Toby Miller
@tobytram.bsky.social
Freelance video editor. Nebraskan/East Anglian, so possibly inclined towards flat lands. Once hosted a radio show about cinema, but now mainly take photos using prisms or pinholes. Being kept for my decorative seed head.
A stones throw from Cambridge.
A stones throw from Cambridge.
But back in the 1970’s an English lady arrived in the mid-west and grew a small garden.
Reminded of Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop, who opens her store in the small town and nobody ever really wants it.
Reminded of Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop, who opens her store in the small town and nobody ever really wants it.
November 20, 2025 at 10:35 AM
But back in the 1970’s an English lady arrived in the mid-west and grew a small garden.
Reminded of Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop, who opens her store in the small town and nobody ever really wants it.
Reminded of Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop, who opens her store in the small town and nobody ever really wants it.
Ok, this is cool.
In America, in Nebraska, we lived next to an airbase. British Vulcans were based there; Vulcans are the coolest of planes - an art nouveau Star Wars of a shape and Neil Young feedback of a roar. I recall them flying over, and here one is, all faded like a photocopy of a photocopy
In America, in Nebraska, we lived next to an airbase. British Vulcans were based there; Vulcans are the coolest of planes - an art nouveau Star Wars of a shape and Neil Young feedback of a roar. I recall them flying over, and here one is, all faded like a photocopy of a photocopy
November 20, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Ok, this is cool.
In America, in Nebraska, we lived next to an airbase. British Vulcans were based there; Vulcans are the coolest of planes - an art nouveau Star Wars of a shape and Neil Young feedback of a roar. I recall them flying over, and here one is, all faded like a photocopy of a photocopy
In America, in Nebraska, we lived next to an airbase. British Vulcans were based there; Vulcans are the coolest of planes - an art nouveau Star Wars of a shape and Neil Young feedback of a roar. I recall them flying over, and here one is, all faded like a photocopy of a photocopy
A single snowflake forecast to roll into town after dark, like the troublemaker in a western, arriving on an otherwise empty train. He won’t plan to stay, but he takes a liking to our gentle town, and to the schoolteacher. He looks to set his past behind him, and we’ll convince him to be our sheriff
November 20, 2025 at 8:37 AM
A single snowflake forecast to roll into town after dark, like the troublemaker in a western, arriving on an otherwise empty train. He won’t plan to stay, but he takes a liking to our gentle town, and to the schoolteacher. He looks to set his past behind him, and we’ll convince him to be our sheriff
Another little trick vampires could learn from cats is coming into your house, standing in the room until they know you've seen them, then jumping out of the kitchen window to wait outside the kitchen door like they're a different cat/vampire.
November 19, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Another little trick vampires could learn from cats is coming into your house, standing in the room until they know you've seen them, then jumping out of the kitchen window to wait outside the kitchen door like they're a different cat/vampire.
Hurriedly buying instruments and learning music so I can call my experimental baroque pop group ‘8-bit Owl’.
It’s an 8-bit owl compared to a proper and patient nature photo, but all I had was my phone, my torch, and my Sneakers slow walk through the leaf litter. Closing in and zooming out.
Saw an owl on this riverbank tree two years ago, so kept going back, with no luck until tonight.
Saw an owl on this riverbank tree two years ago, so kept going back, with no luck until tonight.
November 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Hurriedly buying instruments and learning music so I can call my experimental baroque pop group ‘8-bit Owl’.
It’s an 8-bit owl compared to a proper and patient nature photo, but all I had was my phone, my torch, and my Sneakers slow walk through the leaf litter. Closing in and zooming out.
Saw an owl on this riverbank tree two years ago, so kept going back, with no luck until tonight.
Saw an owl on this riverbank tree two years ago, so kept going back, with no luck until tonight.
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
It’s an 8-bit owl compared to a proper and patient nature photo, but all I had was my phone, my torch, and my Sneakers slow walk through the leaf litter. Closing in and zooming out.
Saw an owl on this riverbank tree two years ago, so kept going back, with no luck until tonight.
Saw an owl on this riverbank tree two years ago, so kept going back, with no luck until tonight.
Creeped out again by the stocky shape in a field edge back garden I pass on my walk. Either a large man sits in the dark after work, looking out at the stars, or they’ve a pizza oven.
November 18, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Creeped out again by the stocky shape in a field edge back garden I pass on my walk. Either a large man sits in the dark after work, looking out at the stars, or they’ve a pizza oven.
Sam Lowry's beautifully damp commuter toast popped into my head.
November 18, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Sam Lowry's beautifully damp commuter toast popped into my head.
