iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Also, In Our Time extending to one hour long? No thank you. One of best qualities is its brevity.

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I thought Lanterns was decent enough! While I get where the Surf Dracula criticism comes from, the creators clearly tried their best to negate it what with Hal in his suit and flying around in the first ep. But honestly it's all good providing the *show* is good.

010

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Of course the original argument is about some Green Lantern comic book bullshit where the lore is inevitably completely inconsistent

120

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A new development in the "LARP as slang" wars! Witness someone make a distinction between larpers (who "actually have to research what they're LARPing") and posers (who "have no idea"). Better yet, this reply has lots of upvotes!

Farther_Dm53 77 points 12 hours ago
People who larp as DC fans will say that lol. But most of us know that it depends on which comic series it is. Green Lantern powers range from all powerful to barely as strong as other heroes.
permalinkembedunsaveparentreportreply
[–]Enigmachina 26 points 12 hours ago
LARPers would know, since they actually have to research what they're LARPing. Posers have no idea.
I propose we take the word back.

271

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Individual tickets are now out for TRANSMISSION, @chloemashiter.bsky.social's online cosmic-horror Zoom larp! I've already got a group together – at £30, it's a steal for a 2+ hour experience by an expert designer. I have no doubt it'll be great!

everythingimmersive.com

Transmission

A nationwide blackout: no lights, no phone line, no one else in miles. But the TV just turned on by itself, and 'why' is a far more important question than 'how'...

044

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Some nice things: - They ran courses on Saturdays explaining how it all worked. "Often the course turned into a chat that ended with a beer in the late afternoon as more people arrived at the venue." - Pangea came about because the political establishment didn't want youths running around outside

Another initiative, not directly related to the previous ones but joined to them by solid personal ties of friendship, was the CSG, that is, the Comitato per gli Spazi Giovanili (Committee for Youth Spaces), which had been born a few years earlier to ask for a self-managed space for the young people of Varese, identifying a valid opportunity in the building ??? that had recently been abandoned and taken over by the Municipality.

As you can imagine, the Varese political establishment of those years had very little sympathy for what might look like a centro sociale (an Italian-style self-managed, often squatted, left-wing community space), and what we imagined as a space for playing music and role-playing games was imagined by the political-administrative counterpart as a sort of Varese-style Jamaica from which drunken punks would launch vandal expeditions against the elegant shops of the city center. To make a long story short, nothing ever came of it.

The CSG did, however, have a small space at the CoopUF cooperative in via de Cristoforis, and by the end of 1995 it had somewhat run out of steam. But when people began to talk about what was happening with the civic networks, the idea of having a free space, albeit a virtual one, appealed to many of the members.

010

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Fascinated by this micro-history of Pangea, "the first true Civic Network of Varese", a real virtual square from 1996 where the people and associations that live and work in Varese, Italy, and its province can meet. Umberto Eco had the same hopes for the internet... github.com/l3nz/pangea-...

Pangea is an initiative that began in July 1996 with the aim of building and running the first true Civic Network of Varese, a real virtual square where the people, associations and institutions that live and work in Varese and its province can meet. Its purpose is to simplify and encourage human relations and collaboration through the intelligent and innovative use of information technology. The goal, in fact, is to improve the quality of social life and to strengthen the sense of belonging to the local community.

120

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Is it me or is every US podcaster now using “boy” for emphasis? “Boy, is that good!” etc. Feels like the acceptable replacement for even mild curses.

010

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Two eps in and very much into it! Haven’t read the novel but very impressed with how they shaped the adaptation

010

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I think you will like it given the kind of books we both like!

020

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

icymi the cover for my new book, THE AGE OF IMMERSION is out! Here's why I wrote it, what's going to be in it (everything from medieval tournaments and pageants to panoramas, installation art, Happenings, the Starcruiser, and jubensha), and how I researched it.

mssv.net

The Age of Immersion is coming June 2027

Why my next book is about the history and future of immersive experience.

15716

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Oh my god this is absolute peak

020

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The issue is that a lot of the content (eg shows like Doctor Who) is sold to other international distributors, either by the BBC or by the original production company who provided it to the BBC

100

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Tired: Dashcon ball pit Wired: Dunecon sand pit

080

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I have no reason to believe the RSC is *actually* doing an immersive theatre version of Piranesi, which makes its choice to market the play as "an immersive theatrical world that invites audiences to turn detective in a treacherous place of shadow and illusion" both amusing and misleading

rsc.org.uk

Piranesi | About the Play | Royal Shakespeare Company

Adapted for the stage by Sami Ibrahim and directed by Ned Bennett, Piranesi is based on Susanna Clarke’s award-winning novel.

140

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Like, even The New Yorker app's audio player remembers! They're not even an audio company!!

