iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mark Athitakis

Emily C. Hughes @emilyhughes.bsky.social · 5h

the P in RIP stands for pedophile

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Greetings from Scottsdale Stadium on Opening Day of the Arizona Fall League. Go Scorpions! Or Saguaros! Whatever!

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

AI has come for the fortune cookies.

Shitty fortune cookie fortune reading, "Stay informed about current technology trends."

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Finally, something on LinkedIn made me laugh.

"For $5, I'll comment 'AI slop' under your competitor's post."

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

What're you all doing to effectively filter spam emails like this?

Gibberish with lots of periods within words, making it difficult to set up word-based filters.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

They kid, they kid, but this is the future sad tech weenies want.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I was pleased to see Polly Barton's "What Am I, A Deer?" make the Goldsmiths shortlist. I loved her book on translation, "Fifty Sounds," and "Deer" is an excellent bildungsroman, with a self-indulgent narrator who's both questioning and reveling in her conduct. www.gold.ac.uk/news/2026/go...

gold.ac.uk

Goldsmiths Prize 2026 Shortlist Revealed

The shortlist for the Goldsmiths Prize 2026 - the £10,000 prize which rewards fiction that breaks the mould and extends the possibility of the novel - has been announced.

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Reposted by Mark Athitakis

Ben Zimmer @benzimmer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I spoke to @vulture.com about the nerdy pastime of "gridspotting," tracking down the provenance of crosswords in movies and TV shows.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Wordle in 1 Bonus September 30, 2026 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 0:22

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Worked for Harry Knowles, I guess.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Actual ads are back. There's one for Squarespace that says you can turn your film-buff hobby into a movie-reviewing career just by starting a website.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I will say the cutaways from the radio feed to the ads has been less abrupt than in recent years, so somebody got *that* memo. And the vocab quiz is only "oppo taco" about 10 percent of the time now!

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I wonder why the MLB postseason audio feed between innings has been nothing but PSAs and house ads. Is the price too steep for Byrna and its dumb tale of a dude and a mountain lion?

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Dan McLaughlin, "God Is Dog Spelled Backwards" (1968). Three thousand years of art in three minutes. Don't blink. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kwq...

youtube.com

God is Dog Spelled Backwards (1968) a film by Dan McLaughlin

YouTube video by Dan

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Happy for the Sox, happy for Fedde. (Always minding the ex-Nats factor.)

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Made me think of Mark McGurl's book on Amazon. AMZN defines very hyperspecific literary niches, and no doubt as the means to use AI to satisfy readers within them. If you crave Adult Baby Diaper Lover Erotica, how picky can you be? www.ronslate.com/on-everythin...

ronslate.com

on Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon by Mark McGurl – On the Seawall

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"Fuck yeah." -- The Pope, right now

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Royalty payments are in. Gonna put a little gas in the tank.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

No idea how to answer this so I'll just share this forgotten gem that happened to top the alt-rock charts in 1990. youtu.be/nDpOMTjE-bg?...

youtu.be

The Railway Children - Every Beat Of The Heart

YouTube video by TheRailwayChildrVEVO

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Department of War ship ran aground in the Gulf of America because of faulty super intelligence.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's what AI slop wants to be, but never will.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A++ WPA mural, post office, Mount Ayr, Iowa (via x.com/NewDealMural...)

Mural of a parade float featuring a giant ear of corn festooned with a banner reading "Iowa" and a followed by a banner reading "Corn is King."

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Reposted by Mark Athitakis

Matt Goldich @mattgoldich.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Case Keenum vs. Andy Dalton. 2007 Texas Bowl rematch! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Te...

en.wikipedia.org

2007 Texas Bowl - Wikipedia

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Bears making decisions that I'm sure won't come back to bite them, no sir.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There's a fine balance between charming and embarrassing, and whoever does those edits is looking for exactly that.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The only job in TV I want is on the "Great British Baking Show," and it's "Person Who Decides Which Five-Second Clip of the Contestant Baking at Home to Use."

