iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

*6:30 PT! Felt my afternoon energy waning so I moved up my screening.

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Limbering up to enter DIGGER DISCOURSE (TM) at approximately 8:30pm PT. SAVE SOME FOR ME PLEASE.

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We're going to treat her at the hospital just to possibly try again is so unspeakably ghoulish. Stuff of nightmares.

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I have to stop reading about this botched execution. I find it horrific.At the same time reading about it (and every other botched attempt from the past years) feels like the absolute *least* I can do. The crime was also horrific, yes, but our continued use of the death penalty is beyond the pale.

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sometimes when I’m having my balcony-away-from-my-household time I’ll read the wiki page for a mountain or a desert, etc. Started on the Congo River today bc why not. Ended up on an article about a fish so pale its local nickname translates to White Man In an Office. www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/s...

NYT article reads: “The initial clue to the river's depths came from the dying fish. According to Victor Mamonekene, an ichthyologist with the University of Marien Ngouabi, the fish - known locally as mondeli bureau, or "white man in an office" - had long been known to the residents of Bulu village, where the scientists first saw it.”

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This is a dream gift! And a great reminder that I need to keep an eye out for film when I'm wandering estate sales on the weekend.

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

they managed to post the same ad about 30 times PER MINUTE over the course of multiple days 🫠

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

my twitter account that i haven't used since the Dark Times set in was hacked last week and someone posted the same crypto add literally hundreds of times in a row over the course of two days, rendering it basically useless should it ever become a safe space to return to. cool!

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I am always thrilled when readers call out the map or the glossary, which I insisted on including not only to give the full scale of how big that damn campus is, but also to evoke the ~*fantasy*~ of the literary boarding school tradition!

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I *know* I'm going through it because what the fuck do you mean it's taken 3 weeks for the words "Kevin Aymoz Jack Sparrow Short Program" to cross my desk?

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Ugh, @xoxogossipgita.bsky.social on my favorite regularly 2hr+ long podcast, I Hate Bill Maher? Perfect synergy for me, personally.

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(this is ROBERT KRAFT'S stadium, by the by 🙂)

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I keep expecting him to pop up this week, like the Cat in the Hat.

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(Cubs somehow made the post season despite themselves and my brain is alllll over the place today 🫠)

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Pretty sure there’s a direct through line from MGM musicals to my lifelong hatred of the DH too. Like sorry, even Clark Gable had to knock out a little soft shoe to Puttin’ on the Ritz sometimes. We stan a utility player.

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire on screen scratches the same competency porn itch on my brain that formed through being a kid on a heavy 90s Star Trek diet.

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(It’s staying with us. Robin Williams was one of the first things my husband and I talked about when we started dating — after Bravo, of course — and he’s very happy with his gift 😂)

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Last ridiculous estate sale post: I found this Polaroid of Robin Williams shooting the 1989 Disney short Return to Neverland. I bought it for my husband who *adored* Robin. Posted it on Insta not thinking it was a huge deal, and came back to FIVE offers to buy it off us, haha.

Polaroid photo of Robin Williams at Disneyland wearing a Goofy hat.

Robin Williams in the same outfit but it’s a still from the Return to Neverland short and he’s next to Walter Cronkite.

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

❤️❤️❤️ hope you enjoy!!! Feel like as we’re discussing all of this it’s useful to see the experience from the child’s side.

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Reposted by Kendra James

Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I never do this (I should do this more often) but if you're stuck thinking on the NHJ piece from this weekend, maybe consider picking up my book, ADMISSIONS. I did K-9 at my local public schools, and 10-12 at the PWI boarding school my dad attended in the 1970s. bookshop.org/p/books/admi...

bookshop.org

Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School

NAMED A BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2022 BY ESQUIRE "[C]harming and surprising. . . The work of Admissions is laying down, with wit and care, the burden James assumed at 15, that she -- or any Black stud...

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

There is no right answer when you're a Black parent in America, especially when you're the parent of Black girls, who often have a harder time at independent schools (for reasons I get into in the book). I don't necessarily agree w/ NHJ's decision, but I *definitely* don't judge it.

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Kendra James @kendrajames.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

bookshop.org

Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School

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They didn’t have anything with her signature left, so I grabbed one of the actresses she’d labeled in her hand. I’m going to post it once we have it back!

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Vintage Shop — The Cockatoo Club

The company that is running it did a great job. They said that all the art is going to an auction house if not sold, but they don’t know about the rest yet. Just in case it ends up in their own shop, keep an eye out: cockatooclubla.com/shop

cockatooclubla.com

A curated collection of vintage furniture, art, and accessories.

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Hollywood Collector's Sale of the Century... starts on 9/18/2026

I stumbled upon this one via happenstance— just saw the signs while I was dillydallying with a lil’ iced coffee trying to have an economically responsible weekend. Found the listing today and holly Hell the pictures don’t even begin to do it justice. www.estatesales.net/CA/Valley-Vi...

estatesales.net

View information about this sale in Valley Village, CA. The sale starts Friday, September 18 and runs through Sunday, September 20. It is being run by Cockatoo Estates.

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I went back today, because of course I did, and I took the baby during his naptime because priorities. They’re deciding whether or not to add on an extra day (there was still SO much left) but are pretty sure that all the remaining art (again so much left) will go to auction.

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So I did go back and purchase an Edith Head piece. We immediately took it down to the framer in Studio City who’s done all our collection framing. She was *so* excited to see it and that made my heart happy.

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okay i ordered a mimosa to calm down and i have to write now byyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee!

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when i tell you i have never seen, much less TOUCHED, anything like this before in my life..

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they were definitely $$$, but for an archive that should be in like... the lucas museum??? the acadamy museum??? they were still very fairly priced.

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i am an mgm musicals and classic black film collector first and foremost, so i didn't snag any of the edith sketches. as i was leaving one of the sellers was on the phone with a v known costume designer who was looking to scoop up a bunch of them. i may grab *one* if there are any left tomorrow.

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there were also signed yvonne wood sketches (including stuff from bagdad and buccaneer's girl), some bob mackie signed items, more work signed by gene kelly, fred astaire, i think i saw a lana turner... there was just *so much*. i was so overwhelmed i couldn't take photos fast enough.

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my god, i hope tom and his family know how much joy his collection brought me + several other men who joined me in just muttering "oh my god jesus christ" over and over again as we dug through the piles upon piles of memerobelia in his home. just one of the most amazing collections i've ever seen.

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okay it took like five seconds of googling (nope, still not writing) and his name was tom culver. he was a costume designer and cabaret singer. he passed away a few weeks ago at 93. what a fucking life.

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i was like, oh, i'll just go swing by this quickly and then i'll go write while the kiddo is down for his afternoon nap. i left this house so fucking wired and now i'm sitting in my usual writing spot absolutely VIBRATING and unable to concentrate. like look at this!!! i may have to have a mimosa???

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i left with a massive fred astaire haul, and some gene kelly and frank sinatra to boot. my only complaint was that i couldn't find any lena horne stuff, but a) this carmen studio photo made up for that, and b) i'm going back tomorrow to dig again.

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just casually had 100+ edith head original sketches stuffed inside a closet. i cried *inside* the house.

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went to an estate sale on a whim this morning. ended up easily being the single best sale i've been to all year. there was (perhaps still is, i hope) a man named tom in studio city who had the most fabulous collection of costume design and classic hollywood bits and bobs stuffed inside his bungalo.

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