Andy Best
@andybest
Writer and musician. Current thing: fantasy novel Aertelis is live and 'wide', including all library services. UBL: Blog: write.as/aertelis/ My stuff is at andrewbest.net
No system is inevitable, history has not ended. It's all what we build for ourselves, it can be torn down and rebuilt as needed.
As we see deferential articles from legacy media regarding the deaths of complete bigots, it's always worth referring back to this example:
[2/2] ... a commercial lifestyle hub, with aspirational brand imagery and proscribed behaviors. When Rick wrote to Ballard in 2007, telling him his old house was now a restaurant, Ballard replied that he hoped it was a KFC.
[1/2} It's nearly 20 years now, since me and Rick McGrath met in Shanghai to see the JG Ballard sites. Today I walked up to the former Columbia Country Club Pool, rather than the classic empty pool, it's the other type of Ballardian image now ...
In 2010 I co-wrote and played on Little Punk's (Huang Pei) lofi solo project. We brought down legendary photographer Ren hang to shoot the cover. Ren Hang sadly took his own life a few years later. Those were great times in the China underground scene.
New wistful jester image for the smartphone age: from Moss and Mushroom studio.
Spring is in full effect on my street in Shanghai, wish pollen was not trying to kill me, but the walk is beautiful.
yay 2026 - this is bleak on levels and in dimensions we haven't even discovered yet.
Nearby seniors chill here and meet up, it's a welcome break if you're about this busy area. Having lived here a while, I do find China's public spaces over-policed and over designed, like most world flagship cities, but this is obviously a great use of leftover space around the roads [3/3]
This green space is not a named tourist spot, nor is it near any big attraction, it just fills the space in the center of the junction. I walked here because it's on the edge of my greater city block and I needed to get out and take a screen break. [2/3]
Following on from the @novaramedia.com report where they show how Chinese cities turn spaces around urban highways into parks: I walked past the huge viaduct junction at Yan'an and Yan'an West (Shanghai) yesterday and here are some pictures [1/3]
It's May Day. Emma Goldman is judging you for your centrist fence sitting.
That time again: I limit political posting here, to avoid spamming others, so in case anyone was interested in my work or posts but wants an overview of how I feel about the big issues, here's the semi-regular check in post.
re: @bookspotlight.bsky.social 's recent posts. I'm not well-known, have never made big money from my art, but here I am playing original songs to great audiences, at events I will never forget. Don't be gaslit into not making your own art, into not living your own life. A haiku counts, just start.
Indie art is for you to directly express yourself without permission. With the band, we only needed to build to bringing in 100-150 paying punters, on top of friends, to put on amazing punk shows that we'll never forget - and we had equally great times opening for 20 ppl in a dive #punk
It's International Women's Day, read The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Avoiding spamming posts about the numerous terrible things in the world, so if you have found me, my books/work (pinned post or bio link), here are images that can make my views on this stuff crystal clear. No terfs. No trashGPT.
My January FB posts: Independent bands, Bandcamp, 80s lookback/the cold war, skateboarding, Soderbergh list of cinema, plays and literature, football club ownership, Elon Musk bad, PMG video essay/games journalism. Meta big data gods strategy to get me to use Reels: sexy lady gun