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Mandy J Watson

@mandyjwatson.bsky.social

570 followers 140 following 2.3K posts

Tech-culture journalist. Copy editor. Game dev. Hire me! World expert in South African comics (#sacomics) published after 2000. Words: https://brainwavez.org/ Tiny games: https://mandyjwatson.itch.io/ Masked up in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · Jul 5

To get the anxiety inducing first post out of the way:

something of mine you can read: https://www.brainwavez.org/screen/film/features/2019/20191128001-01.html

something I made for you to play (dev is ongoing - more to come):
https://mandyjwatson.itch.io/the-mischievous-thievery-of-jessica-the-cat

The Mischievous Thievery Of Jessica The Cat by Mandy J Watson

Jessica the cat has been stealing people's things! A GGJ2021 narrative-puzzle prototype that's now a full game! Play in your browser

mandyjwatson.itch.io

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

There are so many reasons why journalists are out of jobs, including VC gutting (in the USA) and bad business management (in my country), but this would definitely be an unstated reason behind why some people get to keep their jobs and others don't.

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

Oh yes. Very much so.

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

I know what 404 Media is. Good journalism is about integrity. If you can't do that then you need to get out of journalism.

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

Of course it does - gotta appease those advertisers (and potential advertisers, which is even more irritating), as well as the corporates (which is one of the big problems) paying your salary.

Also, in SA, mediocrity journalism is enough to keep people in jobs and unable to be fired.

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

That's what I was saying - I wouldn't know how to describe some of them because it's cultural iconography that's beyond my knowledge.

Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Eniko Fox @enikofox.com · 2h

Let's not forget the follow up to that headline

Fortune
Mark Zuckerberg’s $46.5 billion loss on the metaverse is so huge it would be a Fortune 100 company—but his net worth is up even more than that

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Eniko Fox @enikofox.com · 2h

remember this for every AI headline you read

but also keep this one in mind, too

The metaverse economy offers the potential of a wide range of revenue streams, with some estimates predicting it could become an $800 billion-dollar market in just two years and that it could contribute $3 trillion dollars to the global economy in the next decade.

Euronews, August 17, 2022 https://www.euronews.com/business/2022/08/17/new-virtual-economy-what-does-the-rise-of-the-metaverse-mean

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

Frustrates me endlessly. So many good journalists unemployed and yet so many who have jobs do shit work.

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1h

I apologise - I was a bit harsh; I'm just very pro alt text and this was me unfairly expressing cumulative frustration. As I said, though, I don't know how you would alt text a lot of these. (France? Easy: airline pilot. England? Disney's animated Prince John. Many of the rest, though? Impossible.)

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 2h

The back part looks like it might be a photo of a landscape, yeah. Basically somewhere in the veld.

Altogether not the most conceptually cohesive or recognisable costume, sadly, unlike the other South African ones (although the horn one is just lazy design).

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 6h

I don't want to spoil it as there are things going on in this thread that need to be seen. Usually I'd be pissed off about the rubbish alt text and wouldn't repost this but in this case I don't even know how you would describe any of it.

Bevis Musson @bevismusson.bsky.social · 17h

You know what, let's do the Annual Mister Global National Costume thread tonight after all. Usual rules apply - this is all in fun, this isn't about the contestants looks or making fun of them, it's about the costumes and appreciating them (or, you know, making fun of them...)

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 6h

My guess would be rhinos (+ pangolins?). The loincloth is possibly a reference to our gemstone wealth and I would guess that the cape(?) is referencing something too but I can't tell from this photo. It doesn't remind me of any specific traditional cultural art, unlike 2019, which refs 3+ cultures.

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 17h

Diane Keaton directed this banger music video on top of all her other achievements, RIP to a legend

youtu.be/NOGEyBeoBGM

Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by BelindaCarlisleVEVO

youtu.be

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 18h

Blade Runner 2049. Unfortunately. (But it's good in spite of him, not because of him, and it would have better without him.)

Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Nanoraptor @nanoraptor.danamania.com · 1d

Some more remade posters, among the others at www.danamania.com/print/

Feel free to download and print in whatever way you like.

A screenshot of a french magazine and language apple double page spread turned into a poster. On the left is a small macintosh 128k, and on the right a macintosh II with monitor and full size AEK keyboard. In between are books labeled by mao tse tung, engels, lenin, marx and trotsky. The text above reads in french "Il était temps qu'un révolutionnaire..." and "soit aussia capable d'évoluer." - indicating that it's time a revolutionary was also capable of evolving.

