Jamie
LightNews LightNews
banner
vanjpes.bsky.social
Jamie
@vanjpes.bsky.social
1K followers 280 following 2K posts
Tired enthusiast. I write weird things. Mostly here to post about old television shows, films, comedy, books, and horror.

Rambles and tangents on culture here: https://arowofopengraves.co.uk/
Posts Replies Media Videos
vanjpes.bsky.social
Desire, lust, jealousy, and fear of our own sexuality in Cat People (1942, dir. Jacques Tourneur, cinematography Nicholas Musuraca)

Still thinking about this one again, huh, Jamie? Yeah...
Irena in her bedroom, Oliver the other side offscreen. She is pressed up against the door, slumped down, her hand shaped like a claw, looking away. Irena in tight close-up during hypnosis. Most of the frame is in shadow, and in a spotlight only her closed eyes, her nose, and her open mouth are visible Alice turned away from us, looking back down a half lit, shadowy street illuminated only by a few lamps Irena in a bath, shot from behind to her right. We can see her bare shoulders sprinkled with water, and she is bent forward, sobbing, her hair obscuring her face.
January 31, 2026 at 1:16 PM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Tonight's 📽 Cat People (1942, dir. Jacques Tourneur), a film that's barely subtextual about a fear of unleashed sexual desire, the 'evil' inside. Irena keeps herself away from people, so that she does not hurt them. But then she falls in love... Beautifully written, by a gay man, DeWitt Bodeen.
Poster for Cat People shows an illustration of Simone Simon as Irena in a red dress, a painter above her, and Kent Smith and Jane Randolph in the top left corner, the name of the film in large lettering.
January 30, 2026 at 10:00 PM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Second 📽 of the day: Distilled Love (1920, dirs. Dick Smith and Vin Moore), a fascinating, barely coherent mix of broad occasionally innovative comedy and dark-hearted melodrama, as Alice Howell gets involved in several weird scrapes, trying to survive a devilish, mugging Oliver (here 'Babe') Hardy.
Alice Howell as the milkmaid, sitting at a table in a boarding house, sharing an apple pie with a donkey, who 'sits' opposite her, its hind legs on a chair. Howell at the top of a ladder next to the boarding house. A man is trying to hold it, as it has been pushed back from the house. Oliver Hardy as Pebble Ford, bootlegger and all round bastard, laughing maniacally at the fire he has just lit offscreen. A distorted Alice Howell at a window frame, drenched in rain. She is inside.
January 30, 2026 at 6:18 PM
vanjpes.bsky.social
First 📽 of a day off: Outside the Law (1920, Tod Browning), a solid crime melodrama enlivened by a hardworking, luminous Priscilla Dean as a jewel thief and Lon Chaney as the gangster out to get her. A gorgeous opening gives way to a static hideout section, capped by a brutal, action-packed ending.
Title card for Outside the Law Priscilla Dean as Silky Moll, sat in a chair in a beautiful evening gown, a mean look on her face, holding a pistol. Molly (as she is also called) and partner-in-crime Bill at the door to their apartment, Lon Chaney (in suit and tilted hat) surprising them. Chaney as Black Mike, standing in front of windows, his hair dishevelled from fighting, holding a knife in his hand. He looks pissed.
January 30, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Jamie
hookland.bsky.social
If you have ever wanted to hear me talk about the role of Forteana and folklore within Hookland in an East End pub …. April is your lucky month.
forteanlondon.bsky.social London Fortean Society @forteanlondon.bsky.social · 1d
Events at The Bell in 2026
Feb - April

Feb 24 – Stevyn Colgan – A Policeman’s Progress from Law to Lore
Mar 31 – Dr Kate Cherrell – Celebrity Séances
Apr 28 – David Southwell – The Fortean and Folklore Origins of Hookland

Web: forteanlondon.blogspot.com or newsletter: eepurl.com/hV9OAr
January 30, 2026 at 9:33 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
On the subject of Kevin Brownlow, there's also a rather lovely recent interview with him (by Chaplin's grandson), which covers Charlie and much more, and is delightful

youtu.be/DemUOyaVXyg
Kevin Brownlow on Charlie Chaplin: The Stories That Changed Film Forever
YouTube video by Chaplin Talks
youtu.be
January 30, 2026 at 9:29 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Up to the Louise Brooks chapter in my 'The Parade's Gone By...' read through and it's just a wonderful window into an endlessly fascinating mind.

