Janina Matthewson - I Have No Plan For This (Page 2)

I Have No Plan For This

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Janina Matthewson

Bloodied hands form a window with their fingers through which they show an alternate universe Stephanie Hsu

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Addicted to potential

Because I like to spend my leisure time making myself mad, I've been reading More Everything Forever by Adam Becker (affiliate link) and getting all het up about effective altruism and long termism. The logic of effective altruism follows this path: you should do what is in your

Diagram showing ice skating move in front of mountains

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Everything is broken: Olympics edition

I've decided it's time to nationalise sport. A wild stance for me to take, really – me! an avowed theatre kid! For most of my life I've been made furious by the prioritisation of sports over the arts, in school, on the news, really almost

Poster for Listers, showing a van parked on a cloudy beach, with a man standing beside a tripod looking into a telescop

I must insist you watch: Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching (free on YouTube)

About a month ago I declared that One Battle After Another was the best film of 2025 and it wasn't even close. I now know that assessment to be flawed. Because now I've watched Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching (free on YouTube). I must insist

Engraving showing two monks flanking a crown, one with a crucifix, one with a sword

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Epstein is a symptom

No one deposes a king because of their belief in democracy. They do it because the king has used his power to harm people. History is a cyclical thing, and one of the key cycles is this: a given society is fairly stable. There is a system that benefits a

Etching showing a roman emperor pouring money into a large chest, as a man is led away by guards and a dog watches.

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Taking a stripped back, inexpert view at a thing to see if it works, inexpertly: the economy

A thing happens when someone knows too much about a given thing. When they know too much about the theory of a given thing – not so much when when they have a lot of experience of the practical side. In fact I think dismissing the realities of the practical sides

A very serious cat sits at a small table with a tea set laid out. Black and white photo.

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Oh no! I forgot the most important part of my plan to save cinema! Let me introduce you to The Tea Tour.

I made this whole todo and then I forgot the best bit. I mean there's substantial things I forgot also, stuff about how films are made such as you could save cinema by paying a little more respect to screenwriters. Examples of this include: I'm not

An emperor moth (Saturnia pavonia). Stipple engraving with etching

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This weekend my off brand Roomba, Jeremy, became a mother

I brought this on myself, didn't I? All that crowing about how I fixed the shower and how enacting competence is good for the mental health all that bragging about exerting agency over my environment it's all come back to haunt me now. Turns out my

A crack in asphalt with a sticking plaster over it

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Can I recommend fixing one tiny broken thing in these trying times?

I have fixed a tiny broken thing and the impact on my sense of general well being is honestly embarrassing. Our flat is full of tiny broken things because everything in it is old and we don't like to nag our landlords too much because we're

Black and white drawing of fireworks over a crowd in Covent Garden

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2026

About nine and a half years ago, amid all the jokes about how awful 2016 was, in the middle of a Within the Wires meeting, Jeffrey said Meg says this will be the best year for ages. I've seen a lot of people talking about their terrible 2025.

Pen and ink drawing of a wreath of holly with a lit candle in the middle and a bow tied at the bottom

God Rest Ye

Look, I love Christmas. I'm deeply selfish about it. This is something I inherited from my family when we moved to a city in which none of our grandparents or aunts or uncles or cousins lived. There were too many of us for seeing our extended family to

Nicole Kidman sits in an empty cinema in a pinstripe suit gazing at the screen in rapt attention

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Collected Ideas for Saving Cinema, An Ongoing Discussion Between Me and Jamie Drew

* Fewer ads. Obviously fewer ads and also the ads should only be allowed to be shown before the trailers. Like, you get a couple of ads, then you get trailers, which are more fun, then the movie. It used to be this way. It could be this way again. * Also,

Kendrick Sampson and Zoey Deutch sit smiling at each other on festooned park benches in the snow

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I will now allow Christmas to begin

Hello, good evening, it is Saturday the 6th of December, I have had a busy week, I'm sitting alone on my couch with a pour of wine, and I am willing to allow the festive season to begin. In celebration of this momentous occasion I have put on

