Xan Brooks
@xanbrooks.bsky.social
Novelist, journalist. THE CATCHERS (https://tinyurl.com/TheCatchers2024)
Reposted by Xan Brooks
This is mind-bending. The Minnesota GOP Governor wannabe who volunteered as the 1st ICE murderer's legal counsel just DROPPED OUT of the governor's race (and seemingly the party) because he can't stomach the 2ND ICE murder www.startribune.com/chris-madel-...
Chris Madel ends GOP bid for governor, says he can’t support federal ‘retribution’ against Minnesota
His exit comes as some other Republicans have started to distance themselves from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the state.
www.startribune.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:47 PM
This is mind-bending. The Minnesota GOP Governor wannabe who volunteered as the 1st ICE murderer's legal counsel just DROPPED OUT of the governor's race (and seemingly the party) because he can't stomach the 2ND ICE murder www.startribune.com/chris-madel-...
Fine, bleak, clear-eyed M Gessen piece on America’s new era of state terror www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/o...
Opinion | State Terror Has Arrived
www.nytimes.com
January 25, 2026 at 11:51 AM
Fine, bleak, clear-eyed M Gessen piece on America’s new era of state terror www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/o...
General strike & economic boycott. Break this government. Bring it down
🚨BREAKING: THOUSANDS of Minneapolis protesters are out near the scene where immigration agents killed ANOTHER person this morning.
"F*ck ICE, F*ck ICE!" LIVE NOW⬇️
"F*ck ICE, F*ck ICE!" LIVE NOW⬇️
January 24, 2026 at 9:44 PM
General strike & economic boycott. Break this government. Bring it down
Carney’s speech is the most articulate, shrewd & consequential assessment we’ve had so far. Full transcript here Globalnews.ca globalnews.ca/news/1162087...
Global News | Breaking, Latest News and Video for Canada
Globalnews.ca – Watch and read Canada’s Breaking news plus Business, Health, Politics and World News
Globalnews.ca
January 21, 2026 at 8:24 AM
Carney’s speech is the most articulate, shrewd & consequential assessment we’ve had so far. Full transcript here Globalnews.ca globalnews.ca/news/1162087...
My @the-independent.com column on The Chronology of Water, Kristen Stewart's directing debut, which is altogether precious in both senses of the word
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut is pretentious and faintly magnificent
The one-time teen idol has never taken the easy route in her stardom, and her first feature film behind the camera – next month’s ‘The Chronology of Water’ – is an appropriately awkward, non-commercia...
www.independent.co.uk
January 19, 2026 at 12:09 PM
My @the-independent.com column on The Chronology of Water, Kristen Stewart's directing debut, which is altogether precious in both senses of the word
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
My audience with head-spinning multi-hyphenate Alejandro Jodorowsky: actor, director, shaman, comic-book writer, psychotherapist, poet (over Zoom, but still)
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
‘Soon I will die. And I will go with a great orgasm’: the last rites of Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Chilean film-maker’s psychedelic work earned him the title ‘king of the midnight movie’, and a fan in John Lennon. Now the 96-year-old is ready for the end – but first there is more living to do
www.theguardian.com
January 16, 2026 at 4:13 PM
My audience with head-spinning multi-hyphenate Alejandro Jodorowsky: actor, director, shaman, comic-book writer, psychotherapist, poet (over Zoom, but still)
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
Reposted by Xan Brooks
The child porn AI bot built by his billionaire donor being integrated into the war machine by this idiot is the distillation of all Trump stories
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the integration of Elon Musk's xAI platform, Grok, into military networks as part of a new "AI acceleration strategy" during a visit to SpaceX.
