Kevin Sargent
@kevinsargent.bsky.social
Composer for screen things: The Hour, Wrong Mans, Beaker Girls, Mapp & Lucia, Ordinary Lies. Newcastle/London. Half-baked opinions entirely my own. Thrashed Dove.
The @ivorsacademy.bsky.social is proud to support this initiative, aiming to end the practice of ghostwriting in composition for film, tv and games. I've signed the pledge, joining a host of names who want to give credit where credit is due: ivorsacademy.com/campaign/end...
End Ghostwriting - The Ivors Academy
A campaign from The Ivors Academy to end ghostwriting in media composition. Composers can sign a pledge to help ensure credit where it's due.
ivorsacademy.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The @ivorsacademy.bsky.social is proud to support this initiative, aiming to end the practice of ghostwriting in composition for film, tv and games. I've signed the pledge, joining a host of names who want to give credit where credit is due: ivorsacademy.com/campaign/end...
First Thrashing Doves release for many many years - previously unavailable instrumental of Jesus on the Payroll, part of Paraíso: The True Sound of Ibiza, Rebirth Records. youtu.be/dwYpMIXXy6Q?...
Je$u$ on the Payroll (Unreleased Instrumental Version)
YouTube video by Release - Topic
youtu.be
September 26, 2025 at 12:07 PM
First Thrashing Doves release for many many years - previously unavailable instrumental of Jesus on the Payroll, part of Paraíso: The True Sound of Ibiza, Rebirth Records. youtu.be/dwYpMIXXy6Q?...
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
"The company has agreed to pay authors about $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 books covered by the settlement.
"As best as we can tell, it's the largest copyright recovery ever," said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors. "It is the first of its kind in the AI era."
"As best as we can tell, it's the largest copyright recovery ever," said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors. "It is the first of its kind in the AI era."
Anthropic to pay authors $1.5B to settle lawsuit over pirated chatbot training material
The artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay authors $3,000 per book in a landmark settlement over pirated chatbot training material.
share.google
September 6, 2025 at 12:53 AM
"The company has agreed to pay authors about $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 books covered by the settlement.
"As best as we can tell, it's the largest copyright recovery ever," said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors. "It is the first of its kind in the AI era."
"As best as we can tell, it's the largest copyright recovery ever," said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors. "It is the first of its kind in the AI era."
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
On the same day in the Telegraph:
![The Telegraph
Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement
Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty
Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence
[Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday]
Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent
29 August 2025 8:57am BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreihe5mm7nwmwvzhtgadmsafyvsaxhrufuai2d2j2rju5zt6g2lytea@jpeg)
![The Telegraph
Money > Property > Second homes
How to avoid tax on your second home
From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net
[Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto]
Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer
29 August 2025 1:21pm BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreieuwgc2vsmyfcctmf4cnpcqckij2pqdk2gmzajpnihrsqyqmzyr5e@jpeg)
September 5, 2025 at 7:55 AM
On the same day in the Telegraph:
Despite his pretensions to the English gentry, HP Lovecraft's ancestry was mainly Welsh, which he discovered to his dismay. The correct spelling of Cthuthu is evidently 'Cwddlyddy'.
September 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Despite his pretensions to the English gentry, HP Lovecraft's ancestry was mainly Welsh, which he discovered to his dismay. The correct spelling of Cthuthu is evidently 'Cwddlyddy'.
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
Knoll's Law of media accuracy:
"Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge".
"Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge".
September 2, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Knoll's Law of media accuracy:
"Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge".
"Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge".
Rewatching LA Confidential last night and enjoying again Jerry Goldsmith’s lean, brutal score. At one point the strings metamorphose into the flies infesting the basement where corpses are stashed. A mere sound effect would never have had such phobic or poetic effect. Just masterful.
September 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Rewatching LA Confidential last night and enjoying again Jerry Goldsmith’s lean, brutal score. At one point the strings metamorphose into the flies infesting the basement where corpses are stashed. A mere sound effect would never have had such phobic or poetic effect. Just masterful.
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
TV about modern Britain for modern Britain offering opportunity to take creative risks and vital experience in a rapidly shrinking industry. The other PSB channels should follow Channel 5’s lead and do the same. Low cost, huge benefits.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on bringing back Play for Today: a reboot that feels right for the times | Editorial
Editorial: As our politics becomes ever more polarised, Channel 5’s move to revive one of British television’s most influential series deserves to succeed
www.theguardian.com
August 20, 2025 at 7:43 AM
TV about modern Britain for modern Britain offering opportunity to take creative risks and vital experience in a rapidly shrinking industry. The other PSB channels should follow Channel 5’s lead and do the same. Low cost, huge benefits.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
Lots of Telegraph writers ranting about Britain's spiral into despotism seem to have decamped to...the autocratic UAE. Via Private Eye
August 20, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Lots of Telegraph writers ranting about Britain's spiral into despotism seem to have decamped to...the autocratic UAE. Via Private Eye
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
Therapy comes in many shapes and sizes but fundamentally it is a relationship between two humans where one has a professional and ethical obligation to promote the wellbeing of the other.
Chatbots cannot do this. They can trick vulnerable people into thinking they can, but they simply cannot.
Chatbots cannot do this. They can trick vulnerable people into thinking they can, but they simply cannot.
Chatbots can provide something *like* therapy, but it's not the genuine article — so I think it's good more states are cracking down on how companies present them www.platformer.news/ai-therapy-p...
