The Callanish Stones on Lewis (older than Stonehenge!)
Dundee, Tayport, and the Tentsmuirs National Nature Reserve
My first five days in Scotland have been amazing, with lots of long walks along the River Tay. I love the Tayport Heath and the Fife Coastal Path. Everyone is so friendly and the world seems quieter and more sane with a pint of cider in a cozy pub.
Next week in Edinburgh! →
Two events, two days in a row. One at Lighthouse Bookshop and the other with the Scottish Greens. For more details, see the Events tab on this website.
A wonderful 2025 ManiFiesta in Ostend, Belgium
Always a thrill to spend some time with the Belgian Workers Party at their annual ManiFiesta event in Ostend
The amazing Stummfilm live festival at Babylon Kino in Berlin
So I have spent the last five days totally immersed in the world of 1925 silent cinema. Below is a list of the films I saw with either a live orchestra or a live organ or piano score played in time with the film like it used to be done. I think Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin was my favorite of all followed closely by Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. I really enjoyed Strike! (but the slaughtering of the bull at the end turned my stomach) and although I kind of hated it while I was watching it, Die freudlose Gasse has haunted me for days.
Still, my two favorite silent films of all time are from 1927: Metropolis and Bed and Sofa (but I obviously need more).
Films from the 2025 Babylon Kino Stummfilm live festival
These are the ones I managed to catch over the first five days of it
Battleship Potemkin (USSR -1925) Directed by S. Eisenstein (live orchestra)
The Freshman (USA 1925) Directed by R. F. C. Newmeyer (live organ)
Strike! (USSR 1925) Directed by S. Eisenstein (live organ)
Lady Windemere’s Fan (USA 1925) Directed by E. Lubitsch (live organ)
Die freudlose Gasse (Germany 1925) Directed by G.W. Pabst (live organ)
Seven Chances (USA 1925) Directed by B. Keaton (live organ)
Go West! (USA 1925) Directed by B. Keaton (live piano)
Ben Hur (USA 1925) Directed by Fred Niblo (live organ)
The Goldrush (USA 1925) Directed by Charlie Chaplin (full orchestra)
The Pleasure Garden (USA 1925) Directed by A. Hitchcock (live organ)
Variety (Germany 1925) Directed by E.A. Dupont (live piano)
Late summer ease
A new newsletter from Berlin →
Read my latest reflections from the German capital
Feature on Everyday Utopia in Spain's El País →
My magical workspace in Berlin
My Jacobin interview with Megan Day now in German and as a podcast →
A German translation and a podcast version of my May interview with Meagan K. Day for Jacobin Magazine
New movie review in Jacobin
My take on the new hit rom-com from Celine Song
My new essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books →
My meditations on Slobodian’s Hayek’s Bastards
Christopher Street Day - Freiburg
I made the flower crown myself before a hot but joyous parade through the old center of Freiburg im Breisgau
A summer solstice newsletter →
My latest newsletter for the summer solstice (Eastern Standard Time)
Action shots from my panel at the University of Frankfurt last night
Such a fun discussion with Dietmar Dath
Forgot to post the link to this new Upstream podcast →
Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 2: Reimagining the Family w/ Kristen Ghodsee
Back in Freiburg again
So happy to be an alumni fellow at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies once more
My recent Jacobin interview now in Spanish →
A nice shout out in The Guardian to my Jacobin interview with Meagan Day →
‘Tradwives are the harbinger of systemic breakdown’
In Jacobin, the anthropologist Kristen Ghodsee argues that “the tradwife phenomenon and the manosphere are two sides of the same coin, reflecting the shift toward authoritarian politics”.
A magical night at the New York Public Library
I made a quick train dash up to Manhattan for the 100th anniversary of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, which threw a huge party in Astor Hall of the New York Public Library. I won my fellowship in 2012, which seems like a million years ago. It funded my trip to Zambia and the work that I did for the book Second World, Second Sex.
