Michèle Plott
@micheleplott.bsky.social
Historian of the emotions, visual & material culture, (sometimes) gender, lately monuments & memory in the urban landscape
Pinned
Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110 by Robert Motherwell, 1971
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137843
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137843
motherwell hitting harder w/this today.
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Kim Novak by Leonard McCombe, 1956
“She did not conceal the fact that she had been drawn into a world capable of exploiting her. Filming seemed an ordeal for her; it was as if the camera hurt her.”
- David Thomson
“She did not conceal the fact that she had been drawn into a world capable of exploiting her. Filming seemed an ordeal for her; it was as if the camera hurt her.”
- David Thomson
February 13, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Kim Novak by Leonard McCombe, 1956
“She did not conceal the fact that she had been drawn into a world capable of exploiting her. Filming seemed an ordeal for her; it was as if the camera hurt her.”
- David Thomson
“She did not conceal the fact that she had been drawn into a world capable of exploiting her. Filming seemed an ordeal for her; it was as if the camera hurt her.”
- David Thomson
❤️
Au hasard des recherches d'archives, ce joli dessin de Margerin dans Le Monde pour la sortie du film des Blues Brothers...
February 17, 2026 at 5:46 AM
❤️
Reposted by Michèle Plott
An exhibition at the London Transport Museum is celebrating 100 years of the Underground’s Art Deco design heritage.
www.artfund.org/explore/get-...
www.artfund.org/explore/get-...
February 16, 2026 at 6:23 PM
An exhibition at the London Transport Museum is celebrating 100 years of the Underground’s Art Deco design heritage.
www.artfund.org/explore/get-...
www.artfund.org/explore/get-...
Reposted by Michèle Plott
February 15, 2026 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Requiescat, Frederick Wiseman. My man had Foucault-levels of things to say about the role of institutions in our lives, but was also a hugely talented filmmaker on top of it.
If you have not seen Titicut Follies (1967), prioritise it: right out the gate, our guy was NOT here to fuck around
If you have not seen Titicut Follies (1967), prioritise it: right out the gate, our guy was NOT here to fuck around
Frederick Wiseman: TITICUT FOLLIES
YouTube video by Austin Film Society
www.youtube.com
February 16, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Requiescat, Frederick Wiseman. My man had Foucault-levels of things to say about the role of institutions in our lives, but was also a hugely talented filmmaker on top of it.
If you have not seen Titicut Follies (1967), prioritise it: right out the gate, our guy was NOT here to fuck around
If you have not seen Titicut Follies (1967), prioritise it: right out the gate, our guy was NOT here to fuck around
Reposted by Michèle Plott
This is totally non-standard for any publication. Every pub everywhere pretty much cleans up uhms, uhm, and vocal tics like that, which EVERYONE DOES.
This is extremely intentional.
If I was writing this I’d probably do the quote “this is of course a very longstanding policy of the United States”
This is extremely intentional.
If I was writing this I’d probably do the quote “this is of course a very longstanding policy of the United States”
Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?
February 16, 2026 at 8:15 PM
This is totally non-standard for any publication. Every pub everywhere pretty much cleans up uhms, uhm, and vocal tics like that, which EVERYONE DOES.
This is extremely intentional.
If I was writing this I’d probably do the quote “this is of course a very longstanding policy of the United States”
This is extremely intentional.
If I was writing this I’d probably do the quote “this is of course a very longstanding policy of the United States”
Reposted by Michèle Plott
"I asked a crane operator, Yevhen Bilousov, when he thought the war might end. The question itself was meaningless, he told me, 'because everything depends not on when but on how the war ends.'"--Nataliya Gumenyuk
Gift article:
Gift article:
Opinion | When Will This War End? The Question Is Meaningless.
www.nytimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:45 PM
"I asked a crane operator, Yevhen Bilousov, when he thought the war might end. The question itself was meaningless, he told me, 'because everything depends not on when but on how the war ends.'"--Nataliya Gumenyuk
Gift article:
Gift article:
Reposted by Michèle Plott
"It can seem that the world watches Russia’s war on Ukraine as if it were a film. When attention wanes, there is a demand for an ending — if not good, then bad. For Ukrainians, this is not cinema but reality. It will last as long as it lasts."--Nataliya Gumenyuk
This brought back memories of conversations. Thanks as always for the great @ngumenyuk.bsky.social for seeing the essential.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/o...
