This is going to be a big ep...

Closet Crit returns and Sophie is back!!! For $1 a month you can hear my best friend and I yap about one of the best short stories ever written!

My co-editor wraps up our issue on IF with an interrogative and expansive essay on the ideological underpinings of desktop interfaces. Really rewarding and complex work.

Whenever I think about IF in the 2010s, I always notice that game designers were interested in retrofuturist takes on computer desktops. The first one I encountered, Digital: A Love Story, was even designed by someone who didn't grow up with the interfaces central to the game, namely the BBS.

We are continuing to post about IF... the issue is our most diverse and expansive yet...

New Stop Caring article from yours truly. @quimbles.bsky.social forced me to play the impressively mediocre videogame The Evil Within, so to """spite""" them I wrote about how the forced stealth section at the beginning reminded me of having sex with men. Always appreciate a read or a share!

Tried to dig into SHf's themes of domesticity and how they relate to these threads throughout the series.

Was replaying Halo 1 years ago and my wife told me to “stop shooting the flood” because they were “hungry little babies.” Time has validated her in ways neither of us could have imagined.

40/1000!! We still need an immediate ~$60 to take care of Salem’s overdraft, as well as get food and some of Salem’s meds. We’d really appreciate any reposts! Every $1 helps! #MutualAidRequest

Saw some ages ago say that they should make a silent hill about a gay man and I would humbly submit that this is SH2.

I asked Microsoft PR about this—specially the DHS using Halo IP to recruit for ICE—and the company declined to comment.

READER BEWARE: FUNLAND NO. 04 IS ALIVE!!! Spill BLOOD with KEVIN KILSTROM ahead of @nightdivestudios.bsky.social's REFRESHED SUPPLY. Go into the BEAK OF MADNESS with @veselekov.bsky.social. Can you SURVIVE @puppetcombo.bsky.social's movie debut? Cover by Plastiboo! funland.itch.io/funland-zine...

The review crew (@strida.bsky.social, @gracemachine.bsky.social, @crapstacular.bsky.social, @grahamsig.bsky.social, @thestacks.ca, @daviscox.bsky.social) encounter CHILDREN OF CLAY, THE DRIFTER +MORE! Issues available on @itch.io. Want to save? Consider subscribing: www.patreon.com/funlandmag

I've pledged not to write for the NYT until it reviews its anti-Palestinian bias, retracts "Screams Without Words," and calls for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel. I'm honored to join Catherine Lacey, Kiese Laymon, Sally Rooney, and many more in this www.boycottdivestunsubscribe.com/opinion-boyc...

Always great to have @gracemachine.bsky.social on the site, in this case interrogating (on its 70th anniversary) why Return Of The King's most interesting chapter never makes the cut.

Salem’s been hit with back-to-back bills and is sitting at an overdraft of $100. We’re missing about $800 for rent due on the 5th. And the likely cutting of SNAP benefits is hitting us hard. We’re desperate — please repost to help two disabled trans lesbians raise $1000! #MutualAid

Wrote about Return of the King’s thematic lynchpin, the chapter that most hovers in my mind.

In her first interview since he was killed by federal agents, Silverio Villegas González's partner Blanca Mora talked about the impact his death has had on their family. Be sure to read this moving piece by Alma Campos about Silverio's final journey back to Loma de Chupio, Michoacán.

We’re still at $112; getting $100 more would really help us out with food for the rest of the month. Please boost to help out two trans lesbians! #MutualAid

⚠️♿️⚠️ Doaa is an embroiderer. She managed to escape to Egypt with her 6yo child Omar who has autism. Doaa is now with no support. The rest of her family remained in Gaza. She is trying to help Omar and her family in Gaza. Please help. ✅ Verified by Molly Shah chuffed.org/project/1153...

If you are going to get into my mentions and call me stupid I think you should at least 1) read at least one other thing I’ve written other than the thing that has gotten you mad. 2) watch this key and peele sketch and reflect on it for 15 minutes. after that it’s fair game.

