In honor of Habermas, a meme I made

Which is to say, I’m unbelievably thrilled to say this morning I’ve signed a contract with @mitpress.bsky.social for the trade publication of my next book, an exploration of the first two decades of TTRPG Actual Play.

Been a sec since we've run one of these threads: Hey there, we're Unwinnable! We've been publishing 100% independent pop culture criticism since 2010. Since we mainly count on reader funding, our writers write what's on their minds -- not what's best for the algorithm or investors.

Oliver Stone is one of the worst directors of all time to have acquired any sort of status. His best movies are a 6/10 at best, and all of his work has unforgivable flaws

Friends! On Friday March 13th, at 14:00, the Center for Digital Play is hosting a talk by Victor Navarro-Remesal, on The Making of Zen and Slow Games. You can read more about the talk here: digitalplay.itu.dk/event/victor...

The counterculture spent the 90s trying to destroy consensus reality. It worked. We just didn't have a plan for what came next. Stream and subscribe my conversation with @shirachess.bsky.social: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOp...

Great convo between @shirachess.bsky.social & @rushkoff.com :))) www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOp...

My "US not veering into a new, endless war" t-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my t-shirt

A thread that demonstrates the neoliberal consolidation of ownership of media industries over the last 100 years in like, 5 posts, all from different accounts

Next up: Grand Theft Hamnet

Book check! What book is within a step and a reach of you right now?! What are you reading!?

The new issue of Unwinnable Monthly is out! Have you considered subscribing? It'd be cool if you did. $5 gets you two digital magazines a month and (until Feb 28) 95 Exploits back issues, which'll kill some time during a blizzard, eh? unwinnable.com/subscribe/ Anyway, let's see what's inside!

Yes please!

Me, every Thanksgiving: “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”

Me, every Thanksgiving: “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”

Goodreads is doing a giveaway of Flaxman Low! Five winners will receive a free copy of my edited volume of weird paranormal mysteries.

Well would you look at that! 🥰📚 Hot Connections is real! It was a blast to research & write with @jenmadelene.bsky.social & @susannapaasonen.bsky.social ❤️❤️ blurbs by @alexmonea.bsky.social Tarleton Gillespie & @katha.bsky.social Big thanks to @noahspringer.com & everyone at @mitpress.bsky.social

I'm am excited to finally announce that I have been promoted to Senior Editor for Game Studies and New Media here at @mitpress.bsky.social! I can't wait to keep building these lists and seeing these fields develop for the foreseeable future. Send me your games and new media proposals!

I'm am excited to finally announce that I have been promoted to Senior Editor for Game Studies and New Media here at @mitpress.bsky.social! I can't wait to keep building these lists and seeing these fields develop for the foreseeable future. Send me your games and new media proposals!

(We're still trying to bring on one new subscriber a day, and today it could be you. I hear being an @unwinnable.com subscriber makes you 37% cooler and 12% more likely to understand what people younger than you are talking about.)

Today my newest @mitpress.bsky.social, THE UNSEEN INTERNET, is officially out in the world. Here’s the argument: At the dawn of cyberculture a lot of people on online were intentionally doing magic. And now it feels like we’re all kind of doing magic.

@chiltonm.bsky.social and I are the new Books Editors for Exploits! I had the pleasure of editing this month’s review of Chain Gang All Stars.

happy groundhog day (1993) to all who celebrate

For every retweet I will make Zuckerberg’s creep glasses 5% thicker

One week left to pitch! Feel free to reply/DM with any questions.

What books have we not covered on Game Studies Study Buddies that you really want us to get to?

Just saw someone reposting starter packs, and remembered mine! Check out some @mitpress.bsky.social authors here

🚨Calling all new media scholars🚨 If (and I emphasize if) a 2nd edition of the New Media Reader happened to be in the works, what additions would you like to see? What do you think could be excised? @docmofo.bsky.social @n-w-f.bsky.social @psssssssss.bsky.social mitpress.mit.edu/978026223227...

A thread on ZEN AND SLOW GAMES (MIT Press, 2026)

ICYMI: "I have to peel back the layers of where my consciousness blended into the night, reach back to the scene where it all disintegrated into nothingness." @noahspringer.com recounts his experience of falling asleep to The Fellowship of the Ring:

"I have to peel back the layers of where my consciousness blended into the night, reach back to the scene where it all disintegrated into nothingness." @noahspringer.com recounts his experience of falling asleep to The Fellowship of the Ring:

In 2026, Unwinnable is running a long-term drive with the goal of getting one new subscription each day. To up the ante, we're including the 2025 issues of Unwinnable Monthly and Exploits – 24 free issues of thoughtful, sharp writing on games and culture. Is today your day? unwinnable.com/subscribe/

What a title!

It turns out that @noahspringer.com's titular dark secret is as good an explanation as any I've seen for why Sam Altman always seems damp. tinyurl.com/5eu6hrmx

I could spend an hour or two breaking my brain on this. (Some will remember that the NMR focused on reprinting historical documents, as opposed to collecting essays and scholarship.)

Are you teaching courses that use the current edition? Would you be excited to adopt a new edition for your course? This is a very low-fidelity survey, but I'd love to hear from you if you have thoughts

I got seven stitches in my index finger when I swiped at a fly on my basement’s drop ceiling. The fly lived

I'm quite curious to hear responses to this.

🚨Calling all new media scholars🚨 If (and I emphasize if) a 2nd edition of the New Media Reader happened to be in the works, what additions would you like to see? What do you think could be excised? @docmofo.bsky.social @n-w-f.bsky.social @psssssssss.bsky.social mitpress.mit.edu/978026223227...

The first two hours this morning

Dril will be the final good account on Twitter, and I hope he never stops posting

The look I’m trying to bring into being as I enter my 40s this year, but maybe without the priest collar

How I’m walking out of 2025

found a comic i drew in 2015 when i was in college and i STAND BY IT

Falling asleep to Bad Sant on Xmas Eve as god intended

Is Life a Form of Computation? Alan Turing and John von Neumann saw it early: the logic of life and the logic of code may be one and the same. by @blaiseaguera.bsky.social

Oh right, having the flu sucks

If we get 100 new subs by the end of the year we'll be adding at least one Final Romantasy fan fic into the Final Fantasy x Politics issue courtesy of @derekkinsman.com. Make him regret it folks!

We just cooked up a year-end special: Subscribe to Unwinnable before the end of 2025, and you get access to all of our Monthly and Exploits issues from the whole year. This also applies to monthly subscribers who switch to an annual subscription! unwinnable.com/subscribe/

ICYMI: "[W]hy, if some of my favorite bands from the 1990s (and beyond) are so influenced by Minutemen, had I never listened to them?" @noahspringer.com explores the connections between his favorite music and Minutemen: