here: a unifying theory of Christopher Nolan, the bard at dusk aftermath.site/christopher-...

Christopher Nolan, Cinema's Manic Street Preacher

Why everyone wants to argue about Christopher Nolan, and why we'll do it all again

aftermath.site

today's @mothership.blog story is a group project, featuring recommendations from @amandatien.bsky.social, @candemald.bsky.social, @applecider.bsky.social, @nicoleclark.bsky.social, @saoirsestone.bsky.social, and @exalclaw.com <3 !!!!

What's in the feminist games canon?

It's complicated! But here are some recs from our regular contributors

mothership.blog

I reviewed the avatar movie (not that one). It’s gorgeous and completely inconsequential www.avclub.com/avatar-aang-...

The tragedy of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is that it may as well not exist

After suffering so many indignities, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender now faces the worst of all: the fact that it may as well not exist.

avclub.com

so i hadn't played tiny bookshop because i assumed it wouldn't be real books (no clue where i even got this idea). unsurprisingly i loved it, it took me back to my best memories of being a bookseller. in many ways it fulfilled the fantasy of the body i used to have, and what that body could do

Menswear Menagerie: Clothes I'm wearing this summer.

i had not heard good things about tia but yikes lapublicpress.org/2026/07/la-t...

A year ago, I took a chance and moved PV Guide from Substack to Ghost. To celebrate (+ pay the bill), I'm running a 20% off sale on all subscriptions! If you want more work like this, start a paid subscription today! Annual: pvguide.ghost.io/the-big-ghos... Monthly: pvguide.ghost.io/ghost-renewa...

PV Guide

Ditch the algorithm with movie and TV recommendations, interviews, and reviews from Pete Volk, Polygon's former senior curation editor

pvguide.ghost.io

Pete Volk@petevolk.bsky.social · last mo.

After tearing through his new sci-fi thriller on a recent beach trip, I had the pleasure of speaking to author @kyliu99.bsky.social about his research and writing process, "genre" fiction, AI anxieties, Star Trek, what's next for the Julia Z series, and more: pvguide.ghost.io/ken-liu-inte...

Sick. Awesome. Thanks for that. Really preferred this to funding a Blade game by the Dishonored people or people at Obsidian having jobs.

Karl Bode@karlbode.com · last mo.

everywhere you look, things are goin' great

that vice quote the trailer opens with is the headline to a piece I wrote in 2018! never thought I'd see it again, whoa

Kat Tsai@chuwenjie.bsky.social · last mo.

So stoked to share the official trailer for the Avatar Aang movie, now releasing JULY 25th on Paramount+!!

The trans sports ban are almost completely an invention of the media, conservative and mainstream. it has been years of lies, of shoddy fact checking on just completely false conservative claims, years of phony concern trolling.

5-4 for what it explicitly says in the constitution is incredible. They were this close to undoing the civil war entirely. bsky.app/profile/mjsd...

Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · last mo.

The Supreme Court strikes down Trump's attack on birthright citizenship. By a 5–4 vote, it holds that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born of unauthorized and temporary immigrants. Roberts and Barrett join the three liberals. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

This birthright ruling is why I just refuse to tolerate all the Democrat garment rending over NY voters choosing progressive candidates. They are incapable of governing in this moment. The politics of appeasement and centrism gets us to a 5-4 decision on the constitutional question.

i visited yacht school games' studio in LA and talked to the devs about mina the hollower, my fav game this year. i asked them why there wasn't a detailed map and also why is klumpy dee Like That www.mothership.blog/maps-mice-an...

Maps, mice, and moody hues: The making of Mina the Hollower

On a studio visit to Yacht Club Games, Nicole Clark learned about the origins of our new favorite mouse hero.

mothership.blog

It was never just about sports. It sure as hell was never about protecting women. It’s about trying to erase trans people, which will never happen, and it’s also about restricting bodily autonomy.

the one and only @nicoleclark.bsky.social visited the yacht club games studio and found out so many wonderful little details about Mina the Hollower!!! like, say, that her namesake is actually mina harker from dracula (so obvious now that i think about it...) www.mothership.blog/maps-mice-an...

