iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 15/09/2026

Other people's con photos: panels; meeting famous authors; group shots with friends My photos of World Fantasy Con last year:

A photo of a stony beach. As in, straight down at the stones. No sea, no horizon. There is a worn brick with the word WARN stamped in it, though! That's cool!

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 15/09/2026

The autistic experience of scrolling back through your photos: every now and then, a photo that is fully and entirely just a texture you liked

A close up photo of some tree bark with lichen. That's it. That's the whole frame.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/01/2026

I've read my Orwell, you can't get me that easily

A sheet of paper stuck up by a hotel stairwell. It reads: "Please use Room 101 as a toilet, upstairs first room on the left. Thank you"

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/08/2025

As hate filled and toxic as this little island has become, I still find hope and solace in the fact that the standard vacuum across our industries, even in construction, has a happy little face, just because.

A photo of a Henry hoover, with little eyes and a smile around the nozzle, as if that's his nose. (Henrietta variants also available.)

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/07/2025

I'm sorry, the producer of FBI: Most Wanted is called _what_?

From BBC News's article on Julian McMahon's death, the following three paragraphs:
> McMahon also played Doctor Doom in two Fantastic Four films in 2005 and 2007 and later appeared in three seasons of FBI: Most Wanted.
>
> Dick Wolf, the producer of FBI: Most Wanted, said McMahon's death was "shocking news".
>
> McMahon was the son of a former Australian prime minister and went on to play an Australian prime minister's role in Netflix's The Residence - one of his recent appearances.

"Dick Wolf" is highlighted in the screenshot

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/07/2025

this is not even half of what I left in comments this morning, to give you an idea of scale on the response it prompted from me, lol. (both the Disney and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy comments expand out to about 300 words each, too. And these aren't all the comments; I can't fit them all in one screen)

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/07/2025

I have poured a lot of time and emotional energy into these outros this month, bc frankly they have demanded it of me. I expect the same is true of @quietandscreaming.bsky.social in editing. They are brilliant stories, they are important stories. To preview something I say later in the month:

I have become acutely, painfully aware of the ableism in the world, the cost it extracts from its victims, and most of all, what an afterthought disability is to a world that just... chooses to ignore it as much as it can: as an inconvenience, an expense that can (regrettably but inevitably) be crossed out, as something not important enough to important enough people to actually bother dealing with.

And apart from the day-to-day problems that causes, the logistical problems and access issues etc., what that does is soak in. Internalised ableism is so insidious and pernicious: it isolates you; it leads you down paths of self-recrimination; it undermines and undercuts and steals all your optimism and confidence and hope.

And the antidote to that is stories. Either fiction, as we're sharing this month, or anecdotes and feelings and opinions shared between each other that help us see we're not alone, we're not to blame, and there are better ways. It is easy to say that "seeing yourself in a story is a powerful thing", and it is easy to hear it and understand the concept and smile and nod and agree. But my goodness, sometimes it is a freight-train to the heart to experience it. More than once this month I've finished reading a story and been genuinely short-of-breath for the emotional impact it's had on me, for the moments of recognition I've had throughout and the realisation, or celebration, or catharsis at the end. I hope I'm not alone in that. I hope it's done the same service for some of you out there, this month.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 30/05/2025

Vampire Survivors knows whats up

A 16-bit style pixel art sprite of a witch on a broom, pointed hat and all, against a red floor, above some statistics at the bottom and, between them, the text:

Giovanna resented being assigned Mage at birth, and proudly took up the way of the broom and pointed hat. Her sisters, who claim they want to "protect witches' spaces," have sworn to oppose her and all who fight by her side. Maybe one day they'll accept that anybody can be a Sassy Witch if they truly want to be.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 18/05/2025

I enjoyed rather a lot of what's written in this. It is excellent Sunday afternoon sort of reading: www.experimental-history.com/p/28-slightl...

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All emotions are useful for writing except for bitterness.

Good writing requires the consideration of other minds—after all, words only mean something when another mind decodes them. But bitterness can consider only itself. It demands sympathy but refuses to return it, sucks up oxygen and produces only carbon dioxide. It’s like sadness, but stuck eternally at a table for one.

Other emotions—anger, fear, contentment—are deep enough to snorkel in, and if you keep swimming around in them, you’ll find all sorts of bizarre creatures that dwell in the depths and demand description. Bitterness, on the other hand, is three inches of brackish water. Nothing lives in it. You can stand in it and see the bottom.

