Mike Martens | Clear Keep

Alternative girl looking over her shoulder at the viewer with disgust. She is reading a zine. She wears a leather jacket with a broken chain patch on the sleeve, and the words WORMS on the back with a large earthworm patch. She has bleached hair with black roots and an eyebrow ring and a nose piercing. The text above her reads, “Ew, you don’t read zines??” The zine has the writing: “Why farts are the call of the worker” with a farting cartoon butt.

SERIOUSLY?

I have been told by many physicists that a game which powers itself is an impossibility.

“Christ, fella. Read a law of thermodynamics or two,” they chortle through their towering ivory teeth as they high-five each other.

Well, we stand here today with new evidence that Science is fools.

SeCrEt KnOwLeDgE

peer inside the MIND of a DESIGNER who didn't want to say WHAT THEIR GAME MEANNNNT

Cut that into a commercial:

“Trump doesn’t care if the people closest to him fall. Why do you think he cares if you do?”

Tourist Hole: Procedures at Play YouTube video by Plus One Exp

Tourist Hole curious?

@plusoneexp.bsky.social had me hop on stream to walk through the mechanics, their intent, and probably as much as you’ll ever hear from me on what the game is actually about.

If you haven’t run and backed this, I can only imagine you haven’t seen it yet. So, now that you have, go!

TonyPlusOne - Twitch Tourist Hole: Procedures at Play

Something is happening in the Tourist Hole.

www.twitch.tv/tonyplusone

“Must they?” is the question.

But also: Is crowdfunding a marketing tactic or a funding model?

Projects not meeting their goals (transparent, truthful, or not) is an expected outcome of the funding model. It seems it’s working as intended if a project proves low marketability and is canceled.

What % of the target are the platforms recommending the public facing goal be set at?

What is their sense of how much extra revenue the tactic will produce?

Is there data that shows setting a goal below your go-forward target has this outsized of an effect?

The two big examples in the past month were pulling 350-1000% of their stated goal, but not hitting their actual target. What % effect are these companies expecting?

Seriously, if you grew up with big extended family get togethers (or still celebrate that way) this is a thing that will carve a tunnel straight into your left ventricle.

Christmas Eve In Miller's Point 2025 Subscribers: This is NOT included in your Subscription. If you'd like to purchase it, you will need to login to view your special 50% off SRP pricing. This special limited edition slipcover (desi

Christmas Eve in Miller's Point is absolutely fantastic.

Part of a subgenre of holiday movies that capture the anxieties, realities, and disillusionment of the season in a way that feels real fucking real and still infinitely warm.

vinegarsyndrome.com/products/chr...

Plus Hole EXP.

TONIGHT! BRAVE ENOUGH? YOUR FRIENDS WON'T BELIEVE YOU.

Hear about emergent narrative, deep theme, and whether this game of bar dice and disposable life journeys is an expressionist game or not!

It's going to be interspectacular!

A shocking story, ripped from the headlines … This week on Law & Order: Sandwich Victims Unit.

Yesssssss

Newsweek headline: “Americans Share the One Common Reason Why They’re Not Voting for Mamdani”

They don’t live in NYC.

Saved you a click.

Legend.

And don’t all the big platforms recommend this?

I have had small creators recommend this kind of goal setting as well … It’s been rampant for a long time and it’s an open secret.

I’d also be curious how many campaigns safely hitting 6 figures would actually fund from their low 5 figure goals.

Yup! It’s gonna be the low side, but it’s definitely the “am I doing this?” line for me.

I'm just quoting the rules. Sorry if it sounded aggro.

Go Home and take a Nap, Old Man. You have already exceeded your Takes for this Day.

two frames: - first frame: lady yells "Why can't you be normal?" - second frame: Game 7 of the World Series with the caption "[screaming]"

a man with a tattoo on his neck is wearing a suit Alt: George Clooney in From Dusk Til Dawn blinks his eyes and shakes his head

From Dusk Til Dawn was the culprit.

Try to show up on time next time, George.

A Dark Song, Drag Me to Hell, Re-Animator, Near Dark, Raw, In Fabric, Deadstream, I Saw the TV Glow, I Saw the Devil, Noroi: The Curse, House of 1000 Corpses, Sissy, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Piece, Visitors

Dangerous Animals, The Vourdolak, Prey, Dave Made a Maze, The Exorcist III, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bring Her Back, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Trouble Every Day, Late Night with the Devil, Jason X, Cuckoo, The Viewing

The 2025 #hauntalong class.

Somebody stayed home sick on picture day, though … 🤔

Inevitably the same person who when they run it and players are startled by the content will say, "Yeah, gee, the book really should have given a heads up or something."

The cover of The Beasts and Blessings of the Hallow'd Hall, styled to look like a weathered, cloth-bound book with gold embossing. The central image is of a house, drawn to mimic a naive woodcut.

The title page of The Beasts and Blessings of the Hallow'd Hall, typeset to resemble the style of early print press publications.

Blown away by The Beasts and Blessings of the Hallow'd Hall by @notquitereal.bsky.social and @badbucket.bsky.social. A perfect mix of the sinister and fantastic, rendered in accessible but authentic archaism, with typesetting and design to match. Peerlessly put together - something to aspire to!

Aaron's voyage "Our Dreams Will Be On the Waves" really hits the essence of Sunken.

It's free to pick up in the masssssssive new issue of Sprigs & Kindling, entirely focused on Trophy incursions, hacks and more.

POSTER: In my post I invented the Don’t Misunderstand the Torment Nexus Metaphor as a cautionary tale

CTO: At long last, I have misunderstood the Torment Nexus Metaphor from the classic post Don't Misunderstand The Torment Nexus Metaphor

I have not, but know of it! Funny enough, Potrykus’ short film The Thing from the Factory by the Field was what I’d been planning to talk about.

Night 31. A Dark Song … Rituals like this are never simple.

bsky.app/profile/clea...