Chad Perman
@chadperman.bsky.social
writer | editor | therapist* | musician | dad | founder & eic @brightwalldarkroom.com | curious about everything | 🏀 forever
*posts ≠ professional advice
*posts ≠ professional advice
feels like a really bad day to be a fan of movie theaters and going to movies in them
December 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
feels like a really bad day to be a fan of movie theaters and going to movies in them
Reposted by Chad Perman
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
December 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
“When participants used ChatGPT to draft essays, brain scans revealed a 47% drop in neural connectivity across regions associated with memory, language, & critical reasoning.
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
Their brains worked less, but they felt just as engaged—a kind of metacognitive mirage.”🧪
"But the truth is far more interesting, and far more hopeful: most of what ADHD adults describe as anxiety isn’t anxiety at all. It’s misdirected readiness. It’s an ancient survival system looking for something real to do."
- Thom Hartmann
- Thom Hartmann
If the Modern World Overwhelms You, is it Because You’re a Hunter Living in a Farmer’s World?
And once you understand that, you can start living in a way that honors your wiring instead of fighting it…
www.hunterinafarmersworld.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
"But the truth is far more interesting, and far more hopeful: most of what ADHD adults describe as anxiety isn’t anxiety at all. It’s misdirected readiness. It’s an ancient survival system looking for something real to do."
- Thom Hartmann
- Thom Hartmann
BLUE MOON is wonderful
December 4, 2025 at 6:44 AM
BLUE MOON is wonderful
What is one thing that has definitely changed about you or your personality from living through the pandemic?
December 4, 2025 at 5:07 AM
What is one thing that has definitely changed about you or your personality from living through the pandemic?
Reposted by Chad Perman
My fella’s old band had 25 million streams on Spotify this year, which should translate to everyone in our house sleeping on a pile of ermine coats, but what it really translates to makes no discernible material difference in anyone’s lives. That’s how I feel about Spotify wrapped.
December 3, 2025 at 9:47 PM
My fella’s old band had 25 million streams on Spotify this year, which should translate to everyone in our house sleeping on a pile of ermine coats, but what it really translates to makes no discernible material difference in anyone’s lives. That’s how I feel about Spotify wrapped.
If I had a billion dollars, I’d open up a chain of theaters across the country devoted to only showing low to mid-budget comedies & dramas, so the CONFESS FLETCH & ROOFMANs & BLUE MOONs of the future would always have a place to play on a big screen for a few weeks. You know, how it was for decades!
1. Channing and Kirsten are right, and 2. ROOFMAN is great, and I wish more people had seen it in theaters.
I recently got to spend five minutes talking with Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst about the movie ROOFMAN, and I wrote up those five minutes as a print piece because I really needed everyone to know what movie Mr. Tatum was recommending to people in 2022. consequence.net/2025/12/chan...
December 3, 2025 at 9:50 PM
If I had a billion dollars, I’d open up a chain of theaters across the country devoted to only showing low to mid-budget comedies & dramas, so the CONFESS FLETCH & ROOFMANs & BLUE MOONs of the future would always have a place to play on a big screen for a few weeks. You know, how it was for decades!
Russell has been one of the most intelligent & exciting voices we’ve added to the site over the past year, taking unique & creative angles on any film(s) he writes about, and this one is near the top of the list—placing Mace and Perfidia in conversation with each other across two movies & 30 years!
New today on the site:
An imagined conversation between Mace Mason (STRANGE DAYS) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER) from @russellnichols.bsky.social
🎨 by @mosesleeart.bsky.social
An imagined conversation between Mace Mason (STRANGE DAYS) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER) from @russellnichols.bsky.social
🎨 by @mosesleeart.bsky.social
Stranger Days
Russell Nichols on Strange Days (1995) and One Battle After Another (2025).
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Russell has been one of the most intelligent & exciting voices we’ve added to the site over the past year, taking unique & creative angles on any film(s) he writes about, and this one is near the top of the list—placing Mace and Perfidia in conversation with each other across two movies & 30 years!
Reposted by Chad Perman
Year-end critics’ lists exist for people to fight over, so I’m happy when people complain about them. But the complaint I will never get is, “I’ve never heard of most of these movies/albums/shows.” Yes, and? Why be mad about learning about stuff you didn’t know before from the news?
December 2, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Year-end critics’ lists exist for people to fight over, so I’m happy when people complain about them. But the complaint I will never get is, “I’ve never heard of most of these movies/albums/shows.” Yes, and? Why be mad about learning about stuff you didn’t know before from the news?
“Hunting down an obscure film, checking out the band your friend told you about, asking the clerk at the used bookstore to recommend a zine: What an algorithm now does used to be an act of creativity and will.”
Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation?
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
“Hunting down an obscure film, checking out the band your friend told you about, asking the clerk at the used bookstore to recommend a zine: What an algorithm now does used to be an act of creativity and will.”