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Reversing the curse that happened when the Cubs reversed the curse.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"Weren't for the Wind" is the better Ella Langley song, though I wish she wouldn't turn her videos into to mini Hallmark movies. youtube.com/watch?v=U4NPZi2b0aQ&xstg=CAMSEBUJ_b-oH-PhF0yjBgaukzY%3D

youtube.com

Ella Langley - weren't for the wind (Official Video)

YouTube video by EllaLangleyVEVO

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Took this up with my kid, and he said, a) Everybody knows "Losing My Religion" and b) Everybody's seen "Chicken Little." More cultural touchstones, than, say, erm, the Stones.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Tired: R.E.M. has zero cultural footprint. Wired: John Updike has zero cultural footprint.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The other place is engaging in "REM is irrelevant" discourse, and not today Satan.

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Reposted by Mark Athitakis

Bill Savage @rogersparkman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2026/... Hey, y'all: Chicago fans and Algren fans. In Chicago: City on the Make, Algren refers obliquely to a documentary about the city that was suppressed by Richard J. Daley's minions. That film, not seen in Chicago in 60 years, will be screened at NU.

blockmuseum.northwestern.edu

Listening to Chicago: Denis Mitchell and Studs Terkel: Block Museum - Northwestern University

Denis Mitchell’s controversial Chicago documentary, unseen here since 1966, screens with a rare 1975 film profile of Studs Terkel in a program about listening to the voice of the city.

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Reposted by Mark Athitakis

The Washington Sun Metro @washsunmetro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Between now and the time MLB begins its next regular season, the Washington Nationals only need to do two things. Add one good starting pitcher. And fix the damn bullpen. Then the Nats make the playoffs next year, writes Thomas Boswell.

washingtonsun.com

A Remarkably Simple Plan to Get the Nats Back to the Playoffs

And yes, it involves fixing the damn bullpen.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Stop being so shocked, Alberta. Your name literally anagrams to rat-able.

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Reposted by Mark Athitakis

Andy Oler @andyoler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Literary Landscapes, Vol. 19, is live and ready for your perusal! Essays on Ross Gay, Stuart Dybek, Justin Hamm, B.H. Fairchild, and James Whitcomb Riley. Please enjoy! newterritorymag.com/literary-lan...

newterritorymag.com

Literary Landscapes | The New Territory Magazine

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Y'all are gonna make me mute "iced coffee" like I don't live in Phoenix.

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Reposted by Mark Athitakis

American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Happy Dolly Day! Dolly's Imagination Library program has provided millions of free books to children. We hope you'll #GiveLikeDolly to your local library and continue her legacy supporting children's literacy. You can also support ALA's work advancing literacy of all kinds: bit.ly/4xPCOYn

Cover of Volume 74, Issue 15 of Booklist, featuring Dolly Parton on the cover in two fun poses.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

At Bloomberg, I wrote about the early 19th-century novelist Maria Edgeworth. Her father compelled her to read Adam Smith as a teen (#girldad!), and her novels smuggled emerging economic theory to the masses, especially women (Austen was a fan). www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.com

The Trouble With Turning Economics Into Fiction

The 19th-century novelist Maria Edgeworth made economics come alive on the page. A new biography and novel show why so few writers have matched her.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

He can read a Publishers Clearing House check.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

If you're picking up where William Logan left off I'd be grateful for it.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh, wow---v. intrigued by that Stegner book.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

AZ GOP gov candidate Andy Biggs gave a one-star review to "One Hundred Years of Solitude" on Goodreads. "I can't believe it is a representation of real people." www.arizonaagenda.com/p/lydia-s-sc...

arizonaagenda.com

Lydia’s school board wars

There’s always drama at Cartwright ... Kyrsten's ex isn't over it ... And a one-star review of his reviews.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Second time this week I beat my best time in the #nytxw.

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Mark Athitakis @mathitak.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Me, at this point in the season, watching the Nats tee up yet another blown save.

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