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Here’s my point. Some people think that writing is merely the process of picking the right words and putting them in the right order, like stringing beads onto a necklace. But the power of those words, if there is any, doesn’t live inside the words themselves. On its own, “Love the questions” is nearly meaningless. Those words only come alive when they’re embedded in this rambling letter from a famous poet to a scared kid, a kid who is choosing between a life where he writes poems and a life where he shoots a machine gun at Bosnian rebels. The beauty ain’t in the necklace. It’s in the neck.

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Maybe that’s my problem with AI-generated prose: it’s all necklace, no neck.

Most writing, of course, isn’t exclusive in terms of access, but in terms of time. There’s something special about every word written by a human because they chose to do this thing instead of anything else. Something moved them, irked them, inspired them, possessed them, and then electricity shot everywhere in their brain and then—crucially—they laid fingers on keys and put that electricity inside the computer. Writing is a costly signal of caring about something. Good writing, in fact, might be a sign of pathological caring.

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Maybe that’s my problem with AI-generated prose: it doesn’t mean anything because it didn’t cost the computer anything. When a human produces words, it signifies something. When a computer produces words, it only signifies the content of its training corpus and the tuning of its parameters. It has no context—or, really, it has infinite context, because the context for its outputs is every word ever written.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 11/05/2025

For when you can't even be bothered to spend 30 seconds writing your own message to a fellow human you presumably care for/are connected to enough to warrant you sending them a birthday card in the first place. Yet another non-problem "solved" for us! Thanks, Generative AI!

A form from the Moonpig website, saying

:Smart Text
Create personalised messages for your recipient using our new AI tool

What would you like to say?
e.g. Write me a fun message for my sister's birthday. She's turning 30 and loves plants.

By using this AI text generating tool, you agree to our Moonpig terms for user generated content and Terms and Conditions. Moonpig does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy or quality of the content that is generated. Also see our Privacy Notice.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 17/04/2025

Imagine saying this, in this context, and still thinking you're on the right side of history. The cruelty and the crowing over such *basic* respect for others is sickening.

"We've been speaking to the health service for an inordinately long time - we will now be asking them when they will be updating their advice," Baroness Falkner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Currently the NHS guidance says trans people should be accommodated according to the way they dress, their names and their pronouns. Under the ruling this would be scrapped.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 11/03/2025

He's right, but for all the wrong reasons

Screenshot of a BBC News headline above a photo of British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer: "Starmer says benefit system unfair and indefensible"

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 13/02/2025

Seems like a You problem tbh, Google

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 21/01/2025

Didn't know being autistic meant I might accidentally be a Nazi from time to time OH WAIT IT DOESN'T, ffs (from www.bbc.com/news/article... )

Stroppa later deleted his post, Italian media said. He later posted that "that gesture, which some mistook for a Nazi salute, is simply Elon, who has autism, expressing his feelings by saying, 'I want to give my heart to you'," he said.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 10/01/2025

He could, but he won't. Arsehole.

A spam email from Daily Data Dose, with the subject "Elon Musk could help pay for your retirement"

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 03/01/2025

smdh, we're chaining robots up in hospitals for our children's entertainment, we deserve skynet

A TV stand in the shape of a yellow plastic robot with a TV for a head, and a chain and padlock around its ankle, as seen in a children's hospital ward

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/12/2024

My final donation of the month, alongside this story so rooted in the past and ongoing colonizations of Palestine, was a donation for the future: to the Alliance for Middle East Peace, working towards a sustainable peace. www.allmep.org/donate-now/

A thank you email for a donation to ALLMEP, the Alliance for Middle East Peace. The text reads:

Dear Matt,

On behalf of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, thank you for your contribution of $30.96 on 11/10/2024.

In such difficult days it's remarkable to get such support. We're working tirelessly to assist our member organizations, and to provide the advice, critical services, protection, and amplification that they need.

The Alliance for Middle East Peace has long been committed to scaling the work and impact of civil society peacebuilders, including by unlocking close to $400 million in funding from governments to go directly to the field, while our staff on the ground provides services to our member organizations to increase their capacity, connections to one another, and collective impact. Your support at this vital moment has allowed us to deliver for those members when such needs are greater than we've ever seen, and when our efforts may count more than at any time in ALLMEP's history.

