Michael Brooke
@marbleicehook.bsky.social
Freelance writer, editor and DVD/Blu-ray producer/commentator specialising in British and central/eastern European cinema. Indexes to my regular posts celebrating the latter (9am daily, 9pm most days) can be found at http://www.michaelbrooke.com/bluesky
Oh, and this is what happened when Starbucks invited people to "spread the cheer" by letting them post festive messages on a large public display. Again, I feel that this could perhaps have been foreseen.
November 13, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Oh, and this is what happened when Starbucks invited people to "spread the cheer" by letting them post festive messages on a large public display. Again, I feel that this could perhaps have been foreseen.
And you'd have thought the organisers would have seen this coming, because a few years earlier Mountain Dew held a similar public vote for a new apple flavour, and compounded this basic mistake by publishing a live leaderboard.
November 13, 2025 at 10:08 PM
And you'd have thought the organisers would have seen this coming, because a few years earlier Mountain Dew held a similar public vote for a new apple flavour, and compounded this basic mistake by publishing a live leaderboard.
And here is Boaty McBoatface being readied for action.
November 13, 2025 at 10:00 PM
And here is Boaty McBoatface being readied for action.
Appropriate, since it's the fiftieth anniversary of the cinema's definitive terrifyingly large monster dong.
October 21, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Appropriate, since it's the fiftieth anniversary of the cinema's definitive terrifyingly large monster dong.
That tangentially reminded me of a superb bit of Tippex and black marker alteration to the attached London Tube ad, whose last two words were altered to "pus river".
October 14, 2025 at 8:20 AM
That tangentially reminded me of a superb bit of Tippex and black marker alteration to the attached London Tube ad, whose last two words were altered to "pus river".
The embarrassing part is that Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute for Studies, one of Britain's most versatile scholars, is a cult figure round our house, even to the extent of us owning an Institute for Studies mug (evidence attached). But it never occurred to me to make the connection.
September 16, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The embarrassing part is that Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute for Studies, one of Britain's most versatile scholars, is a cult figure round our house, even to the extent of us owning an Institute for Studies mug (evidence attached). But it never occurred to me to make the connection.
Except when the prescription runs out and the bonus sausage rolls stop. He gets a bit miffed about that.
I attach a picture of one of his drug delivery mechanisms, prior to tossing it straight down his gullet.
I attach a picture of one of his drug delivery mechanisms, prior to tossing it straight down his gullet.
September 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Except when the prescription runs out and the bonus sausage rolls stop. He gets a bit miffed about that.
I attach a picture of one of his drug delivery mechanisms, prior to tossing it straight down his gullet.
I attach a picture of one of his drug delivery mechanisms, prior to tossing it straight down his gullet.
Not a current British ten pound note, sadly, but we had it for nearly two decades - and in any case Charles Darwin was very far from the only scientist featured on our money.
August 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Not a current British ten pound note, sadly, but we had it for nearly two decades - and in any case Charles Darwin was very far from the only scientist featured on our money.
This will never stop being funny.
(The guy deleted his account that same day, as there was no coming back from this. The patronising “look it up” was the best bit.)
(The guy deleted his account that same day, as there was no coming back from this. The patronising “look it up” was the best bit.)
July 23, 2025 at 9:54 AM
This will never stop being funny.
(The guy deleted his account that same day, as there was no coming back from this. The patronising “look it up” was the best bit.)
(The guy deleted his account that same day, as there was no coming back from this. The patronising “look it up” was the best bit.)
Which indirectly led to this heartfelt Facebook post of mine from a few years ago.
May 28, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Which indirectly led to this heartfelt Facebook post of mine from a few years ago.
This month’s nearly 1,200-page extravagance. I’d been umming and aahing about it for ages, my now 30-year-old copy of Bendazzi’s single-volume ‘Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation’ was getting a bit long in the tooth, and I’ve had than one animation-related commission this year, so...
May 28, 2025 at 5:48 PM
This month’s nearly 1,200-page extravagance. I’d been umming and aahing about it for ages, my now 30-year-old copy of Bendazzi’s single-volume ‘Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation’ was getting a bit long in the tooth, and I’ve had than one animation-related commission this year, so...
Today's post, courtesy of the estimable
@johnnymains.co.uk (as its creator, not its donor; I was happy to pay for it!).
I'm very glad I went for the almost 550-page hardback, as it feels seriously meaty in a way that I imagine the paperback doesn't quite match.
@johnnymains.co.uk (as its creator, not its donor; I was happy to pay for it!).
