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Eric Michael Johnson

@ericmjohnson.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.9K following 976 posts

Senior Writer/Editor at CBC News, Production Designer at #BlackwaterDnD, academic, TTRPG enthusiast, primate. Unceded territory of Vancouver, BC. linktr.ee/EricMichaelJohnson

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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The latest Resident Evil, from writer-director Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons), is grotesque, comedic fun. It starts tense and grounded, like Netflix’s excellent zombie series Black Summer, before escalating into full-blown creature horror, with effects clearly inspired by The Thing. 8/10 #Filmsky
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
everyone who's ever joined in an online pile on should read this.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Fantastic show!
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I would spend hours typing in a complicated program just to watch a pixelated helicopter move across the screen.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
You would think there’d be more options available, but that isn’t the case. I looked. We can also only use vetted photographs from CBC, Canadian Press, Reuters or Getty. This is for a host of reasons. I hear your concerns and they are important.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
That’s the truth though. It certainly means that the demographics will be skewed in the selection of photos available to draw from. I’m not sure there’s a good solution for that unless wealthy drug users allow photographers access to their homes to take pictures.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Probably because photographers can take pictures of people in public places, not in their apartments.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I haven’t kept up with martial arts and Hong Kong action films since the early work of John Woo, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. But The Furious is pure adrenaline-fueled madness. Exhausting and exhilarating. And who doesn’t love a plucky duo taking on a billionaire pedophile ring? The Raid is next.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In my latest for CBC, I wrote about a new Statistics Canada wastewater report showing stark differences in drug use across Canadian cities: - Meth and cocaine were highest in Prince Albert; - Halifax had low meth but high cocaine; - Fentanyl remained far higher in Metro Vancouver than elsewhere.
cbc.ca
From fentanyl to meth: Canada's drug picture changes city by city | CBC News
New StatCan data shows sharply different drug-use patterns across eight Canadian cities, with methamphetamine elevated in parts of the Prairies and Moncton, cocaine comparatively high in Halifax and f...
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
That’s great! Congratulations!!
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Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
BREAKING: Judge Timothy Kelly (Trump/DC) orders White House to restore credentials to POLITICO/CNN/MSNOW reporters. Kelly 'skeptical' Trump's decision to revoke the passes had anything to do with national security. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
documentcloud.org
CNNPOLMSOrder092426.PDF
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Thank you, Michael. I really appreciate hearing that. I’ve followed @ecfriedman.com’s work for years and it was a pleasure to finally be able to talk with her about this. Brennan too, of course.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A clip from my interview with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social about why fantasy matters when reality seems overwhelming. youtu.be/_8zC3WkhsGQ?...
youtu.be
Brennan Lee Mulligan on the power of story — and why story alone isn't enough
YouTube video by CBC News
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Why are thousands paying to watch D&D live? I spoke with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social about actual play, authenticity and visibility. My CBC News feature also includes @ecfriedman.com, Abdul Aziz, @jesslupini.bsky.social and @emcarlson.bsky.social of @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social. #TTRPG #DnD5e
cbc.ca
What makes watching people play D&D live so compelling? | CBC News
The growing world of "actual play" is taking tabletop role-playing games from living rooms and online streaming to sold-out theatres. Performers and scholars say its appeal lies in the unpredictabilit...
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Jess Lupini @jesslupini.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Read some words I said, and some words said by people a lot cooler than me! Great article by @ericmjohnson.bsky.social about the upcoming endless dungeon show in Vancouver! www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...
cbc.ca
What makes watching people play D&D live so compelling? | CBC News
The growing world of "actual play" is taking tabletop role-playing games from living rooms and online streaming to sold-out theatres. Performers and scholars say its appeal lies in the unpredictabilit...
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Ep. 133: Hard to Forget. My latest terrain creation for @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social in which Best Wishes finally comes face-to-face with Harkuun, the Living Memory. #BlackwaterDnD #DnD5e #DungeonsandDragons #miniatures
A dramatic tabletop miniature scene depicts adventurers confronting a towering, axe-wielding construct atop a carved stone staircase. Blue-purple cavern lighting and glowing orange fires illuminate rocky ruins, crystals, and a shadowy monster looming in the background trapped behind a portal. 1/4A dramatic tabletop miniature scene depicts adventurers confronting a towering, axe-wielding construct atop a carved stone staircase. Blue-purple cavern lighting and glowing orange fires illuminate rocky ruins, crystals, and a shadowy monster looming in the background trapped behind a portal. 2/4A dramatic tabletop miniature scene depicts adventurers confronting a towering, axe-wielding construct atop a carved stone staircase. Blue-purple cavern lighting and glowing orange fires illuminate rocky ruins, crystals, and a shadowy monster looming in the background trapped behind a portal. 3/4A dramatic tabletop miniature scene depicts adventurers confronting a towering, axe-wielding construct atop a carved stone staircase. Blue-purple cavern lighting and glowing orange fires illuminate rocky ruins, crystals, and a shadowy monster looming in the background trapped behind a portal. 4/4
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
It’s finally getting cool enough to bust out my socks.
