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Reposted by Mikko Rautalahti

Jesse Scoble @jscoble.bsky.social · 16h

Subversive Sci-Fi -- essays by some of gaming's luminaries on futuristic films that broke the rules!

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Subversive Sci-Fi Evolution

More Reflections on Futuristic Films That Broke the Rules

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 14h

Who could have foreseen that their consistent behavior would continue to be consistent regardless of what promises they make?

Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 1d

NEW: Israel informed the UN it will permit only 300 aid trucks into Gaza daily, not the 600 mandated by the ceasefire it just signed.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 1d

Sure, it's not relevant to your use case if these situations don't apply to you. But you have to design it with the assumption that they can apply to a lot of people. Like, a 30-person group chat where some comments disappear without a trace but most people don't realize that? Chaos. It's not great.

Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 1d

(It's something that still works in Facebook comments, because you can delete comments without any trace of them, so you can stir up shit, get people angry and reacting, and then screenshot their responses out of context and it looks like they're just going nuts unprovoked.)

Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 1d

Because without that indicator you can delete messages and make somebody else's reactions look completely unprompted and unhinged. It's especially cool in group chats where others never saw the original messages, but do see the responses. The "provoke -> delete -> screenshot" move is no joke.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 1d

That Trimpe/Severin combo is always gold. Trimpe, for me, is one of those artists whose work can be very hit and miss, depending on the inker. With Severin, it’s just bullseyes all the way.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 2d

Well, that's Blue Blaze defeated, definitely a big win for Dr. Vortex, I don't even need to see the next panels.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, there is absolutely no scenario where Israel suddenly just goes, "you know what, guys, that's enough murder, we're gonna be chill from here on out" as long as the same people stay in charge.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 2d

This seems incredibly authentic. The body language, the free-floating insanity, the complete lack of chill, it's all exactly where it needs to be.

Aaron Stewart-Ahn @badideas.bsky.social · 3d

Holy shit someone uploaded the entire stage play adaptation of the Yakuza videogame series with English subtitles and it’s glorious and 500x better than the Amazon show youtu.be/Z2Msr4si6dU?...

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Reposted by Mikko Rautalahti

dr. hazel 🐝 @hazelmonforton.com · 2d

Sadly, my contract with Blizzard ended in September. That means I'm looking for fulltime or contract work as a senior writer or narrative designer. If you need someone who can write sharp characters, poetic prose, and emotional stories, I'm available! www.hazelmonforton.com

dr. hazel 🐝 @hazelmonforton.com · Jul 8

It's #portfolioday! I'm presently a senior narrative designer at Blizzard, but before that I was at Bungie and Arkane. I wrote for the Writer's Guild award-nominated Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, and a bunch of critically acclaimed seasons and expansions in Destiny 2.

A scene from the High Heresy cinematic in Destiny 2: Heresy (2025)

A scene from the Safiyah cinematic from Destiny 2: Season of the Haunted (2022)

A scene from the final mission in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (2017)

A cutscene featuring the Outsider from Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (2017)

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 11d

Ahh, fuck. I’m sorry, man.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 11d

I like that time. I find it interesting (well, maybe not _interesting,_ that'd be overstating it; let's call it kinda amusing) that it's the polar opposite of one of my favorite moments in the year, which is in the spring and I'm outside and I realize I have to take my coat off because it's too hot.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 11d

I read like a month of the recent strips and holy shit, dude's got a lot of diarrhea rolling around in that brain. He's now comfortably operating on a level where the strip's like a mythic battle of racist caricatures to such a confusing degree that it's genuinely hard to say who he _doesn't_ hate.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 12d

Fucking Sipilä.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

But not necessarily more scary, though. Your example sounds more aggro and... I dunno, potentially more prone to sudden violence. That carries a big payload of unknowns. Ultimately, the letter thing was more sad than anything -- it didn't feel that way at the time, but looking back on it now...

Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

Trust me, you're good!

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

Yeah, that's the one, I know we've talked about it before!

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

I've seen this kind of stuff before, unfortunately. It involved an international flight and a letter written in blood, among other things, so, y'know, just super healthy and not at all creepy activities.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

Good luck with the invasive procedure!

Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

A lot of actual mental illness out there. I feel like it's getting worse -- maybe not actually more prevalent, but more untreated and more easily triggered. It's not exactly enhancing anyone's calm.

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Reposted by Mikko Rautalahti

John Reppion @johnreppion.bsky.social · 13d

Mindlessly scrolling earlier, I saw a video which contained the sentence "all culture war is a deliberate distraction from class war". Possibly the most succinct expression of the times we live in, and the problems we're facing.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 13d

I have read Douglas Smith’s Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs, and I liked it. I can’t really judge how accurate it is, but it’s more about historical context and whatnot than ”crazy stories about the mad monk” stuff, and I found it both good and interesting.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 14d

In most other democracies, if you hit a similar situation, the government fails and they're done. There are systems in place to manage the situation until a new government can be formed. That's a genuine crisis and the people in charge really want to avoid it. It comes with big consequences.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 14d

The government shutting down the way it does semi-regularly in the US is a bizarre phenomenon. The idea that vital systems that keep the country functioning just roll to a stop while a bunch of people who're supposed to be in charge see who can hold their breath the longest is nuts.

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Mikko Rautalahti @mikkihel.bsky.social · 15d

And by ”retain credibility” I don’t mean ”be respected by people whose head isn’t full of dogshit,” I mean that he can say that sort of stuff to a room full of people likely involved in actual firefights in Afghanistan without them immediately going ”fuck this clown, what the hell, I’m out.”

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