David Cottis
@davidcottis.bsky.social
Academic, director, snapper up of unconsidered trifles.
Well, this is very lovely: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd8t...
The Divine Comedy - All the Pretty Lights
YouTube video by The Divine Comedy (Official)
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Well, this is very lovely: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd8t...
Just saw a fellow carrying a Christmas tree.
November 11, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Just saw a fellow carrying a Christmas tree.
At Angel station, I pay my money for a poppy, and the woman says 'We've only got paper ones, I'm afraid. Unless you're an Arsenal fan.', indicating a metal badge with a combined Poppy/Gunners device. I say 'No, thanks.', and she replies 'It's funny. No one round here seems to want those.'
November 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
At Angel station, I pay my money for a poppy, and the woman says 'We've only got paper ones, I'm afraid. Unless you're an Arsenal fan.', indicating a metal badge with a combined Poppy/Gunners device. I say 'No, thanks.', and she replies 'It's funny. No one round here seems to want those.'
Reposted by David Cottis
David Cottis reviews Half Trick’s 2024 production of Antonio’s Revenge, dir. Courtney Bassett.
🎭: halftrick.com#antonio
📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
📷: Eliza Roberts
🎭: halftrick.com#antonio
📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
📷: Eliza Roberts
November 3, 2025 at 1:51 AM
David Cottis reviews Half Trick’s 2024 production of Antonio’s Revenge, dir. Courtney Bassett.
🎭: halftrick.com#antonio
📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
📷: Eliza Roberts
🎭: halftrick.com#antonio
📰: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
📷: Eliza Roberts
Reposted by David Cottis
This is a rabbit hole well worth falling into. Go down into the replies and up into the quote tweets, and enjoy a fantastic group writing project.
Once upon a desert sandy
As through winds the trav'ling man he
Spied the face of Ozymandy
Lying, simply lying there
Suddenly there was some writing
Pon the plinth that he was sighting
That the sand and time were blighting
Quoth the statue, "Now despair"
As through winds the trav'ling man he
Spied the face of Ozymandy
Lying, simply lying there
Suddenly there was some writing
Pon the plinth that he was sighting
That the sand and time were blighting
Quoth the statue, "Now despair"
There was an old man you could gaze
At his works in despair in a daze
If you looked upon them
And were mere mortal men
'Ozymandias mighty', it says
At his works in despair in a daze
If you looked upon them
And were mere mortal men
'Ozymandias mighty', it says
November 1, 2025 at 1:46 AM
This is a rabbit hole well worth falling into. Go down into the replies and up into the quote tweets, and enjoy a fantastic group writing project.
Reposted by David Cottis
I’ve doubtless posted this before, many times maybe, but it really is an incredible piece of documentary filmmaking, which captures those near-far, fingertip folk histories that feel of our own time & just out of reach yet somehow simultaneously deeply arcane & otherworldly
youtu.be/ic4qWguBYEM?...
youtu.be/ic4qWguBYEM?...
October 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I’ve doubtless posted this before, many times maybe, but it really is an incredible piece of documentary filmmaking, which captures those near-far, fingertip folk histories that feel of our own time & just out of reach yet somehow simultaneously deeply arcane & otherworldly
youtu.be/ic4qWguBYEM?...
youtu.be/ic4qWguBYEM?...
Reposted by David Cottis
How to Film a Ghost Story.
HOW TO FILM A GHOST STORY
Just prior to the publication of Doctor Sleep 2013, Stephen King said in an interview that he was nervous about the reaction to the long awaited sequel to his classic haunted hotel story The Shinin…
multiglom.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
How to Film a Ghost Story.
Nice anecdote in the BFI's melodrama booklet: when shooting The Whales of August with Lillian Gish and Bette Davis , Lindsay Anderson said at one point 'Miss Gish, you have just given me a perfect close-up!', to which Davis replied 'She should. She invented 'em.'
October 27, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Nice anecdote in the BFI's melodrama booklet: when shooting The Whales of August with Lillian Gish and Bette Davis , Lindsay Anderson said at one point 'Miss Gish, you have just given me a perfect close-up!', to which Davis replied 'She should. She invented 'em.'
One of the few Disney animated features to have left practically no cultural footprint: no rides at the Magic Kingdom, no characters or songs that people remember. It's got all the hallmarks of the studio's output at this period: ... (1/3) www.imdb.com/title/tt0057...
The Sword in the Stone (1963) ⭐ 7.1 | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
1h 19m | G
www.imdb.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:45 AM
One of the few Disney animated features to have left practically no cultural footprint: no rides at the Magic Kingdom, no characters or songs that people remember. It's got all the hallmarks of the studio's output at this period: ... (1/3) www.imdb.com/title/tt0057...
