iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Brady @james.fail · 29/09/2026

Hell yeah, been waiting for this one. The latest in classic manga horror from @livingtheline.bsky.social's Smudge imprint: Mother, Please Don't Give Birth to a Monster by Shirakawa Marina #mangasky #booksky

The cover of Mother, Please Don't Give Birth to a Monster by Shirakawa Marina. Other books from Smudge are above it.

A list of every Smudge imprint release stacked on top of eachother, from the bottom up: Her Frankenstein by Kawashima Norikazu, UFO Mushroom Invasion by Shirakawa Marina, Mansect by Koga Shinichi, Face Meat by Bonten Taro, My Gorilla Family by Iijima Ichiro, The Girl Who Raised The Dead by Norikazu, Hide and Seek by Naono Yoshiko and Mother, Please Don't Give Birth to a Monster by Marina.

The back of Mother, Please Don't Give Birth to a Monster by Shirakawa Marina. It reads:

"MOOOO! Lady Momon cries out, ready for her meal. MOOO! Baby sister bleasts, cold and miserable.

As a teenager, sweet Miki learns the bizarre truth about her family: for centuries, they have harnessed half-cow, half-human beasts known as "kudan" for their wealth and power. And soon, another shall be born. The hour approaches. Her mother moans in pain as the contractions begin. All poor Miki can do is plead, MOTHER, PLEASE DON'T GIVE BIRTH TO A MONSTER!

Published in 1988 at the end of horror manga's classic era, MOTHER, PLEASE DON'T GIVE BIRTH TO A MONSTER is a revoltingly zany tour de force by the incomparable Shirakawa Marina. Never before reissued even in Japan, this graphic novel is the culmination of Shirakawa's crackpot synthesis of Japanese history, folklore, and the occulat, as made famous by his UFO MUSHROOM INVASION. With an essay exploring Shirakawa's obsession with prophecy and the apocalypse, MOTHER, PLEASE DON'T GIVE BIRTH A MONSTER is the eighth volume of SMUDGE, a line of vintage horror and dark fantasy manga curated by award-winning historian Ryan Holmberg and published by Living the Line.

By the author of UFO MUSHROOM INVASION, nOMINATED FOR best new edition of classic manga, 2024, American Manga Awards."

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James Brady @james.fail · 27/09/2026

i did the my nine games thing. nine games that defined me. it's hard to pick online nine.

My nine games box arts, three columns, three to a row: Tetris, Morrowind, Super Mario World, Dark Souls, Phantom Dust, Phantasy Star Online, Fallout: New Vegas, Bastion, and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

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James Brady @james.fail · 19/09/2026

Commissioned one of my favorite artists to realize an idea I had of a dark art piece featuring a woman playing an accordion made out of a human head, and it came out so good! This is very different from other stuff I post so you know this is NSFW AND HAS GORE! But I love how it turned out so much.

A dark art piece in a dungeon setting. The most prominent feature is a demonic-sort-of-looking woman with empty eye sockets sitting on a small pile of skulls. She is wearing a super rad red suit thing with pointy shoulders and is playing an accordion made out of two halves of a severed human head. She is barefoot and her breasts are exposed. A used guillotine with sick ass arms and a bloodied pair of blades is in the background, along with piles of previous victims. There's a sick face on the rock wall behind all of that, and stairs leading up to a background that also features windows with light from the outside. There is blood on the brown-red dirt ground, and a sort of haze is present around the room.

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James Brady @james.fail · 01/09/2026

Facebook showing me only the best memories

"6 Years ago" memory on Facebook. Two 24oz cans of Olde English Malt Liquor and a Four Loko on a countertop.

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James Brady @james.fail · 30/08/2026

rediscovered Family Dog for the SNES, a bad game based on a bad animated series. i played so many hours of this as a kid -- the music and sounds immediately came back to me. i don't know why or how we got it. it blows and this kid is a punkass who shoots you

a screenshot from Family Dog for the SNES. There is a shithead kid shooting at the dog from behind a lamp. A top (an obstacle) spins to the right of the dog. There's a recliner, a lamp, a chair, a tray table in the background. Yellow wallpaper, red carpet. The dog is grey and stupid looking.

