Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.

Date: April 2018

Penumbra’s New Fiction

A different approach to publishing stories, from the author of Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, only available as a limited-edition degradable print (a bit precious, that) or a PDF to print at home or read on your screen of choice (a bit limiting, when something that makes better use of HTML’s potential could be more rewarding). #link

###

#NowPlaying Jan Garbarek - Dansere #aside

###

Looks like Netflix just switched to their new custom font for me #aside

###

WWE hagiography aside, Bruno Sammartino lived the kind of life ripe for a movie treatment #aside

###

Seedship

A text-based adventure (made with Twine) guiding an interstellar spacecraft full of colonists to a new home. #link

###

The Grunge Gold Rush

On the fates of Jawbox, the Meat Puppets and others swallowed, then thrown up my the music industry in the post-Nirvana fervour for the Next Big Thing. #link

###

I’m pained by the notion that Studio Ghibli is considered a genre unto itself, let alone anime as a whole. (It’s a medium, not a genre!) But gripes aside, this is a fine list for the uninitiated, with a spread that spans drama, action, romance and more avant storytelling. #video

###

Rampage was… meh. Pains me to say it b/c I like The Rock and we’re at a level above Michael Bay bull, but it is what it is: https://boxd.it/r7UvV #aside

###

You know when you get a cold that bungs up your sinuses so bad you can’t hear bass frequencies? You don’t? Well anyway that’s me right now #aside

###

AGFA/Shaw Brothers Hong Kong Classics

I made a list on Letterboxd of 30 Shaw Brothers films restored via the American Genre Film Archive for theatrical release in the US this year, just for my own future reference but it may come in handy for you. (By the way, it’s dead easy to make lists on Letterboxd; this one took me all of five minutes.) #link

###

A short documentary about an incredible trove of letterpress blocks for movie advertisements dating from the early 1980s to before the Talkie era, happened upon by chance by two friends antiquing in Nebraska. It really makes stark what might be lost in the move from the tangible to the digital in media. [c/o Kottke.org] #video

###

One can hold these beliefs simultaneously: Assad is a prick, and carpet-bombing Syrians has zero upside #aside

###

Until they put WorldWide on the Network, WCW Saturday Night is the closest I’ll get to staying up after 1am on Thurs nights to watch on UTV #aside

###

This arrived today, and now stands with the Million Dollar Man and Kevin Owens in keeping with the theme of Wrestlers With Beards https://t.co/ApZvJ4zleE #aside

###

Roman Reigns Wasn’t Built in a Day

I don’t agree with everything David Shoemaker says here about WrestleMania 34 last weekend (Ronda Rousey grumble mumble) but the central thesis is spot on, and it’s something I’ve felt for the longest time: WrestleMania 31 was the moment to make Reigns, even with such a disastrous set-up, then Vince panicked and broke him. He’s not beyond repair; Reigns more often than not really brings it in the big-match situation, and he’s compatible with more opponents than you might think. But his persona is non grata. Perhaps WWE should take inspiration from Reigns' former Shield teammate Seth Rollins as for what to do with him: redesign, rebuild, reclaim. #link

###

I’m listening to a new Bush Tetras song in 2018 #aside

###

My Letterboxd reviews for March 2018

Alexander Skarsgård in Mute

And I thought my February in movies was bad: only seven films watched in March. Not even two a week. And April isn’t looking much better, considering almost half the month has gone by and I haven’t seen a single movie. Quality, not quantity, I keep telling myself, even when the results don’t always bear that out. More…

###

Today, I would be most grateful to breathe, and to taste things again #aside

###

I won’t have a review for Making the Grade in time for its release tomorrow, but I enjoyed it; reminded me a lot of Être et Avoir #aside

###

Any of my followers familiar with children's book publishing? My friend @calicojak would appreciate your advice https://t.co/UlfS3loYGR #aside

###

People getting weirdly antsy in my timeline about Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, etc being contextualised as horror films #aside

###

When they say the Repeal campaign ‘lacks urgency’, I think they mean they’re frustrated at its refusal to play the usual ‘game’ #aside

###

This is great; Cedric’s excitement is infectious. And if you didn’t watch his match with Mustafa Ali from last night, get that fixed pronto https://t.co/i3ajW3LQTt #aside

###

Finally caught up with the Namajunas/Jedrzejczyk fight from UFC 223 and it didn’t disappoint, even if it was nearly all striking #aside

###

Was listening to the POST Wrestling Mania review and they actually said Rousey’s match was the best on the card and weren’t taking the piss #aside

###

It’s time for the WrestleMania Kickoff which means all wrestling tweets from me for the next seven hours #WM34 https://goo.gl/beYWKx #aside

###

Book review — Titan Shattered, by James Dixon

Despite my comments on this book’s predecessor, my distaste for this narrative (and its intermittent misogynist and homophobic sideswipes) grows with my conviction that all of us, the authors included, got worked. Big time. More…

###

You know what? I’m glad my prediction for Gargano/Ciampa was off; what actually went down was exponentially better #NXTTakeOver #aside

###

Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2 observations: Kikutaro is JUSTICE; Invisible Man did well for himself; Mikey Whipwreck is King Kong Bundy now #aside

###

Molly Ringwald revisits The Breakfast Club

The former Brat Pack star evaluates the John Hughes films that made her name some 30 years on, considering them from the angles of changing social mores, her own motherhood, and her growth as a person. Justifiably celebrated. #link

###

The Great Awokening: What happens to culture in an era of identity politics?

“[Sensitivity] to the experiences of racial, cultural, sexual, and gender identities besides one’s own, and [being] attuned to the injustices that shape our world” is the best definition I’ve seen for the concept of ‘woke’, and this is a good essay about the related societal shift. It is ironic, though, that this article has since been affected by the very shifts it examines; that section about Aziz Ansari’s Master of None doesn’t sit too comfortably today next to the excoriation of Louis CK. #link

###

The best thing about Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport is that it was less than two hours long #aside

###

I’m sure Mark Henry’s sentiment was genuine, but what he said was also completely unfair to Martha Hart #aside

###

That Snickers Almond advert annoys me to an unreasonable degree #aside

###

Three’s range of upgrades is… not good. I have no option to step up from my iPhone SE that isn’t €€€ for little cost benefit #aside

###