iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 30/09/2026

This looks very helpful - thanks Liz!

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 30/09/2026

Anyone got a tip for how to find depreciation info for a computer monitor? ATO website is…not super navigable for this.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 28/09/2026

Rian was steering us out of that mess, but then the powers that be steered us (mostly) right back in. Plenty of stories to tell in that universe, and yet we keep coming back to the same one…

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 25/09/2026

All of Grant’s tiny games are great, but The Witch is Dead is probably my favourite one. Avenge your witch as a small magical creature!

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 22/09/2026

Yes - creative expression as found in any medium, but with some choices specific to game design. I think similarly, though I frame it around player experience. Are there any common things you spot that get you particularly interested in (or turned off) a game?

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 22/09/2026

Are there any specific things you always notice or look for when thinking about how well a game works, or has been designed? Are these things you think are important to all game design, or are they more personal to you and your taste?

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 21/09/2026

* By which I mean, passionate, dedicated journalists who care about games.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 21/09/2026

I saw the article claiming that it was somehow controversial that Erika Ishii is working on the new Amensia Fortnight game. I knew things had gotten bad at that outlet, but hoo boy. Not reading or mentioning them for the foreseeable future. Thank the gods* for Continue, Mothership and Aftermath etc.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 18/09/2026

A great Australian success story! It kicked the arse of Photoshop Express (same year), and a couple of years ago the team announced they would not be adding generative AI features to Procreate. …which is a pretty funny sentence if you don’t know it’s the most popular drawing app for iOS.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 18/09/2026

New project: I’m the producer of the @enoughtrope.com podcast! In each episode, a guest author discusses a genre trope: what it means, how it fits into culture and society, and how they’ve used it in their own work.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 14/09/2026

I cannot believe I have to teach that evening! Please have an absolute belter of a launch, and then pretend and tell me it was awful, actually, and I didn’t really miss anything I won’t get from reading the magazine.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 12/09/2026

Lucky you found it in the nick of time! But very stressful.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 08/09/2026

I learned years ago that there’s always a double rainbow, but the second one is much fainter. You can usually see it if you know to look. I saw one this morning. “Look for the second rainbow” feels like an aphorism, but “when you see a good thing, look for another one” doesn’t feel very profound…

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Jessie Ngaio @jngaio.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Melbourne! Do you love kinky queer smut as much as you love mossy green forests? Do you want to attend a church invented by a tired, middle aged artwitch, sexworker and weirdo? Come to Dirt Church! www.melbournefringe.com.au/whats-on/eve...

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 08/09/2026

He seems like a very good long boy indeed. ❤️

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Leena 🌵 @leena.reuben.games · 07/09/2026

if people were genuinely interested in preparing children for an “inevitable future” they’d be stopping global warming and solidifying concrete pathways to homeownership, not teaching kids how to play with Claude The Guessing Toy

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 04/09/2026

I still cannot believe in 2026 that they did an episode which was all a dream. Including scenes that Spock was not in. Wild.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 04/09/2026

I’ve not seen it yet, but I am getting tonal whiplash this season. The difference between the puppet episode and the disaster episode was intense. Though at least the tone is consistent per episode - it’s not got to Torchwood levels!

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 26/08/2026

Avery Alder has made some of the most interesting and influential RPGs of the last decade or so. My fave is The Quiet Year. I just bought her recent sitcom game, Going for Broke. (I’m hoping to play it with my comedy students!) If you’ve never played or read her games, now’s a great time.

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Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton's family asked that, in lieu of flowers, fans make a donation to the singer's Imagination Library. Here's what the charity does ⬇️ www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

rollingstone.com

Turning Pages: Inside Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Core team of 15 staff and thousands of volunteers and partners help the country-music philanthropist deliver books to kids around the world.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 24/08/2026

This is a very fun coincidence. I hope all three of you share a cake one year. Happy birthday all!

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 24/08/2026

I get this sentiment, but most do have a “just the thing” tier! Not having one is a real mistake, I reckon.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 24/08/2026

Beverage goblins are the best.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 22/08/2026

Optimist: the cup is half full Pessimist: the cup is half empty Creative arts teacher: who filled the cup? What were their influences? Where is the cup from? Is that really water? What does your own cultural capital help you understand about it? Reflect on your experience of the cup in 800 words.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 22/08/2026

We have some work to do to help these kids. To teach them the work is what makes their stuff worth listening to (or reading, playing, watching, viewing etc). But every podcast platform is constantly shoving AI tools in your face, and big business has largely captured the medium. Thank pod for you.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 21/08/2026

Lemme know if you need any WordPress help! I am also not a graphic designer but I do know WordPress very well.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 19/08/2026

Oh no. That sucks. Sorry you couldn’t keep this going in its current form.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 19/08/2026

I’m curious about what differentiates it from a conservative yearning for a “better past”. I understand they are not the same. I think of nostalgia as more rooted in personal experience, and a yearning for who we were then, rather than an external state of the world.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 19/08/2026

I love this, but not the theft bit. Are people stealing the post it notes?