Okay, never expected Debbie Harry to sound like Marianne Faithfull... www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAMm...
Try To Sleep (feat. Debbie Harry)
YouTube video by Chrissie Hynde - Topic
www.youtube.com
October 18, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Okay, never expected Debbie Harry to sound like Marianne Faithfull... www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAMm...
An outlier within the MCU, in that its mythos and characters are pretty much self-contained (as was the comic, originally - Jack Kirby only brought it into continuity under duress). As such, it suffers from the usual problems of multi-protagonist films... (1/4) www.imdb.com/title/tt9032...
Eternals (2021) ⭐ 6.2 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2h 36m | PG-13
www.imdb.com
October 18, 2025 at 10:58 AM
An outlier within the MCU, in that its mythos and characters are pretty much self-contained (as was the comic, originally - Jack Kirby only brought it into continuity under duress). As such, it suffers from the usual problems of multi-protagonist films... (1/4) www.imdb.com/title/tt9032...
Woman talking angrily on her phone, as she walks through Hendon: 'I said knee-length. Knee. Length. Do you even know what that means?'
October 15, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Woman talking angrily on her phone, as she walks through Hendon: 'I said knee-length. Knee. Length. Do you even know what that means?'
It was a real status symbol in my infants' school to have seen this film when it was released in 1969 (this was in the days when we got US blockbusters a year later, in worn-out prints), so I'm glad finally to have joined the cool kids, over half a century later. (1/4) www.imdb.com/title/tt0064...
The Love Bug (1968) ⭐ 6.5 | Comedy, Family, Sport
1h 48m | G
www.imdb.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
It was a real status symbol in my infants' school to have seen this film when it was released in 1969 (this was in the days when we got US blockbusters a year later, in worn-out prints), so I'm glad finally to have joined the cool kids, over half a century later. (1/4) www.imdb.com/title/tt0064...
The number of great ones that we've lost recently (R.I.P. Diane Keaton) makes me think that maybe the real wonder is not that so many are dying, but that so many lived, and in particular lived in that extraordinarily fertile period that was the half-century or so after WW2. (1/2)
October 11, 2025 at 9:20 PM
The number of great ones that we've lost recently (R.I.P. Diane Keaton) makes me think that maybe the real wonder is not that so many are dying, but that so many lived, and in particular lived in that extraordinarily fertile period that was the half-century or so after WW2. (1/2)
Reposted by David Cottis
A fantastic Performance Reviews section in 43.1, with pieces from @terribourus.bsky.social, @davidcottis.bsky.social, @joestephenson.bsky.social, Justin B. Hopkins, Suzy Lawrence, Scott Shepherd, Katie O'Hare, @hanhbuiwrites.bsky.social, @emmakatwood.bsky.social, Olivia Soileau, and Laurie Maguire.
NEW ISSUE KLAXON: Shakespeare Bulletin 43.1 is now published! Now fully open access, this issue features a cluster of essays edited by Louise Geddes and Nora J. Williams reflecting on casting, race, community, and tragedy in productions performed on and off Broadway.
📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55715
📰: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55715
October 10, 2025 at 5:21 PM
A fantastic Performance Reviews section in 43.1, with pieces from @terribourus.bsky.social, @davidcottis.bsky.social, @joestephenson.bsky.social, Justin B. Hopkins, Suzy Lawrence, Scott Shepherd, Katie O'Hare, @hanhbuiwrites.bsky.social, @emmakatwood.bsky.social, Olivia Soileau, and Laurie Maguire.
I've got a review in the current issue of Shakespeare Bulletin: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55715
Project MUSE - Shakespeare Bulletin-Volume 43, Number 1, Spring 2025
muse.jhu.edu
October 10, 2025 at 8:39 AM
I've got a review in the current issue of Shakespeare Bulletin: muse.jhu.edu/issue/55715
One of those films that probably more people have read about than actually seen: John Huston's UK-set noir with the weird gimmick that a set of US stars (Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster) play cameos in heavy disguise... (1/3) www.imdb.com/title/tt0057...
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) ⭐ 6.8 | Mystery, Thriller
1h 38m | Approved
www.imdb.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:47 PM
One of those films that probably more people have read about than actually seen: John Huston's UK-set noir with the weird gimmick that a set of US stars (Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster) play cameos in heavy disguise... (1/3) www.imdb.com/title/tt0057...
Two students, overheard walking past me in a corridor:
First: I'm not good at any sport.
Second: (in the tone of someone trumping an ace) Yeah, I'm no good at anything.
First: I'm not good at any sport.
Second: (in the tone of someone trumping an ace) Yeah, I'm no good at anything.
October 9, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Two students, overheard walking past me in a corridor:
First: I'm not good at any sport.
Second: (in the tone of someone trumping an ace) Yeah, I'm no good at anything.
