The reason why I’ve neglected my newsletter for so long is that I have three projects on my plate that consume all the writing capacity I have; the same fate’s befallen my blogs and my social media presences in general. The first project is an academic paper—I published the last one in 2018, which is a long time ago. After that I was critically preoccupied with the first and second edition of Ludotronics as well as book contributions, especially for Narratives Crossing Boundaries. And, yeah, there was that little thing called pandemic in between where everything ground to a halt, publicly and mentally. Research and outline for that new paper is finished, so now it merely needs to be written! The second project is of course my second Voidpunk novel, where I’ve been making progress—steadily, yes, but not as fast as I would like. And the third project is the Voidpunk pen-&-paper RPG, where I had to put actual writing on hold for a bit in order to make myself familiar with Affinity Publisher 2. (In contrast to that eternal abomination MS Word, I liked using Adobe InDesign and was even an early adopter with version 1.5—but now, in light of what Adobe has become, I use both programs only when forced to at gunpoint by my publishers.)
Plus, and that’s related, I’ve cut down on my social media presence for another reason. The absolute inundation of news about the mounting barbarisms from sociopathic autocrats, comprehensively invertebrate tech billionaires, and the most colossal AI and crypto-peddling con artists the world has ever seen, all in the face of the accelerating inequality and climate catastrophes, would leave me in larger doses too depressed to write anything at all. Thus, some downtime. Uncommon for me, I know. But necessary.
While I haven’t written any blog posts lately, I wrapped up my 2024 Reviews at between drafts and put up a 2025 Reviews post (movies so far: Se7en, Heretic, Pigen med nålen, Diabeł, Naked Lunch, and Juror #2; for theater Prima Facie; and an art talk at the Arthena Foundation). Also, I’ve added several albums with photos from Tōkyō on Flickr.
As for the Sunday Funnies, here is the clip Cats Caught Doing Something Bad that you might know already but is always an enjoyable rewatch; Elle Cordova’s Legendary Artifacts Hanging Out; and David Lynch’s legendary Interview Project that’s been put on YouTube in its entirety.
Enjoy!
J.
Plus, and that’s related, I’ve cut down on my social media presence for another reason. The absolute inundation of news about the mounting barbarisms from sociopathic autocrats, comprehensively invertebrate tech billionaires, and the most colossal AI and crypto-peddling con artists the world has ever seen, all in the face of the accelerating inequality and climate catastrophes, would leave me in larger doses too depressed to write anything at all. Thus, some downtime. Uncommon for me, I know. But necessary.
While I haven’t written any blog posts lately, I wrapped up my 2024 Reviews at between drafts and put up a 2025 Reviews post (movies so far: Se7en, Heretic, Pigen med nålen, Diabeł, Naked Lunch, and Juror #2; for theater Prima Facie; and an art talk at the Arthena Foundation). Also, I’ve added several albums with photos from Tōkyō on Flickr.
As for the Sunday Funnies, here is the clip Cats Caught Doing Something Bad that you might know already but is always an enjoyable rewatch; Elle Cordova’s Legendary Artifacts Hanging Out; and David Lynch’s legendary Interview Project that’s been put on YouTube in its entirety.
Enjoy!
J.