Floodlights and Goalposts

An online commonplace book

Movie recommendations from 40,000 feet

May 2nd, 2026

The plan was to catch up on lingering emails and get some marching orders sent while crossing the Atlantic but while in the new releases section I noticed French actress Léa Drucker pop up in a promo for a film that I hadn’t heard of. I was about to click on the description for Dossier 137 but decided it was best to order lunch and get on with my work. Or maybe not? While drinks were being poured I got on with my correspondence but also decided to watch the trailer of Drucker’s film as we crossed what must have been the western coast of Ireland.

Without giving too much away, it’s a gritty cop film about the internal affairs investigation division and the complexity (bureaucratic and otherwise) of a case from a gilets jaunes protest. I hit play and can highly recommend it if you’re looking for something to watch at your local review cinema or on the sofa this eve. As the credits rolled, I was reminded that it has been Air France and not Apple TV, Amazon or Netflix that has offered up some of the best films that I’ve watched over the past three years. Hokkyoku Hyakkaten no Concierge-san (The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store), Novembre and Pas des Vagues (The Good Teacher) should all be on your viewing list if you’ve not managed to catch them yet.

People crisscross the world to attend film festivals, design biennales and art fairs but, if you choose the correct carrier, some of the best in contemporary culture can be found in the seatback in front of you. Happy viewing dear reader.

– Tyler Brûlé

Love that Tyler Brûlé holds a detailed knowledge of various passenger aircraft, calling out elderly 777s, and 300s. Along with vintage and brand new Air France Airbuses. Easy to dismiss in-flight film selections, but the right airline can surface some treasures.

Read the whole piece here.

Tyler Brûlé, “Why the Indignity of 05.25 Is Redeemed by the Right Airline,” Monocle, The Faster Lane, April 26, 2026, https://monocle.com/the-faster-lane/why-the-indignity-of-05-25-is-redeemed-by-the-right-airline/.
Vincent & Theo encouraging brothers

April 25th, 2026

After all, we’re in the midst of life — well then, we must fight a good fight — and we must become men.

– Vincent to Theo, May 31, 1877

Short chapters. Insight on every page. Explores an under reported piece of Van Gogh’s life; his relationship with his brother Theo.

Heiligman, D. (2017). Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers. Henry Holt and Company (BYR). pg 75
Lovely William Morris

April 18th, 2026

So Morris is taking the old tales and allowing us to connect back. But he’s not shouting at us ever. And often I think activism is associated with people getting angry, people getting fraught and strident and he’s never those things. He focuses on the positive.

Speaking of medieval color excess and impractical decoration, let me remind you that William Morris was peak. pic.twitter.com/AhikBLxzZz
— The Last Homely House (@AHomelyHouse) February 19, 2026

Fascinating how when you read about specific people and subjects, similar subject and people pop up and intertwine from other places.

William Morris was one of Penelope Fitzgerald’s heroes. He’s mentioned often in her biography. And then scrolling twitter and bam! This wonderful video, two minutes of William Morris joy.
dipped in ink

April 4th, 2026

The Knox children, “dipped in ink” from an early age, were supposed to be writers, since in their family “everyone was publishing, or about to publish, something.” They were certainly supposed to be outstandingly intelligent, to join in the witty conversation at mealtimes, and to “perform” as clever Knoxes, which was often a strain. They were given the back of their father’s old galley proofs to write on, and like the previous generation of Knoxes, they had their family magazine, produced on a “John Bull toy printing set,” though why it was called IF, or Howl Ye Bloodhounds, Penelope could never remember. Back numbers of Punch were part of the furniture. She loved the illustrations as much as the writing: “As a small girl I used to sit on rainy afternoons in the corner of the dining room, where the old bound volumes of Punch were kept, turning the pages and entertaining, without the need to understand, the quite different worlds of Keene and Du Maurier.” Charles Keene did umbrellas, bony cab-horses, railway porters, drunks and stout wives; George Du Maurier did duchesses, drawing rooms, concert halls and drooping aristocrats.

A long one I know. But it has such a rich description of the lives of the Knox children. Who they were expected to be and become.

People of ideas. Opinions. Writers. People of words and letters.

A family magazine sounds like a Kevin Kelly idea. A family magazine would also be a cool homeschooling project.

Lee, Hermione. Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life. United States, Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. pg 32
All Caps

March 19th, 2026

“DOING THE VALVES, TIMING, AND MINOR MAINTENANCE ON YOUR OWN CAR WILL NOT ONLY CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR TRANSPORTATION BUT WILL ALSO CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF!”