A pair of feet with socks on. The socks have a caption that reads: “Dragons and wizards and shit.”
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I got a few shots of the partial lunar eclipse tonight.
A partial lunar eclipse with trees in the foreground.A partial lunar eclipse with clouds in the foreground.A partial lunar eclipse with clouds in the foreground.A partial lunar eclipse with trees in the foreground.
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Emily PhD 🎓 @ejwillingham.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
They are careful to highlight that a key issue is not his intellectual freedom to engage academically in controversial subjects but his ad hominems&avowed intention to specifically cause harm to others. Anyone willing to die on the hill of academic/intellectual freedom over this is on the wrong hill
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
This is an excellent short documentary about the rise of conspiracy culture and how it has been monetized in the social media era. That system has now turned on some of its early adopters, as seen in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s killing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnNw...
youtube.com
Who Killed Charlie Kirk? How conspiracy theories sparked a MAGA civil war
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It was more serious, even somber at times, and traded the usual big-bad formula for something more nuanced. Destin Daniel Cretton (who directed the excellent Shang-Chi movie) built the story around its characters, and the result felt refreshingly grounded.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Centuries before The Odyssey was composed, the palace world that inspired it had vanished. A new study suggests repeated severe drought added pressure as those societies collapsed. My latest for CBC News: www.cbc.ca/news/science... #Climate #Archaeology #SciComm #TheOdyssey
cbc.ca
How drought shaped the Bronze Age world that inspired The Odyssey | CBC News
A new climate study suggests centuries of drought added pressure to the Bronze Age societies that inspired Homer's The Odyssey, revealing how environmental stress, food insecurity and failing trade ne...
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I started my day talking to a climate scientist in Sweden and an archaeologist at her dig in Turkey. How’s your morning going?
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Just saw The Odyssey in IMAX. The hype is real: it’s extraordinary. It stays remarkably close to the book while drawing one key character from The Aeneid and the wider mythic tradition. A seemingly unfilmable epic, made compelling without abandoning its core story. A remarkable achievement. #Filmsky
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
“There are different archipelagos of the fandom, but what unifies each and every one of them is that they are very responsive to calls to action from the people who are there watching and feeling that they’re in community with,” said @friede.bsky.social, an English professor at Auburn University.
theguardian.com
D&D players raise millions in real-life campaign against ‘corporate elite’
Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Dungeons and Dragons push is part of a wider trend using tabletop games for political action
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The same eugenic rhetoric was directed at people fighting for a 40-hour work week and labor protections. In 1891, Lombroso said they showed “characteristics of degeneracy common to criminals.” In 1895, Max Nordau wrote that the acts of revolutionists and anarchists were “attributable to degeneracy.”
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Stanley Kubrick anticipated U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth more than 62 years ago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Kv...
youtube.com
Dr. Strangelove - Precious Bodily Fluids
YouTube video by poolitics
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
My latest for CBC News: “At the top of a 6,739-metre Andean volcano, where the air is thin, temperatures are almost always below freezing and humans struggle to survive, a tiny leaf-eared mouse has made itself at home — dining on toxic plants.” #scicomm #sciencenews #evolution
cbc.ca
The world's highest-dwelling mammal is smaller than your hand | CBC News
At the top of a 6,739-metre Andean volcano, where the air is thin, temperatures are almost always below freezing and humans struggle to survive, a tiny leaf-eared mouse has made itself at home — dinin...
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Reading had a good run. RIP @rosehorowitch.bsky.social writes the post-mortem.
theatlantic.com
The End of Reading Is Here
Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Writing in @sciencenews.bsky.social, @beebrookshire.bsky.social writes about a fascinating new paper arguing that a 1611 Renaissance painting may have documented a bat catching and eating a songbird — more than 400 years before scientists formally recognized the behaviour.
sciencenews.org
A discovery about this bat’s diet was hiding in a Renaissance painting
Renaissance painter Jan Brueghel the Elder painted a bat eating a bird — 400 years before scientists would document the behavior.
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Nature @nature.com · 10/07/2026
Preprints don’t change much after peer review — and are rarely retracted. go.nature.com/4pebHmM
go.nature.com
Think preprints are unreliable? Analysis of 70,000 studies might change your mind
Preprints don’t change much after peer review — and are rarely retracted.