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James Brady @james.fail · 27/08/2026

Been working at getting this series complete for awhile now. Lot of rare volumes. So stoked. I can delete a couple dozen saved searches for My Monster Secret now #mangasky #booksky #manga

All 22 volumes of Eiji Masuda's My Monster Secret manga, English copies published by Seven Seas. There are two stacks, 1-11 from bottom to top on the left, and 12-22 on the right.

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James Brady @james.fail · 25/08/2026

and @aftermath.site certainly didn't miss with this header

"Game of Thrones: War For Westeros will hopefully let you squash the likeness of Kit Harington, a willful participant in a new work from anti-trans activist JK Rowling, like an ant"

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James Brady @james.fail · 20/08/2026

also i started jak and daxter because i've never played them and man jak is so weird looking

Jak and Daxter facing the camera in the starting area of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

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James Brady @james.fail · 20/08/2026

dont gotta lay it all out like that, kingdom hearts

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 screenshot of the water, with the words:
"You want friendship.
You want to broaden your horizons.
You're afraid of getting old."

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James Brady @james.fail · 07/08/2026

not much cooler than the way the pitcher throws the team logos at you in ken griffey jr. baseball for the SNES

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James Brady @james.fail · 08/07/2026

Knowest thou of that soppy gossip?

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James Brady @james.fail · 07/07/2026

don't remember this Oblivion NPC from the base game but he's definitely one of my favorites now

Oblivion Remastered NPC Otumeel: "Okay, okay! I'll tell you! It is so great! I sneak into people's houses, take things off their tables and shelves, and put them into barrels!"

He seems quite pleased with himself

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James Brady @james.fail · 07/07/2026

losing a single round of Bust a Move 4 and the game gives you the ghost line just feels so insulting. i am lower than trash

a screenshot from Bust a Move 4 for the Dreamcast. The player has a ghost line to show where shots will land because they are a BABY

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James Brady @james.fail · 01/07/2026

Show me a cool physical game

Tetris Battle Gaiden for the Super Famicom. Box on the left, cart slid out of the right side, with the manual on top

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James Brady @james.fail · 27/06/2026

so this is the way-too-nice-and-expensive-for-me birthday gift that my partner and in-laws combined to get me: a Schiit Valhalla 3 tube amp for my nice headphones. I used to have a tube amp (a much cheaper one) but had to sell it when times were tough. This thing is so damn nice. I'm not worth it

Schiit Valhalla 3 tube amplifier, black with four tubes, next to a JDS Labs OL DAC

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James Brady @james.fail · 23/06/2026

Imagine reporting on things of national importance and in the middle completely ruining all credibility by saying "also I asked the infinitely-shitting ass what it thought, and it shit everywhere. what could it mean??" what possible value could this possibly add to ANYTHING

"It seemed worth checking whether artificial intelligence could help. I asked the chatbot Claude to perform a stylometric analysis, which uses statistics to analyze the authorship of texts. Claude ran 13 statistical models to compare the memos Saltzburg had shared to the 7,000-page archive of Butler’s lectures, as well as to Mike Gabbard’s extensive writings and speeches. I also asked the chatbot to look at the few examples I could find of Khemaney’s language.
Claude said that the spoken remarks in the memos appeared to have been produced by just one person — and that the speaker was much more likely Butler than Khemaney or Mike Gabbard. It noted that “duplistic,” a nonword used instead of “duplicitous,” appeared once in the memos and nine times in Butler’s lecture archive. Other nonstandard words used in both the memos and the lectures, including “judgmentalism,” suggested Butler was the unnamed adviser, according to Claude."

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James Brady @james.fail · 22/06/2026

bought myself a couple birthday presents. the calvin & hobbes has been on my wishlist for years

A Steam Controller box and the hardcover set of the complete Calvin & Hobbes

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James Brady @james.fail · 20/06/2026

this is a screenshot thread. just stuff i'm playing. sometimes with context. i like to share. anyway i'm trying this Ocarina of Time game. i've never beaten it and i am somewhat ashamed.