Woodcut of couple at an outdoor table with a birthday cake

It's my birthday I would like to stop being made to feel insane

I believe in simple things. I believe you shouldn't have to be in crippling discomfort when you fly even if you can't afford fancy fares. I believe that you shouldn't be expected to spend all your time working a job that provides no value

Sepia photograph of a woman's hands in fabric, with a thimble on one index finger

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There's no escaping human connection

In The Great Divorce C. S. Lewis describes hell as an endlessly expanding, empty city. The people who live there are forever trying to get further away from each other, moving further outwards in an effort to find a comfortable isolation. It's a place where you can have

Zohran Mamdani stands at a podium in front of a banner reading "Afford to live & afford to dream"

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On hope

A few years ago, for History is Sexy, we had a question come in about musicals and revolutions. Naturally the reasons we come back to stories about revolutions, musical or otherwise, are myriad and varied and if you want a more comprehensive look you can listen to the episode but

Pop art image of a red-haired woman kissing a blond man

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Ok, so we all hate tropes, is it?

I don't know why people are talking about this really. I don't even really know how much they are talking about it, but I've seen it float across my feed a few times over the last few days, and many more over the last

Two small boys, one with a red pointy had, one with a kettle on his head, survey a graveyard.

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What weird shit have you watched recently: spooky season edition

Full disclosure this is going to be a combination of weird shit I have watched recently and weird shit I think you should watch this spooky season, why not, I contain multitudes. Now, I am not a big horror person but I do enjoy some horror or horror adjacent offerings.

A farewell

The first episode of the tenth and final season of Within the Wires is out today. I have been working on this show for ten years, which makes absolutely no sense. I cannot imagine working on something for so long, even as I sit here now having done it. It&

Super pulpy, slutty poster for Seven Samurai, Toshirô Mifune is half naked, holding a sword aloft

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Art vs. Entertainment or; how to be a film guy

Look, I wasn't going to write a newsletter today. I was going to be a few days late, which, given my intention is to be a week ahead, is already very late. But then my friend Marie's newsletter came out and it made have thoughts. Or,

Fancy men debate in a fancy room. Etching.

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We have become slaves to the idea of sounding convincing

I have a real grudge against the Enlightenment. Sure, the scholars of the Enlightenment pushed Western society towards democracy, moved us into a theoretically more egalitarian future, but they also ruined everything for everyone forever. The Enlightenment convinced us all that reasoned debate was the only thing that mattered and

Taskmaster task outfits: ranked (Series 20 Update)

Taskmaster task outfits: ranked (Series 20 Update)

The following is the definitive ranking of Taskmaster task outfits. I placed each outfit on a whim and stand by absolutely none of it, so do not come at me, I will fold immediately. I'll be honest, I thought this was going to be a quick and easy

old illustration of a dog looking at his reflection in the water

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Graham Linehan and online harassment: a timeline

Were you on twitter during Gamergate? God, what a time. If you weren't extremely online circa 2015 (brag) let me explain (no, there is too much; let me sum up): in the latter half of 2014 a bunch of the internet's discontented men launched a massive

Anna Chancellor looking haughty in orange at a party, screenshot from Pride & Prejudice (1995

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Caroline Bingley: Matchmaker

I don't think Fitzwilliam Darcy would have fallen in love with Elizabeth Bennett if it wasn't for Caroline Bingley. So there. Have you heard the pop-psychology story about Ben Franklin and the rare book? Franklin argued that people will be more inclined to like you

A blue robot has wide eyes and an awkward kind of smile/grimace

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Friends fear she has more to say about AI

Once again a thing is going around on Bluesky where someone is defending the use of AI to make art, and there's something in there that's stood out to me. The person describes the process of learning to paint as hazing. So what the fuck is

Lauren Sánchez leans on Jeff Bezos' shoulder while he looks at her

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Ok, look, I'm going to talk about Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez

Obviously it is obscene to be alive right now. Obscene to be writing a newsletter at all, but then it also feels obscene to be sitting safely in my flat with a cup of coffee and a snack. A normal life feels obscene right now but we've got