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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚

@barrynorton.bsky.social

1.1K followers 1.1K following 8.3K posts

He/him. I write queer/speculative fiction, with ND representation, in Denmark. PhD in Computer Science, MA in Creative Writing, MSc in Science Communication in progress.

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · Feb 11

I read that as 'thirsty sickos'.

That's whom I write for.

I'll only find out if there are 30 of them when my novel is published.

Shouting Crow @shoutingcrow.bsky.social · Jan 8

“Make art for thirty sickos,” is good advice.
“Be somebody’s sicko,” is GREAT advice.
“Do both!” is better, still.

Being part of a community is amazing. Yes, it takes work. You gotta support people in ways that are kind of labour intensive. Gushing over a buddy’s new thing is one of the best parts.

A screenshot of a tweet from Colin Broadmoor stating: The concept of the “mass audience” has had a largely deleterious influence on art. Create art for at most 30 sickos at a time.

Stan Kelly originally illustrated this black and white cartoon image of a poorly-shaved man with his hands and face pressed against a glass window, wearing a shirt labeled “sickos” for the Onion newspaper. The man is clearly excited about what he is seeing.

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 13h

Don't be jealous of the future, bro!

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 13h

No sequel, prequel or franchise is going to get me back into the cinema for a US movie.

Every Film Now @everyfilmnow.bsky.social · 15h

A live-action ‘JESSICA RABBIT’ movie is in early development, based on Gary K. Wolf’s novel ‘XERIOUS BUSINESS’.

The ‘WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT’ creator reclaimed rights from Disney last year and eyes reuniting with Zemeckis & Spielberg for the spy thriller.

#JessicaRabbit #GaryKWolf

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 19h

Now? Bond attacks people who don't wear poppies and dreads disclosure of the Epstein files.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 19h

Leave Bond dead.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 19h

Quite right, other Barry.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 21h

Imagine if they went to galleries and the theatre too. Performativity is the only explanation. Imagine men liking these things and doing so for their own enrichment, whoever's looking or not.

At least there's no performance in the things men actually like, like football. Chanting in the stands.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 1d

They're doing your admin in a dome?

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 1d

In contrast to the many alcohol-based ones, I rather fancy this.

New for 2025! Alcohol Free Mixed Beer & Sweet Advent Calendar (FREE De

🎄 New for 2025! Alcohol-Free Mixed Beer, Wine, Cider & Cocktail Advent Calendar 🍷🍺🍏🍹🍬 PRE Order now for shipping in November! First 300 limited to £70 price! Step into the festive season with a fr...

wisebartender.co.uk

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 1d

Food scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 1d

Yes! And bonus marks for Yorkshire Tea.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 1d

That portable kettle is a revelation. I don't know if yours is the same, but mine promises to work on 240v or 120v. My travel just got a lot easier.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 1d

Hang on... shit off!

Nonsense from the headline with the headline 'Hang on, when did reading become so performative?' with a picture of six men semi-recumbent while reading alone in cafés, on public transport, etc.

The text above this reads:
The internet has been having plenty of fun with the idea of performative reading, mostly because it seems to have been attributed to a very specific type of man: the sensitive, soft, solipsistic kind

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

I’m so conflicted over this.

It’s like someone saw the chips and gravy versus chips and curry sauce schism and said, “hold my beer”.

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

I think you misunderstood my question.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

The childhood violence recalled by the ruler also tends to focus the mind.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

I know there’s a caution around moderation here, but I don’t need to see this sick filth.

Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 3d

I am not allowed to buy more books until I read the ones I already own

Reposted by Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚

Eternal October 🎃 @kultkommando.bsky.social · 3d

What did you do to deserve this kind of punishment?

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:
"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.
"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.
"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the
'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!
"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."

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Reposted by Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚

Misha is: a gift box full of owls @howliet.bsky.social · 3d

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

I’m upset my this post. You have upset me. And my god.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

Good job I had nothing else to do today

PHYSICISTS STILL WRITE FORTRAIN in the style of a Mamdani poster, where the sky is a punched card and the buildings roughly follow the lowest hole

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

Good job I had nothing else to do today

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 2d

As a computer scientist it still blows my mind.

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 3d

PHYSICISTS STILL WRITE FORTRAN in the Zohran Mamdani campaign font

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Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 3d

Always the bride, never the bridesmaid

Barry Norton 🌈 ♾ 📚 @barrynorton.bsky.social · 3d

The glue on pizza thing? That was retrieval. A valid criticism of LLMs’ inability to discern facts, and of the dangers of retrieval surfaced through generated text, but not of language models’ text generation itself.