Sorry, I appear to have made this too believable for those not in the UK. No, we never had a Toast Men selling toast on the streets. I was a sort of riffing on the street seller song in Oliver!
Frozen morning and no bread in the house for toast. This is when I miss the old days when the Toast Man would be outside first thing, with his cart of sliced breads, shouting “Get Your Hot Buttered Toast”. And you’d rush out, choose a bread from the basket , and he’d brown it over an open flame.
November 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Sorry, I appear to have made this too believable for those not in the UK. No, we never had a Toast Men selling toast on the streets. I was a sort of riffing on the street seller song in Oliver!
Frozen morning and no bread in the house for toast. This is when I miss the old days when the Toast Man would be outside first thing, with his cart of sliced breads, shouting “Get Your Hot Buttered Toast”. And you’d rush out, choose a bread from the basket , and he’d brown it over an open flame.
November 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Frozen morning and no bread in the house for toast. This is when I miss the old days when the Toast Man would be outside first thing, with his cart of sliced breads, shouting “Get Your Hot Buttered Toast”. And you’d rush out, choose a bread from the basket , and he’d brown it over an open flame.
Sunday night film - Midnight (1939). A delight to find a new screwball, and while the wheels almost come off by the end, it’s ridiculously funny and stupidly sexy.
Claudette Colbert has one of one finest entrances in film - a sleeping beauty glowing in a dingy railway carriage.
Claudette Colbert has one of one finest entrances in film - a sleeping beauty glowing in a dingy railway carriage.
November 17, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Sunday night film - Midnight (1939). A delight to find a new screwball, and while the wheels almost come off by the end, it’s ridiculously funny and stupidly sexy.
Claudette Colbert has one of one finest entrances in film - a sleeping beauty glowing in a dingy railway carriage.
Claudette Colbert has one of one finest entrances in film - a sleeping beauty glowing in a dingy railway carriage.
Properly chilly for the first time this autumn.
In a coincidence this morning my mother sent over a photo of Aldeburgh in winter, 1971. This is the year nobody noticed my baby face had been swapped by fairies for features carved into a turnip.
In a coincidence this morning my mother sent over a photo of Aldeburgh in winter, 1971. This is the year nobody noticed my baby face had been swapped by fairies for features carved into a turnip.
November 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Properly chilly for the first time this autumn.
In a coincidence this morning my mother sent over a photo of Aldeburgh in winter, 1971. This is the year nobody noticed my baby face had been swapped by fairies for features carved into a turnip.
In a coincidence this morning my mother sent over a photo of Aldeburgh in winter, 1971. This is the year nobody noticed my baby face had been swapped by fairies for features carved into a turnip.
“ round up the usual marmalade suspects”
November 16, 2025 at 8:11 AM
“ round up the usual marmalade suspects”
My neighbour has both her sister’s and her father’s dogs staying overnight, so two of her cats are sheltering with us. They, like Bridget, are about to watch Peter Weir’s ‘Fearless’ for the first time.
November 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
My neighbour has both her sister’s and her father’s dogs staying overnight, so two of her cats are sheltering with us. They, like Bridget, are about to watch Peter Weir’s ‘Fearless’ for the first time.
The light to the west. It’s the Atlantic Ocean’s problem now.
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 PM
The light to the west. It’s the Atlantic Ocean’s problem now.
First church Christmas fete of the season. Slightly threadbare stalls, but a spectacular coffee and cakes. An elderly man takes a tray of tea to a table; each cup of tea is a slightly different shade of toffee earth, as if they’re auditioning to be the perfect colour for 4pm on Christmas Day.
November 15, 2025 at 11:33 AM
First church Christmas fete of the season. Slightly threadbare stalls, but a spectacular coffee and cakes. An elderly man takes a tray of tea to a table; each cup of tea is a slightly different shade of toffee earth, as if they’re auditioning to be the perfect colour for 4pm on Christmas Day.
Oh silliness. my mother has texted me a photo from a movie she is watching, an obvious bedroom scene - so she can point out the age of the pattern in the quilt.
November 14, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Oh silliness. my mother has texted me a photo from a movie she is watching, an obvious bedroom scene - so she can point out the age of the pattern in the quilt.
There’s a patch in the dry goods aisle of the supermarket where the roof leaks and floor never seems dry - an inverse of a patch of road near where I grew up which was said to never get wet, even in the foulest weathers, because a witch was buried there.
This morning they’ve cordoned off the aisle.
This morning they’ve cordoned off the aisle.
November 14, 2025 at 9:15 AM
There’s a patch in the dry goods aisle of the supermarket where the roof leaks and floor never seems dry - an inverse of a patch of road near where I grew up which was said to never get wet, even in the foulest weathers, because a witch was buried there.
