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Ryan Thompson

@bardicknowledge.bsky.social
3.6K followers 1.2K following 3.1K posts

Game audio professor and radio host (Monday 7:00 PM, wkar.org) at Michigan State. Musicology via game studies. Go green! Thompson.RyanC@gmail.com Watch me and my best friends stream Thursday evenings 9-11 PM Eastern at Twitch.tv/BardicKnowledge

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Reposted by Ryan Thompson
Playboy @playboy.com · 2h
"I think men need to challenge other men when women aren’t in the room. That’s where a lot of this culture survives, in the joke nobody challenges, the story everybody laughs at." Read the Playboy interview here:
playboy.com
Meet The "South Park" Writer Behind the Viral "Cornell 7" Website
Cornell University has been the subject of innumerable headlines this week, as an anonymous woman’s lawsuit against the university over her alleged 2024 rape prompted New York prosecutors to reopen th...
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 20h
This slaps. Good for the mayor. I again note that _this week_ it's Cornell but it is not limited to one town; we need more of this from every college town local government in the country. Accountability for both student perpetrators and university administrators who don't follow through.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Reminder to men as we read and process the Cornell news: If you have not been asked to guard someone's drink or be part of a group checking in on someone's safety and security when there is alcohol around, the odds are that you have not established yourself as a trustworthy person in your spaces.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hey, head’s up all: the Game Audio Diversity Alliance just opened up applications for a free pass (in-person and online both available) to attend GameSoundCon on October 20-21! Full post here: www.facebook.com/share/p/1Gsv... Apply directly here: forms.gle/tbJJwvxkAV22...
facebook.com
Facebook
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's time for Source Coda, just starting now at wkar.org featuring a whole hour of Zelda arrangements tonight. Need a break? Surf on over and listen.
wkar.org
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I really admire @viopatti.bsky.social for this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfOT... Watching video recordings of yourself and critiquing them for her audience reminds me of my undergraduate days -- it's a unique challenge that most musicians know but keep behind the scenes. (also the harp rocks)
youtube.com
Pro violinist takes up harp: What I learned after 6 months
YouTube video by Patti Rudisill
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yeah it’s not lost on me that it was a man who suggested family meal planning is rote. Research and loved experience shows that women structure their invisible labor to make the labor the men in their lives are willing to do predictable, ergo suitable to routinize.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yep some might say those allowances are a family. The broken sentences. The unspoken context. the power relations. The jokes. To become an optimized for AI family would be the end of family as many of us know it and experience it.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Tonight on Source Coda: it's Zelda at 40! Tune in for an all-Zelda hour starting at 7:00 PM US Eastern at wkar.org
wkar.org
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cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I got my job at Michigan State because I had an interesting hobby and could teach one class on it if I crossed my fingers. Be interesting. Read. Practice weird cool niche stuff. Take a wild class outside the box. Take six of them.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Worth a note that I received Startropics and Final Fantasy (the original) on the same 1992 Christmas morning -- that's in conversation for the most important gaming day of my life. I wanted to list Willy the Worm Part II: The Long Journey Home rather than game 1, but this tool could not find it. :(
Matrix of "my 9 games" -- Startropics, Mega Man 3, Final Fantasy III (nee VI), The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Diablo II, Team Fortress 2, Chrono Cross, Willy the Worm, and Prince of Persia.
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Luke Knox @lukeknox.me · 27/09/2026
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The AMS Afterdark CFP is out! Please see here and make plans to join us on November 21st! docs.google.com/document/d/1... (actual website to be updated Monday, the owner is out of the country)
docs.google.com
2026 AMSAD CFP
Esteemed Colleagues, Since 2016, we at #AMSafterdark have hosted an annual comedy panel to accompany the fascinating scholarship we encounter at AMS/SMT/SEM conferences. Like any other panel, it b...
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Jordan Starkweather ✨ @jackal27.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
You can’t even comprehend how important Eien ni Hen’s work is to the fan translation community. Romancing SaGa, Fire Emblem, Sakura Wars, Tear Ring Saga, Glory of Heracles, Dragon Force II, Dark Half, Beyond Oasis, Psi-O-Blade, Arabian Nights, and so much more. What a loss. Rest in peace.
