Last Sunday, I sent a newsletter on Father’s Day as a tribute to my dad. This week’s newsletter is inspired by a lesser known holiday. No, I’m not talking about National Take Your Cat to Work Day. I work from home, so every day is National Take Your Cat to Work Day. Maddie loves hopping on my keyboard in the middle of a Zoom call, which is hilariously disruptive, and my camera is too high up for anyone on the call to get the benefit of seeing my cute cat, so it’s currently a lose-lose-win for me. (The win is that I love my cat and she’s a perfect good girl.)
This newsletter is inspired by Email Debt Forgiveness Day, coming up on June 30th. It’s the “holiday” for sending a long-overdue email reply without the shame of having taken a very long time to reply. Just link to this website in the reply and you’re good to go. I used to be a fastidious Inbox Zero person, but I’ve loosened up to an Inbox Seven or Eight person. However, I have accumulated a ton of links I’ve been meaning to share with good friends, but I haven’t yet. I always feel like I’m bothering people when I text them a silly link? Like I’m disrupting their day? I guess I’m an undersharer, but maybe by sharing now and making a thing about it, I can become a regular sharer and send nice things to people I care about and let them know I’m thinking about them.
These links are for friends who’ve replied to the newsletter, so I’m pretty sure they’re reading. Some of these fine folks I’ve written about before, others I haven’t, but I’ll re-introduce you to all of them here. You’ll want to follow them on your social media platforms of choice obligation. I’m very fortunate to have such funny, intelligent, and generally awesome folks in my life, and I want to celebrate that! Also, I want to clean out my RSS reader. Okay, here we go!!!
Amanda is my brilliant and beautiful wife with whom I made a solid chunk of an X-Men inspired visual novel last year. She’s been getting more skeptical about the value of generative AI lately, which she feels is being thrust upon her by the world at large. Well, Amanda, this study will add more ammo to your argument gun! In a recent study, researchers asked participants to solve a creative problem: invent a new toy with a brick and a fan as components. The group that was asked to use ChatGPT (vs. classic web search or just their own ideas) was more likely to solve the same problem exactly the same way, down to details like the toy’s name. So yeah, by all means, let’s outsource all creative professions to glorified auto-correct! If there’s one thing people love about movies and games, it’s when they all feel same-y.
Asterios is one of my oldest and dearest friends and a hilarious comedy writer. We recently attended the funeral for MuppetVision 3D together, as did YouTuber Disney Dan. I like Disney Dan. He’s got a big infectious laugh and loves The Muppets. He’s a Disney nerd Santa Claus. Buddy, I thought you’d find his deep dive into MuppetVision 3D interesting, where he shows recently resurfaced footage from the Opening Day ceremony, photos showing how much cooler the attraction’s exterior used to look, and a theory that MuppetVision 3D will soon re-open in a different part of Hollywood Studios. Though it will likely be an all-digital show with no animatronics that Jim Henson never walked around in. So, better than nothing, but not better than not destroying it at all!
Gwen is an amazingly talented narrative designer and indie game developer. She released a logic puzzle gem called Deductopia on Steam this year. You remember Gwen. We teamed up this year to win the public domain game jam with a hotel sim based on the Marx Brothers first movie! Hey, Gwen. Guess what else is shockingly in the public domain? Jaws! Not the movie, or the book, or the ride based on the movie based on the book, but the famous shark painting in the movie poster. Apparently, due to a quirk in how copyright used to work in the 1970s, the painting was never copyrighted. I’m thinking it’s an arcade style game where you’re Bruce and you eat the swimmers? Maybe next year??
Matthew is ALSO an amazingly talented narrative designer and indie game developer. I have a number of friends who fit that description! He released a completely unique idle game called Yolk Heroes on Steam and mobile. We got trauma bonded at a studio together working on a game that will very likely never ship. Classic game industry nightmare fuel. Among Matthew’s illustrious industry credits is the recent hit Robocop: Rogue City. Matthew, I think you’ll appreciate Asterios’ recent article for the game industry parody site Palette Swap, “‘RoboCop: Rogue City’ DLC Adds Accessibility Option to Auto-Target Dicks.”
