iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

You can also find this answer by emailing support, or looking at the FAQ.

John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I’m getting so much Substack spam. First from politicians, now from investment gurus. Substack needs to add a button beyond “unsubscribe."

Unsubscribe screen from Substack with a new button labeled "Unsubscribe and Report as spam."

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

This week’s Scriptnotes has Drew Goddard talking about Project Hail Mary. I love the movie (10/10) and our conversation about turning beats into actual scenes. Premium episode out now. Regular episode tomorrow.

Screenshot from podcast player with episode description reading:

John welcomes back Drew Goddard (Project Hail Mary, High Potential) to ask, how do you turn the beats of your story into full scenes? Using Drew's script for The Martian, we look at how he translates moments in a book into scenes in a movie, the freedom Drew finds in a beat sheet, how beats are approached in a TV writers room, and his advice to a staff writer struggling with a draft. We also dig into Drew's process for adapting Project Hail Mary, choosing what to cut, and his eloquent defense of double-spacing in a screenplay. He's even kind enough to help answer listener questions on how to recharge your brain and how to indicate you wrote the
most on a co-written script. In our bonus segment for premium members, Drew shares his outlook on the current TV landscape, including the big mistake he sees young writers make in their spec pilots.

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Birdigo, our acclaimed Wordle-meets-Balatro game, is out today on the App Store! No ads. Just pudgy birds. @gameteam6.com apps.apple.com/us/app/birdi...

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Excited to see Scriptnotes on the USA Today bestsellers list, along with the D&D Player’s Handbook!

Screenshot of the USA today list from numbers 100 through 150. Scriptnotes is at number 149. D and D handbook at 123

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

I love that macOS contacts still lets you set someone’s Jabber username. In case of time travel, I guess.

Screenshot from macOS contacts entry field with popover of choices for username. Platform choices include Facebook, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, QQ, Skype, and Yahoo.

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Scripnotes Live Show in LA. November 30th at 3pm! Every ticket gets a signed copy of the Scriptnotes book. Special guests and surprises, too. www.dynastytypewriter.com/calendar-squ...

orange scriptnotes book cover with headline Scriptnotes Live

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Streaming the hell out of Hulu until subscription runs out at the end of the month. Or better yet, Kimmel is back.

Disney+ cancellation notice reading “You have cancelled your plan, and your access will end on October 10, 2025. Any add-ons you've subscribed to will expire at the end of their monthly billing cycles.”

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Weyland-Yutani ships would be more reliable if they had actual controls, not a wall of glowing white switches.

Frame from Alien: Earth with crew member in MU/TH/UR control room surrounded by glowing white switches

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Birdigo is out today on Steam! Now at 84 on Metacritic. birdigogame.com

Screenshot of Metacritic review showing Vertigo artwork that was released on July 30, 2025, with a generally favorable mark of 84 based on four critics' reviews.

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

This old photo of me looks AI?

Author standing at a pier in Venice, Italy. He’s wearing glasses and there’s a uncanny smoothness to the image.

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

This week's Scriptnotes has Tony Gilroy (Andor, Michael Clayton) talking about the second season, and his shift from features to series. Already up in the premium feed. scriptnotes.net

screenshot of podcast listing. icon for premium scriptnotes. Label reads 682 the second season with tony gilroy date is march 31st 2025 running time is 55 minutes and 38 seconds

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Noted! And checked the TOS to confirm that. sure

screenshot from bluesky terms of service, showing it's capital B then lowercase

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

It's already in there. In Settings > Privacy, you tell Highland whether it's allowed to search outside services, including LLMs. You can set that permission separately from static sources like rhyming dictionaries and thesaurus. support.quoteunquoteapps.com/how-lookup-w...

Screenshot of Settings "Privacy" pane with two toggles. A red box is surrounds "Allow other lookups, including LLMs."

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Also: 9-volt batteries are just six little batteries in a trench coat.

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

One of my most petty gripes is when a device uses AAA batteries when it could easily fit AA.

Four AAA sized batteries in slots easily big enough to hold larger batteries

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Added a bunch of new feathers to Birdigo today. It’s fun being able to update so quickly! store.steampowered.com/app/3264170/...

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Birdigo is a cute deckbuilding word game I made with @toboggan.work. Take a look! It’s on Steam right now → store.steampowered.com/app/3264170/...

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Why yes that is Highland in the teaser for the latest season of Righteous Gemstones!

Character is typing a script on a laptop that’s running Highland

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Fascinated by impact of EV chargers on small-town businesses. Inyokern, California is basically a ghost town, but has a busy fast-food restaurant primarily because of the adjacent Tesla and Rivian chargers.

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Update! Drew just added Wicked.

Screenshot from app showing poster from Wicked

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Scriptnotes Holiday Live Show is up! English Teacher's Brian Jordan Alvarez & Stephanie Koenig join Agatha All Along's Jac Schaeffer to discuss writing their amazing shows. It's a great conversation with smart and funny people. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

John, Craig, Stephanie, Brian and Jac seated on stage

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

To me, this feels so anti-flow. It's all distractions. When writing, I want to sit inside the scene, not at a control board. If it works for you, godspeed.

screen shot of cluttered UI in Causality

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

At the end of a writing session, I always try to leave myself handholds for the next one.

Bullet points reading costumes, looking for ruby, mr d, technical issue, spotlights, heart of glass, backstage parking lot, burning man, emma and damon

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Wyna Liu is clearly having fun making Connections and I’m here for it.

Connections grid with Bow Win Yang (three words) selected

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

TFW your movie is set in ancient times, the onscreen text (inscriptions, parchments, etc) is in English, but some is in Latin, and nothing matters.

From Airplane! Joey do you like movies about gladiators

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 08/10/2024

Today's Scriptnotes is a deep dive on Moneyball with special guest @taffyakner.bsky.social How can you not be romantic about baseball? johnaugust.com/2024/moneyball

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John August @johnaugust.bsky.social · 16/05/2023

Oh look we both got a fun new toy! (Which we may abandon at some point and that’s okay.)

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