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yeah, this is the piece I want to read. We all knew that Where the Red Fern Grows was sad! This was the point of the book! Your real-life childhood dog will die too and that's why there is art about it! "I refuse to watch this one kind of sad thing" seems like a new development.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I don’t know anyone — students, athletes, coaches, professors — who doesn’t think this is an absolute blight on college campuses. As others have suggested: you could campaign on making this illegal.
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shaun @shaunvids.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
hi we're a website you have used for 20 years, we have no idea if you are over 18, send us a selfie. let us connect to your camera. can we get a booty pic with panties on and one without them on? can we also get 3 different pics of your boobs any position
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
context. sentiment. inferences. People seriously cannot do these things anymore. That’s why they angrily demand you spell out every joke, every reference, super duper promise you mean something only this one prescribed way. They cannot do it for themselves or tolerate the any ambiguity.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Right, okay everybody, I’ve had a lot of meetings and talks this week and I have to share some top line thoughts. Things are quite a bit worse than i am usually willing to share with people because panic does no good. It’s kinda bad. The baddies have the wind at their back. No denying that.
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Aerial_Knight @aerialknight.com · 24/09/2026
I would like to make it to 10k follower before my birthday 🎂 in a couple weeks 🥳 Give me a follow for cool game dev stuff 😎
Bluesky page with 9k followers
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Gonna tackle one of the weirder Final Fantasy games tonight on stream (starting in 10 minutes at 9:00 PM Eastern) -- Team Ninja was once given the FF license and sorta kinda remade FF1? It's absurd and it rules. Come join us all shortly! twitch.tv/bardicknowle...
twitch.tv
BardicKnowledge - Twitch
Ludomusicologist at Michigan State University exploring public scholarship with amazing friends, focused on the relationships between gameplay and audio. — BardicKnowledge streams live on Twitch! Chec...
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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I will always remember fondly the student who finished an essay with the line "In conclusion, the early modern period marked a massive shit in European history."
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dr worldwide™️ @imanimosley.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
this will do more for opera than anything that any artistic director or general manager has ever done or thought to do. it’s literally just this simple. (@mayor.nyc.gov, call me, Brooklyn-born opera scholar, will travel!)
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Dr. Karen L. Uslin @drklu.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Well, it’s been a minute! 😂 For old friends & new faces, hi! I’m Karen, a historian, musicologist, and cultural memory speaker. Usually found digging through archives, exploring my roots and adoption story, or chasing overlooked histories. Looking forward to reconnecting & meeting new people here!
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Tying Dept of Education funding to DoD funding has a metaphorical root — I like the idea. “The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities…”
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Far be it from me to be worried about McConnell per se, but at what point is this elder abuse no matter how else you define it? You cannot do this to a person forever. We need rules.
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Cheryl Lynn Eaton @cheryllynneaton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'll just say it. Kamala needs to take one for the team. Newsom cannot be president. He stated that he would not run if Kamala ran. He did not make this statement out of support for Kamala or even concern for black women in general. It is something more sinister.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
For almost any other billionaire I would joke that I have also considered asking them to handwave my money problems away but even by the standards of the billionaire class Musk is creepy and terrifying, I don't think I can stomach it
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I don’t like posting negative things about companies but this gets worse every new sentence. I obviously don’t have insider access but none of these decisions feel like they’re good for anyone involved.
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Mike @professorberry.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Looking for creative solutions: I have a 7th grader who has never been in orchestra before and would love to play the violin. Problem is their right arm has been amputated above the elbow. They don't have or regularly use a prosthesis. It's not something the district can supply, nor outsource.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
First off, the student journalist authors of this piece -- Alex Klee and Isabela Pierry -- deserve every accolade here. Bravo! Second: in a world where all professors really need to demonstrate the value of paying college tuition, this isn't just a bad look, it's an abysmal failure of leadership.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Collaborating with folks always feels great -- and then the call ends with "and we are all off to refill coffee and grade a bunch" which sort of punctures the "my job is so incredible" feeling that builds up over the conversation not unlike @hoagietime.bsky.social taking my ego down a peg or two...