The largescale violence has touched almost all of our members in a direct and personal way. Yet our community, based on Israeli-Palestinian partnership and cooperation will be one of the most important assets that can help guide their respective societies out of this nightmare, and toward somewhere much, much better.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/12/2024

For this episode, I donated to MAP, Medical Aid for Palestine, who deliver vital support & interventions to civilians suffering inhumane & illegal attacks on their schools, hospitals & homes. Please, donate too, if you can: www.map.org.uk?form=FUNFXHD... (I now have a recurring donation here)

A screenshot from an email saying thank you for a donation of £26.30; the photo above is of a doctor helping a small child in a hospital bed. The text below reads, in full:

Thank you for your donation

Dear Matt,

Thank you so much for your wonderful gift of £26.30 to Medical Aid for Palestinians. Your compassion and generosity are greatly appreciated.

Thanks to you, our teams can continue delivering medical care and humanitarian aid to people struggling to survive.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/12/2024

For this episode, it felt fitting to donate to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. If you can, please consider matching the donation, or whatever you can afford: pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-r...

An online receipt for a $30 payment to the PCRF, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/12/2024

Nayra and the Djinn, is a coming-of-age graphic novel. Nothing is going right for Nayra Mansour. Just when she’s considering transferring schools, a mysterious djinn named Marjan appears, and uses their powers & wisdom to help Nayra. But Marjan’s past is fraught with secrets, guilt, and trouble.

A panel from NAYRA AND THE DJINN, as taken from Iasmin Omar Ata's website and copyright to them.

The panel is a single large spread: rendered in pastel colours and a striking, flat style, there are mountains in the background, the sea in the foreground, flames in the centre and on the left, in the shape of flames, a shadow like dark smoke. All four have multiple eyes scattered throughout.

The text reads, across four speech bubbles:
DJINNS ARE BEINGS MADE OF SMOKELESS FLAMES THAT EXIST IN A
DIFFERENT REALM THAN HUMANS.

THERE ARE SAID TO BE MANY TYPES OF DJINNS. FROM FIRE AND SHADOW. TO WATER AND MOUNTAIN.

DJINNS ARE USUALLY UNSEEN AND UNKNOWN BY PEOPLE, BUT
SOMETIMES.

THROUGH STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES. THEY'LL FIND THEMSELVES
ENTANGLED IN HUMAN LIVES...

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/12/2024

The artwork's by @deltahead.bsky.social, and they have a couple of graphic novels, discussed in the outro. Mis(H)Adra is the story of an Arab-American college student, Isaac, who wants nothing more than to be a functional college student–but managing his epilepsy is an exhausting battle to survive.

A frame from the graphic novel Mis(H)Adra, as found on Iasmin Omar Ata's website and copyright to them.

A person with shoulder-length length wavy hair is outlined in red, against a black background, facing the reader; their right arm reaches through a yellow pane and becomes full colour, corporeal. To their left, in red text on black: SO STRANGE. There is a string of beads/pearls threading across the panel, with three ceremonial knives also on the string.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 21/11/2024

Anybody else getting *incredible* shade from Duolingo today, or is it just me? (It's not wrong tho)

A cartoon image of a young girl celebrating with her arms in the air, with the green Duolingo owl laid on the ground next to her, leaning on its elbow.

Below, the text "Perfect lesson! You made 0 mistakes. Unlike in real life."

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 09/11/2024

If you're able to, please match this donation; or make your own to whatever extent you're able; or donate to another charity of your choosing that will support the people of Palestine; or any of the many personal fundraisers being run by people suffering in Gaza.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/10/2024

The artwork by @deltahead.bsky.social represents "Handala. The Olive, The Storm, and the Sea" by @soniasulaiman.bsky.social, and is utterly gorgeous. 4 episodes, all next month, @podcastle.org

A striking illustration of a small child in ragged clothes with a yellow umbrella held low in one hand, churning waves beneath their feet, and a burning olive tree behind them. The child is Handala, the Palestinian icon created in 1969 by the Palestinian political cartoonist, Naji al-Ali. Beneath, the text: "Artwork by Iasmin Omar Ata"

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 10/10/2024

Some quick 'n' simple smartphone camera tips for the aurora: 1) Night sight mode. Night sight mode! Even just for live viewing, it's amazing 2) Use the main lens, not the wide-angle lens, because it generally has a better sensor for low light 3) Look for the Big Dipper in the sky and aim that way

A shot of the aurora borealis, with a faint pink glow in the upper half, a green band across the lower third, and a silhouetted tree in the centre

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 10/10/2024

At fucking last! Missed them in May! Been waiting so long! Though it turns out the great secret is only your camera sees it like this, and your eyes see it like a slightly green maybe if you expect that? cloud