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 1d

The Peale mastodon at the National Portrait Gallery in 2021.

It’s the 1st mounted fossil skeleton displayed in the US (1805), and 2nd worldwide. Its original viewers didn’t know about evolution. Even extinction was a new concept. More fossils interpreted as history and art, please! #FossilFriday

Mastodon skeleton with long tusks on a gravel bed between two white columns in an art gallery. Seen from the front.

Same from driver side rear view. Red curtain entrance to exhibit is visible from
This angle

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Dr Alan Montgomery @classicalalan.bsky.social · 2d

Here are three wonderfully preserved Roman shoes that were discovered at Bar Hill Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland in the early 1900s. Shoes made for men, women and children have been found there, reminding us that frontier zones were not an exclusively military environment. #FindsFriday

Three ancient roman shoes with pierced decoration displayed on dummy feet.

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Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 2d

I won a prize in the SA Game Jam for To Reanimate Thomas, Freshly Deceased!

Thank you so much @freelives.bsky.social for running this jam every year!

Here's the game (made in Bitsy):
mandyjwatson.itch.io/to-reanimate...

#IndieDev #PixelArt #GameDev

To Reanimate Thomas, Freshly Deceased by Mandy J Watson

A gothic horror Bitsy game for SA Game Jam 2025.

mandyjwatson.itch.io

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Che John @che666.bsky.social · 3d

The amazing team @gamesthatwerent.com have supported me recently in recovering & archiving a couple of my unpublished games from the late 80's for Commodore 64 & Amiga platforms. Read more here : www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/hill-19/

#commodore64 #retrogames

Hill 19 (C64) - 1988 Gremlin Graphics - GTW64

Hill 19 was to be a strategic action-shooter game, very similar to Ikari Warriors/Commando, but with more strategy involved. The player would control a team of characters (believed to be about 3), inc...

www.gamesthatwerent.com

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Writing Africa @writingafrica.bsky.social · 3d

Zukiswa Wanner and Other Global Sumud Flotilla Activists Released
www.writingafrica.com/zukiswa-wann...

Zukiswa Wanner and Other Global Sumud Flotilla Activists Released

South African writer, publisher, and activist Zukiswa Wanner and other participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla arrived safely in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, after thei...

www.writingafrica.com

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Steve Lieber: NYCC K-19 @stevelieberart.bsky.social · May 30

More from Barria. It says something about the monstrous absurdity of the era that some of the finest editorial cartooning was by a Reuters photographer.

Reuters photo of Trump’s head amidst a bunch of pumpkins.

Famous Reuters photo by Carlos Barria of Trump in the cab of a truck, screaming.

Even more famous photo by Carlos Barria. Trump shouting at a kid mowing the white house lawn.

Trump looks utterly unmanned as Melania makes goo goo eyes at Trudeau.

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

The Jurph from the Black Lagoon @jurph.bsky.social · 3d

The advisor from SimCity hollers at the player, "YOU CAN'T LET A FROG DANCE EROTICALLY AT YOUR SWAT TEAM! YOU WILL REGRET THIS!" The typeface is Chicago but the city is Portland.

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Art History Animalia @arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social · 3d

#WorldOctopusDay 🐙:
2 amazing #octopus tsubas (sword guards) @ the Met - which is your favorite?
#CephalopodAwarenessDays
1-2 tsuba w/ octopus design, Japan, late 18th c. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
3-4 tsuba w/ octopus design, Japan, c. 1615–1868 www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#JapaneseArt

tsuba (sword guard) with octopus design, Japan, late 18th century, iron and copper, obverse

tsuba (sword guard) with octopus design, Japan, late 18th century, iron and copper, reverse

tsuba (sword guard) with octopus design, Japan, c. 1615–1868, copper alloy (sentoku), copper-silver alloy (shibuichi), copper-gold alloy (shakudō), silver, and gold, obverse

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 4d

Scientists who study Long Covid at a conference. All are wearing N95 masks. source:
x.com/AnciraBecky/...

Becky A Robertson
@AnciraBecky
Scientists who study Long Covid pictured last week wearing N95 respirators.

photo

people sitting in a conference center ballroom with golden chandeliers overhead. they are at long, slender tables draped in black cloth that many are using for laptops or to take notes on paper.

all of the scientists are wearing face masks.

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