Allan Berry

Marge voice: Nintendo Tape Pizza Party
Lenny voice: Mr Do!

It took me months, about 495 rides, recovering from a shattered right foot and hacking a folding scooter, but I finally own a Nintendo Switch 2 using points obtained from Citi Bike. Afterwards, it left me questioning the very nature of work. For @aftermath.site.

aftermath.site/switch-2-cit...

Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step.

1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish.

2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.

This is an excellent analogy, because my recollection from grade school is that the pen on the right looks fun and exciting, and then you play with it for a few minutes and realize it's not actually useful for anything and in fact makes some tasks more cumbersome, and never think about it again.

Despite everything,

a really good Getty image of Rita Moreno and Sam The Eagle in 1979 at Muppets Go Hollywood

Does anyone wanna see a really good Getty image of Rita Moreno and Sam The Eagle having dinner in 1979?

"Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?

Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.

Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution."

C.P. Cavafy

Bong Joon Ho took a characteristically radical approach when questioned on his thoughts around the rise of Al technology at the jury press conference of the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday. The Korean director, who is president of the jury, gave two responses, one measured, the other deeply personal. "My official answer is, Al is good because it's the very beginning of the human race finally seriously thinking about what only humans can do. But my personal answer is, I'm going to organize a military squad, and their mission is to destroy AI," he said.

Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...

31 Minutos: Tiny Desk Concert YouTube video by NPR Music

If you're a fan of irreverent Latin American Children's TV programmes, vaguely Muppet like performers and some cracking music (and I'm just going to assume that everyone is), then I implore you to watch this: youtu.be/UEqTIwRrWvA?...

so much is bad right now but the AI stuff in particular is making me insane. a desperate attempt to smother all human creative labor at an absurd cost to the planet by some of the most short-sighted, rapacious, and pathetic people who have ever lived

Watching this video 10 times has significantly improved my mood.

Also, Belgium appears to be missing?

Tom Lehrer meant a lot to me, and there is a period of my life which is inextricably linked in my memory to his music. Listening to my dad's CDs of him and Bob Newhart shaped my tastes in comedy more than anything before or since. There is not a day that goes by where I don't quote him in some way.

River City Ransom

hey! I am Caesar

and you betrayed me

so here’s my last words

they’re “Et tu, Brute”

José ‘Pepe’ Mujica, former guerrilla and ex-president of Uruguay, dies aged 89 In a final interview, Mujica said: ‘We are too focused on wealth and not on happiness … Before you know it, life has passed you by’

Pepe Mujica, the anarchist guerilla who became president of Uruguay, has passed on. He leaves behind as good a legacy as it's possible to leave.

So it goes.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

There is a gap in the market for a wrestling/poetry mixed event called 'Saturday Night Slam Masters'.

More journalists need to talk about this the way Japanese articles do

Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope: "Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is — we're here on Earth to fart around And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."

Kurt Vonnegut man

Why is "Studio Ghibli" or "Wes Anderson" like the only descriptors people lacking any creativity seem to be able to reference

Revengence remains my favorite and possibly the most prescient Metal Gear game because it eschewed subtlety which is an essential part of understanding America.

A transcript of an interview with Orson Welles regarding his role in the Transformers movie.

I only wish this interview was recorded, just to hear Orson Wells say "I play a planet that is a robot who eats a planet of robots."

Did you ever see this official Studio Ghibli DVD player that came bundled with the Japanese DVD of Spirited Away? Neither did I.

Bolaño is so good, man. NLitA is one of my absolute favourites, and I loved Savage Detectives, though 2666 sits on the shelf taunting me, waiting for when I'm in the right mental space to start.

The problem with social media for me is the social part - too much of a grump. At the same time, with things being what they are, maybe I should give it another go? I've also got some stuff coming up that I might want to talk about when/if it comes to pass. Let's see if I can stick at it.

This is an excellent and well-written piece about the weird, sad and fascinating world of influencers, 'vibes'-based social media aesthetics, and exploitative labour on behalf of big corporations. Really interesting stuff.

the first noble truth is comprehension of suffering. not repression or denial. it's okay to be big mcfuckin mad.

I am sad that I never got to visit, but I appreciate it can be tough going. Hope what ever you do next is good, and in the meantime, I'll enjoy your streams when I can catch them

Invite to Smash Bros

He keeps a bit of that but gets strong himbo energy as well. Gets better, but there's a fun season 6 arc that explores exactly how toxic his relationship to Padme would have been