iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I tried to pick a little bit of everything. This is liable to change within the next five minutes, but the top 3 will always be there

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Watched Evita (1996) last night and ooof that was rough. Andrew Lloyd Webber is allergic to earworms. Madonna does surprisingly well, but the film doesn't really know what to do with her or her character.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This is clickbait, but I must respond. My undergrad students can easily dismiss this theory after two weeks of my course. But I guess they're not currently paid by companies to pretend AI is anything more than circuits and electricity.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Yes yes and yes. I felt these tensions immediately when I went from high school English teacher to graduate student TA at an R2. (R1s are much more discordant!) It's astute to note that the recent crises did more to reveal these competing exigencies than to explicitly cause them.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Coming back from my BlueSky hibernation to confirm my cats are still the best

Birdie (a tuxedo cat) sits behind Apollo (a black cat) on a bed with a cream comforter and a brown blanket

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Wisconsin is a politically complicated place that fundamentally disrupts received wisdom about elections. I love the place and am equally frustrated but it.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Any solid critique of academia needs to start with the historical knowledge that it is not, and never has been, one contiguous set of institutions. A SLAC is fundamentally not a tech school which is not an Ivy, which is not a finishing school, which is not an HBCU, etc.

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Derek Kompare @dkompare.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

ACADEMIC JOB POSTING: A great, tenure-track media industry studies position (Assistant Prof level) amongst a great program and super-cool people at UC Irvine. Details here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF10332

recruit.ap.uci.edu

Assistant Professor of Film and Media Industry Studies

University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Two years ago today I was in Asakusa! Travel tip: Do not go to Japan in August unless you want to sweat your brains out

David stands in front of Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple in Asakusa, Tokyo

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Me if I ran the London Review of Books:

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Corey Atad @coreyatad.com · 27/07/2026

an interesting review in which you can tell Wilson's problem, above all the (mostly very valid) critiques, is that she doesn't respect action movies as any kind of real art, they're a lesser form... which is a bit funny for someone whose life is dedicated to Homer

As in his previous films, Nolan is interested in the discontinuities of space and time, in magic, tricks, craft, technology, rivalry, substitution, masks, miscommunication, what we remember and what we choose to forget. Yet again, survival is portrayed as a kind of triumph. Yet again, there are long, claustrophobic scenes of drowning and near-drowning, and technically impressive episodes in which buildings are engulfed in flames and vehicles explode. Yet again, we watch a male character’s desperate quest to recover and/or avenge a female love object. I had hoped that Nolan’s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality. Without a tub of wax for my ears – which Himesh Patel’s ever anxious Eurylochus, Odysseus’s doomed right-hand man, uses to sail safely past the Sirens – I was exposed to the full din of thumping sticks, staffs, swords and clashing armour, thunderbolts, crashing waves, grunts, screams, toppling palaces and burning temples. But unlike Matt Damon, the wax-free Odysseus who is tied to the mast as he is conveyed past the Sirens (naked ladies reclining on some uncomfortable-looking rocks), I gazed at the shipwrecks and bloodbaths without any agony of emotion. My eyes stayed dry, even for Argos the dog – whose adorableness as a puppy is predictably amped up to suit our animal-loving times. If only the human characters had been treated with such serious attention.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

"Nolan's Odyssey isn't faithful to the original" "Well actually Homer's Odysseus wouldn't feel guilt about the Trojan Horse"

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Making some headway on the next article

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I wrote about what looks very much like a formal US plan to institutionalize a global network of concentration camps.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

Little Gitmos everywhere

The White House explores entrenching U.S. concentration camps worldwide.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The gay priest in Miserecordia (2024):

A meme tweet from Ashley Reese that says "Complete non issue! Wrap it up."

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Josh Scherr @joshscherr.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Just spoke with Mitch McConnell - he's still trying to get through Coral Tower in Act 3 of Silksong; he'll be out as soon as he's done with it

static.klipy.com

Hollow Knight Silksong

ALT: Hollow Knight Silksong

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

NYC is amazing because you have the best civic architecture (Central Park) and the worst (Times Square) within walking distance 😍

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Show me a movie with a memorable beach scene To quote Katya, "I love the idea of a dead dad on a beach, can't get enough of that"

Jodie Foster lands on a celestial beach in Contact

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Look what came in the mail today! Happy to announce my latest book chapter on gender-bending and 1980s/90s video games is our!