Maps, mice, and moody hues: The making of Mina the Hollower

On a studio visit to Yacht Club Games, Nicole Clark learned about the origins of our new favorite mouse hero.

mothership.blog

if you’ve been impacted by layoffs at bungie or xbox and want to securely and privately discuss it—especially in terms of what this terrible loss of talent means for workers and studios—feel free to reach out: aftermathdotsite@proton.me or nathangrayson.666 on signal

I know this is not the biggest concern going these days, but it stresses me out that basically every artist/writer/critic is now expected to create their own tiny empire instead of getting paid by any existing entity to perform a job they've worked to get good at!!!!

SO! We have ~*news*~ I officially have a job again! My old one! After a great run elsewhere I have returned to the place that started it all to deliver some championship reporting for Kotaku making me the LeBron James of Video Game Journalism which is fitting considering I live in Akron, lol

for the best part of this year, I've been speaking to former Maxis developers to put together this: a near-6000 word oral history of Spore 🦠 www.designroom.site/spore-an-ora...

Spore: An oral history

A wild bet in development for the better part of a decade, Spore reached for the stars — and, at times, got there. We recently spoke to eight team members, including chief designer Will Wright, to loo...

designroom.site

the phrase "lipstick on a pig" has always inspired a deep sadness in me. I think of the pig, looking forward to her big night out, and I bring myself to the verge of tears.

it's terrifying. my husband thought his pericarditis (similar condition but affecting the pericardium) was a muscle cramp, because it flared and subsided for weeks, and our doctors were not concerned. eventually we had to rush to the ER where he had life saving surgery. that was 2 years ago

Nicole Carpenter@nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · 2mo ago

been 9 years since i was hospitalized for myocarditis. it’s super weird to think about—even 9 years later, it still impacts my life. anyway, a reminder to not ignore symptoms: the first ER i went to told me it was anxiety. by the time i went to the second, i was critically sick.

‘dear rax, my middle class parents are ashamed that i clean houses for a living’ www.patreon.com/posts/160262...

Also live today: one of my editors at Vanity Fair suggested I take a look at the fatFIRE subreddit for kicks and I kind of lost my mind: a community of people hyper focused on retiring early and rich, believing they can will a broken system to work, just for them www.vanityfair.com/story/fatfir...

The FatFIRE Subreddit Is the Internet’s Best Sideshow

It’s all too easy to get drawn into this seductive financial subculture, where seemingly normal people are risking everything to retire early—once they save a measly few million dollars.

vanityfair.com

With SGF this week, I wanted to explore the impact of no remote events, especially as a disabled reporter. This industry thrives on in person events for making connections, but what does that look like for me? Read my first byline for @mothership.blog here: www.mothership.blog/as-a-disable...

As a disabled games reporter, I've only been able to attend one in-person event

The impact on my career and relationships with other journalists is tangible

mothership.blog

maybe my fav part of mina the hallower (and a very "soulsy" touch) is all the strange characters and philanderers you meet. you can run away from random field bosses, sometimes quest givers are real pieces of shit. sometimes they're just weeeeeeird

i love mina but i do think being frustrated is fair. imo more people should be comparing mina to frogger. i keep hearing souls-like and zelda-like but there are whole ass frogger sections where you will eat shit falling into a hole or some water like over and over. it can be a real pain!!

Jacob Geller@jacobgeller.com · 2mo ago

frustrating to play 9 hours of Mina and then throw in the towel but also not as frustrating as actually playing the game

i wrote about motion capture, animation, and bodies in games for TEEN VOGUE! it's very excited to have a byline at a magazine that i've been reading since i was teen✨ www.teenvogue.com/story/why-ar...

Why Are Thin Bodies the Default in Games?

Motion capture has the ability to capture fat bodies. So why don't we see more plus-size characters in games?

teenvogue.com

looking for a few more folks to talk to for a story i'm working on about tamagotchi. has tamagotchi influenced your games or art, even going beyond the creature care genre? hit me up here or nicolecarpenterwrites@gmail.com ✨

why did they put mr beast in survivor. return to sender please

recovering from PRP and i ended up reading all manga volumes of witch hat atelier and frieren. they've been a wonderful form of escapism while healing - what else do people love? i also have loved spy x family, dungeon meshi, and hunter x hunter