You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.

Without naming names, this is absolutely happening with J>E locs, even and especially from devs/pubs that used to have a rock solid reputation. A lot of companies are bleeding talent, both in-house and freelance, as they either leave for what few green pastures remain or quit the field entirely.

Alanna Smith@alannamode.bsky.social · 3d ago

Already noticed some AAA games from the last few years slipping in quality due to the attack on labourers by the wealthy class and uh... I think gamers need to know it's gonna keep deteriorating in small ways, not a big bang Games will still drop for a while, but they'll be quietly worse

Angela Carter writes like she experiences the regular market the way the rest of us experience The Goblin Market

Angela Carter writes she’s the reason the modern art museum had to screw little “DO NOT HAVE SEX WITH THE ARTWORK” plaques onto every flat surface

As well as essays, we've been posting some bonus conversations on fifth Fridays. Arkady Marine and Ann Leckie, Angela Slatter and GennaRose Nethercott, Freya Marske and Celia Lake - such good discussions! And just saying: there's a fifth Friday in July... www.speculativeinsight.com/extras

Extras — Speculative Insight

Occasional extras that supplement and complement the essay published on Speculative Insight.

speculativeinsight.com

BREAKING: SAG-AFTRA, the actors union comes out in opposition to the Paramount-Warners merger. Plenty of actors & SAG members have been a part of our #BlockTheMerger coalition from day 1 but still, this is big. My hometown of Hollywood does not want this misbegotten mashup & neither does democracy

Paramount Skydance - Warner Bros. Transaction Update

sagaftra.org

Adam Neely did a great video on AI music, where he asked a bunch of AI music enthusiasts who their favourite AI artists were and who they listened to. None of them could name anyone. They said they pretty much only listened to their own generated music. Bet you money AI "authors" are the same way

Shannon Strucci@strucci.bsky.social · 2w ago

Something worth noting with these tools is if you're outsourcing/indirectly plagiarizing all of your ideas, what do you do if the machine stops working? At that point you learned nothing and you can't do anything on your own!

However you feel about the substance of the shows themselves aside, you gotta admit apple tv is the only network that cares about hard sci fi freaks.

one of the reasons we deaccessioned many of our library's physical titles was due to their age and the potential of containing out-of-date health information and guidance. Scary to think of them as "new" potential sources of AI training data.

Tony Corsentino@notalegalrecord.net · 2w ago

AI companies are buying, scanning, and destroying older books to improve their models' training data & avoid problems of "model collapse" (wherein LLMs choke on their own slop). One of their suppliers is Better World Books, which partners with public libraries. www.404media.co/ai-companies...

There is something in here for everyone: Marxists, logistics obsessives, obsolete-software enthusiasts, and those are all the kinds of people I know about. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

Seeing Like a Supply Chain

A history of the technology of supply-chain management from punch cards to neural nets, and how the ambiguity built into that technology helps companies and ...

yalebooks.yale.edu

I’m on the Sam Sanders show yapping about The Odyssey. Much more to come on the writing front about the film and Nolan in general. Stay tuned 🤓✌🏽 open.spotify.com/episode/19WH...

Does ‘The Odyssey’ Have A Woman Problem?

The Sam Sanders Show · Episode

open.spotify.com

The reason the game industry keeps laying people off and canceling games despite consumer appetite is because the game industry doesn’t exist any more. It’s been subsumed into the black hole of venture capital, which deliberately believes there is value in treating every industry the same.

normal person: I am off the clock so this work thing I want to fix can wait till tomorrow abnormal person: This work thing I need to fix is bothering me so I need to fix it now and sleep writer person: This thing I need to fix is bothering me so I'll just lie awake brooding about it till tomorrow

The waits between seasons doubled in last 10 yrs — & this piece doesn’t get into it, but when execs also demand shorter seasons, in some cases way too short, the end result = audiences that just don’t engage with shows/characters the same way. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/w...

