I feel pretty safe in saying there’s never been a magic topic in my time that’s been more split than this (hybrid). While “all opinions are held”, they tend to not be held this evenly.

One of the rare times I'm proud of this country is when I see our olympic teams succeeding with a beautiful mix of people from different backgrounds. That's what the USA means to me. Our success is the direct result of accepting anyone and everyone.

If you think about it, me being in the USC marching band while Sam Darnold was in college is probably what inspired him to perform so well and led him to where he is today. So this is really all thanks to me.

I liked the half time show a lot, but… can Bad Bunny not dance? Is this a Taylor Swift situation?

✌️✌️✌️FTFO✌️✌️✌️

My aunt texted me today because they played this on NBC, like in a prime time figure skating coverage slot. Nice! #wotcstaff

For context, “call an audible” is a phrase I use all the time meaning “switch to a backup plan” which I thought was common parlance but only recently learned is way more specific to American Football than I realized. I wonder what other sports terms I’m taking for granted.

Sanity checking my own language use. If I describe something as "an audible", what does that mean to you?

Ok it was fine. I could have done with more Sabrina and less laugh track. I think classic Muppet Show formula can totally work today, but I do wish they had taken a bigger swing with this trial run. It was a true pilot through and through.

I’m sorry to report that a very large amount of my very small remaining mental health hinges on the Sabrina Carpenter Muppets Show being good

Yesterday on webslingers we got a top score for the whole month! Anyway happy February 2nd everyone.

Please read this extremely thoughtful & careful post on Tim Walz, Anne Frank, & the US Holocaust Memorial Museum from Martin Shuster, philosopher, Isaac Swift Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, former Holocaust Memorial Museum Fellow, & scholar of genocide, the Holocaust, & authoritarianism:

The 70th anniversary World of Color is the best World of Color since World of Color

life is a series of clubs - if you’re in, your misdeeds are written off as mistakes and indiscretions and you’re afforded infinite grace, and if you’re out a single fuckup will ruin your life apparently the final form of this is pedophile club

We are deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Magic legend Kai Budde. His achievements in the game and community go beyond what we could say in one post. Our thoughts go out to Kai's friends and family in this moment. Remembering Kai Budde: magic.wizards.com/en/news/anno...

Someone on my blog asked what plane has the best pizza. One of the planes I chose was Ravnica, so another person asked which guild made the best pizza. It was “Another Day of R&D Productivity Lost” (for fans of my old “Tales from the Pit” comic). #WotCStaff

I am fueled by all reactions to Mathemagics.

Extremely funny that the champion of the revolutionary left/socialist boogeyman of Republicans everywhere is basically Leslie Knope.

Hot take/confession: Even as a film student, I do not understand when people say “in this movie, [the setting] is its own character” 🤷 Like is the setting important and unique? Sure. But it’s still not a character in function. Anyone have good examples where they thing of the setting this way?

Ever since Stranger Things ended I've been fascinated by why my family reacted so differently (we liked it ok) to the audience at large. From my research, I've realized that y'all were WAY more into Stranger Things this whole time than we were lol. Expectations really do mean everything!

I find all the Gen Z cast members on SNL to be the funniest. I can’t tell if this should make me feel young because clearly Gen Z humor is my thing, or old because I know what SNL is.

The thing that keeps me hooked on the Bazaar is how drastically the runs can feel even with the fixed card pool. Like this Stelle run I had where Tempering allowed two items I think are usually weak (Cloud Tanker and Battle Drone) to take me all the way to a perfect 10 wins.

I actually became a big Smosh fan over the last year or two, so seeing us partner with them is cool to me. We've got Dropout and Smosh, now all we need is some kind of Starkid collab and the holy trinity will be complete.

“I’d like to start a podcast with you”

Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested for “loitering,” Montgomery, Alabama, 1958 Photo by Charles Moore

*USC Alum seeing everyone freaking out over Caleb Williams*

Shoutout to everyone who (like me) opened a fine, not notable at all prerelease pool and piloted it to a solid 2-1 finish. I appreciate you even if you were not compelled to post your deck because it was so boring.

1996 does feel like 30 years ago and 2006 does feel like 20 years ago. But 2016 feels like yesterday. It feels like tomorrow too. It’s been 2016 for a decade now.

Brennan Lee Mulligan is such a trusted font of wisdom in my household that it was legitimately shocking to see him accidentally present the prisoners dilemma slightly wrong last week. It’s like the first time you realized as a child that an adult could be wrong.

If you are anxious and sad about the state of the world, that's fine, and there are plenty of strategies for dealing with that. But I think you already know that drive-by online dooming isn't a strategy. It's selfish and adolescent. It's a contagion that only spreads the worst of you, not the best.

The Fallout show feels like if someone played the Fallout games and then said “let’s make a show based on this.” Which sounds obvious but historically has been rare for video game adaptations.

IF I LEAVE THIS KLAN RALLY ALL THAT WILL BE LEFT ARE KLAN MEMBERS.

Today I got a root canal. It’s been a roller coaster 48 hours.

The extent to which Games Done Quick has helped to steer the larger speedrunning community - one of the most hardcore video game enthusiast subcultures there is - into becoming something so welcoming, inclusive and supportive astonishes me

Today I was promoted at work. I am now a Principal Game Designer for Magic: the Gathering.

The final episode of Stranger Things is literally just the last scenario of every Arkham Horror campaign.

Stranger Things finale was pretty good imo. A nice send off. I think Stranger Things has always been a show haunted by the idea of what people think it could have been. But the last season was a great cap to the show that it actually was, and had been since like season 2.

This year gave me a new all-time heavy hitting moment for me in games (the Blue Prince exam). It joins my personal top three along side the Control ashtray maze and the Portal 1 escape sequence. What are some of your favorite, most memorable specific moments in video games?

My first thought after watching KPDH was that it felt like it's own sequel. Like tell me "there's a rival boy band this time" isn't peak 2000s era animated movie sequel coded.

It's hard to have work-life balance when the things I naturally want to do for fun are just literally all the things that my company does (making games, other games, and a third kind of games)

Friendly new years reminder from my dentist: your top teeth should never be touching your bottom teeth.

I just witnessed a chicken leading a dozen chicks across the road. She literally was teaching them to stop and wait for the cars and everything.

This year I played Clank Legacy 1, which was great, and then Clank Legacy 2, which sadly was not. My other most played games this year were Arkham Horror TCG, SETI, and Lost Ruins of Arnak

Idk what everyone’s talking about, so far Stranger Things Season 5 is basically exactly what I expected, maybe even a bit better.

I watched this last night and could not put it down. Great editing too.

Me from last year is still right

Watched Marty Supreme and got war flashbacks to watching Uncut Gems

Sadly I have in fact complained about the writing on a roller coaster.

Funny Numbers xkcd.com/3184/