a Starbucks inside a Target

Reposted by Alex Svensson

Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · Oct 1

feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak

The Verge @theverge.com · Sep 29

Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word

Vibe working is all about Office’s new Agent Mode.

buff.ly

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 28

War zone indeed; who can forget the battle to retake control of Marg Tower?

youtu.be/WodT4i3uobA?...

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 28

Also, PTA’s interest in exploring (and interrogating) fathers / father figures now has me thinking of this quote from Terminator 2

Quote from T2 - Sarah Connor: [voiceover] Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The terminator would never stop. It would never leave him, and it would never hurt him, never shout at him, or get drunk and hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there. And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 28

Currently rewatching Terminator 2 for the millionth time (never a bad time to do so) after reading @brofromanother.bsky.social sharp, insightful review of One Battle After Another.

Snippet of Adam Nayman’s review of One Battle After Another (2025) for The Ringer

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 28

Nice

Sean Pean as Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 27

Sounds for Saturday research and data entry www.nts.live/shows/team-s...

TeamSESH w/ HNRK 28th August 2025

Playing Experimental, Grime, Club. The monthly TeamSesh NTS Radio broadcast - Once again with a takeover curated by hnrk: Featuring a blend of a multitude of genres including new musical discoveries a...

www.nts.live

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 27

Some immediate thoughts sketched out briefly here: boxd.it/bbsulr

A ★★★★★ review of One Battle After Another (2025)

Had the pleasure of seeing this in VistaVision at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. I’ve always loved the way PTA and his creative collaborators craft motion pictures that move - films th...

boxd.it

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 27

Yesterday’s cinema experience; seen in glorious VistaVision at @thecoolidge.bsky.social (one of only 4 locations selected to screen the film this way!) - the print/projection looked stunning, and the film was one I immediately wanted to revisit.

Lobby promotion for One Battle After Another at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (Brookline, MA)

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 22

Perfect viewing for the season

Justin LaLiberty @jlalibs.com · Sep 22

First day of fall means that I’m sharing my favorite @letterboxd.social list again, which has been updated a bunch since last October.

Art Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde

List title inspired by Joan Hawkins' book Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde (but does not correspond to her works cited and mostly includes films not mentioned in the text) horror ...

boxd.it

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 22

Love this list (and even if it goes beyond the context of the book, the influence is felt - Joan was my PhD advisor & dissertation committee chair, & my tastes / ways of viewing horror, the screen & the world have been profoundly shaped by her).

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 18

Thread

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Sep 18

Becoming increasingly clear we’re gonna have to build a parallel infrastructure for all the media we really love. The reason all of this is happening under the color of law is hyperconsolidation, dissent being traded straight up for merger approval, or fear of harassment.

Reposted by Alex Svensson

Kanopy @kanopy.com · Sep 17

Boston! We’ll be in town Friday, September 19 – Sunday, September 22 for the Boston Film Festival.

#Emerson students and faculty — swing by the library on Friday, 12–4 PM for live screen printing and a free shirt.

Come hang out, say hi, and catch us at the screenings. See you soon!

Promotional poster for the Boston Film Festival featuring a statue in a park setting with blooming trees and green grass, with event details including the sponsor Kanopy and date on September 21st.

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Reposted by Alex Svensson

Michael Varrati @michaelvarrati.bsky.social · Sep 16

With his new movie upon us, it's a great time to remind you that Paul Thomas Anderson's production company is named for Ghoulardi, a horror host portrayed by PTA's own father, Ernie Anderson. Ghoulardi's Shock Theater was a staple of Cleveland television and a foundational creature feature program.

A vintage advertisement for SHOCK THEATER starring Ghoulardi. The print image features Ernie Anderson as Ghoulardi, sporting a dramatic goatee and lit by creepy lighting. Ghoulardi clutches a skull in his hand. The print on the ad reads: SHOCK THEATER - 11:20PM FRIDAY 8 WJWTV

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Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 13

Fascinated by this new series and excited to read this

Horror Lex® @horrorlex.bsky.social · Sep 13

"She hate me!" @shanedenson.bsky.social's new monograph on BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is the first in @leverpress.bsky.social's film/minutes series, giving you a minute-by-minute look at the film and its context.
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

The cover of the book BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, with images from the film (showing Frankenstein's monster and the Bride herself) in geometrically arranged and differently colored segments.

Alex Svensson @alsven.bsky.social · Sep 11

I’m happy to try, feel free to msg me