Adrian Hon

Just finished The Rose Field… whoof…

Thinking about commissioning a logo/illustration for the Jubensha Convention I’m organising next year – something simple but bright and fun. Any recs for artists?

@bryancurtis.bsky.social A nomination for phrases only in podcasting: "profound" or "profoundly". I feel like no Ezra Klein pod can go without him breathily saying it as a fancy way of saying "very".

Space combat is definitely in Ultima I but not in the rest, apparently

Nope! I scanned a bit of Dungeon and Dreamers

Akalabeth has the first person dungeon crawling, but not the space combat, I believe!

Doing a spot of research on the Ultima series – who knew the idea the first instalments had first-person perspective dungeon crawling and space combat?!?!

Oh god you’re totally right

I don’t! That sounds incredible. Fine dining not a great choice for these things outside of massive theme parks. That said, immersive Gatsby and Lost Estate seem popular in London, there’s probably some gilded age/prohibitiin nonsense that might work.

This is from a piece based on an interview done yesterday with Gunn and Safran, who are setting out their stall publicly for what a Netflix-owned DC could do. Walk-through blocks of Gotham and Metropolis certainly seem in sync with Netflix Houses.

Interesting immersive/theme park tidbit about DC brainstorming “the possibility of building life-size blocks of Superman’s Metropolis and Batman’s Gotham for fans to walk through, with marquee venues from the comic book world such as Gotham’s Iceberg Lounge”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

That is a fantastic domain!

I wouldn’t have thought Pluribus would provide an insight into the appeal and risks of larp but here we are!

I love going to the cinema but I just don't think theatrical realises are a *necessary* marketing channel any more. It's a little shocking how well Netflix is able to push things like KPop and Adolescence and Stranger Things on the back of essentially zero marketing.

As for Stranger Things, it's essentially available to viewers for "free" (they buy vouchers for food and drink) and IMO is only happening as a PR sop.

North American cinema admissions have been declining steadily since 2002 even without Netflix's help. I don't think you can conclude that they're leaving money on the table by not premiering films like KPop in cinemas, either – there are lots of costs and distractions involved in that.

FWIW I don't think Netflix will budge from its stance on cinemas given that it's profited massively from skipping theatrical premieres. I wouldn't be surprised if they built some screens into their theme park-esque Netflix Houses for highly social/participatory experiences, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Stripped of its monopoly on longform visual illusion, traditional cinema is diverging into two streams. The first is a hushed high culture affair, the realm of festivals, director Q&As, repertory showings, and Criterion Closets. The second is a way for streaming companies and pop stars to deliver unique fan experiences. Netflix, the dominant streamer with a market capitalisation larger than the combined value of the film and TV assets of every major North American legacy media company, sees essentially zero benefit in exhibiting its titles in theatres. The one exception is when cinemas can provide a participatory, social, and indeed, immersive experience that home viewing cannot, such as its thousand-plus sold-out screenings of the 2025 KPop Demon Hunters. Though the movie had already been available on the streamer for two months, this was the first major opportunity fans had to dress up, meet each other, and sing along together, an experience that would undoubtedly drive merchandise sales and anticipation for followups. Similarly, Taylor Swift’s use of cinemas to screen a movie version of her Eras Tour in 2023 and as a release party for a new album in 2025 offered little new in exclusive content but a great deal in terms of a chance for fans to celebrate and sing along in person. The social, embodied experience of cinemas is more important to the pop star and streamer than its capacity for visual illusion, which can be easily had at home.

Hmm, I might need to update this part of my book about the history/future of immersive experiences given today's news about Netflix...

(this is a draft!!!)

I need a deep dive on Morris Book!

YouTube video by BBC Archive 1970: The Office Christmas Party | Man Alive | Classic BBC Documentary | BBC Archive

Delighted by this documentary!

Obvs people are being diplomatic in their interviews, but it's really telling how relatively open people are talking to cameras when they know they can't be clipped and replayed forever.

Also bring back "one thinks xyz" (instead of "I/we/you think xyz")!!

My guess is that the form is either some vibe-coded nonsense or a scam to get people to buy something else?

Just had a weird thing happen - I was selling my AirPods Pro 2 on FB Marketplace and a guy put the model number and serial number into some find of form that said it was “100% fake” (um, it’s not). The form was, of course, not on Apple’s website.

Your Outie is intrigued by this game

I did not - neat! Yes, the headsets are pretty old

reads like a 7

Always good to hear thoughts from an expert in related fields (ARGs, puzzles) on jubensha!

I hadn’t seen this! Some nice accounts in there. Nothing about the closure, on first glance. But a great spot!

OBR calls in cyber expert over botched release of Budget analysis Rachel Reeves's statement was thrown into chaos after journalists were able to access the document early.

This is such a schoolboy ARG design error. Don’t pre-upload files with easily guessable URLs!!

Thanks!

Yep! Very handy in terms of what happened after the closure as others set up larps inspired by it, but it has at least one inaccuracy in terms of membership cost, so I'm a little wary...