First: I'm not good at any sport.
Second: (in the tone of someone trumping an ace) Yeah, I'm no good at anything.
@secondmentions.bsky.social 'this garish gourd'
Pumpkin power! How this garish gourd took over the world
Pumpkin power! How this garish gourd took over the world
Whether you want a mug, tealight holder or fidget spinners, all are available with a pumpkin theme. Festivals are dedicated to the orange fruit, and there are countless recipes to try. Why are they suddenly October’s overlords?
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:07 PM
@secondmentions.bsky.social 'this garish gourd'
R.I.P. John Woodvine - an RSC stalwart when I was a teenager, during that company's imperial period; Banquo to McKellen's Macbeth, Falstaff in Merry Wives, Ralph Nickleby. Less of a film career, but he was perfect in An American Werewolf in London. The definition of an actor with authority.
October 6, 2025 at 3:44 PM
R.I.P. John Woodvine - an RSC stalwart when I was a teenager, during that company's imperial period; Banquo to McKellen's Macbeth, Falstaff in Merry Wives, Ralph Nickleby. Less of a film career, but he was perfect in An American Werewolf in London. The definition of an actor with authority.
Not really a film, more a video show, with Sam Costa lying in bed watching mimed performances by various second division '60s singers and bands. Freddie and the Dreamers top the bill, with Freddie Garrity dressed as a court jester, which seems about right. (1/2) www.imdb.com/title/tt0060...
Just for You (1964) ⭐ 5.5 | Musical
1h 3m
www.imdb.com
October 5, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Not really a film, more a video show, with Sam Costa lying in bed watching mimed performances by various second division '60s singers and bands. Freddie and the Dreamers top the bill, with Freddie Garrity dressed as a court jester, which seems about right. (1/2) www.imdb.com/title/tt0060...
London vignette: a teenager on a Lime bike, in the classic uniform of black jeans, hoodie, and scarf, cycles round and stops in front of me. He holds up his hand for a high-five, which I give him. I hear a couple of young people behind me cheering. I think I might have just won somebody a bet.
October 4, 2025 at 3:11 PM
London vignette: a teenager on a Lime bike, in the classic uniform of black jeans, hoodie, and scarf, cycles round and stops in front of me. He holds up his hand for a high-five, which I give him. I hear a couple of young people behind me cheering. I think I might have just won somebody a bet.
I'm not quite sure how I got to the age i am without seeing this, especially given how present Danny Kaye was in the culture when I was growing up, but a recent reading of a biography of Moss Hart, who wrote the screenplay, inspired me to seek it out. (1/3)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0044...
www.imdb.com/title/tt0044...
Hans Christian Andersen (1952) ⭐ 6.9 | Biography, Family, Musical
1h 52m | Approved
www.imdb.com
October 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I'm not quite sure how I got to the age i am without seeing this, especially given how present Danny Kaye was in the culture when I was growing up, but a recent reading of a biography of Moss Hart, who wrote the screenplay, inspired me to seek it out. (1/3)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0044...
www.imdb.com/title/tt0044...
Two female students overheard in a corridor:
First: Still, people are quite nice to us.
Second: Yeah (Pause.). It's quite good being NPCs.
First: Still, people are quite nice to us.
Second: Yeah (Pause.). It's quite good being NPCs.
October 2, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Two female students overheard in a corridor:
First: Still, people are quite nice to us.
Second: Yeah (Pause.). It's quite good being NPCs.
First: Still, people are quite nice to us.
Second: Yeah (Pause.). It's quite good being NPCs.
Reposted by David Cottis
The Cardinal and the Corpse was directed by Chris Petit & features Martin (not Michael) Stone, legend, who once lent me a first edition of Fritz Leiber's Night's Black Agents, at a time when it was impossible to find (I have my own not-a-first copy now thanks to @annodracula.bsky.social)
This film takes us deeper into its world of disreputable book scouts.
We meet - still alive and thoroughly respectable - Michael Moorcock and Alan Moore.
Then there's David Seabrook (dead), Michael Stone (dead) and Driffield (disappeared, though see the recent court case).
We meet - still alive and thoroughly respectable - Michael Moorcock and Alan Moore.
Then there's David Seabrook (dead), Michael Stone (dead) and Driffield (disappeared, though see the recent court case).
The Cardinal and The Corpse: Deeper into Iain Sinclair's world
Reminiscing about a lost Stamford bookshop , I mentioned Iain Sinclair's novel White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings. This film takes us deep...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:13 AM
The Cardinal and the Corpse was directed by Chris Petit & features Martin (not Michael) Stone, legend, who once lent me a first edition of Fritz Leiber's Night's Black Agents, at a time when it was impossible to find (I have my own not-a-first copy now thanks to @annodracula.bsky.social)