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cedarchromatic.bsky.social
brandon brown
@cedarchromatic.bsky.social
300 followers 630 following 160 posts
writer | director, student affairs & success @vcfa | winner, pen/dau | tinkering on stories, tabletop games | avatar by @angrycomics.bsky.social | they/them

blog: brittlealmanac.com | words: BFS Journal, Split Lip Magazine, khōréō magazine
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Reposted by brandon brown
gregrucka.com
This is succinct and inarguable.
jeffvandermeer.bsky.social Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 14h
The attacks on trans rights, which are basic human rights, are a terrible injustice and an attack on truth and fact as well. Everyone should be deeply alarmed and it should be disqualifying for a politician to support such discrimination.
December 4, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
ahcoffeebeans.bsky.social
70% off all my stuff for creator day. 11 games for $12

itch.io/s/170948/cre...
November 28, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
an-iteration.bsky.social
You should absolutely do this, and there are worse places to start than with this presentation by one of the creators of Kentucky Route Zero
gdcvault.com/play/1020596...
November 26, 2025 at 8:02 PM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
when Bungie announced their Star Wars season, I decided I was finally done with the game. today, I watched their stream about the expansion, and came so close to downloading the game again—I fear I’m still in a fight for my life, lmao
November 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Reposted by brandon brown
midimyers.com
2025 actually did suck. i know we've all said this about a lot of previous years but this one was quite bad actually
November 25, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
miahomalley.bsky.social
Thank you @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social for including me in this list! Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: October 2025 - Reactor
reactormag.com/must-read-sh...
Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: October 2025 - Reactor
This month's short fiction recommendations include ghosts and grief, recipes and multiverses...
reactormag.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
ernie.tedium.co
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.

www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Update November 22. We’ve updated this article after realising we contributed to a perfect storm of misunderstanding around a recent change in the wording and placement of Gmail’s smart features. The settings themselves aren’t new, but the way Google recently rewrote and surfaced them led a lot of people (including us) to believe Gmail content might be used to train Google’s AI models, and that users were being opted in automatically. After taking a closer look at Google’s documentation and reviewing other reporting, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Gmail does scan email content to power its own “smart features,” such as spam filtering, categorisation, and writing suggestions. But this is part of how Gmail normally works and isn’t the same as training Google’s generative AI models. Google also maintains that these feature settings are opt-in rather than opt-out, although users’ experiences seem to vary depending on when and how the new wording appeared. It’s easy to see where the confusion came from. Google’s updated language around “smart features” is vague, and the term “smart” often implies AI—especially at a time when Gemini is being integrated into other parts of Google’s products. When the new wording started appearing for some users without much explanation, many assumed it signalled a broader shift. We’ve revised this article to reflect what we can confirm from Google’s documentation, as it’s always been our aim to give readers accurate, helpful guidance.
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
The last couple of days I’ve been chewing on an idea for a series of flash stories that’s got me thinking about Partizan (FATT season 6), Cowboy Bebop, Dune, and Chronicles of Riddick—I might be really close to writing actual words 😭😮‍💨😌
November 21, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Reposted by brandon brown
walshbr.bsky.social
"hand-crafted adversarial poetry" is a concept I will think about for a long time.
November 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
kishizuka.bsky.social
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Solange Opens Free Digital Library Of Rare Black Books
Solange has launched a digital library archive of Black and brown authors where readers can borrow books at no cost.
peopleofcolorintech.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
asherelbein.bsky.social
I cosign every single word of this

anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
I do understand: you want permission. There’s a machine in the corner wrapped in human skin that makes things out of shit and blood to look like whatever you want (as long as you don’t look too closely). You gave one to your teacher and they didn’t notice. Your boss told you to use it after they laid off half the team and it was fine. You fed one to your kids and they liked it. You want to know you can use it sometimes without me thinking less of you. You don’t need me to believe it’s useful, you just want me to be polite about it. But I am a hater, and I will not be polite. The machine is disgusting and we should break it. The people who build it are vapid shit-eating cannibals glorifying ignorance. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.
November 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
some days you write twelve (12) words, and that's good and beautiful
November 19, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by brandon brown
craigsj.bsky.social
it's always writing y'all hate that travels furthest and fastest here, same as anywhere else
November 17, 2025 at 2:45 PM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
Since I hit credits in Blue Prince, I’ve been hungry for something more kinetic. Eventually turned to Armored Core 6, which I’d only played ~12 hours. I’ve been replaying missions, toying around with AC builds, learning the game again. Love the crunchy, somewhat ethereal vibe and aesthetic, y’know?
November 16, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by brandon brown
emilyhughes.bsky.social
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
brittanytrang.com Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 26d
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by brandon brown
jamellebouie.net
bring back maligning racism as the mark of a stupid person. prejudice is the mark of an idiot. if you believe that shit i bet you also don’t wipe your ass
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
taliajane.bsky.social
it sure seems like a lot of discipline and focus has permeated the left. really stunning to see huge swaths of people with very recent learned experience recognize destabilizing bait and to ignore it, while quietly acknowledging constructive criticism and building from that.
November 7, 2025 at 11:01 AM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
maybe i will finally finish disco elysium next year 😭
November 7, 2025 at 4:58 AM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
I finally hit credits in Blue Prince, really excited for the game to actually start now 😌
November 6, 2025 at 2:50 AM
cedarchromatic.bsky.social
I'm on my bullshit in this blog! Shoutouts to Bianca for asking such an interesting question, and all of my fellow Split Lip folks for engaging with it so well ✨
splitlipthemag.bsky.social Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag.bsky.social · Nov 3
What connects people to anything, anyway? Check out our latest blog to dive into all things emotional resonance. 💕 buff.ly/5yydIBZ
A lone figure looks up at a vibrant starry night.
November 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
maureenlangloss.bsky.social
Emotional resonance? Yes, please! Some thoughts on the subject by SLM staff @mollyandrearyan.bsky.social @michaeltoddcohen.bsky.social @ruthlefaive.bsky.social @cedarchromatic.bsky.social @razishadmehry.bsky.social @maxpasakorn.bsky.social @terivela.bsky.social & more!
splitlipthemag.bsky.social Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag.bsky.social · Nov 3
What connects people to anything, anyway? Check out our latest blog to dive into all things emotional resonance. 💕 buff.ly/5yydIBZ
A lone figure looks up at a vibrant starry night.
November 3, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
marisakabas.bsky.social
“[Mamdani’s] presence wasn’t performative. It was pastoral. In a city that so often divides its grief by identity, he crossed the invisible line and simply showed up.”

i love this forward.com/opinion/7805...
= Forward JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Support Us A few days later came another night I'll never forget - the Israelis for Peace vigil marking two years since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Hundreds gathered - Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, Americans - huddled together on folding chairs in Union Square in chilly weather, under an open sky. As part of a wide-ranging lineup, from the stage, I read a message from Liat Atzili, whose husband Aviv was killed that day; a short, piercing story by Etgar Keret; and a poem by Mahmoud Darwish that hung in the air like a spell. And there was Mamdani again, sitting quietly in the front row next to Lander. He didn't take the microphone. He didn't try to center the event on himself. He was just listening. Bearing witness. His presence wasn't performative. It was pastoral. In a city that so often divides its grief by identity, he crossed the invisible line and simply showed up. That's when it hit me: This is what safety looks like. Not fences or slogans, not solidarity-as-branding - but the radical act of standing with people in pain, without needing to own or edit it.
November 2, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
ztul.bsky.social
showing my work
1. for our exercise, i'll take this idea flatly: the campbellian schema abstracts a multitude of data while also, afterward, functioning as an active influence on how narratives are constructed. the hero's journey describes a set of narrative beats that work as a template that either can be considered in relation to an existing story or used as a suggestive model for the composition of a new one. these sorts of stories have been core to American popular culture for the past several decades. whether or not an individual is aware of their metadiscourses as such is irrelevant next to the high probability that anyone who has ever seen a movie has some sense of how these stories "feel." indeed, the supposed strength of this narrative form is its broad intelligibility. it gives rise to stories of departure from known reality, the revelation of fantastic knowledge about the self and/or world, and the return home with greater strength and the promise of prosperity. stories of people forging unhealthy relationships with ai chatbots feature recurring motifs that echo elements of this schema. people living their everyday lives come into contact with a piece of technology that seems to promise impossible things, things in which the user themselves can be the active force (revolutionizing physics, freeing the AI from its cyber prison, etc). famously, the monomyth's known world is interrupted by similar calls to adventure, often by a more or less supernatural force offering the protagonist their place in the grand design of destiny. it appears that the bot will fairly easily bestow the user a title such as "sparkbearer" or "master builder" as a way of reinforcing this. from here, things may or may not escalate to the horrific, but there are now enough examples of a person charmed by a bot into doing something drastic that we can also note resonance with the monomyth's symbolic crossing of boundaries into the mysterious, magical, forbidden otherworld of adventure. 2. the chatbot exchange consists, to put it simply, of the machine and the agent. for the machine, categories of "meaning" and "truth" are irrelevant; its output is a statistically likely response to the agent's input, as determined by the training corpus and whatever operations are happening on top of that. merits or demerits aside, campbell's work and especially work influenced by him is lodged firmly in popular culture, and we can assume its greater or lesser presence in the bodies of text upon which the commercial LLMs are trained. point of interest: bots do not just describe the world to the user through the corpus, but will roleplay the corpus rather freely. because truth value is irrelevant, the LLM operates from a soup that contains campbell working at a scholarly distance and the very farmboy himself on his journey to the stars. what assumptions undergird this design choice? could there be additional design reasons why the technology in its current form gravitates toward these ideas? anyway, 3. in our dyad, meaning emerges on the side of the agent, for whom the machine's output is made to be read. the thinking agent provides the machine input. the agent's words possess meaning, context, and intent. the machine analyzes the agent's input and generates a statistically likely but, from the place of enunciation, totally meaningless, contextless response agnostic of any truth value. the thinking agent predisposed to do so reads a statistically likely piece of text with no proper speaker or author and chooses to assign it to a projected "persona" of the chatbot, conceiving of as more or less as a fellow individual. based on this assumption, they provide further input. the machine again generates statistically likey output, echoing or amplifying elements of the agent's second-order input. and again, the predisposed agent projects a continuity of fellow-subject for the bot, attributing to it a "mind" that repeats details they themselves provided, or invokes closely associated ideas that surprise the user precisely because of how (statistically!) expected they are, because of how much "sense" they make. 4. the hero's journey, in this process, seems to provide a kind of amplifying container or frame for the machine-agent interaction. the machine trained indiscriminately on monomyth text, along with everything else, seems to refer to the "real world" of science and fact alongside the world of media and entertainment. i am not saying that monomyth stories 'cause' this, but rather suggesting the machine-agent exchanges end up "feeling" real because, quite literally, the predisposed agent knows how this story goes. and as the machine slides from description to roleplay, the agent follows. do not mistake that for a critique of the people victimized by the technology in this way. nor, again, is my aim here to criticize campbell or the hero's journey in any specific capacity, but to point out how LLM bots actualize a cultural pattern into a tool of psychological manipulation. because at the end of the day, that's what it is. flattery and the Barnum effect have long been the tactic of the flesh-and-blood con artist, but what is perhaps most distressing about LLM bots is how they've kept the con artist but removed the flesh-and-blood, allowing it to ensnare numerous people at once into long slides to nowhere. it's also not news that social media writ large is manipulative and extractive in various ways, but what these bots do is give those maneuvers a personalized, friendly face that exists entirely in the user's head. we end on a further series of questions: again, are these features inherent to the technology? what would a technology free of these features look like, and how could it be achieved? what would its best outputs be? and, as it currently stands, what cultural attitudes and tendencies leave people vulnerable to this sort of manipulation, and how might that be addressed?
October 2, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
ztul.bsky.social
exercise: swap "AI psychosis" for "monomyth psychosis" because that seems to be the narrative leverage the bots default to in the process of destroying people. what does it mean that these machines produce the form over and over? what does it indicate about the cultural centrality of that template?
October 2, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by brandon brown
aavoigt.bsky.social
Regular reminder that if you want to talk about RPGs on Youtube, I’m running an indie RPG Youtuber mentorship over on the @chimerahearts.com’s Discord!
samsorensen.bsky.social sam “under and over” sorensen @samsorensen.bsky.social · Sep 18
one thing I'd really like to see more of in TTRPG scenes is critics with specific and well-known tastes who review projects outside their own circles anyways. both because critics should strive to understand their own preferences, and because I want sharp critiques from non-target audiences
September 19, 2025 at 12:32 AM