Dr. Mike Sell

That leg moves pretty good

This is not good.

Chris Pratt as Garfield is a high bar to clear,but this might be the apotheosis of giving one of the handful of handsomely paying, recurring voiceover gigs to a somewhat-known on-camera actor instead of somebody who specializes in voice acting. There was no reason to cast this guy as a CGI worm.

Pale Luna In the last decade and a half, it's become infinitely easier to obtain exactly what you're looking for by way of a couple of keystrokes. The Internet has made it all too simple to use a computer to ch...

In my Videogames as Literature class, we've started a unit on text-centered videogames. One of my students recommended a fun creepypasta called "Pale Luna" that I think is kind of perfect: creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Pale_Luna

Was talking to a student in my Videogames as Literature course yesterday and he reminded me that there is a fully fledged Zork emulator in COD: Black Ops. Haven't been into COD for a long time. If you're a player, are there other videogame emulators in the series?

In case you're considering teaching a videogame-studies course, let me warn you in advance that your Steam library is going to grow significantly.

The systemic, casual, and accidental cruelty the U.S. elite show towards children, especially girls, is horrifying. The failure to adequately fund schools, to provide basic living conditions, to prosecute powerful pedophiles, to prioritize safety, and value possibility. It's really too much.

I've been thinking about what I love about being a TTRPG GM and much of that thinking is moving around the idea of the gift. I think my best moments as a GM are when I'm fostering generosity among my players. And I love when I can give each of them something to take away from the table.

Consistently one of the most interesting, underrated, nettlesome creators/celebrities in late 20th-century culture.

ARCHIVE: Talking to Yoko Ono I was very nervous. It was late summer, 2004. She had re-recorded "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him," a song she wrote and sang on the Double Fantasy album with her husband John Lennon. The new ve...

She just turned 93.
sluggish.ghost.io/yoko-ono-jus...

"In a rapidly evolving situation, the best way to assess the specific challenges+ leverage that workers have is to go out to our departments or labs to figure out who is currently working, what their jobs are, obstacles they might face, and what next steps workers could collectively build towards."

Introductory class on the technocultures of interactive fiction; a.k.a. mallrat ontology.

Literally gasped

This is honestly one of the most anti-Jewish things I’ve ever seen from the United States government.

It’s entirely possible that this was at least partially about ending their association w/black and queer people. Now they will try to rebuild as the “safe” third space, by which they mean a space where white people feel safe.

The problem is the usual one. We make shit cool.

See also Starbucks.

This, this, and this.

Wondering what the impact is or will be of TTRPGs being part of college courses. I regularly have classes of 20-50 for my general-ed, major, and grad courses.

Quick questions for TTRPG publishers that I’ve asked privately but it’s been a bit:

1. If a form of coverage (AP/review/other) has transformed your sales overnight, what was it?

2. If you could wave a wand & have one creator/creative/media outlet praise or play your TTRPG, what would you wish for?

Love her in Pluribus!

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is out, Trump says, after controversial tenure President Donald Trump announced the decision on social media and said Noem would be replaced with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).

Now put her in prison.
wapo.st/4bqprpl

Sci-fi, French film, Sci-fi, French film (set to Daft Punk's
"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger") @letterboxd.social

Rascal Reading Club: Apocalypse World The Most Impossible Fun Thing continues.

A deeply thoughtful, insightful reading of 'Apocalypse World' by @newmadras.bsky.social on the @rascal.news podcast feed. A model for the kind of work I want my students to do when we read TTRPGs as texts that design specific kinds of fun, principles, and values. www.rascal.news/rascal-readi...

Dunkirk for guys whose first marriage was before their current wife was born

I haven’t forgotten the Epstein Files and the reality the current usurper in the White House raped children and laundered money, resulting in being blackmailed by multiple foreign governments to do their bidding.

I hope you don’t forget it, either.

Every single time with this guy. Every. Single. Time. 2028 cannot come too soon.

Chalkboard with a diagram consisting of boxes and arrows between boxes. A diagram for designing a Twine storygame? A diagram for thinking out choices? A map for a speculative world?

80% of my teaching.

That's an intriguing take. Are you thinking dedicated handhelds like the Nintendo DS or more like the one-game handhelds like Mattel Electronic Quarterback or Tamagotchi or multi-game handhelds like Merlin?

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

I will not be mentioning my intrusive thoughts re: Dorf on Broadway.

‘Blue Moon’
Was admiring it more than engaging with it, then the second act turned and so did my feelings, then the third act, and I was hooked. But in the end, I wondered why it wasn’t running on Broadway. Would play perfectly on stage.