January 13, 2026 at 5:06 AM
The child porn AI bot built by his billionaire donor being integrated into the war machine by this idiot is the distillation of all Trump stories
Bela Tarr, 1955-2026
I interviewed him once & he smoked so much that the bar staff intervened & swore so hard that the translator refused to translate. Which is to say that he was as tough, hazardous & uncompromising as his films. Gone in a puff of smoke, hopefully raising hell someplace else
I interviewed him once & he smoked so much that the bar staff intervened & swore so hard that the translator refused to translate. Which is to say that he was as tough, hazardous & uncompromising as his films. Gone in a puff of smoke, hopefully raising hell someplace else
January 6, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Bela Tarr, 1955-2026
I interviewed him once & he smoked so much that the bar staff intervened & swore so hard that the translator refused to translate. Which is to say that he was as tough, hazardous & uncompromising as his films. Gone in a puff of smoke, hopefully raising hell someplace else
I interviewed him once & he smoked so much that the bar staff intervened & swore so hard that the translator refused to translate. Which is to say that he was as tough, hazardous & uncompromising as his films. Gone in a puff of smoke, hopefully raising hell someplace else
Nice to write a tribute to an aged Hollywood legend which isn't an obituary. Happy 100th birthday Dick Van Dyke, and yes I realise I got the Chitty toy reference wrong thanks for your concern
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
Elastic limbs, fantastical accents and crackling sexual chemistry: Dick Van Dyke turns 100
The goofy star of Mary Poppins becomes a centenarian on Saturday. And what a precocious performer he has proved, sustaining scrappy mischief through seven decades of mainstream entertainment
www.theguardian.com
December 13, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Nice to write a tribute to an aged Hollywood legend which isn't an obituary. Happy 100th birthday Dick Van Dyke, and yes I realise I got the Chitty toy reference wrong thanks for your concern
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
My piece on Cover-Up, Seymour Hersh & the state of modern-day journalism
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
‘He’s a son of a bitch – but he’s usually right’: why did Seymour Hersh quit the film about his earth-shattering exposés?
He is the prickly, hotheaded journalist who uncovered the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and torture at Abu Ghraib prison. Finishing Cover-Up, a film about his astonishing life and countless scoops, was n...
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:57 AM
My piece on Cover-Up, Seymour Hersh & the state of modern-day journalism
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
Column for @the-independent.com, on the evergreen Sunset Boulevard & the rot on the Hollywood fringes www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
Hollywood is poison – and few films understand its horrors like Sunset Boulevard
Seventy-five years after its release, Billy Wilder’s melodramatic satire on celebrity culture and faded stardom – starring Gloria Swanson as its grotesque heroine – retains its tragic grandeur, writes...
www.independent.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Column for @the-independent.com, on the evergreen Sunset Boulevard & the rot on the Hollywood fringes www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
Martin Parr, gone far too soon. I interviewed him a few years back, just after lockdown when he was undergoing chemo & he was sharp & combative & relishing his new role as a disabled photographer, a mobility-scooting drive-by shooter amid the British crowds. RIP.
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘I didn’t really watch any tennis’: how Martin Parr captured the Grand Slam’s real champions
The photographer toured the four tournaments shooting thrilled fans instead of sweaty stars. He talks about why street photography is becoming impossible – and life after his cancer diagnosis
www.theguardian.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Martin Parr, gone far too soon. I interviewed him a few years back, just after lockdown when he was undergoing chemo & he was sharp & combative & relishing his new role as a disabled photographer, a mobility-scooting drive-by shooter amid the British crowds. RIP.
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Train Dreams is a stone cold masterpiece - one of the century’s great books www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/m...
The Dark Secrets of the Writer Behind ‘Train Dreams’
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Train Dreams is a stone cold masterpiece - one of the century’s great books www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/m...