August 19, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Therapy comes in many shapes and sizes but fundamentally it is a relationship between two humans where one has a professional and ethical obligation to promote the wellbeing of the other.
Chatbots cannot do this. They can trick vulnerable people into thinking they can, but they simply cannot.
Chatbots cannot do this. They can trick vulnerable people into thinking they can, but they simply cannot.
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
If you are a published writer & object to Anthropic slurping up your writing for AI, you have until 8/15 to sign up to help defend your copyright. Check this database to see if they hv taken yr writing (you might want to check regardless):
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then . . .
1/2
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then . . .
1/2
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
If you are a published writer & object to Anthropic slurping up your writing for AI, you have until 8/15 to sign up to help defend your copyright. Check this database to see if they hv taken yr writing (you might want to check regardless):
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then . . .
1/2
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then . . .
1/2
RIP Biddy Baxter. It took all of six months, but I remember receiving a reply from her when I wrote to ask what the music was accompanying a history item on Blue Peter: Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky.
August 11, 2025 at 12:53 PM
RIP Biddy Baxter. It took all of six months, but I remember receiving a reply from her when I wrote to ask what the music was accompanying a history item on Blue Peter: Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky.
Read the room, @theguardian.com - who on Earth worded its celebratory crossword-completion message: ‘Congrats’?
August 11, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Read the room, @theguardian.com - who on Earth worded its celebratory crossword-completion message: ‘Congrats’?
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... I’m only halfway through this and it’s already the best discussion of the use of music in film I’m likely to hear. What a delightful and thoughtful man Walter remains
Sound of Cinema - Walter Murch - BBC Sounds
Matthew Sweet speaks to film editor, sound designer and film director Walter Murch
www.bbc.co.uk
August 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... I’m only halfway through this and it’s already the best discussion of the use of music in film I’m likely to hear. What a delightful and thoughtful man Walter remains
Epiphany: Never mistake inexperience for inadequacy.
August 4, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Epiphany: Never mistake inexperience for inadequacy.
I used wasps to rid myself of the moths infesting my studio. I won’t have a word against wasps.
‘Wasps are underrated’ by Will the Wasp.
COUNTERPOINT: Fuck the wasps.
August 4, 2025 at 1:05 PM
I used wasps to rid myself of the moths infesting my studio. I won’t have a word against wasps.
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
Intellectual property is the only property you don’t usually have to be born into wealth to acquire and benefit from.
Except when there is a deliberate attempt to stop the less wealthy from accessing it or benefiting from it. They fucking hate that, the propertied classes. Stay in your lane.
Except when there is a deliberate attempt to stop the less wealthy from accessing it or benefiting from it. They fucking hate that, the propertied classes. Stay in your lane.
August 4, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Intellectual property is the only property you don’t usually have to be born into wealth to acquire and benefit from.
Except when there is a deliberate attempt to stop the less wealthy from accessing it or benefiting from it. They fucking hate that, the propertied classes. Stay in your lane.
Except when there is a deliberate attempt to stop the less wealthy from accessing it or benefiting from it. They fucking hate that, the propertied classes. Stay in your lane.
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
August 4, 2025 at 9:32 AM
This is the AI future we are promised.
Catastrophic subtitling on the 1941 movie "Love on the Dole".
(It should read "She's a strange lass, is our Sal"...)
(It should read "She's a strange lass, is our Sal"...)
August 4, 2025 at 9:59 AM
This is the AI future we are promised.
🎶 Undercooked aubergines rumbling me … 🎶
August 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
🎶 Undercooked aubergines rumbling me … 🎶
Reposted by Kevin Sargent
The worst decision the BBC ever made was cancelling The Hour after series two.
August 2, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The worst decision the BBC ever made was cancelling The Hour after series two.
I was one in a band called Doves (London), but can I just say this, by the other Doves (Manchester) is one of the most perfect creations? Such incredible, vital choices. A life-saver.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RxG...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RxG...
Doves - Andalucía
YouTube video by DovesVEVO
www.youtube.com
August 2, 2025 at 11:57 PM
I was one in a band called Doves (London), but can I just say this, by the other Doves (Manchester) is one of the most perfect creations? Such incredible, vital choices. A life-saver.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RxG...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RxG...
Network (1976) is currently free on Am*z*n Pr*me, just sayin’
June 28, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Network (1976) is currently free on Am*z*n Pr*me, just sayin’
Possibly the first grown-up telly/art I ever saw, well before I could assimilate a fraction of it. Spencer Banks had been in Timeslip, so it called out to me aged only 10 and Mum let me stay up (!). Haunted me like a dream ever since. Great piece here.
"Everyone who has ever felt the constituent parts of their own sexuality refusing to align should watch [Penda's Fen] and fall in love with their own strangeness." A good piece by Benedict Morrison, just up, and marking Pride. theconversation.com/hidden-gems-...
Hidden gems of LGBTQ+ cinema: celebrating the wonderful slippery queerness of Penda’s Fen
Rector’s son Stephen must come to terms with the complexity of his desires while grappling with societal pressure and religious guilt.
theconversation.com
June 21, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Possibly the first grown-up telly/art I ever saw, well before I could assimilate a fraction of it. Spencer Banks had been in Timeslip, so it called out to me aged only 10 and Mum let me stay up (!). Haunted me like a dream ever since. Great piece here.