The Wait Between TV Seasons Is Getting Longer, It’s Not Your Imagination

A study says the average gap between seasons of TV has reached a new high, with scripted originals on streaming taking an average of 21 months to return.

hollywoodreporter.com

NEW ESSAY: Origins of the Anti-Trans “Groomer” Slur. it provides historical context, a timeline of how it spread, & how it shapes anti-trans/LGBTQ legislation. pls share! on Medium (friend link): juliaserano.medium.com/origins-of-t... & Substack (no paywall): juliaserano.substack.com/p/origins-of...

Origins of the Anti-Trans “Groomer” Slur

a timeline, plus historical context and future implications

juliaserano.medium.com

Trans teens have something to say

Trans teens want to talk about their future

So why are we always asking adults?

buff.ly

I reached 10k followers, and as promised, I'm going to celebrate with... 🎉 a BIG recommendations thread of all sorts of cool things!! 🎉 Books, stories, games, comics & more. One like adds one recommendation, one repost adds two. Up to 200 things, I think, but I might need multiple threads!

get weirder 🫵

A PDF of our workbook "Re-Storying Autism", designed to retell the stories you've heard about autism in a more affirming way. neurohubcommunity.org/product/re-s... #ActuallyAutistic #AutisticAuthor #autism #Autistic #AutisticBurnout

Re-Storying Autism e-Book - NeuroHub Community Ltd

Re-Storying Autism is a collaborative course book and workbook for families, parents, and carers supporting Autistic people. Grounded in NeuroHub Community Ltd’s six-point framework, it centres learni...

neurohubcommunity.org

Weaving our Worlds has compiled resources and diverse left perspectives from and on Iran. Rather than reduce Iran to various intra-left ideological debates, these provide analysis based in the context, specificity and history. www.weavingourworlds.ca/iran-resourc...

Iran Resources

This resource list was produced in March 2026, less than one week after the US and Zionist entity launched attacks against Iran — manufactured through lies, orientalist propaganda, sanctions, regime-c...

weavingourworlds.ca

A friend just sent me this perfect piece by Karel Čapek, trans. Dora Round, ‘From the Point of View of a Cat’.

if you only create to refute the enemy, you have decided they are your primary audience

*lights up the Ace Signal* y'all, did you know I'm in a very cool, teensy tiny bundle with six other books? And what they have in common is Morally Grey Ace Characters? And mine's grey ace to boot (it's Larryn. Larryn is the Angry Gray Ace Rage Baby) itch.io/b/3654/grey-...

Contributor Zena Sharman has been nominated for a Digital Publishing Award in Best Lifestyle Storytelling for her piece, "Where are the queer divorce stories?" You can read it here:

Where are the queer divorce stories? | Xtra Magazine

ANALYSIS: Messy, vulnerable narratives remind us that queer marriage isn’t always the happily-ever-after we hope for

xtramagazine.com

i wrote an article interviewing 16 developers + me working in the toxic yuri visual novel space. it took over a month and it cost me a laptop. my favorite piece of writing thus far. enjoy: bsky.app/profile/moth...

Mothership@mothership.blog · 4mo ago

“We felt that there were not enough yuri visual novels with extreme themes we were particularly into, so we decided to take it into our own hands.” Meet 17 queer developers working on "less sugary" and, yes, even "toxic" and "bleak" wlw romance games:

“We felt that there were not enough yuri visual novels with extreme themes we were particularly into, so we decided to take it into our own hands.” Meet 17 queer developers working on "less sugary" and, yes, even "toxic" and "bleak" wlw romance games:

17 indie developers who are making games about messy, sometimes toxic, queer romance

A series of profiles of participants in the Toxic Yuri Visual Novel Jam and other similar game jams

mothership.blog

new !!! will have these with me at BICS and then will have these available online !

There’s a good documentary about Louis CK that is illuminating about the effects of his behavior and covers the essential truths (as I see them) that (1) he was not cancelled and (2) he was not sorry. It’s a good watch. You can rent it on demand; here’s the trailer. youtu.be/YjWetrSafmc?...

Sorry/Not Sorry | Official Trailer

YouTube video by Greenwich Entertainment

youtu.be