Opinion | When Will This War End? The Question Is Meaningless.
www.nytimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:44 PM
"It can seem that the world watches Russia’s war on Ukraine as if it were a film. When attention wanes, there is a demand for an ending — if not good, then bad. For Ukrainians, this is not cinema but reality. It will last as long as it lasts."--Nataliya Gumenyuk
Reposted by Michèle Plott
“Putin is afraid of his soldiers returning home, which is why he needs them to keep fighting”
♟️🇺🇦🇷🇺 World chess legend and Russian opposition figure living in exile in the United States, Garry Kasparov, on the Ukraine–Russia war:
♟️🇺🇦🇷🇺 World chess legend and Russian opposition figure living in exile in the United States, Garry Kasparov, on the Ukraine–Russia war:
February 16, 2026 at 4:06 PM
“Putin is afraid of his soldiers returning home, which is why he needs them to keep fighting”
♟️🇺🇦🇷🇺 World chess legend and Russian opposition figure living in exile in the United States, Garry Kasparov, on the Ukraine–Russia war:
♟️🇺🇦🇷🇺 World chess legend and Russian opposition figure living in exile in the United States, Garry Kasparov, on the Ukraine–Russia war:
Reposted by Michèle Plott
💀 The cost of Russia’s offensive: British intelligence has released casualty ratio estimates from the war in Ukraine.
On certain sections of the front, Russian occupiers’ losses reportedly exceed those of Ukrainian defenders by a ratio of 25 to 1.
🔴 Simply put — 1:25.
On certain sections of the front, Russian occupiers’ losses reportedly exceed those of Ukrainian defenders by a ratio of 25 to 1.
🔴 Simply put — 1:25.
February 16, 2026 at 4:09 PM
💀 The cost of Russia’s offensive: British intelligence has released casualty ratio estimates from the war in Ukraine.
On certain sections of the front, Russian occupiers’ losses reportedly exceed those of Ukrainian defenders by a ratio of 25 to 1.
🔴 Simply put — 1:25.
On certain sections of the front, Russian occupiers’ losses reportedly exceed those of Ukrainian defenders by a ratio of 25 to 1.
🔴 Simply put — 1:25.
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Bethanie’s Room is a pet-friendly overnight shelter for women (including trans women!) in the PDX area. If you have an extra $5 burning a hole in your pocket I cannot more highly recommend donating to them.
Portland Women's Shelter Bethanie's Room - Blanchet House
Bethanie's Room is an overnight shelter for women 18 years or older open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., 365 days a year.
blanchethouse.org
February 16, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Bethanie’s Room is a pet-friendly overnight shelter for women (including trans women!) in the PDX area. If you have an extra $5 burning a hole in your pocket I cannot more highly recommend donating to them.
Reposted by Michèle Plott
One thing I find mind-boggling is just how quickly we went from "live and let live" and "mind your own business" to "get up in everyone else's business in case they have the temerity to be living in a way you don't like"
do you know what would help!!!!!!!! living in a society that lets people experiment with their gender without treating it like the most important thing in the world!!!!!!! letting people get it right or wrong without politicising their decisions!!!!!!! just being chilled about gender!!!!!! aaahhhhhh
"if they socially transition too early we think they can get locked onto a trajectory that may not have been the correct natural trajectory for them"
Direct quote.
Direct quote.
February 16, 2026 at 5:52 PM
One thing I find mind-boggling is just how quickly we went from "live and let live" and "mind your own business" to "get up in everyone else's business in case they have the temerity to be living in a way you don't like"
Reposted by Michèle Plott
a wonderful diary excerpt from 2022 (not just the parts about the Queen, though those - like Bennett’s Uncommon Reader - are SO good)
February 16, 2026 at 3:28 PM
a wonderful diary excerpt from 2022 (not just the parts about the Queen, though those - like Bennett’s Uncommon Reader - are SO good)
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Reposted by Michèle Plott
RIP Robert Duvall. I hope you and Jimmy Caan are mooning Marlon Brando, wherever you are now. www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/m...