Oh that blew the fuck up huh.

Coming in hot with a take that critics are calling "pedantic," "exhausting," and "overwrought." I do think I'm right about this though lol

We’re at 235/800 and pretty nervous about getting our goal met, each repost sincerely helps us out a lot!

My alderperson was cuffed by ICE agents because she showed up and asked if they had a warrant. The agents are wearing masks and not displaying badges, in violation of city policy. My neighbors are organizing grocery pickup for perle afraid to leave their homes and standing watch over school pickup.

What a hed. Chicago today:

I don't like to post like this, because it feels beyond useless but. these ICE raids in Chicago are beyond horrifying and outrageous. The depth to which "acceptable" political violence has stooped is not surprising, but that doesn't make it any less horrifying.

‼️URGENT‼️ Salem and I have $800 left of our rent due on the 5th. We could use every repost we can get to meet this goal! Every dollar and share helps out two disabled trans lesbians!! #MutualAid #MutualAidBoost

Remember there is a second wave of nine boats headed to Gaza. Please keep an eye on the Thousand Madleens to Gaza & Conscience Flotilla. They need our attention for their safety. Livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SER7... Tracker: freedomflotilla.org/ffc-tmtg-con... 2/2 🧵

I wrote about calling things Dark Souls and also why the combat in Silent Hill f is #goodactually.

It is so cosmically funny how well-timed the BDS Xbox boycott was.

Trans people in prison are at the front lines of the increased targeting that trans people are facing under Trump.

These games are so fun… looking forward to this convo

We are recording our episode on Dead Space 2 today! Send asks about stabbing your eye, ultra dead wives, and the survival horror of the future to [email protected]

As ICE continues to terrorize Chicagoland, protesters gathered this morning outside the Broadview detention center—throwing stuffed animals at DHS agents, playing music through tear gas assaults, and putting their bodies on the line to stop ICE vehicles. My latest.

Still at 170/1000 and Salem’s dealing with a $15 overdraft :( This month has been particularly rough for us financially. We’d really appreciate any relief to take care of this debt, as well as get my new antidepressants and food! #MutualAid #MutualAidBoost

I did not hate The Long Walk movie, but I think it could have used like 200% more self-hating faggot toxicity per volume.

TIER (The online journal of games criticism) just published this conversation with me! www.tier-review.com/a-conversati... it was a lot of fun, deeply thoughtful, and i appreciate the opportunity to have chatted with them. #GameDev #GamesCrit

i love when its proven that boycotts work and whiners are wrong

While games criticism will always exist in one form or another, its diminishment as a profession hurts everyone involved. @gracemachine.bsky.social on the space's decline:

In which I try to model a games criticism I would like to exist and articulate why I think it is in decline.

So happy we had this conversation (it's been due for a long time). "No matter how hard you try to gentrify the internet or to control computers, there's this fundamental layer, the core of it, that's not control. It's too late to take that away."

there’s just one day left for this bundle. it’s halfway to its goal. please keep sharing and spreading the word about it. every bit helps. no effort is wasted effort. thank you!! 🙏

We’re at $93/400!! We’re still dealing with a $150 overdraft and need critical meds; can we keep boosting to get this resolved? #MutualAid #MutualAidBoost

Wow the need for a movement-spanning refresher on protest/civil disobedience feels rather critical right now. Like at least in the "protest and civil disobedience involves risk of harassment by authorities, arrest, imprisonment or violence and you need to decide how to manage your risk" 101 level?

Hey friends! So if you've been keeping up with this account you know we have hit some hard times this week. We are going to make it through, but if you can spare a couple bucks to help us out it would mean the world to Nora and me.

Wrote about Bloober Team's latest, which is actually pretty good?!?

we have a traitor within our ranks

We played the ORIGINAL survival horror and watched the movie it was tied in with. We had a great time!

This game is so cool… it’s kinda wild how basically every piece of the survival horror game feels fully formed here.