Richard K Morgan
@quellist1.bsky.social
Ageing futurist, still commits occasional fantasy. Novels, games, comics, streaming TV. "The High Priest of Violent Science Fiction" - Guardian
Weighing in on the side of desecration.
One of the worst movies I’ve ever been made to sit through. Whole premise - a musical, but everyone sings badly - is like a Simpson’s episode……
One of the worst movies I’ve ever been made to sit through. Whole premise - a musical, but everyone sings badly - is like a Simpson’s episode……
November 14, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Weighing in on the side of desecration.
One of the worst movies I’ve ever been made to sit through. Whole premise - a musical, but everyone sings badly - is like a Simpson’s episode……
One of the worst movies I’ve ever been made to sit through. Whole premise - a musical, but everyone sings badly - is like a Simpson’s episode……
Ah, *that’s* better!
Much cooler by night……
Much cooler by night……
November 13, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Ah, *that’s* better!
Much cooler by night……
Much cooler by night……
What about a horror video game where it doesn't etc etc
November 11, 2025 at 4:05 PM
What about a horror video game where it doesn't etc etc
Bond via s1 of Mad Men......
November 11, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Bond via s1 of Mad Men......
Would absolutely watch!
November 11, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Would absolutely watch!
No. I took a serious allergy to Amis after London Fields. Haven't touched him since.
Worth going back?
Worth going back?
November 10, 2025 at 12:12 PM
No. I took a serious allergy to Amis after London Fields. Haven't touched him since.
Worth going back?
Worth going back?
PS - that's how you divide society.
It's how you end up with embattled liberal elites trying & failing to run things, and a furious, rage-filled population of Trump and Reform voters who can see through your shit like it's glass, but not through the "plain-speaking" of their idols & snake oil men.
It's how you end up with embattled liberal elites trying & failing to run things, and a furious, rage-filled population of Trump and Reform voters who can see through your shit like it's glass, but not through the "plain-speaking" of their idols & snake oil men.
November 10, 2025 at 12:10 PM
PS - that's how you divide society.
It's how you end up with embattled liberal elites trying & failing to run things, and a furious, rage-filled population of Trump and Reform voters who can see through your shit like it's glass, but not through the "plain-speaking" of their idols & snake oil men.
It's how you end up with embattled liberal elites trying & failing to run things, and a furious, rage-filled population of Trump and Reform voters who can see through your shit like it's glass, but not through the "plain-speaking" of their idols & snake oil men.
1) You're likely to ignore/deny unpleasant self-evident truths, replacing them with comforting ideology/dogma or just specious bollocks.
2) People who haven't been through the intellectual mill of Uni are going to look at you, initially with disbelief, later with disdain, finally with hate.
2/2
2) People who haven't been through the intellectual mill of Uni are going to look at you, initially with disbelief, later with disdain, finally with hate.
2/2
November 10, 2025 at 12:06 PM
1) You're likely to ignore/deny unpleasant self-evident truths, replacing them with comforting ideology/dogma or just specious bollocks.
2) People who haven't been through the intellectual mill of Uni are going to look at you, initially with disbelief, later with disdain, finally with hate.
2/2
2) People who haven't been through the intellectual mill of Uni are going to look at you, initially with disbelief, later with disdain, finally with hate.
2/2
Sometimes, the truth is actually self-evident (and often unpleasant).
If your intellectual habits, however, have taught you to treat truth as always conditional, arguable, abstract, and if that toolkit is running your mind rather than vice versa, well, two things are likely to happen -
1/2
If your intellectual habits, however, have taught you to treat truth as always conditional, arguable, abstract, and if that toolkit is running your mind rather than vice versa, well, two things are likely to happen -
1/2
November 10, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Sometimes, the truth is actually self-evident (and often unpleasant).
If your intellectual habits, however, have taught you to treat truth as always conditional, arguable, abstract, and if that toolkit is running your mind rather than vice versa, well, two things are likely to happen -
1/2
If your intellectual habits, however, have taught you to treat truth as always conditional, arguable, abstract, and if that toolkit is running your mind rather than vice versa, well, two things are likely to happen -
1/2
...it is the exact opposite of useful to use that same toolkit to explain away - eg - the vast atrocities committed by the Soviet Union and Communist China as somehow regrettable but y'know, no biggie, not compared to those awful Nazis.*
*(this was the insanity de jour while I was at Uni)
2/2
*(this was the insanity de jour while I was at Uni)
2/2
November 10, 2025 at 11:49 AM
...it is the exact opposite of useful to use that same toolkit to explain away - eg - the vast atrocities committed by the Soviet Union and Communist China as somehow regrettable but y'know, no biggie, not compared to those awful Nazis.*
*(this was the insanity de jour while I was at Uni)
2/2
*(this was the insanity de jour while I was at Uni)
2/2
To a very real extent, I feel that a lot of our ills, especially on the political left, have stemmed from the massive over-application of that toolkit.
Because while it's useful to be able to understand that, contrary to appearances, the Earth actually goes around the sun & not vice versa.....
1/2
Because while it's useful to be able to understand that, contrary to appearances, the Earth actually goes around the sun & not vice versa.....
1/2
November 10, 2025 at 11:46 AM
To a very real extent, I feel that a lot of our ills, especially on the political left, have stemmed from the massive over-application of that toolkit.
Because while it's useful to be able to understand that, contrary to appearances, the Earth actually goes around the sun & not vice versa.....
1/2
Because while it's useful to be able to understand that, contrary to appearances, the Earth actually goes around the sun & not vice versa.....
1/2
There's a strong argument for the fact that GMF put his pen where his mouth was on this, and the Flashman books were the result.
November 8, 2025 at 2:32 PM
There's a strong argument for the fact that GMF put his pen where his mouth was on this, and the Flashman books were the result.
By contrast, the whole point with King's Shining (agree, it's probably his finest), and his writing more generally, is that it's his deep engagement with humanity that rockets the books up out of the limits of the horror genre and into the literary stratosphere.
November 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
By contrast, the whole point with King's Shining (agree, it's probably his finest), and his writing more generally, is that it's his deep engagement with humanity that rockets the books up out of the limits of the horror genre and into the literary stratosphere.
Would agree, except that I don't think it's Kubrick's only bad movie. In fact, I'd say it's actually emblematic ofall his work - visual fascinating, good at extremity and the grotesque. And an utter fail when it comes to portraying or understanding actual human beings.....
November 8, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Would agree, except that I don't think it's Kubrick's only bad movie. In fact, I'd say it's actually emblematic ofall his work - visual fascinating, good at extremity and the grotesque. And an utter fail when it comes to portraying or understanding actual human beings.....
On the inevitable comparisons -
Yotei is more expansive, has more cool gameplay wrinkles, obviously (fresher tech, more pixels) achieves more in the sheer natural beauty department.
But dose boss fights, man!
Plus some awkward narrative flinching - yeah, it's Tsushima by a head.
Yotei is more expansive, has more cool gameplay wrinkles, obviously (fresher tech, more pixels) achieves more in the sheer natural beauty department.
But dose boss fights, man!
Plus some awkward narrative flinching - yeah, it's Tsushima by a head.
November 8, 2025 at 2:11 PM
On the inevitable comparisons -
Yotei is more expansive, has more cool gameplay wrinkles, obviously (fresher tech, more pixels) achieves more in the sheer natural beauty department.
But dose boss fights, man!
Plus some awkward narrative flinching - yeah, it's Tsushima by a head.
Yotei is more expansive, has more cool gameplay wrinkles, obviously (fresher tech, more pixels) achieves more in the sheer natural beauty department.
But dose boss fights, man!
Plus some awkward narrative flinching - yeah, it's Tsushima by a head.
(NB - this was clearly a conscious design choice, but it's one I've always had an issue with.
Basically, I'm a flow junkie, and as soon as 'at ole Dark Souls/Bloodborne grind emerges, I'm out).
Still - without doubt one of the most purely beautiful game experiences I've ever had.
Basically, I'm a flow junkie, and as soon as 'at ole Dark Souls/Bloodborne grind emerges, I'm out).
Still - without doubt one of the most purely beautiful game experiences I've ever had.
November 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
(NB - this was clearly a conscious design choice, but it's one I've always had an issue with.
Basically, I'm a flow junkie, and as soon as 'at ole Dark Souls/Bloodborne grind emerges, I'm out).
Still - without doubt one of the most purely beautiful game experiences I've ever had.
Basically, I'm a flow junkie, and as soon as 'at ole Dark Souls/Bloodborne grind emerges, I'm out).
Still - without doubt one of the most purely beautiful game experiences I've ever had.
96% completion.
Won't be bothering with the unfinished business and the unrivalled duellist. One of the - very few - things I didn't like about Yotei, as opposed to Tsushima, was the insanely difficult demands of the boss fights, as compared to your general level of competence in the gamespace.
Won't be bothering with the unfinished business and the unrivalled duellist. One of the - very few - things I didn't like about Yotei, as opposed to Tsushima, was the insanely difficult demands of the boss fights, as compared to your general level of competence in the gamespace.
November 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
96% completion.
Won't be bothering with the unfinished business and the unrivalled duellist. One of the - very few - things I didn't like about Yotei, as opposed to Tsushima, was the insanely difficult demands of the boss fights, as compared to your general level of competence in the gamespace.
Won't be bothering with the unfinished business and the unrivalled duellist. One of the - very few - things I didn't like about Yotei, as opposed to Tsushima, was the insanely difficult demands of the boss fights, as compared to your general level of competence in the gamespace.