Tom Bacon

As a Christian, one of the things I find hardest about this new incarnation of Twitter is that it seems to bring out the worst in us as Christians. A big reason for this is tied to the concept of "freedom of speech." 🧵

Yet again, American nonsense affecting British politics.

Let's get this straight. Nigel Farage has just admitted to being the only MP ever in British history to have his mobile phone communications, and that of his unofficial advisor George Cottrell, under 24/7 Russian intelligence surveillance for an indefinite period./1

Me every time there was an establishing shot of Nal Hutta with Nar Shaddaa behind it

New look at Supergirl

Oh and in a reminder all politics is local and people care how their area shows up, many in the group were cross this by-election had been called while Ashton-in-Makerfield was getting regeneration work done and the town centre looked a mess during it's time under the spotlight

Five things really jumped out from our Makerfield focus group for this piece 1) Burnham's biggest challenge is showing how his win, and any future plans will benefit Makerfield directly that: this is about them not him. 2) Lots of the group really disliked Starmer but: vote Labour to get rid of Starmer really goes against voter psychology 3) Reform's biggest challenge is to derisk. The "risk" of Reform is still enough to stop some wavering voters rolling the dice on them. 4) Restore cut through driven by social media was a real thing and just as in Gorton we heard people worried about splits in left vote here a couple worried about right split.

@moraimessenger Yeah, this was a very strange article. But, to be fair, while Forbes has reported a lot on this kind of thing, the coverage is often really unfocused and rambling. It's very odd.

Despite this article reading as nothing else but a jab at The Acolyte, I do think it’s worth reminding everyone that yes, AHSOKA season 2 was done for less money - in the UK which has incentives for film/tv productions - with crews that have worked on many of the Star Wars films (and the show with the most critical acclaim). I talked a bit about this in a post last month or so (see replies). It’s not about how much is spent, but how *well* it’s spent. From everything I’ve seen and been told, money was well spent on season 2. forbes.com/sites/caroline…

@debbee081 @realBOTwriter Well, in that scenario, Lucasfilm has only itself to blame if the fandom doesn't connect with ideas. Because when you've been told three films are about to happen, none of them move ahead at any speed, and two different ones happen instead? It's a mess.

@debbee081 @realBOTwriter Fair point. The catch here, though? At Celebration 2023, they were trying to hype the future of Star Wars. If they were already doing something completely different to everything they were telling those of us who were there...

This is interesting. Because The Mandalorian and Grogu was only announced in 2024, and didn't start production until June of that year. I wonder if the Hutts WERE originally intended to be in Season 4.

Cal Kestis will appear in more Star Wars stories after the sequel to JEDI: SURVIVOR, confirms a Disney rep. "Never say never. We've got his lightsaber in the park. We've got more Cal stories coming.” (Source: gamerant.com/star-wars-jedi…)

"He’s made a serious foreign policy and national security allegation which if true would have massive implications for British policy towards Russia." Prof Ciaran Martin on Nigel Farage's allegation that a Russian hack was behind a report on £5m gift.👇 ow.ly/PZHN50Z45Uo

@hmgovt @EricLevitz Oh, ADVERTS. Of course. Lol.

@EricLevitz "This is not just AI, this is M&S AI." It's a template from advertising copy, training would have wolfed down terabytes of the stuff. hollacreative.co.uk/this-is-not-ju… youtu.be/Tu-sbmySMG8?si…

The most puzzling AI-ism to me is probably the "Not x. Not y. But z." Not the em-dashes (an essential piece of punctuation). Not "That isn't x, it's y" (a useful if inelegant way to clarify an argument). But consecutive examples of what your subject isn't -- conveyed in fragmentary, staccato sentences -- before a declaration of what it is. Feel like this is an inherently irritating rhetorical device. And I don't recall regularly coming across it in pre-AI writing. So, I don't understand why LLMs are so in love with the template

@EricLevitz Yeah, it's actually not a formula I remember ever reading in a book at all. It's weird.

This guy is a loser here are some great female Star Wars authors to read: Claudia Gray Kathy Tyers Barbara Hambly Patricia A Jackson A. C. Crispin Justina Ireland Delilah S Dawson Lydia Kang Rebecca Roanhorse Vonda N McIntyre Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kara’s heat vision destroying energy beams, moving so quickly it looks like teleportation, and punching so hard it sends her enemies flying away. So glad her comic book level of power is on full display and not being downplayed like past adaptations

“Lord Wolfson, who earned more than £7m last year…” A multimillionaire lord is using this position to suggest minimum wage rises should be reversed and protections against things like zero hour contracts are stifling the economy. We are in Black Mirror.

With thanks to @jameshunt182

The Mandalorian and Grogu's box office is a tremendous success. It made the exact amount of money that allows people to continue arguing about it 😂

@nothappyfunball In truth, box office has always been the wrong thing to look at for evaluating a film's success or failure. Merchandise and distribution are where films have always made the most money. Especially true when distribution involves Disney's own streamer.

@nothappyfunball Tbh? This is exactly where I'd expect this to be in terms of box office. I'm actually happy with it. Not least because this film isn't all about box office anyway; it'll then go on to Disney+, where I bet my bottom dollar it performs well.

@TomABacon Yes, the studio gets about 50% of ticket sales from US theatres (it's not that straightforward, but its a good base). About 40% of worldwide - China. China about 25%. So yeah, that is a terrible opening, and the film has meh WOM, so will have crap legs and lose money for Disney.