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 17/08/2026

This is a grand achievement, but I am a sucker for a fun, thematic, actionable rule for deciding who goes first. Hard to use in RPGs, but great in board games. Bangers include “player who last saw a pigeon”, “player who most recently visited an island” and “player who has most recently been sick”.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 17/08/2026

Alerting @davidkbutler.bsky.social to this, as it seems relevant to your interests! (And mine of course!)

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 17/08/2026

Now free to read for all subscribers.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 17/08/2026

This is incredible. Who are the creators?

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 16/08/2026

I quite enjoyed this episode but I was disappointed they set up the whole colour perception thing only for it to never come up save for Uhura having to quickly cover a comment about green trees. Made the excuse for using black and white stick out much more than necessary.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 12/08/2026

Otter is the one I know at least one institution I worked at banned as malware. It behaved like a virus, installing itself in the Zoom accounts of anyone who responded to the automated invitations it sent to folks on calls where it was present. It’s hopefully not doing that any more…

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 11/08/2026

Wattles are my partner’s favourite. They’re a sign of the start of Guling season here in Wurundjeri country!

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 11/08/2026

Writer and artist friends, I get it, changing platforms is daunting. But Substack has a number of longstanding serious problems and you don’t need to use it. This site by @seankilleen.com has more info and options for alternatives, and if you need help, reach out. leavesubstack.com

leavesubstack.com

You Should Probably Leave Substack

You should probably leave Substack. Here’s why and how.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 29/07/2026

Love it when two of my faves team up! Can’t wait to see the film.

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Maria Dahvana Headley @mariadahvana.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Teaching a summer class on fixing everything that's wrong....in your first five pages. I know. I wish I could teach you how to fix everything that's wrong in the damn universe. But I can definitely help your manuscript kick some serious ass. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/firs...

theshipmanagency.com

Craft Seminar: The First Five Pages: Making A Beginning That Sells Your Book with Maria Dahvana Headley — The Shipman Agency

4 Sessions: Thursdays, August 6, 13, 20, 27 6:00-8:00pm ET Maria Dahvana Headley Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times -bestselling, Hugo , and World Fantasy Award-winning author...

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 27/07/2026

GNU Bill Oddie. In the liner notes for a Goodies anthology, he (jokingly) wrote: “I would like to thank the other two Goodies, but I really can’t: it would have been so much easier without them.” It’s a little harder without you, Bill. But what a life, and now you return to the nature you loved.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 27/07/2026

I think I was dimly aware of this being planned, but had forgotten about it and didn’t know it was out! Thanks for the heads up, I’ll have a listen.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 27/07/2026

Yes! And specifically that one. The other two volumes are also excellent but that first one is my favourite.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 27/07/2026

And what happens in 2-5 years when they’re no longer fit for purpose? Which doesn’t seem like a far-fetched outcome - even assuming society wants generative models, there’s a good chance we switch to smaller more efficient ones running on local devices, not massive cloud-based compute farms.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 26/07/2026

I’m only four episodes in and am really not a horror guy but it’s pretty amazing so far!

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 26/07/2026

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains… I mean, how could I stop at just one? (There are many more.)

The cover art for They Might Be Giants’ 1992 album “Apollo 18”, showing a sperm whale and giant squid fighting on a black background, while a lunar landing module floats next to them.

The cover of Max Sharam’s 1996 album “A Million Year Girl”, showing a naked Sharam holding clutching a small multi-storey house to her chest while standing in front of a waterfall in a valley.

The cover of Kylie Minogue’s 1997 album “Impossible Princess”, featuring Minogue with short dark hair in a light blue dress with a single shoulder strap. We see her kneeling in the middle of a cylindrical shape created by multicoloured bands of light, with a gap at the front.

The cover of Peter Gabriel’s 1992 album “Us”. Peter stands in a blue suit with his arms outstretched, walking though a red space with red string or straw on the ground. In front of him is what looks like a column of smoke in the shape of a woman with her arms clasped above her head.

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Ben McKenzie @benmckenzie.com.au · 26/07/2026

It also appears to be a Trelane/Rhys Darby follow up, so I can see how this is gonna work and it will hopefully be fun!

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