The list of conference areas is here:

www.northeastpca.org/conference-a...

Abstracts should be submitted directly to the area chair for your subject area.

The call for papers for the Northeast Popular Culture Association's annual (online!) conference is now open:

www.northeastpca.org/call-for-pap...

Deadline July 31; virtual conference Oct. 15-17. Though the organization is based in the northeastern US, the conference is global!

#cfp #popculture

In today's "every accusation is a confession", Viktor Orbán was the real "George Soros"

Deeply saddened by this morning's announcement of the closure of @hampshirecollege.bsky.social . That wonderful, weird place was the only school I wanted to go to, and I am still regularly amazed to find myself on the path that it allowed me to start on. There's no other place like it.

Coming up at 1:15: Tolkien Studies roundtable on the narrative influence of Lord of the Rings!

Coming up in a couple hours at #pca2026!

David Lynch, an older man with disheveled gray hair, pictured from shoulders up against a red background. At bottom is the text: "Elaborate on that." "No."

Flash insight at #pca2026: Lost Highway is a werewolf movie

A promotional image for "Dimension 20: Escape from the Bloodkeep," showing artists' interpretations of the 6 player characters. "Ify Nwadiwe as Markus": a masked, armored pirate with a glowing blue sword. "Rkeha Shankar as Maggie": a purple-skinned, red-eyed tiefling barbarian wielding an enormous hammer. "Mike Trapp as Sokhbarr": A green and yellow lizard-human hybrid holding a large yellow mace. "Matthew Mercer as Kraz-Thun": A ghostly figure in black metal armor holding a large blue sword. "Amy Vorpahl as Efink": A wet elf standing in a puddle, a ball of red fire in an upraised hand and a staff with a glowing red stone pointed down toward the ground in the other. "Erika Ishii as Lilith": The torso of a pale-skinned woman with the body of an enormous spider.

... called "What if... Frodo Were from Jersey City?", on the downstream cultural influence of the Lord of the Rings. The impetus for the panel is the Tolkienesque plot of "Marvel Zombies," but I'll be mainly relating that to LOTR's influence on tabletop RPGs, & Dimension 20 in particular. #pca2026

The opening slide of a presentation entitled "The Secret Origin of Doctor Strange: T. Lobsang Rampa, Tibetomania, and Marvel's Silver Age." Below the title are two images: At left is an early drawing of Dr. Strange, who glowers with his arms crossed across his chest, wearing a blue cloak with an enormous collar, a square golden amulet at his neck, and orange gloves. At right is a black-and-white photograph of T. Lobsang Rampa, a bald, bearded Englishman wearing a Buddhist's monk's robe and prayer beads around his wrist. The presenter details at bottom left read "Gabriel Mckee (they/he), New York University. PCA Conference, Atlanta, GA, April 9, 2026."

While the world crumbles, I'll be in Atlanta for the Pop Culture Association conference, where on Thursday I'll be presenting a paper entitled "The Secret Origin of Doctor Strange: T. Lobsang Rampa, Tibetomania, and Marvel's Silver Age." Then on Friday I'll be on a Tolkien studies roundtable...

To clarify: I can't pretend I really *understood* it, but bits and pieces of the fable-style dialogues took up long-term residence in my brain.

I got this out of the library in 6th grade because I thought Escher's art was neat and his name was in the title. It warped me in some great ways

if you watch and support the new harry potter show you are funding trans genocide globally by the way

Terence Hines, reviewing THE SAUCERIAN in the @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social :

"As Gabriel McKee clarifies in this excellent biography of Barker, whether he was a believer in the reality (_which_ reality?) of UFOs or not is not an easy question to answer."

skepticalinquirer.org/2026/02/gray...

It Came From West Virginia: How a mythology was made, one hoax at a time Evergreen Review

Fantastic review-essay of THE SAUCERIAN in the @evergreenreview.bsky.social :
"So was Barker a trickster? A folklorist of the space age? Had Barker, in the Men in Black, created what Mckee calls “a metanarrative monster . . . from which he could not escape”?"

evergreenreview.com/read/it-came...

Flyer image with text: "Release party for BEHOLD THE BEHEMOUTH: The Collected Poems of Gray Barker. Sunday March 29th @ 7pm. With editor Gabriel Mckee, publisher Ben Roylance, and cover designer Sarah Bachman. Discussion, readings from the book, more." At center is the book cover: a green-tinted image of a young Gray Barker. In the photograph, Barker has a sweep of hair on his forehead and a fur blanket or vest clutched near his neck. He appears to be entering through a doorway and he stares directly into the camera with a piercing gaze. The image is overlayed with a simple line drawing of a UFO, an abstract horned circle, and the title and subtitle of the book.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
Release party for "Behold the Behemouth: The Collected Poems of Gray Barker" at @apportusedbooks.bsky.social in Emmaus (Allentown) PA!
Sunday March 29, 7PM

CfP: ANALOGUE GAMES AND THE ANCIENT & PRE-MODERN PAST - INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDY, DURHAM UNIVERSITY, FRIDAY 1 MAY 2026 Organisers: Dr. Helen Roche (Durham University, UK) and Dr. Hamish Cameron (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ) Recently, analogue games have been gaining increasing attention within the context of Game Studies, Ludonarratology, Historical Game Studies and Classical Game Studies. This interdisciplinary workshop will focus on modern analogue games which engage with ancient and pre-modern pasts, with an eye to producing an edited volume which will complement existing work already in progress. The organisers are currently seeking abstracts, and welcome suggestions for 20-minute papers which engage with: • a broad range of historical periods (including games with historical elements which are not purely historical, e.g. historically-inspired fantasy and science fiction; mythical games); archaeogaming; • any analogue game genres - including, but not limited to, board games and card games, Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs), live action games, tabletop wargames, miniature wargaming, and megagames; • analogue games which range beyond the popular (e.g. analyses of indie games as well as well-known classics); • analogue games as vectors for historical pedagogy, engagement and outreach; serious games; creative ludic research methods; • intersectional and postcolonial perspectives are especially welcome. Our primary goal is for the workshop to take place in person (though please note that we cannot guarantee funding to cover speakers' expenses, and any funding we can find will be used to facilitate attendance by ECRs and precarious speakers). However, given sufficient interest, we would consider organising a separate online workshop at a later date to accommodate those who are unable to travel to Durham in person. Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to gaming.history.ias@gmail.com by 31 MARCH 2026.

Hey folks, CfP coming up for a Workshop on Analogue Games and the Ancient and Pre-Modern Past at Durham University hosted by cool HGS folk @drhelenroche.bsky.social and @peregrinekiwi.bsky.social. Looks great; wish I could be there!
submission email in the CfP

This is called kidnapping and it’s a crime. Abolish ICE

I just finished reading The Saucerian by @secret-terror.bsky.social a biography of Gray Barker and it was wonderful. Honestly, I've never been jealous I didn't write a book before. It explores the idea of Barker as a storyteller and UFOs as folklore so well and put into words the feeling I've had...

The book cover of "Behold the Behemouth: The Collected Poems of Gray Barker." The main image is a full-cover, green-tinted photograph showing a young Gray Barker, peering out of a doorway. He gazes intensely directly into the camera, with a flop of hair falling over his forehead. His hand is bent upward to hold a fur vest or collar around his neck. Over the photograph are two line illustrations: one a circle with antennae-like protrusions coming out of it, the other a stack of concentric circles resembling a flying saucer. Over the image is the text: "Behold the Behemouth: The Collected Poems of Gray Barker."

Now available from @apportusedbooks.bsky.social - BEHOLD THE BEHEMOUTH: THE COLLECTED POEMS OF GRAY BARKER.
The complete surviving poetry of this bizarre literary outsider, most of it never before published.
Join me and the book team for the official book launch on March 29 at Apport in Emmaus PA!

Merch from Geometric Lullaby Merch from Geometric Lullaby

Geometric Lullaby - Five bucks gets you a zillion hours of vaporwave - geometriclullaby.bandcamp.com

Ambient Songs for Open Office Plans, by GHOSTBEEF 5 track album

Ghostbeef, an ambient project that I would listen to even if the song titles weren't some of the best humor you'll read this year - ghost-beef.bandcamp.com

A Mallacht, by Feminazgul 2 track album

Feminazgul = trans anarchist black metal - feminazgul.bandcamp.com

It's Bandcamp Friday, go buy somebody's complete discography. Here's a few to get you started

US military carries out 1st land operation against cartels in Ecuador: SOUTHCOM The United States and Ecuador conducted joint military operations against "designated terrorist organizations in Ecuador," U.S. Southern Command announced Tuesday.

We said No War and the US government said "best we can do is every war all at the very same time oops we're almost out of bombs but that's probably fine when doing every war, all at the very same time idk we're drunk"

The dice in 1 are a bit too bespoke-looking, and the minis in 3 & 4 are a bit distracting. 2 is a great blend of dice + map-- I say go with that one!

This landing page is a gift that keeps on giving

The globe
The ellipsis
The detached pie slices
The "Explore" moon

Anyone up to volunteer for some live translation?

there really is something immensely clarifying about realizing that "death cult" is not an ironic or jokey term

If you're going to quote John Yoo you need to use his full legal name, John Torture Memo Yoo