DonE
@optional.bsky.social
let me fish out my sociologist card from my old wallet, I think it said it was good for life co-managing ed @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social previous at Unwinnable, Uppercut Crit, Bullet Points Monthly, Wireframe, Polygon, Symbolic Interaction & more
This week: 20 new picks on Big Walk, Mother 3, Lufia/Lunar, and more: critical-distance.com/2026/08/09/a...
August 9th
Welcome back readers. Hey! In case you needed a nudge, you’ve got a little over a week left if you’d like to participate in our Friendslop Essay Jam. A pretty big one-of-those came out …
critical-distance.com
This is the same ED that demands that colleges and universities report “sex” (under the asinine definition from the 2025 executive order) in only binary categories, thus also erasing gender nonconforming, non-binary, and all other genders from federal statistics.
Assigned Media@assignedmedia.org · 2d ago@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Jul LGBTQnation Dept of Ed says it will stop tracking trans students which means it will also no longer be able to track when they are targeted for bullying or harassment in the classroom. www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/depa...
This is because they want kids to bully their trans classmates to death.
Assigned Media@assignedmedia.org · 2d ago@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Jul LGBTQnation Dept of Ed says it will stop tracking trans students which means it will also no longer be able to track when they are targeted for bullying or harassment in the classroom. www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/depa...
Indiepocalypse #79 is back again as your monthly mini indie game fest! -10 curated games for $15! -Zine! -Newly commissioned game by @chamberlilium.bsky.social, @ruinedpowers.bsky.social -Cover by Lizardthing (lizardthing.carrd.co) pizzapranks.itch.io/indiepocalypse-79
I wrote a post detailing some thoughts about where we go when we play too many videogames. You can find it here: deep-hell.com/2026/08/06/f...
FEAR UNDER MAKEUP – DEEP-HELL
deep-hell.com
Contacted my senators, for all the good that'll do. Do the same.
Mike Stabile@mikestabile.bsky.social · 6d ago“Unlike KOSA and many of the other age verification laws that have spread across the country, the SCREEN Act does not have bipartisan support. It’s the latest in Lee’s repeated attempts to criminalize content he and his co-sponsors personally consider immoral.”
"saudi arabia owns EA" is going to be the headline you see basically everywhere for this one but "jared kushner is about to use EA as a vehicle for trump administration bribes" is equally relevant imo
![The firm is fully owned by Jared Kushner and has a staff of approximately 20 people.[2][5] By 2024, the firm had returned no profits to its investors.[6] The firm has been controversial due to conflicts of interests arising from Kushner soliciting funds from Middle Eastern governments while also working as an envoy having direct and indirect dealings with those governments in his role in the second Trump administration.[7] According to reporting by Bloomberg News, investors in the firm do so with the expectation of influencing the Trump administration.[8]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2jjromh55tf7pp7s4hsvurf4/bafkreihebdzjog2hp37o2q3enjyrsi46btqktev76ogpneczsrrzl55fo4)
Wario64@wario64.bsky.social · 6d agoEA Announces Completion of Acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners www.ea.com/news/ea-anno...
EA showing that a widely despised company can always get worse, I see.
Poinpy rules and so does Moppin
This Week in Videogames@thisweekinvideogames.com · 6d agoAfter being born and then fading away as a Netflix exclusive, the excellent POINPY from @devolverdigital.com and Ojiro Fumoto has returned as a completely free game. We ask Fumoto about the thinking behind that, the experience of working with Netflix, and the secret juice behind his moreish titles.
Man I Just Wanna Live - an "MSPaint-noir" visual nightmare, out in 2027 store.steampowered.com/app/4860500/...
Weyland-Yutani Asset Breaks Containment During Testing, Engages in Face-Hugging Attack
Dale Chapman@decmusicology.bsky.social · 7d agoReally off-topic, but I’m never gonna be able to think of the brand name Hugging Face without thinking of this lol
@mayorhere.bsky.social on Saros: "Robert W. Chambers's Yellow Shore becomes more knowable in Saros than the original myth ever was, and something is lost in that. But the core idea survives: the horror was never the Shore. It was always the wanting." www.gamerswithglasses.com/features/sar...