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Look when I say I want a live action Dragonlance adaptation I didn’t mean this part, though I am deathly curious to know what’s inside. Maybe if I just…
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I am sitting in a fascinating invited lecture on responsible AI use, with a focus on the private sector. As a humanities person attending as an outsider to the business school, it's incredible to me that there is an assumption that corporations can effectively build public trust at all today.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
These centers are the guy who thinks hot young women aren’t showing up to the bar he stocked with weird dude things because pink-haired woke commie broads won’t let them.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
20 year-old me would be astounded at how amazing my life is.
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Mezzo @heartbreak.one · 16/09/2026
really excellent XIV thread
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julianne @hoagietime.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
i feel like too often we teach that reading scholarship is about learning stuff -- or learnin about what Scholar has to say about Stuff, and anything else that happens is a byproduct
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Everyone I am here to announce I have made it — the barista at my favorite bakery/lunch spot knew me by name and I paid in cash so she didn’t even read if off a card scan. Amazing what being Associate Professor as of this year gets you lolol
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
There are one or two people who are not my immediate family who don’t have to text me to ask if they can call… …and I adore them for texting anyway because I am a millennial and that is how the world works, lol
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
To everyone who has written "well, what is he supposed to do?" about Ed Sheeran, please shut up forever because every single one of the lesser-known bands who would have benefitted way more from the tour exposure than Sheeran himself would both knew exactly what to do AND DID IT.
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Mom Friend 64 @momfriend64.northsky.social · 15/09/2026
Oldie-but-goodie from my darling perfect friend @reven.bsky.social (who has a new song coming out this week!!!!) and her lovely husband @rozendj.bsky.social
youtube.com
Ballad of the Windfish
YouTube video by Rozen - Topic
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Let's assume that Sheeran does have political opinions and keeps them to himself. Great! Therefore, all we can judge are the actions he takes. Ed has: -whined about unfairness -accepted / agreed to the morality of a conservative, corporate businessman Not exactly punk rock here. What a loser.
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Dave Gilbert @wadjeteyegames.com · 14/09/2026
The "Adults Only" ranking has been removed from Nighthawks! Everything is set for launch on the 22nd! Phew. What a roller coaster. Thank you everyone for your amazing support while we got this sorted. If you weren't able to wishlist before, now you can! store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...
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alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Consolidation and layoffs are NOT GOOD, no matter what drooling, slack-jawed assholes might say. Solidarity with all my laid-off folks. Fuck IGN. kotaku.com/sources-ign-...
kotaku.com
Sources: IGN Layoffs Hit Multiple Departments And Long-Time Hosts - Kotaku
The top video game site keeps cutting
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Find us a name of which MSU staff person sent these pictures to random X accounts without permission and fire them immediately. My institution cannot afford more scandals than it already has, and the faculty are out of patience for this horseshit. www.wired.com/story/burner...
Paragraph from the linked WIRED magazine piece, with highlighted phrase "Athletics staffers would even send him photos"
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
As usual, the whole thread up and down -- but the second paragraph here is the sentence. and if TMC sees this: I hope you have a larger project in the works on how AI has brought back shame, in your bio's parlance. Looking forward to reading more than the short thread.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Holy shit. If you haven’t been watching Lanterns on HBO you should run, not walk. Just finished Episode 5 and I am so impressed. also, please take this with a grain of salt (seek out folks who aren’t white dudes) but this John Stewart is the most fully realized Black character I have seen in years.
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Ryan Thompson @bardicknowledge.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I once gave a very well received industry talk on defining “remake” vs. “remaster” / “port” / “rerelease.” Slide three of the talk: “All words mean whatever the marketing team wants them to! Nothing has any meaning and thinking is a waste of time. Ahhhhh! (But let’s talk shop anyway.)”
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