Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
@benverschoor.bsky.social
Professional Dilettante. Pretends to release things under Pyrexia Productions. Co-host of the Mise en Screen podcast. Writes film and other media criticism at
http://cinema-purgatorio.ghost.io
http://cinema-purgatorio.ghost.io
Pinned
"I disapprove of you destroying the country, but I will defend to the death your ability to do it" ~ Voltaire, probably
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
Pre-rave shot from Sirāt.
November 16, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Pre-rave shot from Sirāt.
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
Y’all wanna hear a wild story? Charlie is right — this medley Prince made 30 years ago, blending many of his greatest hits & fan favorites into an extended mashup, is one of the most fun “only Prince could do this” things he made in the 90s. BUT: he told us he was gonna do it. In an AOL chat room…
Unpopular opinion: the Purple Medley is one of the best things Prince ever did.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nJE...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nJE...
Prince - The Purple Medley (Fan Music Video)
YouTube video by VDJ Vivacity
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Y’all wanna hear a wild story? Charlie is right — this medley Prince made 30 years ago, blending many of his greatest hits & fan favorites into an extended mashup, is one of the most fun “only Prince could do this” things he made in the 90s. BUT: he told us he was gonna do it. In an AOL chat room…
This looks like the Daily Wire's answer to Die My Love
November 16, 2025 at 6:07 AM
This looks like the Daily Wire's answer to Die My Love
Also covered in this episode: a Frankenstein adaptation where everybody is performing at 2x speed, and a loose (loose) adaptation where everybody is horny
Good morning! This week's episode @benverschoor.bsky.social and I talk at length about Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. We get into what it chooses to change from the novel and what its effects are, the many striking images, and the dumb wolves. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-18-g...
Mise en Screen: Episode 18: Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
Frankenstein is the 992nd adaptation featuring the monster from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. It is probably the 6th that hews closer to the source novel than the 1931 Universal film adaptation. This 2025 adaptation is directed, produced, and based on a screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, best known for The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Pinocchio (no not the soulless one released the same year from Zemeckis and Disney). In this film we follow Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein who creates life in the form of The Creature, played by Jacob Elordi. Felix Kammerer is William Frankenstein, Victor’s younger brother, and Ti West muse Mia Goth plays Lady Elizabeth Harlander, William’s fiance. Christoph Waltz supports as Henrich Harlander, Elizabeth’s uncle. We also have Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson, David Bradley as the blind man, Charles Dance as Victor’s father, Ralph Ineson as Professor Krempe, and Burn Gorman as the executioner. Time Stamps: (01:11) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1973) (17:19) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994) (32:27) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) (1:15:59) Spoilers (1:49:55) Next Time: Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay, 2025) Works Cited: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948) Bloodborne (FromSoftware, 2015) Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992) Crimson Peak (Guillermo del Toro, 2015) (Lauren Wilford, 2017) Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (Mary Shelley, 1818) The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Peter Jackson, 2012-2014) Lisa Frankenstein (Zelda Williams, 2024) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994) Peter Pan Live! (NBC, 2014) Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023) “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” (Adam Shankman, 2010) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1973) The Sound of Music Live! (NBC, 2013) (1975) Not I (Samuel Beckett, 1972) Email us at Miseenscreenpodcast@gmail.com! Find us elsewhere! Ben Verschoor @benverschoor.bsky.social Steven Santana @number8axel.bsky.social Opening music is Root Beer Rag by Billy Joel Closing music is G-Spot Tornado by Frank Zappa Subscribe, rate and review us! Apple Podcasts: Spotify Podcasts: Player.fm: Podcast Addict:
miseenscreen.libsyn.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Also covered in this episode: a Frankenstein adaptation where everybody is performing at 2x speed, and a loose (loose) adaptation where everybody is horny
The flip side is that a lot of good things were able to grow for the same reason, and we can't really get an ala cart internet of "only the good things." So as with any technology the good goes hand-in-hand with the bad (albeit here with incentives that make the bad catastrophically worse)
truly one of the skeleton keys for our modern age.
November 15, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The flip side is that a lot of good things were able to grow for the same reason, and we can't really get an ala cart internet of "only the good things." So as with any technology the good goes hand-in-hand with the bad (albeit here with incentives that make the bad catastrophically worse)
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
This is why it kills me a little bit every time PA politicians talk about encouraging data centers to open in my state. Fuck that, no. Data centers are neither progress, nor economic growth, nor job creators. They are a drain on the electric grid, on taxpayers, and severe polluters. Fuck. No.
A new state-by-state evaluation of the projected energy and water use of "AI" data centers in the US. Looks… real bad. Like, "undoing tech sector climate gains" bad.
Strongly recommends immediately ensuring any & all new "AI" data centers to run on existing & expanded renewables grids. Which… yeah.
Strongly recommends immediately ensuring any & all new "AI" data centers to run on existing & expanded renewables grids. Which… yeah.
Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable artificial intelligence servers in the USA - Nature Sustainability
The rapid expansion of AI server installations in the United States poses sustainability challenges in terms of water usage and carbon emissions. A study now quantifies these potential impacts and out...
www.nature.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:50 AM
This is why it kills me a little bit every time PA politicians talk about encouraging data centers to open in my state. Fuck that, no. Data centers are neither progress, nor economic growth, nor job creators. They are a drain on the electric grid, on taxpayers, and severe polluters. Fuck. No.
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
'Can the chatbot be social-engineered' is the new Turing Test
November 13, 2025 at 8:16 PM
'Can the chatbot be social-engineered' is the new Turing Test
What skeletons does Chris Rufo keep in his closet, and do they have baby teeth or retainers?
Predictable but still amazing to watch people who spent literally years accusing every librarian, teacher, and trans person they could find of sexually grooming children suddenly throw themselves in with "actually it's ephebophilia"
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
What skeletons does Chris Rufo keep in his closet, and do they have baby teeth or retainers?
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
Good morning! This week's episode @benverschoor.bsky.social and I talk at length about Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. We get into what it chooses to change from the novel and what its effects are, the many striking images, and the dumb wolves. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-18-g...
Mise en Screen: Episode 18: Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
Frankenstein is the 992nd adaptation featuring the monster from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. It is probably the 6th that hews closer to the source novel than the 1931 Universal film adaptation. This 2025 adaptation is directed, produced, and based on a screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, best known for The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Pinocchio (no not the soulless one released the same year from Zemeckis and Disney). In this film we follow Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein who creates life in the form of The Creature, played by Jacob Elordi. Felix Kammerer is William Frankenstein, Victor’s younger brother, and Ti West muse Mia Goth plays Lady Elizabeth Harlander, William’s fiance. Christoph Waltz supports as Henrich Harlander, Elizabeth’s uncle. We also have Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson, David Bradley as the blind man, Charles Dance as Victor’s father, Ralph Ineson as Professor Krempe, and Burn Gorman as the executioner. Time Stamps: (01:11) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1973) (17:19) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994) (32:27) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) (1:15:59) Spoilers (1:49:55) Next Time: Die My Love (Lynne Ramsay, 2025) Works Cited: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948) Bloodborne (FromSoftware, 2015) Bram Stoker's Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992) Crimson Peak (Guillermo del Toro, 2015) (Lauren Wilford, 2017) Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (Mary Shelley, 1818) The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Peter Jackson, 2012-2014) Lisa Frankenstein (Zelda Williams, 2024) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994) Peter Pan Live! (NBC, 2014) Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023) “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” (Adam Shankman, 2010) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1973) The Sound of Music Live! (NBC, 2013) (1975) Not I (Samuel Beckett, 1972) Email us at Miseenscreenpodcast@gmail.com! Find us elsewhere! Ben Verschoor @benverschoor.bsky.social Steven Santana @number8axel.bsky.social Opening music is Root Beer Rag by Billy Joel Closing music is G-Spot Tornado by Frank Zappa Subscribe, rate and review us! Apple Podcasts: Spotify Podcasts: Player.fm: Podcast Addict:
miseenscreen.libsyn.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Good morning! This week's episode @benverschoor.bsky.social and I talk at length about Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. We get into what it chooses to change from the novel and what its effects are, the many striking images, and the dumb wolves. miseenscreen.libsyn.com/episode-18-g...
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
"An image doesn’t have the responsibility to say something; they have to 𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑘𝑒 something." Sirāt director Oliver Laxe talks with @brndnstrssng.bsky.social about remaining tethered to an increasingly broken, tenuous world:
“Images Are Dead”: Oliver Laxe on Sirāt and Spirituality
As music thumps across the desert landscape of Morocco's Atlas Mountains and ravers give themselves over to the endless bass, whispers of World War III echo in the margins. In Sirāt, Oliver Laxe’s fou...
thefilmstage.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
"An image doesn’t have the responsibility to say something; they have to 𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑘𝑒 something." Sirāt director Oliver Laxe talks with @brndnstrssng.bsky.social about remaining tethered to an increasingly broken, tenuous world:
Pleading the fifth (grade)
This is, again, another meeting at the White House about how to prevent the release of FBI documents about child rape. Think for a second, if you were accused of raping children, would you be convening multiple meetings about how to prevent the release of documents that prove your innocence?
Exclusive: Top Trump administration officials plan to meet today to discuss House efforts to force the release of the Epstein files. https://cnn.it/3WSyk2Y
November 12, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Pleading the fifth (grade)
Any Democratic Senator who was first elected before 2010 is going to fight tooth and nail against abolishing the filibuster and reforming the Supreme Court.
Not that anyone has any free brain space to focus on the future of the Republic this morning. But I put together this short piece on how to figure out which Senators should be purged from Congress. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-s...
