Alasdair Swanson
@alasdairswanson.bsky.social
No interpersonal skills.
Films, birds, books, science and so on. Socialist, atheist, AuDHD, guitar botherer. Officially not psychotic, will probably blame Thatcher, may post pictures of cats.
Laminated with Clarifoil™
Films, birds, books, science and so on. Socialist, atheist, AuDHD, guitar botherer. Officially not psychotic, will probably blame Thatcher, may post pictures of cats.
Laminated with Clarifoil™
Pinned
Now that I'm in my 50s I realise that most conversations I have are a variation on
Them: Just be yourself
Me: OK [is self]
Them: Not like that
Them: Just be yourself
Me: OK [is self]
Them: Not like that
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Have you ever made something you’re so pleased with it makes you a bit lightheaded?
December 15, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Have you ever made something you’re so pleased with it makes you a bit lightheaded?
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Just to add to the Rob Reiner chat, for me the moment when Nigel Tufnel stops midway through an unholy racket playing a guitar with a violin to tweak one of the violin's tuning pegs so it sounds right is possibly the finest gag in the finest ever comedy film.
December 15, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Just to add to the Rob Reiner chat, for me the moment when Nigel Tufnel stops midway through an unholy racket playing a guitar with a violin to tweak one of the violin's tuning pegs so it sounds right is possibly the finest gag in the finest ever comedy film.
An extraordinary film -- beautiful, violent, lyrical, sexual and tragic and quite unlike almost anything else. A film that seems to have made its way here from another world.
December 15, 2025 at 12:56 PM
An extraordinary film -- beautiful, violent, lyrical, sexual and tragic and quite unlike almost anything else. A film that seems to have made its way here from another world.
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
This entire weekend
December 15, 2025 at 3:58 AM
This entire weekend
There's gonna be a lot of Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, Stand By Me and When Harry Met Sally content about today so here's my favourite version of the Spinal Tap trailer, made for a NATO* showing. "You want stars? I'm in the picture!"
youtu.be/ZNQpH_epiI0
* North American Theater Owners
youtu.be/ZNQpH_epiI0
* North American Theater Owners
Spinal Tap - Cheese Rolling promo
YouTube video by Emory Lane
youtu.be
December 15, 2025 at 8:45 AM
There's gonna be a lot of Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, Stand By Me and When Harry Met Sally content about today so here's my favourite version of the Spinal Tap trailer, made for a NATO* showing. "You want stars? I'm in the picture!"
youtu.be/ZNQpH_epiI0
* North American Theater Owners
youtu.be/ZNQpH_epiI0
* North American Theater Owners
Ahh fuck. What a sickening loss of a wonderful film-maker.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
Director and actor Rob Reiner found dead at home with wife Michele Singer Reiner
Authorities investigating ‘apparent homicide’ after 78-year-old director of Stand By Me and The Princess Bride was discovered dead at LA home with wife
www.theguardian.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Ahh fuck. What a sickening loss of a wonderful film-maker.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Sure sex is great and all but have you tried repeatedly smacking yourself in the face with a broken bottle? Sex is much better than that.
December 14, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Sure sex is great and all but have you tried repeatedly smacking yourself in the face with a broken bottle? Sex is much better than that.
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
The Cement & Concrete Association: diligent chroniclers of the UK’s post-WW2 infrastructure projects, always in shades of blue and grey!
December 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
The Cement & Concrete Association: diligent chroniclers of the UK’s post-WW2 infrastructure projects, always in shades of blue and grey!
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Jucika Prepares for the Ball
(Sound design by hypnadot on NG)
(Sound design by hypnadot on NG)
December 14, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Jucika Prepares for the Ball
(Sound design by hypnadot on NG)
(Sound design by hypnadot on NG)
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Saturday afternoon. Feel a Harryhausen coming on but it's indecision paralysis...
December 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Saturday afternoon. Feel a Harryhausen coming on but it's indecision paralysis...
This is terribly sad.
Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.
December 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM
This is terribly sad.
Is this going to have a song-n-dance happy ending?
December 13, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Is this going to have a song-n-dance happy ending?
Dazzle camouflage has long fascinated me. This is an astounding painting.
Dazzle Ships in Drydock, Liverpool, 1919, painting by Edward Wadsworth. Dazzle camouflage was created in WW1 to protect British ships from German artillery, making it difficult to estimate speed and direction. Wadsworth supervised design of camouflage patterns. #NorthernArt
December 12, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Dazzle camouflage has long fascinated me. This is an astounding painting.
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
A Top 40 hit!
I'm guessing you're aware of this, but worth posting anyway. www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8OP...
The Twelve Days of Christmas - Frank Kelly, 1983
YouTube video by CR's Video Vaults
www.youtube.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:06 PM
A Top 40 hit!
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Lalla Ward as Helga in Vampire Circus (1972, Robert Young)
December 12, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Lalla Ward as Helga in Vampire Circus (1972, Robert Young)
Nearly reached his century, he was a staple of my youth -- as well as all the TV specials he was in one of the few pantos I saw and I still have his Parliamo Glasgow book kicking about. A proper Scottish Showbiz Legend.
Legendary Scottish actor and comedian Stanley Baxter has died at the age of 99.
www.heraldscotland.com/news...
www.heraldscotland.com/news...
December 12, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Nearly reached his century, he was a staple of my youth -- as well as all the TV specials he was in one of the few pantos I saw and I still have his Parliamo Glasgow book kicking about. A proper Scottish Showbiz Legend.
What's wrong with me number 298,429,864:
We got a christmas card from people we're loosley related to. There was a christmas-y picture of them on the front, a brief essay on their year inside and it was signed with their names.
Me: "Who is this from?"
We got a christmas card from people we're loosley related to. There was a christmas-y picture of them on the front, a brief essay on their year inside and it was signed with their names.
Me: "Who is this from?"
December 11, 2025 at 11:25 PM
What's wrong with me number 298,429,864:
We got a christmas card from people we're loosley related to. There was a christmas-y picture of them on the front, a brief essay on their year inside and it was signed with their names.
Me: "Who is this from?"
We got a christmas card from people we're loosley related to. There was a christmas-y picture of them on the front, a brief essay on their year inside and it was signed with their names.
Me: "Who is this from?"
Ice breaker exercise
a horror story
December 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Ice breaker exercise
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Now that the scaffolding is gone, you can get a good look at a rare artform — heraldic palaeontology — above the Downing Street door of the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social
December 11, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Now that the scaffolding is gone, you can get a good look at a rare artform — heraldic palaeontology — above the Downing Street door of the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
We need to talk about this morning's sunrise.
December 11, 2025 at 9:16 AM
We need to talk about this morning's sunrise.
Last week one of my side hustles in the 300+ department I work in came round again, as it does every 2-3 years: "Do we know anyone who understands what *this* is? Do we have budget to get a contractor in?" where "this" is a cobol copybook.
December 10, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Last week one of my side hustles in the 300+ department I work in came round again, as it does every 2-3 years: "Do we know anyone who understands what *this* is? Do we have budget to get a contractor in?" where "this" is a cobol copybook.
Those are auras. The artist knew. No notes.
From the same 1971 feature in Graphis magazine, an advert for Saridon, a painkiller for migraine
December 10, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Those are auras. The artist knew. No notes.
Reposted by Alasdair Swanson
Winter sunlight illuminates the Inverpolly landscape in NW Scotland, with the mighty Suilven silhouetted in the distance, photographed on this day two years ago. Hoping for a repeat of such light conditions next week when I will be back in #Scotland (woohoo!).
December 9, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Winter sunlight illuminates the Inverpolly landscape in NW Scotland, with the mighty Suilven silhouetted in the distance, photographed on this day two years ago. Hoping for a repeat of such light conditions next week when I will be back in #Scotland (woohoo!).