Saros, Robert W. Chambers, and the Horror of Desire — Gamers with Glasses
Robert W. Chambers’ stories from The King in Yellow are often described as Lovecraftian by association - but, as Housemarque demonstrates in Saros, the horror of Chambers’ Carcosa goes deeper than Lov...
gamerswithglasses.com
Read Luis on gamer (a generalized identity in our current social situation) alienation
Luis Aguasvivas@aguaspoints.bsky.social · 7d agoLimited interaction for all! Inspired by @critdistance.bsky.social Jam, I put a few words together on friendslop.
A few years ago, I stopped playing Get in the Car, Loser! I think I got stuck on the boss of act 3. Lost the save, so I restarted recently. It turns out that there are items you can use to rez party members. Huh! Guess I have a shot at finishing it this time. #optionalplaying
Finished Bananza as a Saturday Morning Cartoon earlier today. Good ending. Why isn't more of the game like that? #optionalplaying
done's review of Donkey Kong Bananza | Backloggd
The first thing you do in Bananza is punch. The face buttons all punch, aside from a jump. Things do get more complex, of course, with digging, throwing, surfing, and a range of time-limited powers. I...
backloggd.com
On June 6, 2025, federal agents injured and arrested the California president of the Service Employees International Union—charging him with "conspiring to impede an officer." They're dropping the charges. Impeding federal officers is heroism—but most of these charges are just meant to intimidate.
Los Angeles Stands up to ICE
Participants in the clashes of June 6 describe how people came together to stop federal agents from harming their community.
crimethinc.com
emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social · 2w agoDOJ originally charged Huerta w/felony for the privilege of being assaulted by some HSI goons. Then it became clear he was not blocking the van they used as their excuse, so they charged a misdemeanor. But a judge was about to rule on Huerta's 1A challenge. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
oh!!! i also have a list of alternatives to NYT puzzles! compiled about a year ago so you might have hip new things that aren't on here, it was never exhaustive but it will help you!
Daily Puzzles, Alternatives to NYT | aetataureate
aetataureate.neocities.org
A MUST READ: “The stories that universities in the United States told about themselves died (again) in Gaza—in some cases by suicide. By contrast, universities in Gaza may be physically destroyed, but they are still less hollow than many universities around us...” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Archives, Prophecy, and Return: The Phoenix of Gaza
This review essay of The Phoenix of Gaza virtual reality project and exhibit puts Indigenous studies and Palestine studies, as well as scholars of these fields, into citational and historical conve...
tandfonline.com
After last night, I can add "watched Gillian Anderson mime jerking off under a desk while Jane Schoenbrun narrates and Hannah Einbinder tries to stay in character" to my list of fun things I've been in the audience for.
I don't remember where I saw Desert Angels recommended, but I'm glad to have picked it up. Although its story has a good amount in common with other games, the way that it's told from the perspective of a character who is reminiscing in a desert junkyard is interesting. #optionalplaying
done's review of Desert Angels | Backloggd
A wistful, melancholy tone pervades Desert Angels in its setting, its soft piano soundtrack, and the way that its story is more or less told starting from the epilogue. Players take the role of Gerel,...
backloggd.com
Ceramic vessels by Chinese American artist Hedy Yang, 2020s.
I went back to The Witcher 3 last fall while I was moving, so it went unfinished. Just wrapped up the last couple quests this weekend. Cool fable, creative demonstration of how some other scenarios can be worked out within the structures of the game. #optionalplaying
done's review of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone | Backloggd
There's both good story and storytelling in Hearts of Stone. It's set up more like a fable than the quests of the main game. As is often the case for Geralt, he winds up falling into the story sideway...
backloggd.com