Going to take a social media sabbatical for a bit to get some thinking/writing done (not that anyone's livelihood hinges on whether I'm on here or not, but posting this in public makes me hold myself accountable)

I know $125 sounds like a lot for a two-volume set, but if you have any interest in film, the red volume here is one of the very best making-of books you'll ever read, and the brown scrapbook is an amazing bonus. (I read this in the previous limited edition and still feel I got my money's worth)

taschen.com

For reasons I don't even know, but that surely aren't good, I followed this up tonight with Freddy Got Fingered, and (a) it's as bad as I'd heard; (b) it has nearly the same plot (or lack thereof) as The Comedy (an obnoxious manchild makes an ass of himself in public with no consequences)

Dexter Palmer@dexterpalmer.bsky.social · 2y ago

Watched The Comedy (2012) last night—deliberately unfunny and alienating; didn't like it while I was watching it but afterward I got what it was going for (I've crossed paths with trust-fund failsons like the protagonist who were hollow in that way). A well-made film I'll never watch again

focus on your fake numbers and miss out on the real vibe

Comfortably Boo@numb.comfortab.ly · 2y ago

Asked a famous writer why he is still on Twitter, and the reply was "90 thousand people are still here, following me. When my numbers near 90K on Threads or Bluesky, I'll shut this down."

I tried this today ("cooking oil solidifier," see the QT)—I did not have the experience of slipping a single yellow pancake into the trash as described below, but it still made cleanup easier

Dexter Palmer@dexterpalmer.bsky.social · 2y ago

Did not know this existed--game-changing

And this data cuts off at September 2024. I can only imagine what the hemorrhage has been like over the last week.

Otto English@ottoenglish.bsky.social · 2y ago

Twitter has lost nearly one-fifth of its daily active user base in the U.S. and a whopping one-third in the UK.  mashable.com/article/elon...

going to try to move forward with the confidence of the democratic party sending a fundraising email on november 9th, 2024

Interesting interview with Alexey Pajitnov, creator of Tetris, and how he's dealt with a long career that really only had one winner, early on (but what a winner it was)

After the Triumph of Tetris, an Unsolved Puzzle

Alexey Pajitnov, who created the ubiquitous game in 1984, opens up about his failed projects and his desire to design another hit.

nytimes.com

Site has been feeling a little more Twitter-ish these past few days—every time there's an influx from there the social norms get challenged

Looks like rain in New Jersey, the first time I've thought that in over a month

Watched The Comedy (2012) last night—deliberately unfunny and alienating; didn't like it while I was watching it but afterward I got what it was going for (I've crossed paths with trust-fund failsons like the protagonist who were hollow in that way). A well-made film I'll never watch again

Hello BlueSky! Will This Be A Problem? is a Kenyan literary journal dedicated to publishing the best in African speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as well as insightful essays and book reviews. Check out our website & follow us for more Afro-SFFH! willthisbeaproblem.co.ke

Did not know this existed--game-changing

Chris Person@papapishu.bsky.social · 2y ago

A niche cleaning product I totally forgot about: cooking oil solidifier. After you deep fry something you sprinkle this in and it turns the oil into a solid waste.

lots of "by any means necessary" guys amped up by the possibility that the necessary means might be "risking horrifically violent death at the hands of militias and/or the state" but strangely unwilling to consider that they might be "doing the dishes" or "making common cause with winemoms"

and you can read it here. was written in the days following trump’s first win. after californian voters failed to outlaw slavery in prisons* it feels like I could have written it this week www.vice.com/en/article/f...

​Flyover Country

Welcome to a future where undocumented migrants are penalized, prisons merge with labor camps, and iPhones are made in America.

vice.com

Once again, I am begging you to include a url with your screen grab quotes

Was saying to a friend that my allergies are the worst they've ever been since moving up north and I've never had them in November, and she pointed out, "It's never been this warm and this dry for this long here in November, either," and I thought, "Yeah, I'm still washing pollen off my car"

yes. and the first step toward understanding what happened is actually taking the agency of ordinary people seriously. there are questions to ask about the kind of society we have built and you can’t begin to tackle them if your starting position is the people are mindless hogs

"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief."@nocatsnomasters.bsky.social · 2y ago

It's the 'they can't help themselves, the poor dears' that's the real condescension to voters. Expecting them to know what they want, to understand their choices, and to vote those choices is what respect means.

Universities need to leave X, by @edtechie.bsky.social blog.edtechie.net/higher-ed/un...

If you're publishing a book in 2025 or know anyone publishing a book in 2025, lemme know. Still working out the deets, but I'll be helping out w/ a new Toronto reading series & am on the hunt for amazing/surprising/charming authors

I don't typically single out bad accounts, but this "science girl" was notorious on twitter for never crediting content, often with erroneous caption, and blocking people who point out the errors. Even if you're not using my block list, please don't let this account take off.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington.bsky.social · 2y ago

@franzanth.bsky.social Could you please add @gunsnrosesgirl3.bsky.social to Content Scrapers if it’s not already there?

I'm going to bed—whatever news is in the paper tomorrow, a hangover won't make it any better. Good luck to us all

I’ve been reading Stephen King’s IT for a month and it really just feels like half of Derry misses Pennywise the Clown.

I think this is the key we are all sitting here asking how the fuck THIS campaign - this awful fucking campaign - from a visibly declining Trump results in quite possibly not only an EC victory but a PV victory and the answer is that most people no longer see what we see

Dave Levitan@davelevitan.bsky.social · 2y ago

There's obviously something so profoundly fucked about the way most people get information.

Folks: Don't Red Wave yourself. The race so far shows that country is more polarized, w/rural areas swinging to Trump by ~5 and suburban/urban areas swinging to Harris by we don't yet know bc they're not counted, but in some cities turnout is historic. There are FAR more people in latter areas.

sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof don’t borrow trouble

A DeKalb County judge orders polls to stay open later to compensate for time spent closed during bomb threats (via Greg Bluestein, AJC)

I have counted three (3) Halloween candies out of three hundred (300) Halloween candies and can confidently report all the candy is the big full sized Snickers bars that were easy for me to grab out of the bag in and I make $100,000 a year to be on the news

"i'm glad to have seen that. and…" *slowly edging away, but with supreme tact* "…now i've seen it."

Joshua J. Friedman@joshuajfriedman.com · 2y ago

ICYMI, here's Kamala Harris's reaction to seeing her first Michigan "I VOTED" sticker (via KamalaHQ)

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller November 5,1949