Alex MacFarlane

@aghowes

Book cataloguer and peripatetic scholar, researching the medieval Armenian Alexander Romance and 19th-century Caucasus cosmopolitanism. Films, trains, British. They/them.

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Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y aghowes.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· 8d

speak on it

a screenshot from a Lupin III film, the camera is panning down to the G7 table under a chandelier as someone says, "It annoys me that the United States have all this power."

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· 10d

WHY WAS IT NEVER MY TURN TO BE HAPPY

Concorde, in the Bond film Moonraker, is moments away from landing, angled up so you can see the triangular wing shape

rear wheels down on the tarmac, you can now see the tilted sharp nose of the Concorde as well as the Air France livery

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· 19d

they say that in his final moments, Roger of Arabia recited the full Shahada—

Roger Moore as James Bond in a Lawrence of Arabia fit riding a camel in the Egyptian desert

Roger Moore in the same fit, inside a tent, saying "May the peace of Allah descend upon this abode and allow a poor traveller to enter."

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jun 30

This is not acceptable. Sort it out.

it's the collation of an early printed book's signatures but they are so jacked, as a sample there's A-P8, Q6, r1, a-s8, t1, A2, *b*2, *a*-*b*6, A-Ii8, and so on, including one symbol I have never seen before

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jun 13

There's going to be a LEGO Sagrada Familia and it looks this good. Incredible. £650, so it's a beautiful dream, and I have to assume it takes up a ton of space, but that interior hall is astonishing for LEGO. www.lego.com/en-gb/produc...

it's the Sagrada Familia made of sandstone-coloured bricks, lots of pointy towers and intricate details

an interior shot showing a columned hall with light coming through orange and blue-green tinted translucent bricks with what I think is a shrine at the far end

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jun 6

Roger Moore as James Bond, in a pinstripe grey suit with a white shirt and red tie, looks off-camera while a subtitle reads "The energy crisis is still with us."

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· May 25

A good day to see some old stones.

A large ring of standing stones extends away from the camera, starting with one up-close and tall, in a grassy field.

A close-up of yellow lichen growing on one of the stones, against blue sky.

Black and white cows gather around a standing stone.

Several stacked stones mark the entrance to a barrow.

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Apr 17

A beautiful season. 🌸🌱

a close-up photo of pale pink cherry blossoms with beads of dew or rain on the petals

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Apr 7

They cannot name it! They cannot name it!

Is Trump's latest threat serious?
Frank Gardner, Security correspondent

In a way, President Donald Trump’s "end-of-civilisation" threat to Iran, posted on his Truth Social account, is even more shocking than his earlier one that was rich in un-presidential-like expletives.

To suggest, even as a bluff, that "a whole civilization will die tonight" is to invite comparisons with those who have sought to destroy remnants of the great civilisations of the wider Middle East.

The Taliban blew up the giant stone 6th-Century Buddhas of Bamiyan, and ISIS demolished parts of the 2nd-Century city of Palmyra.

Is Donald Trump planning to go down in history as the man who bombed Iran’s priceless vestiges of its ancient civilisations like the ruins of Persepolis? Or the Unesco World Heritage site of the Friday Mosque at Isfahan?

Even Vladimir Putin, in his savage war on Ukraine, has spared the golden domes of Kyiv’s cathedrals.

Even if the US president is just using the term "civilization" loosely, to mean civil infrastructure like bridges and power plants, this still risks being classed as a war crime.

But this, lawyers say, is a grey area, as anything which can be proven to have a military role does not fit the definition of a war crime.

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Apr 1

Not yet at full bloom, but it's definitely bluebell season. 💙🌱

a footpath through a woodland, with bluebells in bloom covering the woodland floor on either side of the dirt path

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Mar 22

Mixed messages in the pub loo.

two different phrases written on the wall of a pub loo. the first says: "the world is full of parasites." the second says: "polyamory is valid!"

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Mar 13

Feeling stressed this week, pursuing entertaining stuff, mostly successfully! #LetterboxdFriday 📽️ #LastFourWatched

Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Death of Stalin, Tornado, The Master

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Mar 6

Last four films watched! I loved Iphigenia (1977). #LetterboxdFriday 📽️

You Only Live Twice, Arabian Nights, The Testament of Ann Lee, Iphigenia

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Feb 20

"a huge fig capable of healing disorders" need this

A certain Egyptian monk called Patermouthios, for example, was said to have been taken corporeally to paradise, tasted its fruits, and even managed to bring home a souvenir: a huge fig capable of healing disorders.

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jan 29

I'm going back to the literature to shore up my usage of certain terms, and I enjoy the discovery that prosimetrum is in the same elite class as sadomasochism.

No matter how persuasive and eloquent the essays in this volume may prove to be, the term prosimetrum is not currently a household word, has never been one, and will surely never become one. Although many people can intuit what the word means because they understand the definitions of the two elements from which it is compounded, they still find it somewhat awkward and puzzling until it has been explained and defined for them. Probably they sense a paradox or even an oxymoron in the conjunction of two etymons which are often thought to be antonyms; the word belongs in an elite class that includes such inherently contradictory and yet complementary concepts as bittersweet, love-hate, sadomasochism, serio-comic and tragicomic, and stop-and-go.

