Ravi Somaiya

Writer of big, strange things at Bungalow.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@DAaronovitch This was very much my experience in covering them. A lot of people start as bystanders but are just so thrilled that the rules are suspended they join in.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

Geoffrey Household managed to precisely describe the feeling of being on social media in back 1939.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@nealjclark1 I agree, to the extent that I wrote this — which is really a story about one lonely man and his phone. https://t.co/zxiwH5j6FS

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@bswud @RichardHanania It’s very strange to me that this is now, in general, almost an esoteric idea.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@matdryhurst @neilturkewitz Ouch!

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

I think about this quote whenever a principled or creative thing is reduced to a political pawn by either the left or right. “Is not the literal meaning of “totalitarianism” just this pretension of the political power to control the totality of human life?”
—Dwight Macdonald

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@ItsSnibby @joshuagates I find anything I look into is more unresolved than I assumed!

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

Despite the looming giant face in the background, this episode of Expedition Files (on Discovery and HBO) does an amazing job of explaining the Hammarskjöld murder mystery. Thanks for having me, @joshuagates! https://t.co/aLL7zTN3tk

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@dolphinsands Simenon wrote Maigret novels in 11 days or so.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@rorysutherland It’s likely aimed at professional selfies/couple shoots. They bring tents to change in outside my building in NYC and lights etc. Hilarious to see them then pretend to be merely strolling, but the charm wears off after the 10th in a day.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@NickBurns I thought it was going to be about a guy who was an ace with scarves.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

Bungalow print zine #1, coming soon to a delightful book/magazine shop near you (in London or NY). $5. Inspired by Penguin paperbacks. One overlooked story, printed on beautiful paper made from waste algae that was clogging the canals of Venice. https://t.co/iiEgiRKUV0

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@monkantony_tez @matdryhurst @frogspitsimulat (Also why I can’t stand Botticelli. He sided with Savonarola. That is not an artist.)

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@monkantony_tez @matdryhurst @frogspitsimulat Which is why, in my view, the big question is: what’s next? What do we do about this? What comes after the (correct) diagnosis?

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@monkantony_tez @matdryhurst @frogspitsimulat I can’t think of a significant artistic movement that was not born in opposition to a sclerotic and risk-averse establishment.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@matdryhurst @monkantony_tez @frogspitsimulat And before that a cycle ago. And before that a cycle ago. It’s not new but it is necessary. Not just in art but in every creative medium.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@rorysutherland @liseymacd It's not as good as it used to be.

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@matdryhurst It defines every terrible situation on earth currently. Two groups of just absolute assholes, and a larger group in between, baffled and suffering and told they have to choose. (Hamas and the Israeli government, MAGA and woke, the Green Party and Reform etc.)

[Ravi Somaiya @ravisomaiya]

@Elainebks Too late! I’ll have to win you over.