February 16, 2026 at 6:30 PM
RIP Robert Duvall. I hope you and Jimmy Caan are mooning Marlon Brando, wherever you are now. www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/m...
Reposted by Michèle Plott
It’s easy to think writing is mainly the transcription of ideas you already have—that is, until you try to write something worthwhile, and you find what you thought were saying transform into something far more interesting in the process. This skips that last step, and that is *not* an improvement.
“We plan to hire an AI rewrite specialist to ingest the reporting by Hannah and others and use AI to convert it into stories.”
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
February 16, 2026 at 2:45 PM
It’s easy to think writing is mainly the transcription of ideas you already have—that is, until you try to write something worthwhile, and you find what you thought were saying transform into something far more interesting in the process. This skips that last step, and that is *not* an improvement.
Reposted by Michèle Plott
While many still try to pretend the implications of russia's war don't go further than Ukraine, Kim Jong Un has inaugurated a new residential quarter for the families of North Korean servicemen killed in this war.
Denying reality will not avert what is underway.
📸 via Grnt.
Denying reality will not avert what is underway.
📸 via Grnt.
February 16, 2026 at 3:12 PM
While many still try to pretend the implications of russia's war don't go further than Ukraine, Kim Jong Un has inaugurated a new residential quarter for the families of North Korean servicemen killed in this war.
Denying reality will not avert what is underway.
📸 via Grnt.
Denying reality will not avert what is underway.
📸 via Grnt.
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Great thread of books for Black History Month. I haven’t read all of them but I can vouch that this one is genuinely remarkable
Vincent Brown, TACKY'S REVOLT: THE STORY OF AN ATLANTIC SLAVE WAR
Tacky’s Revolt — Harvard University Press
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardWinner of the Frederick Douglass Book PrizeWinner of the Elsa Goveia Book PrizeWinner of the James A. Rawley Prize in the History of Race RelationsWinner of the ...
www.hup.harvard.edu
February 16, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Great thread of books for Black History Month. I haven’t read all of them but I can vouch that this one is genuinely remarkable
a wonderful diary excerpt from 2022 (not just the parts about the Queen, though those - like Bennett’s Uncommon Reader - are SO good)
February 16, 2026 at 3:28 PM
a wonderful diary excerpt from 2022 (not just the parts about the Queen, though those - like Bennett’s Uncommon Reader - are SO good)
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Reposted by Michèle Plott
Ria de Aveiro, Portugal
February 16, 2026 at 6:41 AM
Ria de Aveiro, Portugal
Reposted by Michèle Plott
🇺🇦💡 For the first time in a long time, Kyiv is almost completely powered — 95% of the capital without outages this evening
February 15, 2026 at 9:20 PM
🇺🇦💡 For the first time in a long time, Kyiv is almost completely powered — 95% of the capital without outages this evening
Reposted by Michèle Plott
this sequence hobbies (of Ian Watt who wrote the Rise of the Novel):
“wine, plumbing, mushrooms”
“wine, plumbing, mushrooms”
February 15, 2026 at 11:49 AM
this sequence hobbies (of Ian Watt who wrote the Rise of the Novel):
“wine, plumbing, mushrooms”
“wine, plumbing, mushrooms”
Reposted by Michèle Plott
TFW nobody makes the lightbulbs for your national library’s lights any more…
Le rez-de jardin de la BNF (@labnf.bsky.social) s'éteint, littéralement, en silence. Les places en rouge sur ce schéma ne sont plus éclairées et l'on nous apprend que les ampoules, devenues obsolètes, ne peuvent être remplacées. "Democracy Dies in Darkness", comme on le sait au Washington Post.
February 12, 2026 at 3:06 PM
TFW nobody makes the lightbulbs for your national library’s lights any more…