Reposted by John SelfPat Burke 🇺🇦 @patburke.bsky.social · 1hI remember reading the words “protecting the world from the full horrors of unvarnished Archer prose”, and I wish I could remember where. 011
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 2hMaybe it was the same source that this passage, from the Times obit of Archer, used, though it puts it (a bit) more diplomatically. www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie... 490
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 11hTrying to remember the precise arrangement of details in a piece I read decades ago about how Jeffrey Archer’s agent, or editor, or possibly even wife Mary, helped him with his work by “translating his books into English.” 3285
Reposted by John SelfDavid Whitley @mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social · 11hThe emotion-prompting loss of Jeffrey Archer has reminded me of the ancient Chinese curse - May your Wikipedia entry have many unusual subsections. 46415
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 12h“1: Healthy male relationship during Trump’s youth could have prevented all this 189 million: Viewers that will watch its eventual dismantling on livestream” Trump’s Triumphal Arch By The Numbers:theonion.comTrump’s Triumphal Arch By The NumbersTrump has directed his administration to build a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary. The Onion looks at the key facts and figures behind the new monument... 050
Reposted by John SelfDavid Whitley @mrdavidwhitley.bsky.social · 12hI reckon I've spotted a gap in the market, and I am going to churn out an absolute fuckload of tapestries. 1213
Reposted by John SelfRichard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 18h"As the royalties accrued are under 100 GBP," writes a thoughtful publisher, "we’d like to carry the payment forward to the next half-year." Yes, I bet you fucking would. JFC what a racket. 2432
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 20hWhen I was a lawyer I once had two clients back in the early 2000s, husband and wife, his name was Rodgers, aka 'Dodger'. I asked her for her email address and she solemnly spelled out 'dodgersbitoftail2@[web-based-provider].com'. I think it was the '2' that I particularly liked. 1142
Reposted by John SelfDaniel Ostrowski @froakiebloke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026The all time classic 23925544
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 20hNice! Did they do anything else in that look? Seeds of Time maybe? Can't think of any others. 100
Reposted by John SelfThe Maths Bazaar @themathsbazaar.bsky.social · 21h@john-self.bsky.social bookalikes 121
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 21hLove this insertion in the report: 'While he referred to himself as “the American [Fyodor] Dostoevsky"...' I mean, if you don't know who Dostoevsky is, adding Fyodor isn't going to help. And it's not like there are several Dosts. 010
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 22hLoved reading this. Quite tempted to see All About Steve and Observe and Report now... 010
Reposted by John SelfAnne Billson @annebillson.bsky.social · 22hVaguely related: swimming against the tide - a brief history of some universally despised films that I rather liked.multiglom.comTHE PORKY’S II: THE NEXT DAY TESTAn alternative version of Romeo and Juliet in Porky’s II: The Next Day It was when Time Out sent me off to review Porky’s II: The Next Day that I had my watershed moment as a fledgling… 5166
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 23h'It's not just "the Brits were terrible"'? You'll not get far on Bluesky with that attitude, G. 030
Reposted by John SelfElsa @erli.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I can't stop thinking how wrong the tech bros have understood creativity and creators. Or even just having hobbies. #erliart 166140624625
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 23hI don't think I ever watched it! I did have a box set of all of them at one point but I think even by the end of series 3 the cracks were starting to show. 010
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 23hAs someone else said in reply to the quoted tweet, it's a mug's game to rate them as individual sketches anyway, as their appearance in sequence and as part of a hermetic comic world was part of the point. 2131
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 23hSeries 2 of Monty Python's Flying Circus is more consistently funny than almost any other sketch show and some episodes, such as ep 2 ('The Spanish Inquisition') are close to perfection. 3202
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Seeing the correct options more than once but never recognising that [X] + [Y] made a word, let alone the right word. The vowel sounds, you see. 120
