iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

This is me. I'm terrible at pool, & if I'm coerced into a game, & my opponent scratches on the 8-ball, I don't consider that a win, cause I suck. Similarly, I'm a good swimmer. If I lose a race that is competitive, I'm disappointed, but happy. Give me a good match, not a W.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

My dentist just said that insurance covered 75% of my $700 mouthguard. Me: Thank you! What good news! Her: Don't thank me, thank the insurance company. Me: All due respect, but NEVER! Dental and medical should be covered 100% (and shouldn't be separate). Her: Touché. You're welcome.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Getting Wife one of those bluetooth shower speakers for her bday. Anyone have one they love? I’m not a comparison shopper and prefer recommendations!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I saw a woman w/a shirt reading “I’m silently correcting your grammar” Me: love your shirt Her: thanks. I don’t remember where I got it from Me: Her: what? Me: I’m correcting your grammar Her: what did I say? Me: you ended your sentence on a preposition Her: fuck (glares) Me: thanks for playing!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

One nice bonus from my extended literary world break? I get about 100 less emails a day and am thus that much less stressed about all the emails I need to answer.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Yesterday I used a sledgehammer to constructively destroy. Is there a better feeling aside from sex and high-grade drugs? I think not.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

People be confused that Kiki's Delivery Service is not only my favorite Studio Ghibli flick, but one of my favorite movies, period. I'm like who hasn't: Had friendships change Experienced loneliness Been disappointed Grown up I'm not a 13-year old girl witch & that's ok. The specific is universal.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Like everyone I hate the job interview question: Why do you want to work here? Because unless you’re one of those blessed unicorns who gets paid for their calling, the answer is gradations of “cause I need a fucking job.” The question just rewards lying.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

My family was going to see Driving Miss Daisy. I thought it looked wack as hell and wanted to watch Joe vs. the Volcano instead. My parents said, "Fine, but you have to go yourself" and my 9-year-old ass was like "BLUFF CALLED." I had an empowering experience. Time has validated my choice like woah

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Wife questions my Renn Faire purchase but what does she know?

Me, white dude with glasses, wearing little dope ass yellow and purple horns.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Name a non-LOTR character who would be worse than Sauron with the One Ring.

Image of Miss Piggy from the muppets. A blond haired muppet pig.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It’s ok to not like the music of Electric Light Orchestra, Hall & Oates, or Abba. It doesn’t make you a bad person. But to like none of them? That makes you a soulless monster.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

(Grocery store/lunchtime/forgot CC) Me: NO LUNCH FOR ME Teller: lol Guy behind me: I'll pay for it Me: Wow kind, but I'm all good Guy: It's $10, I won't miss it Me: Can I Venmo you? Guy: nope! Me: ok, what's your favorite charity? Guy: Sierra Club Me: $10 donation? Guy: SOLD Both: Handshake

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Him: want a drink? Me: that Dr. Pepper looks awesome, thanks! Him: I meant alcohol Me: no thanks Him: Beer? Me: I'm good Him: Whiskey? Wine? Me: I'm a non-drinker, but thanks kindly Him: you sure? Me: Got blow? Him: what? no Me: Oxy? Syrup? Shrooms? Him: ...no Me: Then I'm good with Dr. Pepper, bud!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Normalize saying "Abnormalize saying, "can we normalize x" about things that are already normal!"!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I maintain that they should have come up with a different name for “cornhole.” It’s just off-putting.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I actually quite like the desert, and totally get the appeal. At the same time, I’ve always thought that desert cities are a limited-time-only proposition.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

What takes the sting out of Dolly Parton's death is how everyone has shared the joy that she brought them. We're all sad about her death, but we're celebrating her life collectively. That's love.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Preparing myself, as Halloween season approaches, for all the "Lol, I love Hocus Pocus" comments and think pieces. Like, this movie begins with child murder and ends with child death. It's fucking grim, I don't care how awesome Bette Middler is (and yes, she's fantastic).

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I once chased down a Barnes and Nobles who owed my press $75. I sent 50+ emails. Every time, I'd CC a new person. Store managers from all over the country, HR, finance, eventually a VP. Even a random indie bookstore owner I added by accident who said "don't remove me. I want to see where this goes"

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Totally forgot to post another of my favorite published pieces. I've totally forgotten how to social media (probably not a bad thing). Day 2: I Am David Attenborough, and These are My Nature Poems @havehashad.com www.havehashad.com/web_features...

havehashad.com

Three Poems by Michael B. Tager

Fall, Little Ducklings after Lil’ Bow Wow - "Bounce With Me" The ducklings, they’re falling from their hidden, rough-grown home within the jungle tree What is in the depths? Pi...

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

If I were ever to get a vanity license plate, I've always thought it would read: VNTYLIC

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Might solve a mystery, or rewrite history...