The Status Interview – Or How To Write Up a Senate Purge List
Over the last couple days I’ve argued both that the denouement of...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Any Democratic Senator who was first elected before 2010 is going to fight tooth and nail against abolishing the filibuster and reforming the Supreme Court.
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy
James Bond learns Daniel Craig's movies took place on England-828, and his death threatens the real Bond, last seen in Die Another Day, on England-616. Starring AI Sean Connery and Roger Moore, with Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, and George Lazenby.
James Bond will return in...
Died Yesterday
James Bond will return in...
Died Yesterday
James Bond’s death in No Time to Die is causing a nightmare for the next film. Writers are stuck because Bond “was blown to pieces.”
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
James Bond learns Daniel Craig's movies took place on England-828, and his death threatens the real Bond, last seen in Die Another Day, on England-616. Starring AI Sean Connery and Roger Moore, with Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, and George Lazenby.
James Bond will return in...
Died Yesterday
James Bond will return in...
Died Yesterday
Which Democratic Senator is most likely to call for Schumer to step down as leader, and how can we encourage them to do so? Sanders? Markey? Merkley? Warren? Schatz? Schiff? Who is the most pissed about this--and maybe is the most ambitious?
Individual members of the conference may recommended changes to the Rules as the need arises... and may bring that proposal directly to the Conference for its consideration w/ 1 week notice. A self-executing rule change could provide for removal and require only a majority of conference vote.
November 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Which Democratic Senator is most likely to call for Schumer to step down as leader, and how can we encourage them to do so? Sanders? Markey? Merkley? Warren? Schatz? Schiff? Who is the most pissed about this--and maybe is the most ambitious?
They announced the 25th anniversary showings of V For Vendetta on November 5th, one year in advance. Very cheeky. Love it
V for Vendetta - 20th Anniversary Announcement Trailer (2026) Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman
YouTube video by IGN
youtu.be
November 11, 2025 at 2:51 PM
They announced the 25th anniversary showings of V For Vendetta on November 5th, one year in advance. Very cheeky. Love it
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
This is definitely On to Something.
Saw-ligarchy: governance by a series of 'would you rather'-style dismemberments, while being moralized about how you deserve your suffering by a puppet that looks like Ayn Rand
November 10, 2025 at 9:23 PM
This is definitely On to Something.
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
that does seem to be the bare minimum for managing the rights to FUCKING STAR WARS
OSCAR ISAAC, on whether he'd return to "Star Wars":
".. Yeah. I mean, I’d be open to it, although right now I’m not so open to working with Disney. But if they can kinda figure it out and, you know, not succumb to fascism, that would be great."
@variety.com $DIS
variety.com/2025/film/ne...
".. Yeah. I mean, I’d be open to it, although right now I’m not so open to working with Disney. But if they can kinda figure it out and, you know, not succumb to fascism, that would be great."
@variety.com $DIS
variety.com/2025/film/ne...
Oscar Isaac Was ‘Not So Open to Working With Disney’ After Jimmy Kimmel Suspension, Said He’d Return to ‘Star Wars’ if Disney Does ‘Not Succumb to Fascism’
Oscar Isaac was not open to working with Disney after Jimmy Kimmel's suspension and will only return to 'Star Wars' if the studio avoids fascism.
variety.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:55 PM
that does seem to be the bare minimum for managing the rights to FUCKING STAR WARS
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
People are mad at Democrats over on Threads. Do you understand? THREADS.
November 10, 2025 at 11:20 AM
People are mad at Democrats over on Threads. Do you understand? THREADS.
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
Saw-ligarchy: governance by a series of 'would you rather'-style dismemberments, while being moralized about how you deserve your suffering by a puppet that looks like Ayn Rand
November 10, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Saw-ligarchy: governance by a series of 'would you rather'-style dismemberments, while being moralized about how you deserve your suffering by a puppet that looks like Ayn Rand
Pastor Bates
November 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Pastor Bates
Make them all retire.
so currently defectors are:
Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
November 10, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Make them all retire.
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
This sounds more fair than the current system
Saw-ligarchy: governance by a series of 'would you rather'-style dismemberments, while being moralized about how you deserve your suffering by a puppet that looks like Ayn Rand
November 10, 2025 at 1:41 PM
This sounds more fair than the current system
Reposted by Ben "Jammin'" Verschoor
Saw VI's plot is Jigsaw torturing the healthcare executive who was bragging about how many people he kicked off their insurance (and mostly he denied Jigsaw a cancer treatment that may have saved his life), so I'd be okay with this. Easier to work around that then what we currently got.
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Saw VI's plot is Jigsaw torturing the healthcare executive who was bragging about how many people he kicked off their insurance (and mostly he denied Jigsaw a cancer treatment that may have saved his life), so I'd be okay with this. Easier to work around that then what we currently got.