It's me, I'm the one that needed to hear it

Daily share—raffle is up to 451 and I would LOVE to get it over 500 and be delighted if it could go even higher

Certified bangers front to back

"The student becomes a suite of data points that the teacher or chatbot can nudge, track, and optimize. The university, meanwhile, is less the site of critical engagement than yet another platform for productivity enhancement."

Take me down to the Parallax city where the far moves slow and the near moves quickly

Buy June's bread if you're in Kalamazoo!

My very talented baker friend (who hopefully won't mind a tag) @transswordbian.bsky.social sold me this delicious sourdough, and I made some fire French toast with it today

Related to Oe Kenzaburo, but Itami Juzo, most famous for the "spaghetti Western" Tampopo, also made a very good and very weird adaptation of Oe's 1990 book A Quiet Life (静かな生活). It's completely different in every way from Itami's other movies. Very David Lynch. www.criterionchannel.com/a-quiet-life

Filing this away for when I have to teach our premodern lit survey and feeling like this dog

Replaying Japan 2026, the 14th International Japan Game Studies Conference, will be held August 18-21 2026 at Ritsumeikan University Osaka Ibaraki Campus. The theme is Intersections of Popular Culture and Transmedia Entertainment. #replayingjapan #gamestudies #japanstudies www.replaying.jp

This trend is giving me life. College is cool, knowledge is great. The liberal arts is rad. Being well rounded is the GOAT. Fund all colleges and universities. We should be throwing money at them. Make it affordable for all. Let people take underwater basket weaving if they choose.

I don’t know what I was expecting adult Elián González to look like but “could play Luigi Mangione in the movie” wasn’t it

I would say this has been an earworm for the last month that it's been teased in shorts, but in fact it's been an ear ant: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcvd...

While I struggle with my very conflicted feelings about industry folks who are "just about the games" speaking up right now while they've been "politics free" through so many harmful moments... I'll choose to amplify someone who has consistently supported marginalized people.

recently learned about “dek bass”, a sound system culture in rural West Bengal, using cassette decks and homemade systems, and it’s remarkable because 1) the music and equipment are sick and 2) the DJ always looks like he’s being briefed on a national security issue

My head cannon is that the company was pro-labor and wanted to enforce mandated lunch breaks as non-working time. Please don't ruin this for me, everybody.

Wonderful 2-player snow game as the snow piles up outside... "Sky Team" by Luc Rémond, published by @scorpionmasque.bsky.social boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37...

It's weapons-grade cute attached to a deceptively deep engine builder. I love it!

I just brought back my big collection of OUSPSM from home, and this cover triggered such an immediate core memory that I had to go fish it out

CFP for a very cool-sounding special issue on the "Ethics, Politics, and Poetics of Video Game Preservation" www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-g...

Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step. 1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish. 2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.

Provisional syllabi for my Spring 2026 teaching, an undergrad course on Japanese animation and a postgrad seminar on film and media theory: huma.hkust.edu.hk/sites/defaul... huma.hkust.edu.hk/sites/defaul...

I am excited and exhausted to finally release my annual data report on job advertisements in East Asian Studies! 📊🌏 This marks 5 years of collecting job data, so it's possible to see changes over time. For interactive visualizations, view via browser rather than phone. prcurtis.com/projects/job...

Princeton is hiring a one-year lecturer position in Asian Religions. Please spread the word: apply.interfolio.com/180148

THREAD. A collection of random dogs I have met on my adventures in the British countryside. You will find the captions to the photos in the alt text.

Received proofs for my first co-authored publication! Nikki & I discuss classical reception in the Fate anime series, using Alexander, Atalanta, & Nero as case studies. This will appear in the @academic.oup.com volume "Animation & the Ancient World," edited by Chiara Sulprizio & Toph Marshall.

CFP for Replaying Japan 2026, to be held in Osaka, is now online: www.rcgs.jp?p=3339

I have an important announcement. Kyle and I are going to be leaving Leder Games to start a new venture. It has been an honor to spend the past eight years working with them. We wish them all the best of luck, and cannot wait to show you what we are working on next. ledergames.com/blogs/news/a...

They fixed it! My article is now open access. academic.oup.com/ahr/article/...

FREE THEM

ダンジョンズ＆ドラゴンズのアウルベア着ぐるみ欲しい

Discord wants to know how you feel about AI. Go tell them: discord.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

reading neuromancer and it's interesting how early scifi envisioned using and interacting with the "net" or what would eventually become the internet was envisioned as something active - you inhabit it and interact with it like you would with physical stuff. whereas we just passively scroll now.

Random trivia: Long Long Man is the son of legendary classical conductor Ozawa Seiji.

Eludamos has a new CFP for a Special issue: New Perspectives on Men and Masculinity in Gaming Eludamos invites scholars in game studies and beyond to submit full papers for a special issue on men and masculinity in gaming, with deadline March 15, 2026.

The article by @gutierrezcarrera.bsky.social and me is now out! Julián has created an entire thread to summarize our argument in the article (below). The article is open access, freely available in the journal Thanatos: journal.fi/thanatos/art...

What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids? Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.

A balaclava is a 目出し帽 and honestly, that is absolutely the most perfect name for it. I propose we start calling it the eyes-out hat in English, too. #TranslationIsLearning

The new quarter starts tomorrow, and I am NOT ready, ama

"I hereby declare this latest meeting of the Big Pauldrons, Robes for the Tall and Beefy, and High Collars Appreciation Society open." "Why does he do this every time? It's just the three of us here." "Beats me. Oh, dd you make some sandwiches?" "Silence! No whispering in the back!"

Check out RJL'sreading project for #JanuaryinJapan 2026. 31 days of free-to-read short stories or excerpts from novels, encompassing a short history of modern Japanese fiction. I'll post a new short story every day, and you're welcome to read along!

Batman the Animated Series, and its extension into the JL universe, remains the most iconic, well-balanced, emotionally rich, and psychologically complex Batman (RIP Kevin Conroy, the Best Batman, always).

謹賀新年 本年もよろしくお願いいたします。

I used to manage wine programs for movie theaters and I am in the extremely unique position to say with professional certainty that the answer here is a crisp Albariño.

My End of Year video is on the "Golden Age of Indie RPGs," from roughly 2010 to 2025. I start with Apocalypse World's release, work through the Google+ Era, and follow design lineages and historical events that have impacted the hobby up through 2025.

Might actually be my favorite movie

Look, I'm sure that Nolan's adaptation of "The Odyssey" will be fun, but I highly doubt it will be as good as the original.

Y’all, the Castlevania: Awakening In The Moonlight musical by Takarazuka Revue is available legally on VOD with subtitles starting today until the end of March, this is a great adaptation and the women in this show are so good, PLUS this is a rare experiment globally Please see it if you’re curious