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 14/09/2024

For a while it was a point&click fantasy Amiga game, but after years of describing it someone IDed it as Dungeon Quest. Look at that pixel art! Since then it's been something that I *remember* being called Critters, that was kind of a Lemmings rip off, but they were yellow. Cannot dig it up at all

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 13/09/2024

Puffins! I got your puffins

A puffin tilts its head to one side to scratch with a foot

A puffin flies low across the sea, its wings up

A large group of puffins sitting on moss-covered rocky ground

A zoomed out shot of the moss covered rocks, showing an in-focus group of around a dozen puffins in the foreground and a larger group out of focus in the background

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/09/2024

Speak for yourself, BBC, some of us are terrible at it

Screenshot of a news article, saying:
"It's the perennial "cocktail party problem" - standing in a room full of people, drink in hand, trying to hear what your fellow guest is saying.

In fact, human beings are remarkably adept at holding a conversation with one person while filtering out competing voices."

The second sentence is highlighted.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 23/08/2024

The cat, alas, has passed--though I have so many photos of her sat between me and the keyboard that Google Photos keeps trying to delete them as duplicates--but this is the cavapoo this morning, helping out

A wide angle photo of a cavapoo puppy sat on my lap, looking at the camera, with my work laptop just visible in the background

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 29/07/2024

Look at these dickheads. No regrets.

A photo of two cavapoos, with text above "Just found these two dogs in the car park at [redacted] wildlife park. Came from [redacted] direction. Staff are looking after them, please contact [redacted] if they’re your dogs or if you know who the owners could be."

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 01/04/2024

So many screenshots. (I'll stop here so as to avoid anything too spoilery from late on, tho)

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 01/04/2024

Once again, Photo Mode has ended with me taking twice as long to complete a game as it ought to have. In related news, Plague Tale: Requiem is beautiful, and has made me cry repeatedly, and I thoroughly commend it to you all.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 12/02/2024

I know that any bar the Mail might have to vault is essentially just one they're going to run into face first, but still: advertising your Inspirational Women Awards with a photo of a woman *literally in the kitchen* is a marvel of misreading the room in 2024

A photo of a blonde white woman wearing a sky blue blouse and with red lipstick. She stands in front of a green-tiled kitchen in a 1950s style, with copper pans hanging from hooks, and shelves full of ingredients in glass mason jars. A small white square bears the text "M&S | Daily Mail Inspirational Women Awards"

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 31/12/2023

Finally sorted it! See you all north of the border, yeah?

A screenshot from the Glasgow 2024 website stating "You're going to WorldCon!" and listing 2 Attending Adult Memberships (and accompanying 2024 WSFS Memberships) for Matt Dovey and Claire Dovey

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 21/11/2023

🎶 And I love to live deliciously, Live this life of devilry, Lazing out with Satan, Black Philiiiip In the forest pines In the forest pines 🎶

A picture of Black Philip from The VVitch (2015). Black Philip is a black goat with curled horns, seen here in a wodden stable with hay on the floor and a white goat out of focus in the background.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 01/10/2023

Maybe I'm the one being ridiculous here, but when I'm buying a product for my animal I kind of actually want it to have been... tested on animals?

A screenshot of "Bugalugs Soothing Ear Cleaner", with a picture of a cartoon dog on the bottle, and a speech bubble saying "tested by humans NOT on animals"

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 07/09/2023

Tell me where you're from with a food pic.

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 27/07/2023

I think Settings > Home Feed Preferences will also be useful; you can control seeing retweets, replies (including filtering for a minimum number of likes) and more:

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 26/07/2023

This was the first meme that lived rent free in my head. That expression fucken kills me, even still.

A Japanese macaque has his hands around a man's head, holding onto his hair, as the man is partially submerged up to the nose in a hot spring. The monkey's expression suggests regret, but otherwise no particular effort or strong emotion. The text around the image reads "Hitman monkey finds no joy in his job".

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 06/07/2023

Threads you say? No thank you, doesn't sound appealing at all

The title screen of the British TV show Threads (1984), which was about nuclear apocalypse

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/07/2023

Reconnecting with my Twitter mutuals

A screencap from Society (1989) showing the Shunting, where a group of people physically deform and meld with each other

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Matt Dovey @mattdovey.com · 05/07/2023

but then sometimes someone you didn't think knew you existed on birdsite follows your back here

An image of Thor from the 4th Avengers film, holding Molnjir and declaring "I'm still worthy!"

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