– John Muir

and from the comments:

“This is a beautiful point. Many in my generation (millennial) have never experienced this firsthand. You do not know the full meaning of ownership until you have maintained or modified the thing. You cannot buy full ownership; you must participate.”

– LYNDON

There is a bond that forms when you take the time to repair something. Even swapping out the tire on your car. If you do it yourself successfully, you’ll see seams, and bolts, and rivets, the cars personality, will reveal itself a bit.

Like you’re setting her right. And she appreciates the attention.

Stewart Brand, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One (San Francisco: Stripe Press, 2026), 92.
He is Roald Dahl

March 12th, 2026

“The man who lives in this house makes very good orange marmalade. He also breeds orchids. He has never eaten a dish of tripe in his life. And he wishes that his dog could speak to him. And that eccentric sequence of autobiographical irrelevancies may even give you a clue to who he is.“

– Frank Delaney

People yap about the fall of the BBC. For me it still holds an aura. Frank Delaney’s lean into the shot. Come on man, what an intro.

Did Delaney write this brilliance?
Stewart Brand’s digital toolbox

March 5th, 2026
- Scrivener (writing and organizing research)
- Books in Progress (public comments)
- X (public interaction)
- Google Docs (private comments)
- Google and Bing Copilot (search)
- Grammarly (grammar)
- WordHippo (synonyms)
- Amazon (books)
- Bookends (book citations)
- Scribbr (article and paper citations)
- Descript (transcription)
- Apple Notes (outlining)
- Bike (outlining)
- EasyCrop (image handling)
- GraphicConverter (image refining)
- Clipdrop (image enhancement and retouching)
- Keynote (image blending)
- Yandex (image search)
- YouTube (video research)
Cool idea from the living cool idea Stewart Brand. He included a list of software used to help write his book in the book credits. First I’ve ever heard anyone author giving credit to their tools.

Surprised non of the major LLMs hit the list.

Wow. Also Scribbr where have you been the last 24 months?

Stewart Brand, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One (San Francisco: Stripe Press, 2026), 13.
Quite shit.

February 26th, 2026

I am happy that even in my quite shit first ever roll of film, these pictures look at least a little like they were taken by me. I think you can smell a little of the soil on them. I like how touchable all the surfaces and the dirt feel. I like their creepiness. And I like that I have probably taken the most artistic photo of all time depicting the grime on a car park barrier outside the leisure centre where I learned to swim. Nobody else was going to do it.

– Emily Spinach

Blogger Emily Spinach shares her experience in being a newbie. Film photography’s challenges are twofold. One, you get one shot. Two, the feedback loop is delayed. All of which cultivate frustration and patience.

The film photography renaissance is underway. Will it scale?

Spinach, Emily. “phd diaries: notes on film photography.” Emily Spinach (blog). January 25, 2026. https://missemilyspinach.substack.com/p/phd-diaries-notes-on-film-photography.
All those readers

February 20th, 2026

She took her cheque demurely and made a brief speech, in which she spoke for all those readers who never travel without a novel on the bus, tube or train, picking up each morning where they left off the night before and showing no relief at the end of a book, only anxiety to get lost in yet another novel.

When Penelope Fitzgerald won the Booker prize in 1979 many were bemused. Her book Offshore won the honor.

She dedicated the win to her people, the readers.

She was one of them.

Lee, Hermione. Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life. United States, Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. pg 272
A fast falling night

February 14th, 2026

The first thing he did on finding himself alone in the fast falling night was to tiptoe to Slightly’s tree, and make sure that it provided him with a passage. Then for long he remained brooding; his hat of ill omen on the sward, so that a gentle breeze which had arisen might play refreshingly through his hair. Dark as were his thoughts his blue eyes were as soft as the periwinkle. Intently he listened for any sound from the nether world, but all was as silent below as above; the house under the ground seemed to be but one more empty tenement in the void. Was that boy asleep, or did he stand waiting at the foot of Slightly’s tree, with his dagger in his hand?

I don’t hear J.M. Barrie’s name mentioned when the greatest prose stylists are spoken of.

Why not?

Here Barrie describes the scene of a pirate sneaking into an underground lair with accuracy, panache, and order.

Spellbound I am. Spellbound. Peter Pan has become one of my favorite books of all time.

More later.

J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan, introduction by Amy Billone (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005), 114.