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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
This Fossil Might Be the Earliest Known Case of Face-Stabbing in Human History gizmodo.com/this-early-h...
gizmodo.com
This Fossil Might Be the Earliest Known Case of Face-Stabbing in Human History
If the researchers' hypothesis is correct, the fossil represents the earliest known instance of an injury caused by something sharp.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
The Hillywood Show has produced a very impressive Star Wars parody set to my mother’s favorite song. youtu.be/GbeYQuUEtwk?...
youtu.be
A Star Wars Parody by The Hillywood Show® │ May The Parody Be With You…
YouTube video by The Hillywood Show
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anthrofuentes.bsky.social @anthrofuentes.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
"The fact that the sex differences in the three dimensions studied here—brain activity, brain structure and behavior—do not overlap suggests they don’t reflect a single underlying biological axis". yep.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 08/07/2026
neither canadian leaders nor the canadian people will ever trust the united states again and they absolutely shouldn’t
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I’m very sorry to hear this, Kate. I loved your coverage and this is a huge mistake on their part.
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Kate Wong @katewong.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Today is my last day at Scientific American, which has been sold to LabX media group. For three decades I've led the magazine's coverage of human origins, archaeology, paleontology, animal behavior, ecology, BIRDS. End of an era. Anyway this feels weird to say, but I'm now available for assignments!
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Also let me recommend historian Annette Gordon Reed’s “On Juneteenth” for your summer reading list. I felt vindicated reading that Reed, a Texan, always saw Juneteenth as a Texas celebration. Her dive into the complicated history of Texas, slavery, integration & this holiday is riveting.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 19/06/2026
I've spent the last two months putting together this exhaustive analysis of the New York Times coverage of trans people. It covers 3,242 articles over 12 years. In 2022, the NYT shifted towards a hostile stance towards trans people in their framing. www.thedissident.news/exclusive-ho...
thedissident.news
Exclusive: How The New York Times Changed Its Coverage of Trans People
An exhaustive analysis of over 3,242 articles by the New York Times covering transgender issues from 2014-2026 revealed a stark shift towards hostile framing in 2022. In January 2015, the New York Ti...
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Meanwhile, in the Swamps of Sadness.
A boy struggles to pull his horse through a murky green swamp as the Washington Monument can be seen in the distance.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
You would love the rock musical Revenge Song about Julie d'Aubigny, a 17th century French woman who was a pirate, opera singer and burned down a convent to rescue her girlfriend.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12/06/2026
this is legitimately one of my favorite posts of all time
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Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
All of this.
propublica.org
He Profits Off Raw Milk That’s Making People Sick. The Government Isn’t Stopping Him.
With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary Rob...
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Or, if you didn’t have cable, convince your parents to drive you two hours to Sacramento so you could rent it from the Chinese convenience store that doubled as a bootleg Blockbuster.
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
“The first warning in Tofino, B.C., would not be a siren — it would be the ground shaking.” I wrote about a new earthquake study for CBC, showing that when the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptures, Tofino could face hundreds of deaths and more than $1 billion in damage. www.cbc.ca/news/science...
cbc.ca
How ready is Tofino, B.C., for a major Cascadia earthquake and tsunami? | CBC News
A new study on Cascadia earthquake and tsunami risk puts one of Vancouver Island's best-known coastal communities at the centre of a difficult question: How does a small town prepare for a disaster th...
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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Important messages I have learned from horror films: 1. Don't be a shitty tourist or anthropologist 2. Don't insult marginalized people 3. Don't let the cute Irish guy inside, even if he has a guitar 4. Chainsaws are good for everything 5. Catcalls will get you gutted 6. Don't make a wish
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Eric Michael Johnson @ericmjohnson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Nice! I’ve been there. I even have a goat pooping hazard sign sticker to prove it.
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Jonathan Ore @jonore.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
If you could harness that haters energy you'd power the city for the rest of the yearb
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Justin Ling @justinling.ca · 05/06/2026
WIRED continues delivering some of the most important investigative work of the current moment.
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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 02/06/2026
Super important speech here by NYT Publisher AG Sulzberger. Anyone who cares about the role of journalism in our global society-and democracy in the modern world-should read this/reflect on it. AI giants are in the process of wiping out much of the news industry. www.nytco.com/press/a-i-jo...
nytco.com
A.I., Journalism and the Uncertain Future of the Public Square
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warns A.I. companies are violating settled law and urges news organizations to stand up for their rights to ensure a sustainable future for reporting.
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