At some point soon a journalist is going to lose patience & react as one would normally react when a bullying moron tries to shout you down - & they'll deserve every Pulitzer prize they can carry
“You’re a stupid person” — Trump lashes out at a reporter who presses him on the fact that the suspected DC shooter was actually thoroughly vetted before he was let in the US from Afghanistan
November 28, 2025 at 9:10 AM
At some point soon a journalist is going to lose patience & react as one would normally react when a bullying moron tries to shout you down - & they'll deserve every Pulitzer prize they can carry
I hesitate to bill this as an interview given that it basically involved sitting on a couch, listening to Hawke & Linklater chat & occasionally pitching in. But I wrote it up afterwards, so that officially counts as work www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
‘Our underachieving careers make the friendship easier’: Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater on Blue Moon and their 32-year friendship
As they launch their 10th film together, the actor and director look back on how their stellar careers have progressed in tandem, through co-stars’ addictions and Hollywood pressures
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:41 AM
I hesitate to bill this as an interview given that it basically involved sitting on a couch, listening to Hawke & Linklater chat & occasionally pitching in. But I wrote it up afterwards, so that officially counts as work www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
Sublime character actor who landed in a film like a pinch of peyote & made everything weirder, hazardous, better. RIP www.vulture.com/article/cult...
Cult Actor Udo Kier Dies at 81
Kier worked with everyone — from Andy Warhol to Gus Van Sant to Madonna.
www.vulture.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Sublime character actor who landed in a film like a pinch of peyote & made everything weirder, hazardous, better. RIP www.vulture.com/article/cult...
Spoke with Joel Edgerton & Clint Bentley about their fabulous Train Dreams, & the pleasures & pain of a life on the road
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
‘Studio bosses were like: it sounds lovely. We’ll pass!’: Joel Edgerton and Clint Bentley on their Oscar-tipped lumberjack tragedy
The actor and the director of Train Dreams – a quietly powerful tale of a logger in 1900s Idaho – on the slog of getting it made, the joy of motel living and why human-made things will always beat AI
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Spoke with Joel Edgerton & Clint Bentley about their fabulous Train Dreams, & the pleasures & pain of a life on the road
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...
Delighted by this; it's a book that sticks around.
Right alongside Denis Johnson, too, for the added real estate value
Right alongside Denis Johnson, too, for the added real estate value
November 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Delighted by this; it's a book that sticks around.
Right alongside Denis Johnson, too, for the added real estate value
Right alongside Denis Johnson, too, for the added real estate value
Reposted by Xan Brooks
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
November 11, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
By this logic, can the BBC now countersue Karoline Leavitt for labelling its output as “100% fake news”? Have her stand that up in court, with evidence, or the White House pays a billion in damages www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/w...
Trump Threatens to Sue the BBC for $1 Billion After Jan. 6 Documentary
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
By this logic, can the BBC now countersue Karoline Leavitt for labelling its output as “100% fake news”? Have her stand that up in court, with evidence, or the White House pays a billion in damages www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/w...
Waking up to wall-to-wall news of the BBC mugging & the Democrat collapse (8 turncoats, but that's all it takes) & it feels somehow seismic, a battle lost on two crucial fronts. 2025, what a year, constant cowardice & capitulation.
November 10, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Waking up to wall-to-wall news of the BBC mugging & the Democrat collapse (8 turncoats, but that's all it takes) & it feels somehow seismic, a battle lost on two crucial fronts. 2025, what a year, constant cowardice & capitulation.
For @the-independent.com, on the self-admiring Jay Kelly & the constellation of stars who like to orbit themselves www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
George Clooney basically plays himself in Jay Kelly – so why is he so unconvincing?
Noah Baumbach’s new film casts Clooney as a wealthy, handsome, pampered and indulged A-lister, and like many films in which fake stars opine about the miseries of celebrity, it quickly wears out its w...
www.independent.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:47 AM
For @the-independent.com, on the self-admiring Jay Kelly & the constellation of stars who like to orbit themselves www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
I love to hear about the genesis of novels. The solitary seed that was planted years before it flowered. The seemingly random schmutter of ideas that slowly come together & spark
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
‘I had a year to write it from scratch’: the 2025 Booker finalists on the stories behind their novels
A newspaper report about a missing girl, the memory of a midwinter emergency … Susan Choi, Andrew Miller, David Szalay and others on what inspired their shortlisted books
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I love to hear about the genesis of novels. The solitary seed that was planted years before it flowered. The seemingly random schmutter of ideas that slowly come together & spark
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...