Spencer is a longtime friend, collaborator, and inspiration to me. He’s the creative director of his own studio, YYT Games, and has hired me to work on multiple projects over the past… god, has it been almost 20 years? oh no, I’m too old… including his hit series Fallen Legion. Recently, I went to brunch with Spencer and he told me his family has gotten super into 3D printing. Spencer, I’m excited to come over soon and learn how to 3D print action figures! Meanwhile, I thought you’d get a kick out of this. Apparently you can now 3D print replicas of rare Japanese Super Mario Land figures, thanks to the efforts of intrepid archivists. I know we’re both die-hard Mega Man fans, but I assume you want a Tatanga on your desk. Who doesn’t want a tiny Tatanga?
Alex is a comics writer, comedian, and a terrific pal. He’s best known for writing Rick and Morty comics, but he just launched a new comic based on the Doughboys podcast. Alex, I know you want to get into tabletop roleplaying games. I heard through the grapevine that the upcoming D&D starter set Heroes of the Borderlands was explicitly designed for new players of all ages to learn the magic ropes. You might want to look out for that this September. In the meantime, you can get your feet wet playing one of the many terrific one page RPGs on Itch.io, like the beloved and free Honey Heist, where you play group of bears committing a crime together.
Matt is a longtime friend, collaborator, and game developer. He’s the frontman for the anime band the Leetstreet Boys and the creator of the indie game mystery series Murder is Game Over on Steam, on which I’m a story consultant. Matt has dedicated himself to improving his craft as a writer and it really shows over the course of the series. I’m proud of how far he’s come. Matt, I think you’ll enjoy this article about writing dialogue for video games, because it’s both insightful and mercilessly critical of games that get it wrong. Can’t wait to play the newest entry in your series!
Grant is a social media expert, comedy writer, and fellow member of the Perfect Boys, a group that came together to pitch Warner Bros an animated series and turned out to be much more successful at having brunch and enjoying each other’s company. Grant runs the social accounts for Sonic the Hedgehog. He’s a huge Sonic fan! He hosts a Sonic podcast! He eats nothing but chili dogs, just like Sonic! (I didn’t fact check that last one tbh.) Well, Grant, you’ll wanna go fast to the Video Game History Foundation website. They’ve archived the work of Craig Stitt, a former designer and artist for Sega. Craig worked on a lot of Sonic titles, including Sonic 2, Sonic Spinball, a pre-Tails sidekick named Boomer the Turtle, and an unreleased Tails spin-off game called Treasure Tails. The archive is an Item Box of treasure (tails).
Kenny is an incredibly talented cartoonist, storyboard artist, and social media poster. He’s the most underrated follow in the game. Every time I see one of his posts, I laugh out loud, like it, and think to myself, “How does Kenny not have more followers? Oh, yeah, social media is a rigged casino.” Kenny, I discovered a YouTube channel that only makes 10 minute videos about un-produced versions of major movies. They have an entire Batman playlist. Tim Burton’s Batman Forever? Joel Schumacher’s Batman Unchained? Batgirl, what could have been? You won’t know unless you watch all of them, Kenny! Hurry! Gotham needs you!
Michael is a dear friend, a licensed therapist, and author of three humor books I had the privilege of publishing with Amanda. I’m very much looking forward to playing with LEGO flowers at your garden party this weekend, though I’ll be there on the later side because I’m attending Narrascope online this weekend. Michael, I don’t have a link for you. I know that threatens the pattern I’ve established over the course of this newsletter, but that’s okay, because I have something even better for you… a personal anecdote!
Recently, my mom had to have eye surgery. I called her when she was in the hospital and she sounded understandably apprehensive. On the TV in her hospital room was a Disney+ Marvel show for kids, which led me to tell her about The Thing, your favorite superhero. I gave her a rundown of The Thing’s origin story and told her The Thing was a brave, Jewish superhero! Very relatable! Inspired by the story of The Thing (as best I knew it, I’m no expert like you), mom was very brave and the surgery was a complete success. For Mother’s Day, she requested a Thing action figure, which now stands proudly on her mantle, just like the many Things in your collection. I thought you’d enjoy knowing how The Thing helps those in need, even outside of Earth-616.
🎲 Your Turn: Normally, this is where I’d encourage you to reply or comment on the newsletter. Instead, I’ll suggest you reach out to a friend today. It’s been a tough year is something I would say if I loved understatements. A lot of folks are going through it, and hearing from a friend out of the blue can really lift someone’s spirits. Share a link or video or just say “hey.”
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