Mastodon Feed: Posts

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social ("Bread and Circuses") wrote:

Of course I would prefer no cars at all, but this is certainly an improvement…

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

Some people think that omg.lol and Micro.blog are similar or have competing elements. Let me be clear: No.

Micro.blog is primarily a platform underpinned by a business focused on growth. This is why its owner would sooner scrub a problematic name from its website than ever admit that there’s a problem.

omg.lol is primarily a community, underpinned by a desire to foster genuine honesty and safety. This is why its owner will loudly and proudly call out bigotry, fascism, and other bullshit. In this space, it’s principles over profit every time.

If you’ve been confused about the difference in strategy here, I hope this clears it up.

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
jglypt@social.lol ("jack") wrote:

back on omg.lol! I think I’m here to stay 😅

I love the vibes on it, much more interesting than mstdn.social, never mind all the fun extra stuff you get with it!

#mastodon #omgdotlol

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me at the #TUALATIN Public Library TOMORROW (Jun 22):

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

More tour dates (#London, #Manchester) here:

http://martinhench.com

eof/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

You can follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/21/1060-west-addison

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If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is ad-/tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "🦙". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

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You can also get a fulltext RSS feed, licensed CC BY 4.0:

https://pluralistic.net/feed/

13/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Recent appearances:

* FediForum Keynote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7%5FGs1t0qe78

* Science Fiction is EXPOSING Scams and AI Dystopia (Bad Faith)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlrKlp%5FIiko

* The Rideshare Guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKeoCxJWVVE

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #DC: Enshittification at Politics and Prose, Oct 8
https://politics-prose.com/cory-doctorow-10825

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
https://app.gopassage.com/events/doctorow25

* #NewOrleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12, 2025
http://www.contraflowscifi.org/

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
https://app.gopassage.com/events/doctorow25

11/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Upcoming appearances:

* #Tualatin Public Library, Jun 22:
https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

* #London: How To Academy with Riley Quinn, Jul 1
https://howtoacademy.com/events/cory-doctorow-the-fight-against-the-big-tech-oligarchy/

* #Manchester: Picks and Shovels at Blackwell's Bookshop, Jul 2
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1308451968059

* #Manchester: Co-operatives UK Co-op Congress keynote, Jul 4
https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/events-calendar/co-op-congress-2025-book-your-place

* Virtual: ORG at 20: in conversation with Maria Farrell, Jul 16
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/events/org-at-20-cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-maria-farrell/

10/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

https://craphound.com/shop/

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

My last nationally bestselling novel was "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/product-page/the-bezzle

--

My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Signed copies available from Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

Both are national bestsellers!

8/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Yesterday threads: Oregon bans the corporate practice of medicine; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114715946842745326

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

#10yrsago Schneier: China and Russia probably did get the Snowden leaks — by hacking the NSA https://www.wired.com/2015/06/course-china-russia-snowden-documents/

#10yrsago The snitch in your pocket: making sense of Stingrays https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/notetoself/episodes/stingray-conspiracy-theory-daniel-rigmaiden-radiolab

#5yrsago Juneteenth in the Internet Archive https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/20/everybody-knows/#juneteenth

#5yrsago "Longshot" NYPD surveillance transparency law passes https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/20/everybody-knows/#Quis-custodiet-ipsos-custodes

#5yrsago Everybody Knows https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/20/everybody-knows/#slicey-boi

#1yrago How to design a tech regulation https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/20/scalesplaining/#administratability

6/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

#20yrsago Canada’s DMCA introduced https://web.archive.org/web/20051027190726/http://www.michaelgeist.ca/home.php?blog%5Fdisp%5Fvars=days&blog%5Fdate=20050620&day=20&month=06&year=2005&blog%5Farch=2&v=99

#20yrsago Dead online game resurrected by dumpster-diving its servers https://games.slashdot.org/story/05/06/21/0133233/classic-mmog-raised-from-the-dead-by-past-players

#15yrsago Mickey Mouse, amphetamine shill https://www.erowid.org/library/books%5Fonline/mickey%5Fmouse%5Fmedicine%5Fman/mickey%5Fmouse%5Fmedicine%5Fman.shtml

#15yrsago Economic reality versus ideology: spending cuts and recovery https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/opinion/18krugman.html

#10yrsago UK High Court’s insane ruling: ripping CDs is illegal again https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/european-copyright-madness-court-strikes-down-law-allowing-users-rip-their-own-cds

