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Top shot of the series

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if you're on instagram get off that thing and go outside

if you're on tumblr hold fast and keep scrolling soldier

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Just a blogger and his content source, who refuses to get dressed, having a laugh in Buckingham Palace…

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reblog to thank ur mutuals for providing enrichment to ur enclosure

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Andrew's Maggie Smith story

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'...MY VIEWS ON…

…Vanya and Passover!

If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, you may, at present, be thinking to yourself, “Didn’t she write one of these around this time last year about seeing Uncle Vanya with her mom?” You’re right! I did! And now I’m going to do it again!

Last Saturday evening, my mom and I went to see Vanya, which is just Uncle Vanya except it’s set in basically contemporary Ireland and also all the parts are played by Andrew Scott. I thought that maybe this would be a gimmick—oh, look at me, I’m one man playing all the roles, isn’t that impressive—but it wasn’t. Or, it was, but it was also excellent. The thing about Uncle Vanya is that everyone in it is convinced of their own unique sadness and suffering and pain, but they’re all sad, and suffering, and in pain. They’re all a little, or a lot, disappointed by life and what it’s had in store for them. And seeing one person act that out—showing the isolation and the connection, the individuality and universality—was, to me, very moving.

At the very end of the play, Sonya gives Vanya this speech about how all there is to do, really, is to live. To keep living and to keep working not because it will make you happy or change things, but because it’s all you can do. She talks about how, in the end, after they’re dead, God will pity them and things will be beautiful; in this version, they changed it to, just before they die, they’ll understand that they’re beautiful and good. But it’s the same, isn’t it? In this life, now and for the foreseeable future, you’re small and suffering and doing your best and it’s not enough—it never is—but you have to keep doing it anyway. We’ll live through the long days and the dark nights, the monologue goes. I thought about what is happening to and in this country and world and felt so sad. I felt my baby kick inside me and felt an overwhelming happiness to be there, seeing this. To be alive. To get the chance to endure. I wiped away tears and tried not to let out loud, disruptive sobs.

I have talked about this performance and especially the end a lot since Saturday. I have thought about it even more. And given the time of year, I’ve thought about it in the context of Passover. How that, too, is the story of enduring, of trying to find dignity where there isn’t much. That is a happier, more hopeful story, but I have thought about whether the themes aren’t similar: we’re promised something better, but the story’s not really about receiving something better. It’s about trudging through to try to find it.

In synagogue, we read an adaptation from Michael Walzer: "Standing on the parted shores of history, we still believe what we were taught before we ever stood at Sinai's foot: that wherever we go, it is eternally Egypt. That there is a better place, a promised land; that the winding way to that promise passes through the wilderness. That there is no way to get from here to there except by joining hands, marching together.” I have thought about whether that’s not, in its way, a different version of Sonya’s monologue. Whether the whole Haggadah isn’t, too...'

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'...Worst

Smithereens (season 5, episode 2)

Andrew Scott is an incredible actor (see Ripley), but even he couldn’t breathe life into this PSA-style episode.

He plays a ride-share driver who lost his wife in a car accident because he was checking a notification from social media platform Smithereen. Blaming the company for her death, he kidnaps a Smithereen intern and ultimately ends up in a hostage stand-off.

It’s the age-old “don’t check your phone while driving” moral, but with absolutely zero stakes, even when Scott is wielding a gun...'

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'...25. “Smithereens” (season five)

Andrew Scott delivers a powerful performance as a grief-stricken rideshare driver seeking revenge against a social media company called Smithereen. He takes an employee (Damson Idris) hostage as leverage to get the company’s CEO Billy Bauer (a character who was foreshadowed in Bandersnatch and who is played by Topher Grace) on the phone. Their conversation plays out to surprising impact, as Billy acknowledges the flaws of his addictive platform. Scott has attracted the interest of the local police and the piqued the curiosity of the users of Smithereen (the hashtags are a Black Mirror Easter egg library) and the emotive episode ends more ambiguously than would be expected...'

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'...7. Smithereens (Season 5, Episode 2)

Season 5 of the show, which was much shorter (only 3 episodes), is generally seen as the low point of the series. However, we don’t think that assessment is quite fair, as the second episode of the season, Smithereens, is one of the most underappreciated in the show’s run. In this episode, Andrew Scott (Fleabag) plays a taxi driver who kidnaps an intern of a social media company, demanding to speak to that company’s CEO (Topher Grace). Although the message can be a little didactic, particularly in the third act, Smithereens serves as a perfect vehicle for a phenomenal performance by the brilliant Scott. The result is a thriller that is a lot more tense and emotional than people give it credit for...'

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Andrew Scott | ‘All Of Us Strangers’ Screening (2023)

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'...Ripley (2024) Although it came out just last year, it already feels like Ripley didn’t get as much love as it deserved. The series, which stars Andrew Scott as the titular character, is an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley that manages to sit nicely alongside the theatrical one we already have.

If you aren’t aware, the story follows Ripley as he’s recruited to track down the scion of a wealthy man living dangerously in Europe. As he becomes more ensconced in the life of this wealthy heir, things get messy and eventually violent. Scott is brilliant in the central role, and the series features some of the best black-and-white cinematography of the past decade...'

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'...With 'Skyfall' and 'Spectre' director Sam Mendes at the helm, and boasting an ensemble cast studded with stars, it's no shocker that the flick has garnered heaps of praise. Starring George Mackay, with the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, and Andrew Scott elevating the tale, audiences are swept away by their 'emotional' turns.

Another fan said: "We were glued to the screen; George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman were great castings for the leads. I also really enjoyed Andrew Scott's performance, though he doesn't get much screen time, his character has a nihilistic charm. Overall I'd give this film 5 stars. I find myself coming back to re-watch this film a few times a year; it really is a powerful film and was a pleasure to watch."...'

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Sherlock Portrait (inspired by The Portrait of Nanna Risi by Anselm Feurebach, 1861) - (2025)

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one of two sketches that turned into full-on drawings that i’ve been working on little bits at a time as i could/between other things. just going to post them so i stop tinkering with them.

Benedict Cumberbatch at Sky Arts, graphite pencils 10H-8B in my spiral sketchbook, very slowly. open pics in new tab for better view, if you like. I’ll post the other drawing later. [now posted!]

[my art tag]

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10 Things I Hate About You (1999) dir. Gil Junger — Written by Karen McCullah & Kirsten Smith