leah isobel's Avatar

leah isobel

@humblepopstar

video games & music journalist w @48hills.bsky.social , @singlesjukebox.bsky.social and very occasionally @superjumpmagazine.com i'm just chilling in the panopticon

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22.07.2025
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Latest posts by leah isobel @humblepopstar

Preview
a man with a serious look on his face says ah i see you 're a person of culture as well ALT: a man with a serious look on his face says ah i see you 're a person of culture as well
06.03.2026 03:52 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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alright i'll do the popular thing, i love following trends

06.03.2026 01:18 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Riverbend (1989): 6K Restoration β€” A Lost Classic Help bring a forgotten chapter of Black independent cinema back to life on Blu-ray, restored from the original elements.

Fans of American genre cinema, check out the kickstarter for The Riverbend, a nearly-lost film about three black Vietnam vets who teach a small town how to defend themselves against a racist sheriff. A rare starring role for Steve James. There's a blu ray as well! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ree...

05.03.2026 21:11 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

this is for me is who it’s for

04.03.2026 01:16 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Mysteries of Dorothy Vallens: On Isabella Rossellini in β€œBlue Velvet” A look at one of the most essential performances of the '80s.

I was invited to participate in Women Writers Week at the Ebert website, and I wrote about Isabella Rossellini's performance in BLUE VELVET, and how she helped guide the film into its dark and mysteries places.

www.rogerebert.com/women-writer...

03.03.2026 14:43 πŸ‘ 138 πŸ” 44 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 15
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We've freed Cookie's Bustle from copyright hell. Here's how. | Video Game History Foundation We've stopped a persistent copyright troll who was trying to impede our work. Here's everything we learnedβ€”and how we beat them.

BREAKING: We've freed Cookie.

Following an investigation by VGHF, Ukie and Web Capio have suspended DMCA takedowns for Cookie's Bustle on behalf of Graceware, SL.

More info:

03.03.2026 17:57 πŸ‘ 6267 πŸ” 3158 πŸ’¬ 81 πŸ“Œ 308
A digital drawing of author Maia Kobabe, a white nonbinary person with short brown hair wearing a patterned blue shirt, who scowls while holding up a copy of eir book GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR. Maia is saying: H.R. 7661 is a national book banning bill which seeks to remove any book that "involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism" from all public schools in the US. This would ban my books, and any other book with trans themes, from public schools. PLEASE call your House Reps and say: NO ON H.R. 7661!

A digital drawing of author Maia Kobabe, a white nonbinary person with short brown hair wearing a patterned blue shirt, who scowls while holding up a copy of eir book GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR. Maia is saying: H.R. 7661 is a national book banning bill which seeks to remove any book that "involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism" from all public schools in the US. This would ban my books, and any other book with trans themes, from public schools. PLEASE call your House Reps and say: NO ON H.R. 7661!

H.R. 7661 is a national book banning bill which seeks to remove any book that "involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism" from all public schools in the US. This would ban all my books, & any other book with trans themes, from public schools. PLEASE call your House Reps & say: NO ON H.R. 7661!

27.02.2026 20:16 πŸ‘ 3858 πŸ” 3248 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 69
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I'm a game design genius

01.03.2026 05:03 πŸ‘ 6910 πŸ” 976 πŸ’¬ 90 πŸ“Œ 18
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2025 Critical Distance Status Once again, it’s time to check in on the finances for Critical Distance. Β  Last year, I said the finances were on the brink of stability. We never actually achieved that stability: we are unli…

CD is 100 dollars or so short of sustainability. Incredibly valuable resource for anyone who cares about games, whether for research or just casual reading. Also like... look lmao, web's as fractured as it's ever been. Having the roundup gather a bunch of cool stuff you'd never see otherwise is good

25.02.2026 18:52 πŸ‘ 65 πŸ” 63 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 4

If you have the means, please donate to the Trans Continental Pipeline right now. They are a Colorado based org that helps trans people relocate and they are overwhelmed with requests. Colorado borders Kansas, and TCP has the infrastructure to help get people out.

tcpipeline.org

26.02.2026 04:17 πŸ‘ 7886 πŸ” 8568 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 107
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Support the ACLU of Kansas Foundation

If you are not from Kansas but want to help the best way is to support:

ACLU Kansas: action.aclu.org/give/support...