Reposted by John SelfJoe Scaramangaaaarrrggghhh!!! @joescaramanga.co.uk · 05/10/2026YT-ers performatively holding clip on mics has become an annoyance for many, but I've just seen a YT video where the prresenter was not only holding their tiny mic in their hands instead of clipping it on, but they'd attached it to a stick, so ... just like holding a microphone!static.klipy.comMan Kicks TV ScreenAlt: Man Kicks TV Screen 7213
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 05/10/2026And so begins another bad week. Given the paucity of options here, I strung this one out for a remarkably long time. Parseword #250 ⏱️ 1m23s 💎 Perfect ⚽ Secret Found 120
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 05/10/2026I read so many replies to this seeking elucidation until I realised it said sodas not sofas 170
Reposted by John SelfMatt Greene @arealmattgreene.bsky.social · 02/10/2026The world can feel like an intolerant place so it's worth remembering that most paint is *pro* climb 172
Reposted by John SelfVictoriaQOTD @victoriaqotd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Phoebe's sex mad, which I don't mind per se but it affects her ironing. 2313
Reposted by John SelfJohn Lister - johnlisterwriting.com @johnlister.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Martin Lewis once said mine was the best comment ever received on his TV show (and literally saluted) when I emailed in to point out that picking up pennies from the floor works out more lucrative per hour than the minimum wage. 072
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Bloody hell, didn’t we just get rid of Bolsonaro like, the day before yesterday? 1100
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 04/10/2026“Practical jokers who own businesses have been advised against supergluing a pound coin to their counters as the majority of people in today's economy will probably return with a chisel.” 140
Reposted by John SelfDewie @judgedewie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026OMG I had to check my work emails regarding an extra case in court tomorrow and I've just read this from an HR person. "on a knee to nose basis" A KNEE TO NOSE BASIS 😳 2503533640
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 04/10/2026School photos must be one of the last great rip-offs in the digital age. Eighteen quid for four 4x6 photos that you could print out in Boots or Tesco for less than 20p each! Plus, who has an optical drive these days to pop a CD into? 5141
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I think I knew that! I will need to have a factory reset carried out. 130
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Awful stuff. Guinevere from Unch belongs in The Hague. Parseword #249 ⏱️ 5m17s ✅ 3 Assists 🦫 Secret Found 140
Reposted by John SelfRónán Hession @ronanhession.bsky.social · 03/10/2026My son went shopping by himself and bought nice clothes but too big. He was digging in about not bringing them back until I told him he looked like Kris Kross and showed him the video for Jump and now he's bringing the clothes back. 4506
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Aside from which, I’ve seen three UK reviews, all of which were outright pans. 210
Reposted by John SelfElizabeth DeLoria, Pope of Chili-Town @yourdadloves.me · 03/10/2026 172127612994
Reposted by John SelfZach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I'm not opposed at all to guilty pleasure reading. I do it a lot. I just don't understand the desire to say there's no meaningful difference between, like, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Dungeon Crawler Carl, because after all you might like both. 1726219
Reposted by John SelfDorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I spoke to Salman Rushdie and Rachel Eliza Griffiths about their new documentary and surviving the worst thing that ever happened to them 36112
Reposted by John SelfMike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026“You're not an Ai influencer”, the sickest of burns a pope has ever received 3348684
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 03/10/2026It's those two! I did do a ranking of his books a couple of years ago... (I rate Pale View of Hills pretty low, not because it's bad - I don't think any of his novels are - but because he refined the approach with Artist and Remains.)thetimes.comKazuo Ishiguro at 70: which is his best novel?Do you prefer The Remains of the Day or Never Let Me Go? As the Nobel prizewinning novelist turns 70, John Self ranks his fiction 110
Reposted by John SelfSeán Costello @seanjcostello.bsky.social · 03/10/2026“I always feel a certain nostalgia now in recalling the city centre as it was in those days; the streets were not so filled with the noise of traffic, and the factories had yet to take the fragrance of seasonal blossoms from the night air.” Finally reading this beautifully crafted early Ishiguro 2213
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Just as well this one won't count toward the stats, since it was based on an incorrect clue*, eh Andrew? *Id cannot be represented as ID in an otherwise lower-case sentence. 110
