iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Autumn, when the air turns brisk and we dunk our Twinkies in our mochas.

A close-up of an unbitten Twinkie that's covered in foamy mocha from having been dunked in the Star Trek mug immediately to the left. In the background are a fruiting holly tree and many other plants.

It's that time again, pumpkin people. Mayor Bones (and @adamgryu.bsky.social) have opened the annual Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival. Make you a jack o'lantern and be careful getting rides on any hay-hauling tractors or passing UFOs! adamgryu.itch.io/pumpkin-carver

An image collage with screenshots from the Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival game. The background is an overhead shot of a town filled with jack o'lanterns. Inset are a picture of a ghost wearing glasses and a pirate hate under the banner "Design Your Ghost." There's also a picture of a jack o'lantern carved to look like Dropout CEO Sam Reich, the back of which is featured in another inset screenshot and displays a multi-ribbon arch surrounded by the words "i've been here the whole time."

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Reposted by Matthew

Do Better Games AKA //dbg @dobettergames.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Designer Matthew is on hand at the PNBA fall tradeshow repping Bring Your Own Book and other @happycampergames.bsky.social titles. If you're at the event, drop by and say hi. And if you'd love to see BYOBook at your local bookshop, let us know and we'll reach out? ♥️📖🥳🃏

A friendly looking man stands in a blue shirt covered in cats next to a tiny bookshelf and behind a table covered in board games with the banner Happy Camper at the bottom.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Many funny fake movies in the Dead Rising mall. I'm a particular fan of the very on-the-nose Evil Wish Stealing Magician...and also that they snuck a Lost Planet promo into the mix.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My little man does not like going to the vet and insists I wear clothes he can hide in.

A little grey cat stares out from deep inside the gap between a fleece jacket and a man in a T-shirt sitting on the ground.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Many people are reskeeting an older post right now despite those beavers being released back at the end of May. If you're looking for current animal cam action, there's still time to get in on Fat Bear Week: www.youtube.com/live/J7ZrIDv...

youtube.com

LIVE Brooks Falls - Katmai National Park, Alaska 2026 | explore.org

YouTube video by Explore Live Nature Cams

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Games industry people: Take This is doing a new series of talks specially for us. First one is focused on burnout and exhausting job searches. You can still register. If you can't make today but are interested in future sessions, you can sign up for their newsletter: www.takethis.org/support/news...

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The level of senseless persecution in this country is maddening.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

P.S. I was a little proud of "Againtures," which I've subsequently searched the internet for and come up empty. If you're making an adventurous sequel and looking for a punny title, please help yourself.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I'm about to play Echoes of Wisdom, the first main series Legend of Zelda game to star Zelda and the first since 1987's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link not to feature Link's name in the title.

A text graphic based on the box are from the first Legend of Zelda game with the subtitle "The 21 main games in the Legend of Zelda series," that lists those titles as follows:
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Linkarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Link
The Legend of Zelda: Oraclink of Seasons
The Legend of Zelda: Oraclink of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Four Links
The Legend of Zelda: The Link Laker
The Legend of Zelda: Four Links Againtures
The Legend of Zelda: The Linkish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: Twilink Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Linkinglass
The Legend of Zelda: Linkit Tracks
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Slink
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force He-Link
The Legend of Zelda: Link Gone Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Linkdom
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Please be aware of Elon Musk's latest scam involving a fake voting registration site. Vote.gov is the legitimate federal voting site. VoteSafe is not. More details here: electionlawblog.org/2026/the-hid...

vote.gov

Find the information you need to make registration and voting easy. Official voter registration website of the United States government.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I know a lot of people who are hurting right now and wondering how to manage it. [zelda-dangerous-to-go-alone.jpg]

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Reposted by Matthew

George E. Osborn @georgeosborn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

"I am tired of Earth. These gamers. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives."

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Reposted by Matthew

Goodnews @goodnews.computer · 04/09/2026

Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.

A hand holding a model train with a replica of the same graffiti on the full scale train car behind it.

A model train with two graffiti pieces on opposite sides.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Slings & Arrows must count. I've oohed at Branagh, aahed at Nunn, gawped at Kurosawa, and even clapped at Luhrmann. But even with some grating gender politics, I howled with laughter and wept several times during Slings & Arrows.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Sunshine is not a bad film, just uneven in challenging ways. But for the purposes of the prompt, sure, the distance between the "goodness" of the film and the extraordinary quality of the soundtrack puts it squarely in the category as declared.

static.klipy.com

Intense Fire Reaction

ALT: Intense Fire Reaction

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

They're doing important work over there. Somebody gotta hook them up.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Some friends and I once bought a birthday gift for a big Simpsons fan in our group: the Simpsons trivia game. He was initially excited until he realized none of us felt knowledgeable enough to play it with him. Honestly, as gift givers, we could have thought that one through a little better.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Was reading the most recent @puzzmo.com newsletter (which has behind-the-scenes info on game and puzzle authorship + bonus puzzles), and the Picto-Gram puzzle where letters for a word are arranged on a hidden outline of a matching image made me sad that "star" has only four letters.

A diagram of a partially drawn star with letters and the vertices such that it starts in the lower left with an ess, travels diagonally up and right to the tee, diagonally down and right to the a, diagonally left and up to an ar, then an incomplete line to the right where a sad, tearful emoji sits at the fifth point.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Some days have that effect on you.

