Weekly Update – April 21, 2026
With the weather turning nice, my wife and I are making a point to get out of the house and do things together. On the one hand, getting out of the house and having a life and doing fun stuff with my partner is a very good thing. It does, however, cut into my writing…
Today's gAI slop cover, with its garish, oversaturated colors and homes with front steps that go directly into a pond.
The other bit is from a different book's front matter. Is the author telling readers they can't have negative opinions toward his book? Yeah, I'm sure that'll work.
It's the exact same vibe as the book club scam, isn't it? Right down to the fakey "I read your book, here's a broad synopsis to prove it" pitch.
I appreciate the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh mention. Years ago I was in a play based on that, and we were convinced no one would show up to watch it because no one knew who or what that was. We were kind of right.
It looks like the AI scammers are pivoting away from the online book club angle and toward "marketing and promotional services." I've gotten two emails in as many days from alleged book marketing experts pitching me on their services, and both times, the books they mentioned weren't mine.
And pity anyone who works retail and customer service, who deal with all this, plus the gross habit of people licking their thumbs before handling money. That's a practice that needs to go extinct.
We need a matriarchy run by lesbians with clipboards and earpieces who do not take any shit.
They're the only thing holding his deadly optic blasts in check.
If a cashier asks if you're paying cash, check, or card and you declare, "Cash is king!" know this: the cashier's laugh is completely fake and they hate you.
I could watch this for hours.
Pinging @thetavernknight.bsky.social because it's relevant to your interests.
When I was working for my hometown paper, I stumbled across a photo of a local cinema that was holding the annual town meeting in one theater and screening Caligula in the other, and I have to wonder how many people walked into the wrong theater.
Infowars/Onion combo logo in rainbow saying “I support the onion’s hostile media takeover.”
It’s finally happened. After 18 months. Finally, a media merger you can root for.
Hey artists, if you see this, post a dog.🐕
#art #watercolor #dogsofbluesky
Eat shit, @forbes.com you fucking ghouls.
Green Arrow saying "They're another generative A.I. company. Scraping personal data, stealing art and stories and knowledge. Polluting and poisoning. Using masses of energy and water. Taking what the world actually needs to produce nothing anyone wants."
Happy to see @tomtaylormade.bsky.social not holding back (though when has he ever?) in Detective Comics this month. The company in question is called 'Klep Corp'. Chef's kiss. Drag them, Tom. 🦇
photo of a hand holding a small sticker sheet that is all black except for cat shapes with eyes
void sticker sheet
get it here: mcapriglione.art
Today's gAI slop cover. The central figure appears to have two right hands, the background dude is somehow also partially in the foreground, and my god, what shitty composition.
Those pushing AI written work fundamentally misunderstand the value and point of writing.
Writing can’t “optimize” for word patterns or “token frequency”—writing is about experimentation, externalizing inward experience, and making connections, writer-to-reader.
Thinking your first draft is going to be awesome right out of the gate is self-defeating, because it won't be. It might be pretty good, but it's not going to be great. That comes later.
Any writer who says their first draft is suitable for publication as-is is lying.
Youtube comment: @ScotClose • 3 hours ago I'm disappointed that you blocked me on Bluesky for trying to bring some real skepticism to this topic after you strongly implied that Platner is a Nazi and ridiculed people for asking for evidence. If you're only a skeptic about topics you disagree with, are you really a skeptic? Reply 0 replies ^ Graham Platner is an Embarrassing Liar WE @RebeccaWatson • O seconds ago I'm not shocked that a man who openly defends an obvious liar with a Nazi tattoo is also apoplectic that the woman he was yelling at opted out of a conversation with him. This is psychotic behavior and you should see a therapist.
PSA: never in the history of humanity has a woman cut a man out of her life for being insane and then changed her opinion of him after he found other methods to contact her.
I seriously can't fathom why anyone would want to celebrate the US, this year especially. We're making our failures actively worse while patting ourselves on the back for being awesome.
From “The Simpsons” house genius John Swartzwelder, interviewed in The New Yorker by Mike Sacks
Aside from incentivizing bad behavior for "entertainment," I've long hated reality TV for how it devalues actors and writers. No talent, no script, just prize money dangling from a hook and concocted scenarios designed to make the on-screen personalities eat each other.
It sucks that if a fellow author reaches out to you, you have to suspect it’s an AI impersonation scam. But that’s where we are these days. Another reason to hate AI ( and scammers)
Every AI commercial gaslights you into thinking you're an idiot. Before you had access to AI you were too stupid to find your girlfriend's makeup, or boil an egg, or pick a shirt. Every commercial starts from the premise of "Hey, so you know how you're the dumbest fucking fuck to ever do it?"
The absolute last fuckin thing we need to devote attention to right now is building robots who are good at absolutely nothing that helps us
Here are some bigger games that have used or are using generative AI in production:
ARC RAIDERS
THE FINALS
CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33
CRIMSON DESERT
THE ALTERS
Feel free to add more if you are aware of them.
More of this.
A really gross nzi mobile covered in advertising for a company called USA Insulation parked in a parking garage in downtown Pittsburgh. What an absolute loser.
Businesses really are getting better at letting you know ahead of time to never ever use their services.
When you use AI to do your writing, you are telling your audience: “I deserve your attention, but you do not deserve my effort.”