By Googling a bit, this thread is how I find that mana comes from Melanesian and Polynesian cultures, alongside potential roots in the Jewish "manna". Pretty sad that I didn't know this before but now I do!

Happy Bastille Day. Sic semper tyrannis.

One day I'll learn to manage my workload and my personal life so that I don't get burnt out. One day. But not today.

2026 is many things but for me, it will probably always be the year of technical thrash metal.

good night sweet prince

Tide over the tampered-with, until it’s their turn; A corner cut, a penny saved, Grenfell burns again and again and again! There’s worse than the pox for all these houses. ashenspire.bandcamp.com/album/hostil...

It would be great if the moving finger could stop writing. Stop moving on!!!

Vaxxed?

Weekend vibes tauk.bandcamp.com/track/hot-br...

How many times will I record podcast episodes about The Works of Vermin? YES

Facebook memories reminded me of one of my favorite essays, wherein I use William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience to analyze a style of American post-rock and its religiosity. www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/07/10/t...

Upgraded the wedding fit with some improvisation

NEW EPISODE! @wormbuxx.bsky.social of @tendersubject.bsky.social is back to talk about the first ever (good) Italian science fiction novel, The Singularity. Y'all ready for a weird Zone? soundcloud.com/death-senten... open.spotify.com/episode/4vLy... podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

One of the worst weeks at work that I can remember. Probably exacerbated by life things but also just terrible in its own right.

This Rembrandt sketch of poor Elsje Christiaens ambushed me at the Met and I always cry when I remember it. She was strangled to death for killing her landlady when she tried to evict her and steal her belongings for not paying rent. They displayed her for all to see along with the axe she used.

Proud to be the 59th backer 😎 for Zephyr: An Anarchist Game of Fleeting Identities! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/a...

One of my absolute favorite is to get a promo link that has like "EMBARGO!!! TELL NO ONE ABOUT THIS ALBUM OR WE WILL SHOOT YOU" in the subject line and it's for a band that I, nor anyone I know, have ever heard of.

Co signed

“The concept of progress must be grounded in the idea of catastrophe. That things are ‘status quo’ is the catastrophe. It is not an ever-present possibility but what in each case is given. […] Hell is not something that awaits us, but this life here and now.” Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project.

In which someone compares DCC to Vurt because it "has game elements in it" fucking LMAO HAHAHHAHAH

Every time I'm at an airport I ask myself "why do I read cyberpunk when I'm living it?" Automated robot arm that makes coffee in a stall that looks like no one has ever used it. Screens with weirdly outdated graphics showing the American flag. Miles and miles of backrooms and hazy corridor space.

The bots are getting poetic

In case you missed it, a few thousand words from me on what doom metal is, what makes it tick, and how games (and other forms of art) can use it as a palette!

Superb album from a superb band

IIIIIIIIIIII BBBBBRRRRRREEEEAAAAATTTTTTHHHHEEEEEE AND THE WORLD BREATHES WITH ME the outro to this song is one of the greatest things I've ever heard caligulashorse.bandcamp.com/track/the-wo...

Well would you look at that - it's your boy writing for Aftermath! Super stoked to be contributing to one of the best magazines around and to do it while writing about one of my favorite games of the year AND one of my favorite genres!

my autocratic nondescript son Choward says he won't finish his dinner because of its "ludonarrative dissonance"

Nice to see that the Rival 5 is basically the Rival 600 but new.

You couldn't make Blazing Saddles today. It's already 4PM and you haven't even started.

VERMINHEADS RISE UP - it's so fun to see a book I nominated on the shortlist! I will also accept Notes From a Regicide

In writing a briefer post for our summary of 2026 on technical thrash metal, I've stumbled upon my thesis for my next large essay. I present to you the thesis to "Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire: The Modern Appeal of Technical Thrash Metal", which I will hopefully write soon in full :)

Gotta be the murder cliff for me

ANYWAY, music! Please don't sleep on this release. Really good, somber prog death with some like, doom touches? really good shit theblindphilosopher.bandcamp.com/album/innerg...

Ah OK, I see that we are Doing This, so here we go. No more vagueposting. I have known Amanda Kauffman for years. She was part of the Heavy Blog extended family. To the extent that she attended my wedding. Which makes me sick now. Somewhen back then, we realized that things were not adding up.

Don’t be fooled by Amanda Kauffman (Ashenheart). I’ve seen her manipulate the trans, metal, and vtuber communities over the last three years and now that people are finally talk of about it she’s pulling a “you all made me drink again”. Don’t buy it, don’t help her, she’s a grifter

Not much I want to say but those affected by the recent uuuhhh happenings in the Bluesky metal scene, I've been there, specifically with the individual involved. Sorry for vague posting. DM me if you want to chat more. Solidarity and my sympathies.

Fun fact - this is the first piece of music I ever owned. The single came on a CD inside of Cheerios boxes in the UK and I just found it in the box and played it. It's still a fucking GREAT track. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-S1...

Unranked top 25 albums of 2026 so far is in thread below! I preferred text so you can copy but there's an image as well. Absolutely insane that I included FIVE technical/progressive thrash albums. I'll be writing more about that on the blog as we cover the first half of the year in July! Enjoy :)

Reminder. Of what? This. Reminder of this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHRu...

I don't like the focus on a four days work week as a worker issue (because it usually comes with "it will make us so much productive") but god damn it's crazy how much better it would make my life. And yeah, how much more productive it would make me.

lmao classic Jacob I'm Euphemia of course

eggs do not lay eggs 3 -> 74 increase = 71

Stop, I can only HELL YEAH so much

Hell yeah!

I own nice dress shoes for the first time in my life so I decided to try out some outfits.

"But I will stand and raise a voice like sound on fire Water awake We will sing your end with every breath we take Keeping stone Face it, your lies end alone Wait, my brother Patience, this fire will soon become light We will make it right" arcaneaustralia.bandcamp.com/track/keepin...

Everyone is being mean to me today :(

it was literature pub quiz night and our team name "flowers for algae gone" didn't get a single laugh, this isn't the country i grew up in