Spider/human hybrid thing from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's saying "Yeaaarrgh! I'm cursed!!"

Dude from Ocarina of Time saying "A job where you can make a lot of money without much effort ... The only thing I can think of is thievery... Is that a bad idea?"

no it's not

two freaky looking people in Ocarina of Time. Dude has has mouth open wide and lady looks, um, unique

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James Brady @james.fail · 19/06/2026

looking for a reggae song and this sure is the wrongest answer i've ever been forced to read by google's shitty AI

A Google search for the term "me no way dem ina"

The AI overview reads:

"You are referring to the song "98 Braves" by country artist Morgan Wallen. The lyric goes "I remmeber sittin' at that house, livin' room couch / Thinkin' no way them boys wouldn't win ..." referring to the highly anticipated but ultimately unsuccessful run of the 1998 Atlanta Braves." citing Spotify and two other "sources"

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James Brady @james.fail · 09/06/2026

Decided I'm going to beat every From Software game. Not in order and might write stuff, but if not there's this thread. Up first is King's Field, the original Japanese release which I've never played. It's their first game, after years of writing financial software. These snakes whooped my ass.

A screenshot from Kings Field for the PS1. There's three brown snake things and a walking venus fly trap thing, while the player character is in mid-swing. Things aren't going great.

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James Brady @james.fail · 06/06/2026

I'm not sure why I look so uncomfortable in every picture I take with my partner.. I swear I'm very fond of her. At Comedy Bang Bang!

James, wearing colorful shirt and bucket hat. Tabii, being too pretty for James.

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James Brady @james.fail · 05/06/2026

Thinking it's a good thing that there were nearly TEN THOUSAND Steam games released through five months is actually insane. Just complete slop while good games are buried and missed.

Chart of new Steam game releases through the first five months of a year, from the Game Awards. There are about 2300 in 2020 and nearly 10,000 in 2026.

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James Brady @james.fail · 04/06/2026

well that's a mean thing to say about her?

headline: 'It's inhuman': Paige Bueckers speaks out on Caitlin Clark

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James Brady @james.fail · 01/06/2026

And here's some more pictures from @steampoweredgiraffe.com in Chicago. Such a blast. My first time, but I really hope I get to see them again. And soon.

A picture from Steam Powered Giraffe in Chicago on 5/30. The Spine, two Walter Workers, and G.G. The Giraffe are shown.

A picture from Steam Powered Giraffe in Chicago on 5/30. Zero, The Spine, Rabbit, and two Walter Workers are shown.

A picture from Steam Powered Giraffe in Chicago on 5/30. Zero, The Spine, and Rabbit are shown.

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James Brady @james.fail · 31/05/2026

great seats and having a blast at @steampoweredgiraffe.com tonight

The singing automaton band Steam Powered Giraffe playing, up close to the stage. Zero, The Spine, Rabbit, and a Walter Worker are posing

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James Brady @james.fail · 23/05/2026

remembered i dont have to play bad video games so im playing a good one. man i love the cutscenes in the original ninja gaiden

Screenshot from Ninja Gaiden (NES) showing Ryu Hayabusa and Mr. Smith (I think.), with the latter dying in the former's arms. Ryu is being told "Got to get it back ... there's no choice ... you've got to become the Ninja Dragon..."

Agent dude in Ninja Gaiden (NES) sitting and facing Ryu Hayabusa (the POV) in a cutscene, saying "When a black moon shines, Light and Dark break apart, the King of Darkness howls"

Agent guy from Ninja Gaiden (NES) cutscene, backlit and shadowy, saying "You know the answer to that."

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James Brady @james.fail · 22/05/2026

i've been sick, which is a great time to get 120 percent in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy onto the second game!

Spyro Reignited Trilogy selection screen, with the first game showing 120% completion and the other two showing 0%.

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James Brady @james.fail · 18/05/2026

playing through Sea of Stars again and man. this game. it's so good, and got me up in my feelings with it YOU'RE SO RIGHT GARL I DON'T HAVE TO BE NORMAL

Screenshot from Sea of Stars. Garl is telling Malkomud "Normal doesn't have to be your thing, you know."

