Riley MacLeod
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rcmacleod.bsky.social
Riley MacLeod
@rcmacleod.bsky.social
7.2K followers 670 following 4.2K posts
Co-founder of Aftermath, a worker-owned site about video games, the internet, and everything that comes after. riley [at] aftermath [dot] site. Previously: Kotaku, Washington Post. Trans; he/him
https://aftermath.site/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
npr.org
JUST IN: Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88
Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88
The Czech-born British playwright is known for Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Coast of Utopia. Stoppard also wrote screenplays for Brazil and Shakespeare in Love.
n.pr
November 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
Jesus Christ, Irish, why are you like this

("scaif bhuí" is lenited *because* it's feminine, but the verbal noun works the opposite way? JUST DO THE SAME THING IN THE WHOLE SENTENCE)
There are a few points to note. In the construction above, the form of the word caitheamh changes depending on the number and gender of the noun. Carbhat dearg is masculine so we use á chaitheamh (with the séimhiú/lenition). Scaif bhuí, as we have seen, is feminine so we do not use the séimhiú/lenition in this case: á caitheamh. And when the noun is plural like bróga/shoes or when we refer to more than one noun (bríste agus léine), we use the urú/eclipsis, i.e. á gcaitheamh.
November 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
I'm sorry lmao how is any of this real
About a year afterwards, I had a call from the doctor who had worked on me. He had written an article about the injury in a medical journal: it was called A Hit, a Palpable Hit. When I read it, I finally understood the gravity of what had happened to me. Then I didn’t talk about it for 10 or 15 years. Every now and then I’d feel a shudder, a sense that I shouldn’t be alive.
November 29, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
colettearrand.bsky.social
Gonna be a bit of a dork about my newsletter for a moment, apologies in advance.

BIG EGG currently has 72 paying subscribers. I would love to make it 100. There's a sale today where a one year subscription is $30, every bonus piece and feature included. Here's my pitch. 🤼
colettearrand.bsky.social Colette Arrand @colettearrand.bsky.social · 1d
If you're the kinda jawn who has discretionary newsletter spending this Black Friday, you can get a full year of BIG EGG for $30 today.

www.bigeggwrestling.com/black-friday
BIG EGG
The Great Sport of Professional Wrestling, as seen by Joseph Montecillo and Colette Arrand
www.bigeggwrestling.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:36 AM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
I think my neighbors appreciated that I took a break from noisily playing Irish trad on my mandolin all evening to learning part of "Golden" instead, I bet they think I am cool and popular and normal

(I'm neutral on the movie but the pre-chorus/chorus of that song whip)
November 29, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
debjitduttaart.bsky.social
What a great headline
November 28, 2025 at 3:49 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
Hello, YouTube has shown me a video of a guy teaching an octopus from the fish market to play piano
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcWn...
I taught an octopus piano (It took 6 months)
YouTube video by Mattias Krantz
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
botherer.bsky.social
And finished! Another 20 fantastic-looking unknown indie games to play right now or wishlist!

kotaku.com/indie-games-...

Thanks so much to everyone who submitted, and sorry to the hundreds I couldn't include! Very pleased to have managed to get to 40 though!