Screenshot from a Reddit AMA with Wile E Coyote where someone asks "When Judge Doom was defeated in "Who Framed Rodger Rabbit", why did you choose to side hug the Road Runner rather than eat him? Mind you, this was the closest you got to capturing him in your thousands and thousands of attempts." and includes a screenshot from the film. Wile E Coyote responds by holding up a sign that says, "It was an emotional day."

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Heads up, @valvesoftware.com: It looks like Jeremy Culhane could be handy to keep in the rolodex.

A screenshot of side-by-side browser windows, one a cast selfie from the Game Changer episode "What's the Catch?" clipped to just Jeremy Culhane wearing a suit, grasping his tie, and making a pinched face, while the other screen is a capture from a wiki page for the G-Man from the Half-Life game series showing him wearing a suit, grasping his tie, and raising his eyebrow.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

My brain works in mysterious ways. I've had this @puzzmo.com newsletter flagged in my email for almost a year because I can't close a thoughtline about their retrospective for Wordbind. link.mailer.puzzmo.com/view/653145d...

link.mailer.puzzmo.com

ISSUE #110 | December 5, 2025

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Obviously it's complicated, but preserving an object by removing its ability to continue doing 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 has an element of sadness.

An edited screenshot from A Charlie Brown Christmas featuring Charlie Brown, looking distraught with his hand on his forehead, staring at the Singing Stone (which no longer sings because of its display environment) and features the subtitle "I've killed it."

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

As someone with ADHD, I bristle at most short-form ADHD content, particularly when it's reductive and generalizes. We don't all have the same brain, and neither do the imagined "neurotypicals" positioned on the other end of the black-and-white binary. By way of personal example...

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Sure, why not. It's one finishing something, how hard could it be? $10? (Just kidding, it's free.)

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Urban murdermobile go vroom

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

When I go to a rock show, I want the band to give away a Western red cedar to a fan who promises to plant it when they get home. That's why I go see CAKE. Also the music is good.

John McCrea, principal member of the band Cake, is onstage speaking with a fan about the Western red cedar sapling on the right of the image.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

If you're not up to date about COVID in the U.S., two quick notes: We're trending up, particularly in a handful of states. Also the CDC quietly changed the labeling of infection estimates in their reporting so everything will look considerably less severe at the same rates. Details here: pmc19.com

pmc19.com

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Since forever, game designers have dealt with the common mischaracterization that the craft is just "having ideas." It's unsurprising but annoying that some people carry the more nuanced mischaracterization "seeing problems with ideas." While Mike is right, I want to talk about a specific reply...

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Reposted by Matthew

TrishEM @pematson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Note that this applies to all users, meaning even just people typing in the Twitch chat, not just the streamers themselves.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Choosing opt-out over opt-in features is always a move towards breaching the trust thermocline. If you've got goodwill to spare and the feature is critical to some business plan, then sure, roll the dice. But it is not a safe play. Kenny will remember that.

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Reposted by Matthew

Aftermath @aftermath.site · 07/08/2026

Hello local business, your AI ads are costing you customers: aftermath.site/ai-poster-ad-f...

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

For half a second this morning, my sleepy brain thought the writing on the tap was Hangul.

A picture of a lever-style sink faucet handle where the word "HOT" is written descending vertically in all caps, but because the default orientation of the handle is out to the left, the characters on on their sides and look like characters of the Korean alphabet.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

You can read about the hardship fund here: uvw-cwa.org/hardship-fun... Right now, there's no way to directly donate beyond picking up this bundle, so make sure your "purchase" amount is appropriate. ✊🏻

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

An interesting summary of the evolving state of Google "search" and the web with a dash of self-aware nostalgia and a sprinkle of Station Eleven references.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

After seeing this, I poked around online for pictures of people inside of the whale, and I was not disappointed: www.atlasobscura.com/places/malm-...

atlasobscura.com

Malm Whale in Gothenburg

One of the world's few mounted blue whales, its jaws are hinged open allowing visitors to descend into a lounge.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

When I saw this, I knew I had to remix it. Appropriate apologies to @samreich.bsky.social, @caldy.bsky.social, and Jim.

A three-panel comic that is clearly a photo edited mashup of a Garfield comic and a drawing of Sam Reich as Garfield (from Game Changer season 8). In the first panel, Garf Sam is standing behind Odie on a table and thinks "You understand how the game works?" In the second panel, Garf Sam kicks Odie high into the air to the implied sound of "BOOT!" In the third panel, Garf Sam is still on the table while it's implied that Odie has fallen painfully to the floor; Garf Sam thinks "That's right, Odie has no idea what game it is he is about to play"

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I was watching The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension again recently and realized that Buckaroo was not only ahead of his time in terms of science and philosophy but also meme culture.

A screen capture from early in the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension when Buckaroo Banzai is adjusting instruments in his jetcar prior to piercing the dimension barrier. The two visible dials he has just adjusted (and are moments later taped over with the label "Mod Level 8") are set to 6, 7.

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Matthew @ironmaus.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

It seems that Michael Hutchence was always destined to be a leather-clad sex symbol, but watching INXS's first video, for "Just Keep Walking," there's a glimpse of a parallel universe where he was a mildly slinky David Byrne fronting a delightfully dorky crew. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOn2...