Reposted by Chad Perman
The world's greatest mystery is why the Seahawks ever stopped wearing these uniforms. Once you achieve perfection just embrace it
November 30, 2025 at 9:19 PM
The world's greatest mystery is why the Seahawks ever stopped wearing these uniforms. Once you achieve perfection just embrace it
my goodness the seahawks defense
November 30, 2025 at 10:52 PM
my goodness the seahawks defense
Reposted by Chad Perman
I’m dumbstruck by news of the death of Tom Stoppard—maybe because he hoarded all the words and knew how to use them better than just about anyone. I hope we savor his spectacular wit and erudition and argue about the politics of his plays forever. He was monumental, and also a kind and curious man.
November 29, 2025 at 11:24 PM
I’m dumbstruck by news of the death of Tom Stoppard—maybe because he hoarded all the words and knew how to use them better than just about anyone. I hope we savor his spectacular wit and erudition and argue about the politics of his plays forever. He was monumental, and also a kind and curious man.
Reposted by Chad Perman
Black Friday reminder: You can support independent bookstores and get great deals without lining the pockets of billionaires 😌
November 28, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Black Friday reminder: You can support independent bookstores and get great deals without lining the pockets of billionaires 😌
it is time 🌋
I watch a movie I’m very thankful for every Hanxgiving (so, tomorrow)
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990): We'll Jump and We'll See
Joe Versus the Volcano is a film that lives almost entirely in its own world, asking Big Questions about Big Things; its heart is large, and its magic deep.
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:31 AM
it is time 🌋
Reposted by Chad Perman
thinking of her today
November 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM
thinking of her today
My son is working on this for an upcoming recital next month—which means I get to hear this deeply aching & beautiful nocturne several times a day—and informed me tonight that this is the best version, or at least the one he likes best, and I’m inclined to agree. Feels a lot like life in 2025.
Tiffany Poon – Nocturne in C minor Op. 48 No. 1 (first stage)
YouTube video by Chopin Institute
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 8:24 AM
My son is working on this for an upcoming recital next month—which means I get to hear this deeply aching & beautiful nocturne several times a day—and informed me tonight that this is the best version, or at least the one he likes best, and I’m inclined to agree. Feels a lot like life in 2025.
Reposted by Chad Perman
all the AI slop out there makes me want the most aggressively analog stories out there. like I want a one-of-a-kind homemade zine someone tucked into a baggie in the hollow of a tree, and I want that zine to include a shitty hand drawn map to a treasure it may or may not take 30 years to find
November 20, 2025 at 7:35 PM
all the AI slop out there makes me want the most aggressively analog stories out there. like I want a one-of-a-kind homemade zine someone tucked into a baggie in the hollow of a tree, and I want that zine to include a shitty hand drawn map to a treasure it may or may not take 30 years to find
Just realized that Maya Hawke is 4 years older now than Uma Thurman was when she made Pulp Fiction and 3 years older than Ethan Hawke when he made Reality Bites 🤯
November 27, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Just realized that Maya Hawke is 4 years older now than Uma Thurman was when she made Pulp Fiction and 3 years older than Ethan Hawke when he made Reality Bites 🤯
Reposted by Chad Perman
I think @rianjohnson.bsky.social made WAKE UP DEAD MAN just for people like me (angry exvangelicals who still find value in Jesus’ teaching even though the Church is really bad at living those teachings out, bonus points if you like U2). Paired it with CONCLAVE in my latest column @bwdr.bsky.social
Double Features: Wake Up Dead Man and Conclave
Wake Up Dead Man and Conclave depict faith at work in a world that’s dark and growing darker. Both films hold faith up to the light and ask: In times like these, what are the faithful to do?
www.brightwalldarkroom.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I think @rianjohnson.bsky.social made WAKE UP DEAD MAN just for people like me (angry exvangelicals who still find value in Jesus’ teaching even though the Church is really bad at living those teachings out, bonus points if you like U2). Paired it with CONCLAVE in my latest column @bwdr.bsky.social
Reposted by Chad Perman
Fascinating by the idea of someone who had never consumed anything made by Tim Robinson randomly deciding to watch THE CHAIR COMPANY thinking it’s like, a normal HBO crime show
November 26, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Fascinating by the idea of someone who had never consumed anything made by Tim Robinson randomly deciding to watch THE CHAIR COMPANY thinking it’s like, a normal HBO crime show
still such an incredibly good song
Iron & Wine - The Trapeze Swinger - Live @ ACL
YouTube video by Simone Stefanini
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 6:23 AM
still such an incredibly good song
Reposted by Chad Perman
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
November 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
If you’re a journalist who’s still on Twitter, from now on in your writing you have to replace “the American people want” with “troll bots in Eastern Europe demand”
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
Being there makes your judgment suspect. I don’t care how savvy you think you are, you’re marinating in a disinformation campaign.
If more leaders knew how to play Bach music this would be a better country, i am absolutely convinced of it (also this is wonderful)
November 23, 2025 at 6:23 AM
If more leaders knew how to play Bach music this would be a better country, i am absolutely convinced of it (also this is wonderful)
my kingdom for an app or chrome extension that automatically detects and disables all AI on any site I go to
November 22, 2025 at 5:56 AM
my kingdom for an app or chrome extension that automatically detects and disables all AI on any site I go to