Planned Parenthood Great Plains: www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/onlineaction...

and Kansas Interfaith Action: actionnetwork.org/fundraising/...

26.02.2026 06:47 πŸ‘ 146 πŸ” 149 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 6
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Secret Places of Pain - Unwinnable β€œMy identity was so tied up in my work, and the work itself lacked confidence. It was confusing to be loved.”

My combo interview-review of Station to Station featuring @meredithgran.com is now up for non-subscribers:

25.02.2026 18:16 πŸ‘ 57 πŸ” 26 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Donate to Support Laid-off Vox Media Workers, organized by Victoria Song On Friday, January 16, 2026, the Vox Media Union received news from management about … Victoria Song needs your support for Support Laid-off Vox Media Workers

We're officially fundraising for laid-off Vox workers. Please share and donate if you can!

www.gofundme.com/f/support-la...

28.01.2026 18:04 πŸ‘ 414 πŸ” 269 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 19
Puzzle Spy International - Release Date Trailer
Puzzle Spy International - Release Date Trailer YouTube video by Michael Dashow

Our release date trailer is live! It's got a serious groove to it, so please check it out!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvTC...

(Music and sound design by the amazing Alex Doty at AlexDotyMusic.com)

#indieGame #indieGames #puzzleGame #gameTrailer #trailer

20.02.2026 15:05 πŸ‘ 45 πŸ” 20 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 8

thank you ☺️

24.02.2026 02:37 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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ignore my eyeliner being extremely uneven please and thank you.

24.02.2026 01:29 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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my therapist: prolapsing earth isn’t real. prolapsing earth can’t hurt you
prolapsing earth:

24.02.2026 00:10 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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ABIDE only has 30% left to go but time is running out! Please share and consider backing! We need grassroots support to support us truest of true indies! www.kickstarter.com/projects/637...

19.02.2026 17:57 πŸ‘ 58 πŸ” 43 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 8
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Sylvie Collection, 2004 to 2024

Happy Valentimes day! Back in 2019 I compiled a "Sylvie Collection" of all my past released games in one download. The collection is now updated to include all games up to the end of 2024, and they're packaged with a new launcher program. Enjoy your life - Sylvie
sylvie.website/SylvieCollec...

14.02.2026 05:30 πŸ‘ 295 πŸ” 149 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 6

no no you’re onto something here

18.02.2026 22:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

hmm it is very american of me to throw robyn in here, i forget she’s an actual star everywhere else

17.02.2026 18:12 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

i think the audience that embraced crj from that point on saw call me maybe as a fun fluke more than an unfulfilled promise, it’s extraneous. the same way charli’s audience sees boom clap or robyn’s (contemporary) audience sees her 90s stuff (if they even acknowledge it) (which they should)

17.02.2026 18:09 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

idk, i feel like emotion is the crystallization of β€˜alt-pop’ as a career trajectory - the whole canon of β€˜but it’s good actually!’ semi-ironic, very online queer reclamation really defines what 2010s alt-pop was imo. i don’t think you get vroom vroom without that, for instance

17.02.2026 18:09 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

lol in the sense that leaving them out would have been unthinkable during the actual 2010s

17.02.2026 17:29 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this critique feels vaguely reactionary to me. (the video’s, not yours!) like these ppl are itching to define themselves against some imaginary idea of games being β€œtoo easy” which is code for more people playing them... trying to close the space

17.02.2026 17:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

no one mentioning robyn or carly rae… lol

17.02.2026 17:26 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

album that was important when i was 19

15.02.2026 17:53 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

extremely vivid memory of using this browser to read gay erotica, as god intended

15.02.2026 16:37 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

[to the tune of mgmt’s ’me and michaelβ€˜] sleve mcdichaeeeeel

14.02.2026 22:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0