maddi [jock era]

We don’t use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a *lot* of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA.

Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.

'measles outbreak at the child prison' seems entirely avoidable, it's really the kind of thing that only happens if you do several unthinkably evil things on purpose all at once

The fascist right is not being hypocritical on gun rights, this is the playbook. Everything is what they say it is the moment they say it. Fascism demands subservience to itself alone. They demand you accept they are the sole engine of truth making.

I really despise how much my tv tries to sell me gambling

my final review is that it was 4,000 plot twists in a clown car and a badly executed mystery. also most books don’t need to be 80 chapters

I am on a personal mission to get everyone in my life to read Ancillary Justice and Piranesi. Two of my favorites!!

two weeks ago I tried 170 on a whim and it did not go up clean (without a spot) but I wasn’t too far off?? so I think I can get there in the next calendar year

it’s the best day of the week, which is bench press day

my mom was so excited

3. The Goblin Emperor (and the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy), Katherine Addison - a combination of political drama and mystery that I could read probably 30 volumes of before I ever got bored, with some of the most detailed and interesting worldbuilding I’ve read in a while

2. The Devils, Joe Abercrombie - funny and heartbreaking in equal measure, with some really fun twists on classic monsters/mythical creatures

anyway here are three fantasy books I’ve read and really really loved this year:
1. The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie - few novels have made me think so meaningfully about existence and god, I think about this book and its narrator all the time

Yes! The other thing I’ve noticed about the two I have not liked is that they also really hold my hand as a reader, which is not just insulting but actively detrimental to my immersion in the story

I am reading another widely praised 2025 fantasy novel that I find quite mediocre. consequently I’m thinking a lot about why it’s not working for me and have concluded that some authors just write in a style where it’s extremely obvious they know about cell phones and the internet

10,000 Maniacs cover band called 9,999 Plus One Maniacs, is this anything

successfully executed a simultaneous tubular cast on and two-at-a-time setup for the pair of socks I’m knitting, which will mean nothing to most people, including the recipient of these socks, but I’m feeling very 💅 about it

my favorite gaming moment this year was teaching my mom how to play rocket league and her getting so into it that she accidentally managed to kick over a full can of seltzer which then rolled under the couch

Photo of Maddi’s hand holding up a small, squat handmade ceramic cup containing a cortado with a double heart design in the milk. The cup is glazed in a translucent mousy gray and has decorative ridges trimmed into the side.

a little cup. for my little drinks.

“AI is clearly sticking around so you have to get used to it” wrong. I don’t have to get used to shit. I am a practiced hater and I can keep this going for decades if I am required to

A "Decade" of Sidequest by Sidequest A Collection of Games Lit, Crit, and Wit from Launch to Present

DID YOU KNOW that Sidequest has a zine compiling some of our favorite pieces from the first decade (ish) of our existence? For just $5, you can get a beautifully designed example of some of the pieces we think best showcase our whole "thing."

Check it out: sidequestzone.itch.io/decade

videod my top set of deadlifts today which was a set of 10 and you can see the both the moment I lose count and the moment my soul leaves my body on the 11th rep

I had a dream they invented a new kind of root beer barrel candy

every AFC North team’s #1 enemy is themselves and every AFC North team’s #2 enemy is all other teams in the AFC North which makes it extremely entertaining despite the overall air of dysfunction

stoically drinking americanos because the milk I achieve with my espresso machine dishonors the cow that produced it

squatted 225 beltless and without pain. huge dub

the super soldier tank was a metaphor, they actually just had Steve Rogers drinking two gallons of water per day and hand-digging swimming pools in Key West for two months

to get to this description you also have to suspend any disbelief you may feel about a 38-year-old man putting on 40lbs of “pure, hard muscle” in two months

shelled or unshelled????? neither appeals!!