"She lives alone in Rochester, New York; she seldom goes out, she seldom receives visitors; and she spends most of her time of in bed."
A photograph of the book 'The Parade's Gone By...', by Kevin Brownlow, with a cover showing Jacques Feyder directing Greta Garbo in The Kiss.
January 30, 2026 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Jamie
grindrod.bsky.social
New episode of Monstrosities Mon Amour. See the National Theatre through the eyes of an archaeologist: @reblambert.bsky.social explains how it’s like a henge. Also her love for Dolph Lundgren’s Masters of the Universe! johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...
Monstrosities Mon Amour: The National Theatre with Rebecca Lambert
#14. John Grindrod meets archaeologist Rebecca Lambert to discuss the neolithic echoes of the National Theatre and the camp absurdity of the 1987 film Masters of the Universe
johngrindrod.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Reposted by Jamie
bobfry.bsky.social
#WyrdWednesday

From The Reader’s Digest Folklore, Myths & Legends of Britain. The lanes around Longridge in Lancashire were haunted by the Headless Woman. A malicious, boggart, from behind she looked like an old lady, but she would turn around & pursue travellers carrying her head in a basket.
A illustration showing two terrified gentlemen in Victorian clothes shocked by the figure of an old woman carrying her severed head in a basket. Artist Robin Jacques.
January 28, 2026 at 7:08 AM
Reposted by Jamie
pgwodelouse.bsky.social
Coming soon…

11 short ghostly, weird and folk horror stories by, erm, me

Draft cover design by @raynewman.bsky.social Newman, fantastic author of Municipal Gothic and Intervals of Darkness

#ShortStories #Fiction #Publishing
January 27, 2026 at 10:34 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
I still love this cover for my book. Ray is a great writer, artist and designer.
raynewman.bsky.social Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 4d
There's this for @vanjpes.bsky.social (another member of my writing group) inspired by Saul Bass, from Jamie's own sketch:

www.amazon.co.uk/Row-Open-Gra...
A minimalist illustration of a row of graves illuminated by a torch beam, with the text A Row of Open Graves and nine other stories of a macabre persuasion by Jamie Evans.
January 27, 2026 at 11:16 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
As I meander through Chaplin's early filmography, the films really vary in quality, but the fascinating, embryonic tramp character is remarkably consistent, in that he's one of cinema's most casually malevolent, deeply disturbing, horniest, meanest, most violent creations and terrifying for it
Chaplin in his tramp costume, in a kitchen setting, stood next to an open container with several bottles of alcohol lined up. He looks like he's just hit the jackpot, a devious expression on his face.
January 26, 2026 at 8:54 PM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Enjoying revisiting Evil S1 despite oh 35% of it being pure bollocks. Still a favourite horror series this century thus far.
January 26, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Jamie
rickburin.bsky.social
If you like 1930s escapism, with all of its soppiness and its wisecracks, you can’t do much better than Trade Winds boxd.it/cQ3U5L
A ★★★★½ review of Trade Winds (1938)
This has probably the strongest Dorothy Parker stamp as on any of her scripts, encompassing alcoholism, suicide, pungent wisecracks and the plain person's patronising jealousy of the pretty, all withi...
boxd.it
January 26, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Jamie
jwomack.bsky.social
Excellent appreciation of the director we all sort of know:
January 26, 2026 at 1:58 PM
vanjpes.bsky.social
In today's installment of 'weird, you say ex-library like it's a BAD thing', this beauty - which had seemed lost in the international postal system - has finally arrived
A photograph of the book Spellbound in Darkness: A History of the Silent Film by George C. Pratt. The cover is grey, Spellbound in Darkness written purple, and the centre of the cover taken up with images from films, sprockets running down both sides. Inside page, showing the empty holder for a library card with the author's surname, the book title and Learning Resources Center Nazareth College of Rochester N.Y. typed onto it Inside page showing Spellbound in Darkness written large in all caps, A History of the Silent Film and George C. Pratt underneath, New York Graphic Society Ltd. Greenwich, Connecticut below that, and in the corner a stamp of WITHDRAWN in large blue letters.
January 26, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Jamie
moviessilently.bsky.social
We're closing out our month of silent era films about modern women on a high note:

THE GIRL IN TAILS is a Swedish romantic comedy and feminist satire directed by Karin Swanström.