Please repost far and wide!
20 Extraordinary Indie Games To Wishlist This Black Friday
Another incredible selection of unknown games, both out now and coming soon
kotaku.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
espiers.bsky.social
I can’t believe people in the room don’t push back. It doesn’t matter if he’s the president, part of holding him accountable is standing up to his bullying— especially if he’s doing it right in front of your face
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d
“You’re a stupid person” — Trump lashes out at a reporter who presses him on the fact that the suspected DC shooter was actually thoroughly vetted before he was let in the US from Afghanistan
November 28, 2025 at 12:52 AM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
I'm cooking a turkey breast but it's a weird shape where one part is super thick and it just won't come to temp and omg I just want to eat
November 27, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
theguardian.com
Israel still committing genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International says
Israel still committing genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International says
The NGO’s chief says last month’s ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal’ Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month. The fragile, US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, after two years of war. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
My downfall here was deciding to make dinner rolls, which have now dictated the time everything else can happen, which has led to some frantic running around that has also, humiliatingly, included accidentally dunking part of my apron in the toilet
November 27, 2025 at 7:22 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
To quote @jackjenkins.me, there's always a religion angle
November 27, 2025 at 2:40 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
First time making a cheesecake instead of cheesecake bars, cracking a bummer but it LOOKS like a cheesecake
A pumpkin cheesecake
November 27, 2025 at 1:21 AM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
I know this is the wrong takeaway from this post but APOCRYPHA HORROR FILM?!?
calmtomb.bsky.social Tom Coombe @calmtomb.bsky.social · 2d
Not to trot out the “people will tweet anything” meme, but…
An ad referring to the 2025 movie “The Carpenter’s Son” as the “first faith-based horror film.”
November 27, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
rorycarroll.bsky.social
Holy smokes. Just realized tomorrow, Alloy will publish its hundredth post. We made the site to see if we could make a site that doesn't make you feel bad and exhausted. We're proud of it, you should look at it if you haven't yet. alloymag.com
Front Page - Alloy
A site about car culture.
alloymag.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
floppyadult.com
Closest thing you'll see from me maybe ever to a personal essay about a video game vgbees.com/im-great-at-...
I'm Great At Baby Steps Because I Walk Like That In Real Life - VGBees
CW: medical talk, surgical talk, bones, car accident In late May, an uninsured Lexus driver ran a yellow light and pulled in front of me...
vgbees.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
lukeplunkett.com
just asking a question
The studio's new owners--who have only been named as "private equity investors"--clearly have no interest in Splash Damage's history or experience, and have instead wasted absolutely no time doing what they do best: buying storied old companies and gutting them to the bone, before throwing those bones into the trash and moving onto the next victim. I'm sure some asshole in an expensive suit would argue that as of November 2025 Splash Damage's recent track record and the current volatility affecting the video game market make them a prime target for layoffs and maybe even closure. I would argue that anyone looking at a spreadsheet featuring the last three month's financials, and not the wider picture that this is a studio full of experienced developers who know how to make good video games, should be thrown into the deepest part of the ocean.
November 26, 2025 at 10:53 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
Since it's the evening before a holiday, is this our version of a Friday news dump
November 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
OH OKAY
gerritd.bsky.social Gerrit De Vynck @gerritd.bsky.social · 3d
Additionally, OpenAI argues its not liable because Raine, by using ChatGPT for self-harm, broke its terms of service
November 25, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
gerritd.bsky.social
OpenAI today said that though Raine’s death is tragic, they’re not liable because he said he had suicidal ideation for years before using ChatGPT, and he also sought info on suicide from other online resources
November 25, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
51st.news
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced today that she won’t be seeking a fourth term in office next year.

This creates a huge opening for the 2026 D.C. mayoral race.

But first, what legacy will Mayor Bowser leave? @maustermuhle.bsky.social reflects here:
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser won't run for a fourth term
Her decision creates a huge opening for the mayoral contest in 2026.
51st.news
November 25, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Riley MacLeod
aftermath.site
We now have a full text RSS feed for members, if you're into that kinda thing:

aftermath.site/aftermath-rss-...
November 24, 2025 at 11:48 PM
rcmacleod.bsky.social
For Aftermath, @alyssamerc.bsky.social spoke with the Sucker Punch dev fired over Charlie Kirk comments and others, who highlighted the unique way the backlash played out in games
“If we as an industry got better about realizing when harassment is happening and standing up as a block, maybe this wouldn’t stop harassment, but there would be much more hesitation to do it,” the anonymous Sucker Punch employee said. “I know within our studio there’s this mentality of ‘don’t feed the trolls, there’s going to be harassment, there’s going to be people on the fringes trying to nibble at you…just ignore them,” they continued. “But that comes from an era of the internet where everyone was on forums in these siloed communities that were moderated, and you would have a lone actor enter a community and try to agitate people, and everyone would starve them of attention, or the moderators would put them in their little bubble. But that’s not how the internet works anymore, it’s people with global reach, an agitator that has millions of followers, and they use coded language and dog whistles and speak in a way that lets them shirk accountability and responsibility.”
November 24, 2025 at 6:43 PM