5/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Hey look at this

* FTC competition comment jointly submitted by EFF and Authors Alliance https://www.eff.org/files/2025/06/05/ftc%5Fcompetition%5Fcomment%5Fjointly%5Fsubmitted%5Fby%5Feff%5Fand%5Fauthorsalliance.pdf

* McMansion Hell urges all New Yorkers to Rank Zohran Mamdani #1 for Mayor of NYC https://mcmansionhell.com/post/786540193484341248/mcmansion-hell-urges-all-new-yorkers-to-rank

* Arbitration Information https://arbitrationinformation.org/docs/problems/

* Apple to Australians: You’re Too Stupid to Choose Your Own Apps https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/apple-australians-youre-too-stupid-choose-your-own-apps

* Steps towards an Ecology for the Internet https://arxiv.org/html/2506.06469v1

4/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Daniel de Visé's 'The Blues Brothers': Far more than production gossip - an unmissable portrait of a turning point in American comedy and music.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114721571602813434

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me at the TUALATIN Public Library TOMORROW (Jun 22):

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

More tour dates (#London, #Manchester) here:

http://martinhench.com

2/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Daniel de Visé's 'The Blues Brothers'; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/21/1060-west-addison

#Pluralistic

1/

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
limebar ("Lime Bar") wrote:

@pluralistic how absolutely bizarre... i just listened to the soundtrack yesterday for the first time in ... a decade? then today your article
EDIT ok not so weird... released 45 years ago yesterday

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
ChemicalEyeGuy@mstdn.science ("Preston MacDougall") wrote:

Glad #midsommar. #SummerSolstice

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me at the #TUALATIN Public Library TOMORROW (Jun 22):

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

More tour dates (#London, #Manchester) here:

http://martinhench.com

eof/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

This isn't a book about a movie; it's a rich and engrossing tale of an extraordinary creative collaboration that found an unlikely foothold at just the right time and place. It's a sensitive, funny, and revealing account of Belushi, Aykroyd, and the comedians, impresarios and friends in their orbit. Even if you didn't wear out a VHS cassette and memorize the whole damned movie, you will find something surprising and delightful in these pages.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Which is where I came in, I suppose. That's how I got here, in this form, with a hard drive full of R&B, blues, country swing, jazz, boogie woogie and jump blues that vie with Talking Heads for play in my shuffle.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

In a "where are they now" coda straight out of the closing credits of Animal House, de Visé documents how the artists featured in the movie - and the musical traditions they represented - experienced a *massive* revival following the film's release, which the musicians themselves credit to the movie.

24/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Aykroyd and Belushi wanted to bring the music back. They couldn't stand that the likes of Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and James Brown were playing county fairs and half-full night clubs. They wanted the music to escape from history and *live* again. And they succeeded.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

These are the final days of Belushi, something we all know and can see coming. But even as Belushi approaches his final days, we learn how The Blues Brothers movie had created a legacy. It was Aykroyd who got Belushi into the blues, and the schtick they did about wanting to preserve this music from a world that was set to bury it and forget it wasn't just for the movie.

22/

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

And while all of this is going on, de Visé gives us a vivid portrayal of Belushi's spiraling addiction, the disease that is killing him right there, in front of everyone who loves him. That story carries over into the film's aftermath, as it is laboriously cut from more than three hours (it was originally intended to be shown with an intermission!) and released to hostile critics and an adoring public.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

From winning over the mayor of Chicago (who reversed a decades-long policy of all-but-total prohibitions on filming permits in the city) to dropping a Ford Pinto thousands of feet, to the garage where, every night, dozens of surplus police cars that had been crashed that day were refurbished and gotten into shape to be crashed *again* the next day.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

De Visé shows us how Belushi had won over a long list of household names in the entertainment industry, and how Aykroyd's meticulous, obsessive nature honed and directed Belushi's wild talent.

The actual production of, and reception to, The Blues Brothers movie arrives in the book as a kind of extended climax and denouement, and yes, there are *tons* of funny bits of production trivia and gossip in this section.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

By the time we get to the SNL chapters, the show itself becomes the star, and its rocky early days strongly echo the struggles of the comedians we've followed to its stage.

The actual production story of The Blues Brothers movie doesn't start until more than halfway through the narrative. By that time, we've been set up with the way that filmmaking, comedy, popular culture, and politics have all changed to make The Blues Brothers movie a possibility.

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pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

As the two men find their way into various pioneering comedy projects - Second City, National Lampoon radio shows - they start to inch towards Lorne Michaels, and thus to each other. As de Visé painstakingly traces the ups and downs of their comedy careers, he paints a vivid picture of the wild swings of talented, striving artists at the start of their careers.

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