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Ben Allan

@benallan.bsky.social

170 followers 97 following 1.5K posts

Subeditor / lamestream media left-wing govt mouthpiece / right-wing govt propagandist trapped in Dunedin, New Zealand. Opinions those of the Voice of the Mysterons. Used to program binary load lifters, very similar to your vaporators in most respects

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Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 18h

I had an increasingly tattered version of this poster in my childhood bedroom for many many moons and was delighted to spot and buy a nice shiny new copy in EB Games just last weekend. So good.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 2d

Movie executives apparently being baffled that both:
A) A Minecraft film would make so much money;
B) A Tron sequel led by Jared Leto would be a big winner in 2025
... seems to say a lot about both 1) the bizarrely ongoing mainstream non-grasp of games and 2) inflated movie executive salaries.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 2d

Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian...

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 2d

Why is 24 blank?

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 5d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 3d

Two versions of reality on the same home page.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 4d

Smaug Mentality, almost exactly.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 4d

Seeing Thiel's latest insanities, I guess the thing about there "no good billionaires" is it's impossible. Any good or even semi-decent person that had $1b dropped on them would get rid of most of it helping people (and still be wildly rich). Takes a deep weirdo who thinks wealth is the end itself.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 4d

Reminiscent of the Simpsons joke:

Factory tour guide: ...and a percentage is used for recycling!
Lisa: What kind of percentage?
Factory tour guide: Zero!
Lisa: <glowers>
Factory tour guide: ...zero is a percent

Reposted by Ben Allan

pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 5d

Nice try, “Paul A. Thompson”

A Pitchfork review for One Battle After Another that call it a “nerve-wracking masterpiece”, written by one Paul A. Thompson

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 7d

This date seems about right since they definitely didn't exist during my childhood (much like chips with aioli, which I think The Spinoff covered recently).

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 7d

PER CAPITA

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 7d

Hey everyone maybe stop delegating: human thought

Wes Miller @getwired.com · 7d

Outsourcing your brain to AI:

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 7d

The likes of BP and Z certainly seem to have a "let's try this!" approach which I think is cool. The butter chicken is perhaps the only one I can think of that seems to have established itself as a new standard, though.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 7d

I have wondered: did NZ also invent, in relatively recent times, the butter chicken pie? I had been assuming that it was an English thing, but English people of my acquaintance say it isn't.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 8d

Dear everyone,

They are not bias. You are not bias. None of us are the very concept of bias itself. You want "biased", the adjective. Let's sub in "prejudice", a similar word. Here's what you're doing: "You can't believe him, he's prejudice." See how silly you sound? Mmm.

Love,
Your subeditor

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 8d

A sentence from an RNZ article in 2025, which reads:
Asked if he supported the actions of Peters - who had acknowledged he already knew of death threats against Doyle before he posted about the matter on social media - Luxon said the "only people who should be accountable for death threats are those that make those death threats".

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 9d

It's annoying how often my own answer to this question keeps ending up as "protein source".

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 9d

I talked to Jason Connell from Sucker Punch about making Ghost of Yotei and he was an enthusiastic dude.

www.odt.co.nz/entertainmen...

Intoxicating journey to unseen

Ahead of the release of gaming sequel Ghost of Yotei, Ben Allan talked to the game’s co-creative director Jason Connell about crafting a follow-up...

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 10d

Hmm, I would say "children" is just being used here as it relates to parents, e.g we can be talking about a 75yo and still refer to their 50yo kids as "their children".

But yeah, at risk of seeming more definitional cos it's close to actual child age. Could maybe use "offspring", but a bit clunky.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 11d

Clicked through a few threads to try and understand the weird green graphic and something to do with waffles that apparently we're all mad about, and nope, you lost me everyone. Is it OK if I go back to posting about typos I find amusing for now?

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 11d

We have like, five of those! I guess the difference is though that here they're not really wanted, apart from by people that want to shoot them. (Exception for this guy, I don't think anyone wants to shoot him.)

Cormocephalus rubriceps, the New Zealand giant centipede.

Reposted by Ben Allan

Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 16d

The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 15d

Hey look, the Otago Daily Times continues to (inexplicably, but not actually) be NZ's leading (/only) video game review publication. We got this one to print before the game came out (Thursday I think) even, so better give it what push I can.
www.odt.co.nz/entertainmen...

Live by the sword once more

It’s probably fair to say that 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima snuck up on the gaming world a little bit with just how darned good it was.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 18d

What an embarrassing day to be a New Zealander.

Ben Allan @benallan.bsky.social · 19d

The four panel Anakin and Padme meme. The first panel of Anakin reads "the US government is going after domestic terrorists". The first panel of Padme reads "Great, a crackdown on white supremacists!" Anakin does not respond. Padme is dismayed.