020

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Every time I hear people (like me) argue the BBC should do public service internet stuff, or try to compete with YouTube et al by hosting 3rd party content on iPlayer, I reflect on the fact that in this year of our lord 2026, the Sounds app *still* doesn't remember I want to play podcasts at 1.25x

250

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Extremely hyped for Slime in the Ice Machine, a psychedelic deduction game from the makers of the excellent Holovista, inc. @nadyalev.bsky.social and @thisisstar.bsky.social! There's also a free demo on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/4404940/...

kickstarter.com

Coming soon: Slime in the Ice Machine: It's Your Inheritance, Kid

Kick open the doors to the greatest bars in the cosmos (and the worst) to unravel surreal mysteries in this PC/Mac/Xbox game.

184

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Anyway, turns out it's a good time to be writing a book exploring the roots and future of larp!

0100

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Not long ago, people would say "oh that's just theatre" or "she's being theatrical" and now they might say larp. But no-one really goes to theatre any more, and larp seems more appropriate anyway because it's something anyone can do.

160

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

To "inauthentic", I would add "performative" and "naive" – which is, of course, contradictory. But zooming out, I think the growth of "larping" as epiphet says something about an expanded understanding of performance in everyday life.

nytimes.com

How LARPing, a Gaming Term, Became a Word for Posers (Gift Article)

Live-action role playing was associated with games like Dungeons & Dragons. Now, it’s a way to call someone out for being inauthentic.

171

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Right! But it's the screens...

110

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I don't understand the incuriosity. People are socialising in-person in new ways today, even in the face of video games and Netflix. You just need to look for it.

0110

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Dinner parties are not some kind of platonic social event, either. For most people, they didn't even exist in their current form past a century or two ago. Putting aside changes in living situations, why are we pretending we can't think of anything better or more appropriate for the moment?

290

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I just don't know what that measurement is meant to tell us, any more than playing cards is. Maybe people want their in-person socialisation in a different form. In China, jubensha was claimed as the 3rd most popular form of entertainment after movies and sport. Does he even know what jubensha is?

160

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

For another, while I agree that screens – along with suburbanisation, stranger danger, etc – have decreased in-person socialisation, where people like Thompson get tripped up is in what they choose to measure. Is it really surprising that going to church is declining with increasing secularism?

170

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I mention this issues in THE AGE OF IMMERSION, that the growth in immersive experiences is due to the loneliness crisis (which itself is presumed to be the product of screens/internet)... But it's more complex than that. For one thing, immersive-ish things were popular long before screens.

derekthompson.org

You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner

We’re witnessing the death of hosting in America. The share of adults who say they regularly have friends over has declined 70 percent since 1975

3166

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Right! The last book had a non-great cover *and* title so it's such a relief for this one to be so good

000

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Absolutely will! It’s basically done now but still keen for your thoughts!

010

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I can't get enough of the cover for my book, THE AGE OF IMMERSION, out June 2027! Designed by Rob Farmer, it's a shimmering, pixellated play on Monet's Water Lilies, one of the OG true "immersive" artworks. And yes, long subtitles are *in*. astrapublishinghouse.com/product/the-...

Book cover of The Age of Immersion: Make Believe Worlds From Medieval Cathedrals to the Las Vegas Sphere by Adrian Hon. The words are blue and shimmering, with a pixellated background of Monet's Water Lilies.

106111

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

@x13n.com and I will be demoing our solarpunk orienteering larp STRANDFALL at this free event in Glasgow next week, on Thurs 8th Oct! Come along, say hi, and get the first look at photos and data from our first run of Strandfall...

eventbrite.co.uk

Split Screen Meetup 'in the making'

Join us for an inspiring evening bringing together the tech, creative and performing arts communities to share and connect.

050

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Also, see other things! The Museo Fortuny is always fun, especially if you're into the history of immersive stuff (the garden room!), and if you can stand the rude ticket-botherers, the Fondazione Querini is really unusual.

010

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you're trying to get through the Biennale in a couple of days, you gotta be taking every opportunity to sit down.

Me reclining on a big armchair in a gallery

130

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Other than the Austrian pavilion, the only other real queue I saw was at the Japan pavilion, which was all about babies – and specifically for the baby-holding experience, where you could borrow a doll to carry through the exhibition. I did not do that! Instead I chilled on this bench.

120

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I loved the Italy pavilion: they always seem to knock it out of the park, maybe it's because there's less pressure or because they're on home turf, or their space is so accommodating. A brilliant celebration of craft and transformation and humanity. Also, there was a bonus Alice Rohrwacher bit!

Rough hewn statues of people in a large space

110

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The message: "hey, you're welcome here, and in fact your presence is required to make the art work". But it was neither self-deprecating nor coercive, like so much performance art is. 10 out of 10 art points!!!

130

Adrian Hon @adrianhon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

They basically set up their building as a miniature theme park, its hub hosting the notorious piss tank and portaloos, and other wings with installations and periodic performances. Crucially, when you entered the hub, a host gave a friendly introduction of what it was all about. And why not?!

nytimes.com

These Toilets in Venice Have the Art World Aflush (Gift Article)

Undoubtedly the biggest talker at this year’s Venice Biennale is the Austrian pavilion, where visitors can make their own contributions to the work on show.

110