Sir Ian

@sir-ian

Onetime English/radio prof, now policy guy. Media, fiction, Indigenous rights and reconciliation. Here for bad takes & worse jokes. Writing the Radio War, the Edinburgh Companion to Modernism & Technology, & DUBLINERS out now. www.ianwhittington.com

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Sir Ian@sir-ian· 10d

Belated birthday gift, and one I’m excited to dig into.

A copy of Elliott Chaze’s Black Wings Has My Angel propped up against a backdrop of a bookshelf.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· 13d

This evening’s impulse auction purchase should liven up the garage

Sir Ian@sir-ian· 16d

Well when you put it that way

Meanwhile, the state's gubernatorial race proved a rebuke of Dorld Trump's endorsement power as Mike Lindell, an election denier and pillow salesman, lost to Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota house speaker.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· 24d

"Today is August 4, 2026,” said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California.” Happy “There Will Come Soft Rains” day, all.

Comic-book-style illustration of the scene in Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” describing the imprinted silhouette left by the abandoned house’s evaporated owners at the moment of the incineration by, presumably, a nuclear blast. The silhouettes show the parents gardening and the children playing with a ball suspended in silhouette above their imprints. The wreckage of the neighbourhood is visible beyond the remains of the house.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· 27d

When the solo kicks in

Tatty statue of a Moai with arms, holding its hands over its ears.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jul 9

Trucker shanties avant la lettre

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jul 5

The Batallón’s legacy lives on in Los San Patricios, the Mexico City Gaelic Athletic Association club, who sport these amazing jerseys

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jul 4

The soccer is going great, thanks

Series of one word sheets of disappointment: dang. Ack, welp, and welp!

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jun 19

This is part 2 of Big Dad Energy summer, following last month’s monster truck rally.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jun 19

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty stoked about going to WRESTLEFEST III tonight, put on by the local pro wrestling league. Not least because they’re leaning into the props for this one. (“TABLES. LADDERS. CHAIRS.”)

Ad for Vancouver Island Pro Wrestling’s WRESTLEFEST III, featuring lightning bolts framing a map of Vancouver Island, images of tables, ladders, and chairs, and the all-caps TABLES LADDERS CHAIRS helpfully clarifying things.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jun 9

False. I don’t care how smart this bee is, nobody can solve a chimpanzee.

News headline reading “Bumblebees can solve complex puzzles like chimpanzees and elephants, study finds”, accompanied by an image of a bee flying upwards to a blue disc-shaped thing on the ceiling of an enclosure.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· May 4

My reaction when my pal Jorge tries to show off his trick of drinking sherry through his nose, for the third time that night

Sir Ian@sir-ian· May 1

I’ve owned this Canadian prog-rock opus on vinyl for a few years but am only just digging into it now. When Geddy Lee’s guest vocals hit on “Battle Scar” it was so Canadian that it automatically renewed my passport (but charged me GST for it ☹️)

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Mar 28

Tfw you are looking for someone to sharpen something for you

Detail of a google map image showing an icon for a business (?) called “I Sharpen Shit”

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Mar 19

Love to get emails from my fans

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Mar 16

In other news, the Dayglo Abortions can still bring the heat

Punk three-piece band playing in a small, semi-crowded bar. The singer, “The Cretin”, is shirtless, the drummer—“Blind” Mark—is, as it turns out, visually impaired. I saw him sign someone’s vinyl album cover in Braille.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Mar 14

Rewatching The Americans as an escape to a simpler, more reasonable time in global geopolitics

Promotional image for the 2010s series FX television series The Americans. Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell stare defiantly off-camera, pistols in hand, against a stylized black and white backdrop featuring missiles ready to launch on one side and the US Capitol on the other.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Mar 10

Actual screen grab from a workplace AI workshop. Looking forward to my important role making “Wod edits” and other “human adjustments”.

Ai generated image showing a human sitting at a computer performing “human adjustments”. The step is labeled “Wod Edit”, which was presumably supposed to be “Word Edit”.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Mar 1

Spent the morning exploring a place I hadn’t visited in maybe 25 years—Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site. A weird day to be touring an old gun battery with loads of artillery guns pointing out to sea. But at least Fisgard Lighthouse was looking fine in the sun today.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Feb 23

Partway through watching “I’m Still Here” (Salles, 2024) and it’s great but also I keep expecting Joaquin Phoenix or Bob Dylan to show up at some point and start arguing about who is where.

A series of movie posters for “I’m Still Here” (Salles, 2024), “I’m Not There” (Haynes, 2007), “I’m Still Here” (Affleck, 2010), and “You Were Never Really There” (Ramsay, 2017).

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Feb 19

Q: Is there a technology that “the left” is excited about? A:

A broken down old pickup truck, the hood covered in a foot or so of bright green moss, sits at the edge of a farm field bounded by trees.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Feb 19

Related: Wuthering Heights meets withering scorn: www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/film...

This is a film about yearning, a necessary but insufficient condition for epic romance. What little breathing space the audience is given between the segues into yearning or its consummations - the moments that would ordinarily allow us to develop the requisite understanding for empathy - are granted to us piecemeal in the form of Hollywood montage. We are left with Fennell's wooden script, where words are merely the vehicle that delivers us from one scene of heavy petting to the next, these moments treated merely as the means to differentiate a movie from music video.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Feb 4

Breaking into my emergency Taiwanese canned coffee (courtesy of H-Mart) at 2:39pm. Living dangerously.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jan 22

I don’t recall if there’s an actual blizzard going on at the time, but the scene with a reindeer chase through frozen tundra (and river!) in Independent People is, uh, chilling. Generally terrifying elements throughout.

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jan 19

Post a car picture you took.

Exhibit at the Irish Museum of Modern Art c.2016. I don’t remember the artist’s name!

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jan 17

Somebody gave my kid this Iron Man throw pillow and I feel like it nails the current geopolitical vibe just a little too well.

Throw pillow featuring an image of Iron Man saying “If you creeps blow up the UN…It’ll be over my dead body! And it’s starting to look like you’re gonna make it!”

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jan 13

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Jan 1

What was the last movie or TV show you watched in 2025?

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Dec 25

[Blushing as I look down at my glass] So… is there a Mrs Potato Head?

Sir Ian@sir-ian· Dec 20

From the other side of the pond, one of the gems capturing that seamless slide between 1970s decline and the glitzy, faux promise of the Thatcherite 1980s is THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY