She's really good!

Die Spitz is one of those groups I feel like I should like more that I do. I think it's because they're fairly straight-ahead rock music with a small edge of punk, but not really noisy enough for my personal tastes.

But they might fit yours! Very tight all-woman band getting lots of buzz now.

Ecca Vandal was also fantastic. Woman-fronted punk hip-hop from South Africa/Australia.

Currently watching Model/Actriz, a queer post-punk band from Brooklyn, tearing things up.

No one told me it was week 1 of Coachella! I've caught up as much as I can from Friday and Saturday.

I've realized that if I just watch the Sonora stage, I get most of what I'm looking for.

raphael vs michelangelo was actually the first long form content creator vs streamer war

Oh, so true! They think it’s a mark of shame to get hints.

I was a softie, so after 5 mins of them getting nowhere and just wandering listlessly around the room, I’d push a hint to them anyway. Even if they said they didn’t want hints, they got excited anyway.

(Took me 3 tries to get this repost right, but I do it for you, my beloved friends)

bsky.app/profile/midn...

WOWWWW, how could the smartest lesbian at CPAC have been fooled so easily?

My ferrets Mojo and Freddie lying on a sweater, looking up at us.

Your regularly scheduled dose of Mojo and Freddie

A Baltimore-based thread to explain one singular, overriding reason why American journalism is incapable of compassing and explaining the astonishing misrule and the implosion of all our governing norms. To wit:

A few decades ago, as a police reporter covering the Baltimore department, a new...

Golf balls too! They're not supposed to bend like that.

It's only been in the last 100 years or so that home runs have been a thing that certain people can do consistently.

Even though it should be impossible.

To the point that for the first few centuries of the sport's existence, it was a contest of fielder vs. runner, not pitcher vs. batter. The cylindrical bat was meant to be a randomizer, because for a long time, people felt that there was no real skill to it.

I'll always be amazed at how good baseball players are at accomplishing an impossible task: hitting a spherical ball with a cylindrical bat.

YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT.

I'm afraid I have some bad news about Substack

"Targug" sounds like a revolutionary new data compression algorithm

Oh haha, this was supposed to say "designing a board game about 19th-century ROAD SURFACING". Way to ruin a good joke, Gil!

Anyway, I’m fascinated by this period of recreation when no game was owned by one person yet, and individual people/communities all put their own spin on it. /🧵

And I think it’s super-interesting that the custom of varying house rules lives on in Monopoly, even if those house rules arguably make the game significantly worse.

(Which doesn’t absolve Charles Darrow of profiting off Lizzie Magie’s creation, of course! But I think the context is interesting)

But my understanding is that, for example, there were many variants of The Landlord’s Game, one of which got turned into the commercially-released version of Monopoly.

I recall reading somewhere that for a long time, board games were similar. Everyone had their own variant of how to play each game. I wish I could cite that source.

So if you were to travel around the country, assuming you had a hardy-enough horse, you’d see generally the same sport, but with different names and different rules. Baseball, townball, rounders… all local variations of an abstract parent sport.

Long 🧵 reply!

I know in the world of sports, before trains came around, sports were something that varied from town to town. Two neighboring towns could play a game called “base-ball”, but with significant rule differences.

A panicked scream rings out..

"Is anybody here a doctor?"

You tentatively raise your hand.

"I'm a Necromancer, if you're willing to wait a few minutes."

Today, I have a long post on our blog about expansions in the context of games and innovation. buriedgiant.com/blog/Arcs-be...

Or, if you want the short version, read on here! 🧵

“Triumph” seems to have been the most popular alternative so far.

Given a modern context, a true “trump” suit should make you think you’re winning the hand, even though it’s obvious to everyone else that you’re losing.

In conclusion, designing a board game about 19th-century board games will make you a guaranteed HIT at parties