David poses with The Routledge Handbook of Communication and Transnationalism

The first page of David's chapter: Power is Beautiful and I've got the Power!

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King ♛ @thekingjshow.blacksky.app · 05/07/2026

when cats do the lil bunny kick on their toys >>>

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Lauri Donahue @lauridonahue.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/o...

Large language models are not reasoning machines. They’re plausibility engines. It’s not just that they don’t test their outputs to make sure they’re correct or logical, or that they fail to do so in certain instances. They can’t, and they’ll never be able to on their own. They can only assess which answers are probable, based on the data on which the models have been trained. And that holds true whether they’re trained on the full breadth of human output or only on peer-reviewed scientific articles. It’s baked into the way they operate.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

You know I think Mina the Hollower is a misnomer. Oh why? I've seen Fozzie's head, and it's much hollower than hers!

Statler and Waldorf, two old Muppets, look toward the viewer

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Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon @jeremiepgagnon.net · 02/07/2026

The latest issue of the Journal of Replaying Japan is now accessible through the Ritsumeikan Research Depository and the replaying.jp webpages. Many thanks to all contributors, reviewers, staff and editorial board members for their contributions. #gamestudies #japanesestudies

replaying.jp

Replaying Japan – Website of the Replaying Japan Conference and the Journal of Replaying Japan

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Two mothers maximizing their joint slay

A screenshot from Super Metroid. Mother Brain, a large brain that is Mother, attacks Samus, who is also Mother

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Me when Nintendo inevitably stops selling physical games:

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Yep nothing to see here folks... 😩

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Flying back to the East Coast feeling refreshed and in my lane

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, playing Selina Meyer in Veep, poses with a new pixie cute

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Spot the difference. Challenge level: Impossible

David and Travis post for a photo in a car in a Kwik Trip parking lot

Leo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro pose with a Modelo in a car during the filming of One Battle After Another (2025)

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Diva down 😩 Rashomon (1950) was gorgeous, compelling, horrific, and gave us the best medium scene in film history

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Reading through Clair Obscur Expedition 33 reviews for an article and oof I forgot how many 9s and 10s it got

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🥸 @sondheimslut.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Madonna with a harpoon. Retweet if you agree

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Secured the bag at the record store today

A Shrek 2 DVD case and two CDs, The Very Best of Cher and One Heart by Celine Dion, ensconce the vinyl of Desire I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

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Aerial_Knight @aerialknight.com · 19/06/2026

Happy Juneteenth! If you're looking for something cool to play today to support a black business in the U.S., check out some of my games. - Studio is Black-owned - Black characters - Black Voice Actors And racist trolls hate us ♥️ linktr.ee/aerial_knight

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Apollo and I are loving summer break 😍

David and Apollo, a black cat, cuddle on a bed

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you

A DVD case for a TV show called Critter Gitters

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Okay, not to be a stereotypical gay man, but Provincetown was kind of life changing

David sips on a rum and dirt, wearing a Boatslip dog tag, while standing in front of a balcony ensconced with several pride flags

The back patio-ish area of the Gifford House. There's a sign that says Provincetown, a big umbrella and some even bigger flaming homosexuals

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Provincetown update: I saw John Waters accompanied by a twink. My life's work is officially complete

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Him: You better not be the best written character in the best written game of all time when I get there Me:

Joyce Messier's portrait from Disco Elysium

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Me seeing Richard E. Grant hanging out with Arca and Shygirl in the Grindr bathroom stall during Danceteria:

A meme that has an arrow pointing to DJ Khaled and says "What does he even do?"

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Ubisoft plumbs the depths of the dregs of humanity yet again

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Gays and queers I need your help! Tony and I are going to Provincetown for the first time this weekend and we need recs for restaurants/bars/events. Tricks of the trade if you will!

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J. Kyle Pittman @piratehearts.com · 09/06/2026

has anyone done this yet

Link from the Ocarina of Time remake trailer in the Yamcha death pose meme lying in the middle of a crater.

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I put on my Zelda shirt and used the buggy Southwest WiFi for THAT?!? Nintendo got the gays during Pride Month too!

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David Kocik @davidkocik.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

My university texts, emails, and calls me whenever there's a bear sighting on campus. Omg allies 😍😍

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