The Newsletter

Feb
11
February 11: A weird ghostly light on the whole composition

February 11: A weird ghostly light on the whole composition

Meanwhile, right now I can turn on the television and watch an absolute lunatic strap two fiberglass sticks to his feet and fly literally half the length of a football field.
7 min read
Feb
05
February 5: A moment of reflection, always within reach

February 5: A moment of reflection, always within reach

It's a workout routine for the muscles you need to stick it out with the people you have in the places you live.
9 min read
Jan
21
January 21: Machinery Constantly Churning

January 21: Machinery Constantly Churning

It's like looking at a broken tree limb, seeing the gnarled path it took after part of it snapped off in a windstorm.
8 min read
Jan
14
January 14: Hammock in a Deprivation Tank

January 14: Hammock in a Deprivation Tank

I don't want to say that because the games are good, things will be all right. But what I will say is that because the games are good, I am all right. Or at least, I can be for a while.
9 min read
Jan
07
January 7: A Question of Attention

January 7: A Question of Attention

I like my singer-songwriter music to put a lump in my throat I can't get rid of until I've sung the song all the way through.
7 min read
Aug
18
Down Bad for Speed Racer

Down Bad for Speed Racer

Speed Racer follows this template - periods of intense, visceral action, all of it as bright as the sun and subtle as a gun, followed by slower narrative vignettes that serve only to affirm that Speed is right, good, and hot.
8 min read
Aug
11
arboretum: feeling your choices among the trees

arboretum: feeling your choices among the trees

Games gives us the thrill of making big choices with the safety net of fiction - a simulation of the emotional intensity that comes with failure and success.
7 min read
Aug
04
mewithoutYou - Catch for Us the Foxes

mewithoutYou - Catch for Us the Foxes

A revolt against the homilies by which this world is run, a wilting carnation memorializing a dream of abundance and belonging.
7 min read
Jul
26
Banner image of a rural landscape with The Crossover Appeal logo and a text title: "25 Good Things"

25 Good Things - An Introduction

23 weeks left of the first quarter-century in this new millennium. Mixed feelings, as per usual with me. For one,
2 min read
Jul
25
July 20: It’s not a machine, after all

July 20: It’s not a machine, after all

Maybe you missed those weekly recs, maybe you never gave it a second thought. Maybe you’ve been lost in the Feed for so long that you’ve gotten used to the idea of people fading in and out of your scroll that absences mean almost nothing to you anymore.
5 min read