A young woman causes a scandal when she wears a tuxedo to her own graduation ball.

moviessilently.com/2026/01/26/t...
The Girl in Tails (1926) A Silent Film Review
A would-be Swedish Cinderella has no dress for the ball but her solution is to raid her spoiled, fashion-obsessed brother’s closet and turn up in tails. Chaos and feminist satire ensue.
moviessilently.com
January 26, 2026 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by Jamie
regretteruane.bsky.social
Promotional packaging for an appetite suppressant, from a 1970s Graphis magazine feature on designs created for pharmaceutical company Roche
A black and white photo of a white woman with short dark hair looking sad and holding onto the tines of a giant fork which she is sitting behind as if in prison A black and white photo of a black box featuring a photo white woman with short dark hair looking sad and holding onto the tines of a giant fork which she is sitting behind as if in prison underneath is white text reading she can’t get out on her own
January 26, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Jamie
illuminations.bsky.social
Centenary day on the blog, with a Magic Rays extract, recounting JLB's 26 Jan '26 public presentation of 'true television', plus links to Don McLean's article at The Conversation, and contemporary reports at Andre Lang's History of Television website.

www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/centenary-day/
Centenary day - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Happy 100th birthday, television! Exactly one hundred years ago tonight, John Logie Baird gave the first public presentation of what he called ‘true television’ in his workshop abou...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
January 26, 2026 at 8:27 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Feels like the visual representation of this I didn't know I needed
You are here next to a dot on a black space. Where do you live? Peoria? Salt Lake City? Birmingham? Kankakee? Spokane? Buffalo? Memphis? No. No, you don't. You don't live in any of those places or in any other place that has a name. You live, night and day, week after week, year in and year out, in the nameless hidden places of your mind.
January 25, 2026 at 11:19 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Reading some comics for kids this morning
Two graphic novels side by side: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft and I.N.J. Culbard, and Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Vol 1 by M.R. James, adapted by Leah Moore and John Reppion, illustrated by Aneke, Kit Buss, Fouad Mezher and Alisdair Wood.
January 24, 2026 at 12:05 PM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Got to do something to shake this malaise. Maybe a little adventure. Who's in?
An intertitle card reads "- - Go to the graveyard! - Bring me back a body! - Tonight! -"
January 22, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Jamie
archivetvmusings.bsky.social
Happy Birthday Tom Baker, born this day in 1934.
January 20, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Jamie
pgwodelouse.bsky.social
I’m not in the habit of reposting my own content but have to on this occasion, what with it being Poe’s birthday
pgwodelouse.bsky.social P.G. Wodelouse @pgwodelouse.bsky.social · Jun 27
Tinky-winky!
Dipsy!
Laa-laa!
Poe
Tinky-winky from the Teletubbies Dipsy from the Teletubbies Laa-laa from the Teletubbies Edgar Allan Poe (not from the Teletubbies)
January 19, 2026 at 11:50 AM
vanjpes.bsky.social
Enjoying that the Peter Outerbridge films are often almost comically bleak slices of Victorian-era social grimness and melancholy. An impressive counterpoint the series followed with being quite nice and sweet. But you know, also with murders.
vanjpes.bsky.social Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · Dec 12
Decided on Murdoch Mysteries from the start as a relatively easy going mystery series to occupy me. That said, just a few episodes into S1, alongside the focus on new techniques in detection, the cameos from Arthur Conan Doyle et al, it didn't hang around on a running theme of confronting prejudice.
Murdoch, a detective in suit and hat, stands in a laboratory setting holding a light bulb. He is looking at it, as if waiting for it to illuminate, despite it not being screwed into anything.
January 19, 2026 at 7:53 AM