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James Brady @james.fail · 17/05/2026

got the dragon that I remember struggling to get in the original Spyro. this asshole and this level, man.

Jed the dragon from Spyro: Reignited Trilogy shrugs his shoulders at Spyro. Like a jerk.

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James Brady @james.fail · 16/05/2026

gonna watch a proper film tonight

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James Brady @james.fail · 14/05/2026

Placed this @merrymanga.bsky.social order a couple months ago and all the reprints got done, so now I have all of Eyeshield 21 and Dr. Slump -- pictured is what came today. So stoked.

Eyeshield 21 volumes 27-30, 32-34, 36-37, and Dr. Slump volumes 13-18, stacked on top in that order

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James Brady @james.fail · 08/05/2026

Trying to decode these bleeps, but they did too good a job of censoring. A real puzzle

Text from Bad Bunny FCC complaint from the Super Bowl halftime show. The description:

The half time show with someone called Bad Bunny was disgusting. He sang
only in Spanish and his lyrics were obscene, indecent and profane. I think the
NFL and KSL TV5, Salt Lake City, UT, should be FINED for broadcasting such
lewdness when millions of people, including young innocent kids were
subjected to it. Here is an example of the lyrics. I "bleeped" out some of the
words for you: "Yes, so that your (bleep) get wet"; "(bleep) yes, push it in";
"Your (bleep) rubbing my (bleep), push it in". Get the idea? Please stop this
blatant disregard for civility in public. Please take this seriously and FINE
them. Thank you!

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James Brady @james.fail · 08/05/2026

that's a very rude way to describe spanish

Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show FCC complaint

"Vulgar disgusting language used in his songs."

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James Brady @james.fail · 08/05/2026

From the Bad Bunny Super Bowl FCC complaints. This bleep is so bleeping funny

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James Brady @james.fail · 19/04/2026

almost all the way through dragon ball and dr. wily just showed up??

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James Brady @james.fail · 11/04/2026

this king piccolo guy has some interesting ideas

King Piccolo from Dragon Ball. The subtitles read "My first decree is to abolish the police"

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James Brady @james.fail · 10/04/2026

watching dragon ball. this sure is a face

tambourine from dragon ball, eyes bugging like crazy after goku whooped his ass

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James Brady @james.fail · 04/04/2026

been watching dragon ball and every now and then i'll run across some episodes i never saw back in the day. like the one with these dudes. these sure are some dudes

two dudes from dragon ball. they're named terror and plague. i dont know which one is which. they're Australian and pretty mad max.

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James Brady @james.fail · 03/04/2026

Oh hell yes! The latest in @livingtheline.bsky.social's classic horror-focused Smudge imprint is here. Hide and Seek by Naono Yoshiko, and it looks really good. Her work is new to me, but I'm excited to dive in. The Smudge stack looking real good. #mangasky #booksky

Hide and Seek by Naono Yoshiko, back cover.

The seven Smudge volumes, with the latest on top. Descending: Hide and Seek, The Girl Who Raised the Dead, My Gorilla Family, Face Meat, Mansect, UFO Mushroom Invasion and Her Frankenstein

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James Brady @james.fail · 02/04/2026

added these two books to my collection and they are immediately two of my favorite-looking volumes. just beautiful. can't wait to dig in reading them tonight #booksky #mangasky

Kazuo Umezu's Cat-Eyed Boy manga, volumes one and two from Viz. Covers.

Kazuo Umezu's Cat-Eyed Boy manga, volumes one and two from Viz. Back covers.

Kazuo Umezu's Cat-Eyed Boy manga, volumes one and two from Viz. Spines.

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James Brady @james.fail · 02/04/2026

have been re-watching original dragon ball and i've come to some episodes i really don't remember. there's a vampire named dracula man who does muay thai? what the hell

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James Brady @james.fail · 22/03/2026

man the Red Ribbon Army song in the original Dragon Ball absolutely rips

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