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jan 24

🍾 JFS MENTIONED 🍾

screenshot of a film, on the deck of a German ship, as someone asks "Wo is das Buch Jane's Fighting Ships?"

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jan 16

A fun mix of films this week. #LetterboxdFriday 📽️ #LastFourWatched

Castle in the Sky, Noroi, Freak Orlando, Aribada

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Jan 3

I forgot to post the finished set! It was really fun to put together. No Revali figure, though. Oversight.

a finished LEGO that shows a big cherry blossom tree with facial features, in a woodland glade with two human figures and a magical sword in a pedestal

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Dec 31

I got the Great Deku Tree LEGO for my birthday and this is genuinely a delight.

a LEGO build that is the base of a woodland area, mostly green bricks, with some floral and foliage pieces that hint at lushness

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Dec 21

The sun will come back!

a very dark photo of a trilithon at Stonehenge, before there's any light in the sky

a light sky after sunrise with a hint of sun behind clouds at the horizon, and a bluer sky higher up and in front of it the stones of Stonehenge from the inside of the circle, stood among a crowd

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Dec 16

It's mostly a film about love, storytelling and labour struggles, but there's a song and dance number about Alexander and a little section about finding the perfect foot, so, as a whole, made personally for me.

a man in a black skirt and black cropped top jumps off a rock while wearing bat-like cloth wing things, and a man in the foreground wearing a kind of corset with straps is waving a stick around, while the subtitle says, "Use the stick, All those bastards make me sick."

a man in an ancient robe surveys a row of feet and calves, each stuck through a hole in a wooden board

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Dec 16

The search for Alexander's tomb as a stand-in for life's most stupid, important, deepest felt dreams is tailor-made for meeeee.

an Egyptian woman stands behind a sculpted head of Alexander in a museum, saying, "He's a quack! He spent his life searching for Alexander's tomb." she's addressing one man, while another is in the background, peering around a tall statue.

a man in a hat says to another man, "The pastry shop, Athineos in Nabi Daniel Street. You know it?"

those two men stand in a lavishly decorated tomb with ancient Egyptian style wall paintings and statues, while in the foreground is the body of Alexander in armour, contained within a glass sarcophagus

a close-up on Alexander's face in the sarcophagus, with Youssef Chahine peering in, rapt

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Dec 16

Alexander is far from the main point of Alexandria Again And Forever (1989, dir. Youssef Chahine), but I was told it contains Alexander, sort of, and I watched it, and loved it.

an Egyptian woman turns to an Egyptian man, saying, "He wouldn't fit the part. Alexander was tall and blond."

a big movie set-piece, with a distant figure in ancient armour and regalia standing on a platform carried by topless Egyptian men in little white skirts, with dancing Egyptians in front of them as they process down a stony ruin

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Nov 30

This is the first time I've looked at a wine label and thought, this has to be AI. So many sentences that say absolutely nothing. As silly as some wine descriptions are, they're still trying to convey information about the flavour profile or the "French regions" the wine's from.

France is renowned all over the world for its medieval villages nestled on rocks which appear frozen in time. La P'tite Pierre wines, in the heart of French regions, pay tribute to this heritage full of traditions and stories. Among these traditions is the production of wine. At La P'tite Pierre, we are committed to continuing this heritage by working with local winemakers to produce the best wines possible. Let yourself be enchanted by their unique taste and rich history.

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Nov 14

good times good times #LetterboxdFriday 📽️ #LastFourWatched

Beau Travail, This is Not a Burial it's a Resurrection, Croupier, The Epic of Everest

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Sep 30

Daily walks VASTLY livened up by every type of mushroom deciding to fruit in my surroundings. Today, inkcaps.

two ink cap mushrooms, which are pale and upright ovoid in shape, fruiting from acorn-covered ground that's otherwise covered in acorns

a bigger clump of ink caps, not as tall yet, and grass

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Sep 29

The spores stained the world around them grey-white.

clusters of white, slimy-looking mushrooms growing from a fallen log amid leaf litter and small green plants, with white staining around the mushrooms

a close-up on the slimy-looking mushrooms growing from the log

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Sep 19

Three out of four films with blocky outlines on their posters. #LetterboxdFriday 📽️ #LastFourWatched

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, The Day of the Jackal, Lupin III: The Hemingway Papers, Honey Don't!

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Sep 16

Mushrooms in the woods.

a small purple mushroom growing amid mud, grass, brown leaves and small green plants

two little pale brown bracket mushrooms growing at the base of a mossy tree

a round mushroom photographed top-down with a brown cap that has a cracked effect, growing amid brown leaves and small green plants

Alex MacFarlane@aghowes· Sep 13

I was at a vineyard in France a couple of days ago and met this important member of the team, named Decibel, purred at me and tried to lovingly claw my hand, a perfect being