Jonathan Bygraves
@iambags.bsky.social
Short film person vimeo.com/iambags
Truly heartwarming to see the world of magazine publishing covering increasingly diverse interests
October 31, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Truly heartwarming to see the world of magazine publishing covering increasingly diverse interests
Bit weird of the Vatican to announce the selection of a new Pope in the middle of an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium
April 26, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Bit weird of the Vatican to announce the selection of a new Pope in the middle of an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium
This is one of my all-time favourite lines of dialogue
April 16, 2025 at 9:24 PM
This is one of my all-time favourite lines of dialogue
Enjoying the irony of Liz Truss banging on about the "home of free speech" in Bedford, a town whose most famous resident was banged up for 12 years for nonconformist preaching
April 15, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Enjoying the irony of Liz Truss banging on about the "home of free speech" in Bedford, a town whose most famous resident was banged up for 12 years for nonconformist preaching
Me trying out the new ear drops that my GP has prescribed
April 9, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Me trying out the new ear drops that my GP has prescribed
Enjoying the creepy DEAD RINGERS-esque energy in this LRB profile of the Barclay brothers:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
April 2, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Enjoying the creepy DEAD RINGERS-esque energy in this LRB profile of the Barclay brothers:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Found a first edition of Jon Ronson's THEM in my local chazza which turned out to have a ticket to the 2002 BAFTAs inside as a bookmark, and now feeling half obliged to start a months-long dive down a series of rabbit holes to uncover the original owner's identity
February 2, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Found a first edition of Jon Ronson's THEM in my local chazza which turned out to have a ticket to the 2002 BAFTAs inside as a bookmark, and now feeling half obliged to start a months-long dive down a series of rabbit holes to uncover the original owner's identity
For some obscure reason, today I was reminded of my very favourite piece of writing by John Berger; I posted this at The Other Place in the middle of the pandemic, but once again its meaning has, just like the Grünewald altarpiece, transformed into something new for me
![The final three paragraphs from John Berger's essay "Between Two Colmars". Text reads:
On the occasion of both my visits to Colmar it was winter, and the town was under the grip of a similar cold, the cold which comes off the plain and carries with it a reminder of hunger. In the same town, under similar physical conditions, I saw differently. It is a commonplace that the significance of a work of art changes as it survives. Usually, however, this knowledge is used to distinguish between 'them' (in the past) and 'us' (now). There is a tendency to picture them [word is italicised] and their reactions to art as being embedded in history, and at the same time to credit ourselves [word is italicised] with an over-view, looking across from what we treat as the summit of history. The surviving work of art then seems to confirm our superior position. The aim of its survival was us.
This is illusion. There is no exemption from history. The first time I saw the Grünewald I was anxious to place it [word is italicised] historically. In terms of medieval religion, the plague, medicine, the Lazar house. Now I have been forced to place myself historically.
In a period of revolutionary expectation, I saw a work of art which had survived as evidence of the past's despair; in a period which has to be endured, I see the same work miraculously offering a narrow pass across despair.
1973](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j5y23m6qpsdtsuq5o55vapex/bafkreiev7kpljhdppatbvqqjls7zhitdkcvjak3uqjbvvcatfotrony4vm@jpeg)
December 20, 2024 at 9:38 PM
For some obscure reason, today I was reminded of my very favourite piece of writing by John Berger; I posted this at The Other Place in the middle of the pandemic, but once again its meaning has, just like the Grünewald altarpiece, transformed into something new for me
tfw it's April 1905 and you find it's the best way to cure anemia
December 14, 2024 at 9:22 PM
tfw it's April 1905 and you find it's the best way to cure anemia
My favourite American historian whose name can be sung along to the chorus of a Dead Kennedys song? I'd have to say
December 9, 2024 at 3:38 PM
My favourite American historian whose name can be sung along to the chorus of a Dead Kennedys song? I'd have to say
Never judge a book by its cover, just go straight to the index and delight at the wild juxtapositions
December 7, 2024 at 9:35 PM
Never judge a book by its cover, just go straight to the index and delight at the wild juxtapositions
Segueing from Noirvember to the Christmas movie season like a pro 😎
December 7, 2024 at 12:04 PM
Segueing from Noirvember to the Christmas movie season like a pro 😎
Society (Dir: Brian Yuzna, 1989)
November 15, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Society (Dir: Brian Yuzna, 1989)
It's just struck me that Alex Jones and Steve Bannon both have tremendous Guess Who? character energies
November 14, 2024 at 8:36 PM
It's just struck me that Alex Jones and Steve Bannon both have tremendous Guess Who? character energies
I'm forever haunted by the "St. Matthew's Meal" bit in this otherwise throwaway Look Around You gag, IMO one of the most cursed images ever shown on British television www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QcK...
October 8, 2024 at 9:44 PM
I'm forever haunted by the "St. Matthew's Meal" bit in this otherwise throwaway Look Around You gag, IMO one of the most cursed images ever shown on British television www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QcK...
“Now the tech has finally caught up with my vision”
September 20, 2024 at 9:09 AM
“Now the tech has finally caught up with my vision”
Hemingway's been at it again I see
September 14, 2024 at 3:49 PM
Hemingway's been at it again I see
Greatest phone call scene?
May 7, 2024 at 12:25 PM
Greatest phone call scene?
TOOTHPASTE INVIGILATOR
March 4, 2024 at 11:16 AM
TOOTHPASTE INVIGILATOR
Re-reading Mike Davis's City of Quartz, and struck by this description of physicist Robert A. Millikan (d. 1953), which makes him sound less like a bygone mid-20th century curio than one of the present day's Silicon Valley sociopaths
January 22, 2024 at 4:46 PM
Re-reading Mike Davis's City of Quartz, and struck by this description of physicist Robert A. Millikan (d. 1953), which makes him sound less like a bygone mid-20th century curio than one of the present day's Silicon Valley sociopaths
Annual rewatch of THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER has led me to this extraordinary 1938 colour portrait of Margaret Sullavan (photographer: Gordon Crocker, source: collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O141070...)
December 23, 2023 at 11:06 PM
Annual rewatch of THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER has led me to this extraordinary 1938 colour portrait of Margaret Sullavan (photographer: Gordon Crocker, source: collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O141070...)