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Today is the 2-year anniversary of my writing hiatus. In its honor, for the next week, I'm posting my favorite published pieces, in no particular order. Day 1: Scrapbooking at the Valhalla Hills Community Center with Helga Mulholland (Necessary Fiction) necessaryfiction.com/stories/Mich...

necessaryfiction.com

Scrapbooking at the Valhalla Hills Community Center with Helga Mulholland – Necessary Fiction

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Sometimes a famous person will follow me on here and I'm like, do you see something I don't? I'm amazing, no doubt, and also I don't know why I'm on your radar.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

News that PlayStation is ending physical media isn't big news in and of itself, cause at the end of the day, it's still gaming. However, it's yet another harbinger of the impending capitalist apocalypse and how everything sucks just a little bit more every year.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

My brother does some physical stuff. Odds of me throwing my back out almost immediately are high.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Event Horizon and In the Mouth of Madness are peak Neill. I am here for the tribute.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I’ve gotten a few hundred followers in the past few months due to the parable. Welcome! I don’t post much these days for life being hella full & not having capacity & when I do it’s mostly pretty light. The world is heavy enough. I’m reading though & someday I’ll post again. Like a trash-Phoenix!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Best pop culture thread you'll read all day.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Some advice to anyone working in HR. Please don't send an employee an unexpected meeting request at 9am in the morning, during a time of economic upheaval, with zero context. Unless, of course, you're trying to create heart attacks.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

As a middle-aged man, stunted and broken by the patriarchy, I am literally incapable of crying more than once every 5 years +/-. On the rare occasion I’m able to access tears, I’m like, holy shit this is wonderful catharsis! Today was one such day. I am ready to receive validation and solidarity!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I've thought about this Simpsons "joke" every day for the last 30+ years. www.youtube.com/watch?v=t28Z...

youtube.com

The Simpsons - Nuts and Gum

YouTube video by Mostly Simpsons

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I've run into a couple Economists at parties and they all say the same thing: no one understands the economy, especially Economists. In other words: why not poets? :-)

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Reposted by Michael B. Tager

Tim Hirschel-Burns @timhirschelburns.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

The three players in this photo: 1. Nigerian heritage, grew up in England, and is only a citizen thanks to birthright citizenship. 2. Born + raised in Holland, has a dad who immigrated to the US from Suriname. 3. Said he wanted to “make people who look like me proud” while playing on Juneteenth

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Fellow white folks enjoying your Juneteenth holiday: spend some money at a black-owned business or something. Spend a moment remembering why you have the day off, mmkay?

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Keep it coming, folks! Got some good nemeses within.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Are you especially clever? Are you in front of a computer all day & would love some idle chit chat? If so, good news, because my DMs are open and ready for you to slide in. Please fill my mind with your inane and/or insightful banter. Prospective nemeses and bosom buddies encouraged to apply!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

No data to back this up, but I’m convinced that Michael Stipe can fight. For whatever reason, he gives me FAFO vibes.

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Reposted by Michael B. Tager

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

‘dear rax, my middle class parents are ashamed that i clean houses for a living’ www.patreon.com/posts/160262...

You have nothing to be ashamed of, though. You're doing good, necessary work, and it's not your fault the work has been so thoroughly devalued as to make you an object of other people's shame. That shame isn't about you, by the way. It's not about wishing you were an architect or an oral surgeon, though that's the externalized shape it may take. Your parents are ashamed because their kid cleans houses, which
forces them to recognize that there's no difference between them and the people who clean houses. A house cleaner is no longer an unfortunate to be pitied, an uneducated bum whose crappy life plays out across a thank-God-unbridgeable divide. They share their
DNA with one. No difference at all.
In a just civilization that understood its humanity a little better, parents would be ashamed to admit their kids were tech CEOs or finance titans. If that sounds polemical, then I guess a rational evaluation of evidence must be polemical. What did a house cleaner ever do to any of us, except try to make our environments a little sweeter? Versus what do the tech CEOs do? The finance bros? Some people are made important by their work while others are made untouchable by theirs, and boy do most of us get it backwards on which is which.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Can I get a round of applause for Kate Bush's album Hounds of Love? Is it 40 years old? Yes. Does it still slap hard? Most assuredly, a thousand times, yes!

static.klipy.com

Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill Music Video

Alt: Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill Music Video

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Which musician that your grandparents would love is near and dear to your heart? Personally, I stan Barry Manilow. Dude writes nothing but bangers and I'll die on this hill.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Recently I've been leaning into turning the video game difficulty way, way down. Life is hard, the world is hard, I don't need my relaxation to be hard.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Once, at an Os game, a friend introduced me as the funniest person he knows. That filled me with anxiety, so I responded "I'm more like the Mario Mendoza of humor" & ran away. Being baseball fans, they all found that quite funny. I've recently accepted that I'm situationally quite clever. Growth!

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Every so often I remember that Grove City College and "Clowns for Christ" exist and it makes me mad every single time. Like, it'd be funny if it weren't so detestable.

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Michael B. Tager @iamragesparkle.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Pitch for a movie: The Nakatomi 12, a prequel to Die Hard done in a heist-movie "Assembling the team" style. Just Hans Gruber globe-hopping with his henchman/best friend Karl as they bring together the most murderous crew of thieves to ever pose as terrorists. 6 seasons and a movie!

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