This morning they’ve cordoned off the aisle.
This morning they’ve cordoned off the aisle.
Tonight’s film, The Soul of a Monster 1944) felt like a Universal Horror made by a corporate film company. Not much worked, but it didn’t work in interesting ways.
Then there’s this remarkable shot, which is spooky and stage bound and matter of fact in a manner that reminds me of Carnival of Souls.
Then there’s this remarkable shot, which is spooky and stage bound and matter of fact in a manner that reminds me of Carnival of Souls.
November 13, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Tonight’s film, The Soul of a Monster 1944) felt like a Universal Horror made by a corporate film company. Not much worked, but it didn’t work in interesting ways.
Then there’s this remarkable shot, which is spooky and stage bound and matter of fact in a manner that reminds me of Carnival of Souls.
Then there’s this remarkable shot, which is spooky and stage bound and matter of fact in a manner that reminds me of Carnival of Souls.
Walking along my usual field paths. Catch the eye shine of two dogs galloping towards me. I’m not worried about them, but when they vanish into a dip I scurry through a hole in the hedge, to a different path.
I hear them gallop past, breath and bells, and feel like I’ve escaped a supernatural hunt.
I hear them gallop past, breath and bells, and feel like I’ve escaped a supernatural hunt.
November 13, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Walking along my usual field paths. Catch the eye shine of two dogs galloping towards me. I’m not worried about them, but when they vanish into a dip I scurry through a hole in the hedge, to a different path.
I hear them gallop past, breath and bells, and feel like I’ve escaped a supernatural hunt.
I hear them gallop past, breath and bells, and feel like I’ve escaped a supernatural hunt.
A tiny clip of how they animated the Ribbon Mice.
Ridiculously undervalued work. We should have parades for animators. Very very very slow parades, where we, the spectators, are tasked with moving - by increments - those being celebrated.
Ridiculously undervalued work. We should have parades for animators. Very very very slow parades, where we, the spectators, are tasked with moving - by increments - those being celebrated.
November 13, 2025 at 9:25 AM
A tiny clip of how they animated the Ribbon Mice.
Ridiculously undervalued work. We should have parades for animators. Very very very slow parades, where we, the spectators, are tasked with moving - by increments - those being celebrated.
Ridiculously undervalued work. We should have parades for animators. Very very very slow parades, where we, the spectators, are tasked with moving - by increments - those being celebrated.
This is a marvellous pick-me-up. Unusually detailed on stop-motion technique. Includes the phrase "animatable soil".
I wish I'd gone this direction in my life, though no doubt I'd be still moaning to my partner that "the animated toilet paper shot is beyond me"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j5i...
I wish I'd gone this direction in my life, though no doubt I'd be still moaning to my partner that "the animated toilet paper shot is beyond me"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j5i...
Rigging and Practical Effects in ParaNorman | LAIKA Archives
YouTube video by LAIKA Studios
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:06 AM
This is a marvellous pick-me-up. Unusually detailed on stop-motion technique. Includes the phrase "animatable soil".
I wish I'd gone this direction in my life, though no doubt I'd be still moaning to my partner that "the animated toilet paper shot is beyond me"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j5i...
I wish I'd gone this direction in my life, though no doubt I'd be still moaning to my partner that "the animated toilet paper shot is beyond me"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j5i...
An event I was involved in promoting (I edited the video case study shown to the judges) just won an award in Portugal - so I’m going to celebrate by having some cheese after 9pm.
November 12, 2025 at 9:46 PM
An event I was involved in promoting (I edited the video case study shown to the judges) just won an award in Portugal - so I’m going to celebrate by having some cheese after 9pm.
Somebody walking the narrow top field path, which I walked this time yesterday. It’s a path rarely walked at night, so I assume that is me and my light, and the field between us is acting as a lens dilating time.
Going to shout a warning that the cat was sick / will be sick this/tomorrow morning
Going to shout a warning that the cat was sick / will be sick this/tomorrow morning
November 12, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Somebody walking the narrow top field path, which I walked this time yesterday. It’s a path rarely walked at night, so I assume that is me and my light, and the field between us is acting as a lens dilating time.
Going to shout a warning that the cat was sick / will be sick this/tomorrow morning
Going to shout a warning that the cat was sick / will be sick this/tomorrow morning
The door with the Jester / the door without the Jester - what a sincere thrill.
There’s an odd moment later in the film where the Jester puppet exits from what should be the same door onto the same street, but for some reason a different door around the corner was used, tricksy Švankmajer, this took some finding..!
November 11, 2025 at 9:39 PM
The door with the Jester / the door without the Jester - what a sincere thrill.