I'm very glad I went for the almost 550-page hardback, as it feels seriously meaty in a way that I imagine the paperback doesn't quite match.
May 24, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Today's post, courtesy of the estimable
@johnnymains.co.uk (as its creator, not its donor; I was happy to pay for it!).
I'm very glad I went for the almost 550-page hardback, as it feels seriously meaty in a way that I imagine the paperback doesn't quite match.
@johnnymains.co.uk (as its creator, not its donor; I was happy to pay for it!).
I'm very glad I went for the almost 550-page hardback, as it feels seriously meaty in a way that I imagine the paperback doesn't quite match.
The last couple of minutes of @horrornonna.com and @joshnelsonfilm.bsky.social's commentary for Indicator's upcoming The Taming of the Shrew is now right up there with my favourite commentary endings.
(It's not all like this, by the way - the rest is admirably scholarly and informative.)
(It's not all like this, by the way - the rest is admirably scholarly and informative.)
May 21, 2025 at 9:28 AM
The last couple of minutes of @horrornonna.com and @joshnelsonfilm.bsky.social's commentary for Indicator's upcoming The Taming of the Shrew is now right up there with my favourite commentary endings.
(It's not all like this, by the way - the rest is admirably scholarly and informative.)
(It's not all like this, by the way - the rest is admirably scholarly and informative.)
Not interrogate, quiz.
May 9, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Not interrogate, quiz.
Can't help you with those, but...
May 3, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Can't help you with those, but...
post an iconic blonde
April 23, 2025 at 6:37 PM
post an iconic blonde
And if it bears a more than passing resemblance to the work of Angela Carter, that's not a coincidence: Carter attended the film's British premiere, and it made a huge impression on her – indeed, The Company of Wolves is arguably its most direct descendant, albeit substituting wolves for vampires.
April 12, 2025 at 8:32 AM
And if it bears a more than passing resemblance to the work of Angela Carter, that's not a coincidence: Carter attended the film's British premiere, and it made a huge impression on her – indeed, The Company of Wolves is arguably its most direct descendant, albeit substituting wolves for vampires.
Ester Krumbachová brought a much-needed feminine sensibility as co-scriptwriter and costume designer, her close creative rapport with cinematographer Jan Čuřík placing much emphasis on ornate ornamental detail, which ensured constant visual appeal even when the narrative was at its most opaque.
April 12, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Ester Krumbachová brought a much-needed feminine sensibility as co-scriptwriter and costume designer, her close creative rapport with cinematographer Jan Čuřík placing much emphasis on ornate ornamental detail, which ensured constant visual appeal even when the narrative was at its most opaque.
In essence, it's about the fears and desires of 13-year-old Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), the narrative flowing from a dream that she had on the night of her first period, in which various bizarre creatures encroach on her daily existence, notably a cadaverous white-skinned vampire (Jiří Prýmek).
April 12, 2025 at 8:26 AM
In essence, it's about the fears and desires of 13-year-old Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), the narrative flowing from a dream that she had on the night of her first period, in which various bizarre creatures encroach on her daily existence, notably a cadaverous white-skinned vampire (Jiří Prýmek).
More pertinently as far as it getting greenlit after the 1968 Soviet invasion was concerned, it was based on a 1935 novel by Vitězslav Nezval, whose status as a loyal Communist trumped the rather outré things that he was writing about, at least in the eyes of the Czechoslovak cultural authorities.
April 12, 2025 at 8:24 AM
More pertinently as far as it getting greenlit after the 1968 Soviet invasion was concerned, it was based on a 1935 novel by Vitězslav Nezval, whose status as a loyal Communist trumped the rather outré things that he was writing about, at least in the eyes of the Czechoslovak cultural authorities.
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders/Valerie a týden divů
(Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
This celebrated Gothic-Surrealist fantasy about a young girl on the cusp of womanhood explored, to quote its director, "the juncture of reality and dream and the playful struggle between horror and humour".
(Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
This celebrated Gothic-Surrealist fantasy about a young girl on the cusp of womanhood explored, to quote its director, "the juncture of reality and dream and the playful struggle between horror and humour".
April 12, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders/Valerie a týden divů
(Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
This celebrated Gothic-Surrealist fantasy about a young girl on the cusp of womanhood explored, to quote its director, "the juncture of reality and dream and the playful struggle between horror and humour".
(Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovakia, 1970)
This celebrated Gothic-Surrealist fantasy about a young girl on the cusp of womanhood explored, to quote its director, "the juncture of reality and dream and the playful struggle between horror and humour".