Potempkin Village Idiot
@ixak.bsky.social
Baltimore climate dad anthropologist fighting existential terror w/ existential counter-terrorism. The soft underbelly of the cutting edge. Working on resilience, local governance, urban gardening, tool repair, fermentation.
https://medium.com/@ixak
https://medium.com/@ixak
Pinned
Conversation w/ my son:
Him: What was your favorite movie when you were a kid?
Me: Short Circuit
What's it about?
A robot who comes to life.
What was your favorite movie when you became a grownup?
Blade Runner
What's it about?
A guy who hunts and kills robots who have come to life.
Him: What was your favorite movie when you were a kid?
Me: Short Circuit
What's it about?
A robot who comes to life.
What was your favorite movie when you became a grownup?
Blade Runner
What's it about?
A guy who hunts and kills robots who have come to life.
Post a tree that you photographed 📸🌲
February 12, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Post a tree that you photographed 📸🌲
Agreed. And when I mentioned it at work, the next day the dishwasher gave me a bootlegged VHS tape of it, and we watched it like 30 more times that week.
February 11, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Agreed. And when I mentioned it at work, the next day the dishwasher gave me a bootlegged VHS tape of it, and we watched it like 30 more times that week.
Saw Star Wars: ANH in 1977. I was born in 1975. My parents thought it was a good idea to bring a 2-year-old to the movies 🫤. I cried the whole time & don't remember it.
Also:
Princess Bride
Goonies
Showgirls
The Matrix
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
A Scanner Darkly
Howl's Moving Castle
Also:
Princess Bride
Goonies
Showgirls
The Matrix
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
A Scanner Darkly
Howl's Moving Castle
Have asked this before and always like the responses. What are your biggest “I saw that in the first run cinema” flexes? Couple of mine:
Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Office Space (1999)
Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Office Space (1999)
February 11, 2026 at 11:34 PM
Saw Star Wars: ANH in 1977. I was born in 1975. My parents thought it was a good idea to bring a 2-year-old to the movies 🫤. I cried the whole time & don't remember it.
Also:
Princess Bride
Goonies
Showgirls
The Matrix
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
A Scanner Darkly
Howl's Moving Castle
Also:
Princess Bride
Goonies
Showgirls
The Matrix
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
A Scanner Darkly
Howl's Moving Castle
Last night I applied for a job that pays about 1/2 of my current salary range, and it reminded me of how years ago, during a job interview, a potential employer found a very creative way to say they couldn't meet my salary needs:
"We don't want to hire you unless you want us to."
"We don't want to hire you unless you want us to."
February 11, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Last night I applied for a job that pays about 1/2 of my current salary range, and it reminded me of how years ago, during a job interview, a potential employer found a very creative way to say they couldn't meet my salary needs:
"We don't want to hire you unless you want us to."
"We don't want to hire you unless you want us to."
Bad news for @funranium.bsky.social's FMJ Steins.
February 11, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Bad news for @funranium.bsky.social's FMJ Steins.
My 4-year-old calls them his "gutters" which is both mechanically and etymologically correct.
February 11, 2026 at 11:08 AM
My 4-year-old calls them his "gutters" which is both mechanically and etymologically correct.
It seems strange to say this, but this very much feels like it was made specifically for me and my two closest friends.
everybody shut the fuck up new Laibach video just dropped
Laibach - Allgorhythm (feat. Wiyaala) [Official Video]
YouTube video by Laibach
youtu.be
February 11, 2026 at 9:41 AM
It seems strange to say this, but this very much feels like it was made specifically for me and my two closest friends.
I grew up in a rather complicated family of American Jews, Evangelical Christians, and actual Zionist emigres to Israel. The overriding frame of reference for everyone old enough to remember the '67 War is the '67 War. It eclipses all other understanding.
February 10, 2026 at 5:56 PM
I grew up in a rather complicated family of American Jews, Evangelical Christians, and actual Zionist emigres to Israel. The overriding frame of reference for everyone old enough to remember the '67 War is the '67 War. It eclipses all other understanding.
Funicular homicide
February 10, 2026 at 11:38 AM
Funicular homicide
The irony is that Americans say they want "stricter immigration laws", and then when they describe what that means to them they describe a process that is more humane, accommodating, and merciful than the one that currently exists here.
February 10, 2026 at 11:32 AM
The irony is that Americans say they want "stricter immigration laws", and then when they describe what that means to them they describe a process that is more humane, accommodating, and merciful than the one that currently exists here.
I think a lot of Americans don't really understand how citizenship works in the US, much less in other countries.
February 10, 2026 at 10:39 AM
I think a lot of Americans don't really understand how citizenship works in the US, much less in other countries.
Reposted by Potempkin Village Idiot
You know, when you think about it, Kid Rock is actually just another way of saying Epstein Island
February 9, 2026 at 2:47 AM
You know, when you think about it, Kid Rock is actually just another way of saying Epstein Island
Imagine being Macbeth and watching this.
February 9, 2026 at 2:59 AM
Imagine being Macbeth and watching this.
Is Quebec also part of Latin America?
February 9, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Is Quebec also part of Latin America?
Reposted by Potempkin Village Idiot
Reposted by Potempkin Village Idiot
"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
February 8, 2026 at 5:42 PM
"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
Reposted by Potempkin Village Idiot
If you were writing pieces a year ago about the "cultural dominance" of MAGA and now this year you are writing that this was actually a mirage, then perhaps your judgement can't be trusted.
February 8, 2026 at 4:36 PM
If you were writing pieces a year ago about the "cultural dominance" of MAGA and now this year you are writing that this was actually a mirage, then perhaps your judgement can't be trusted.
Ok, new winter Olympic sport: half-pipe snowboard skeet shoot.
February 8, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Ok, new winter Olympic sport: half-pipe snowboard skeet shoot.
If I had a nickel for every time my 9-year-old son has attempted to write a comic adaptation of the Takashi Miike movie "As the Gods Will" I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
February 8, 2026 at 3:32 PM
If I had a nickel for every time my 9-year-old son has attempted to write a comic adaptation of the Takashi Miike movie "As the Gods Will" I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Handyman Hal's Moving Castle.
February 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Handyman Hal's Moving Castle.
I think the weather has had a dampening effect on public mobilization around the Epstein files. People are angry, but ground down, hampered by ICE and snow. Exhausted and withdrawn. Needing rejuvenation.
Tuesday the temperature will be above 40⁰ in DC.
I think Tuesday is when things start to move.
Tuesday the temperature will be above 40⁰ in DC.
I think Tuesday is when things start to move.
February 8, 2026 at 11:51 AM
I think the weather has had a dampening effect on public mobilization around the Epstein files. People are angry, but ground down, hampered by ICE and snow. Exhausted and withdrawn. Needing rejuvenation.
Tuesday the temperature will be above 40⁰ in DC.
I think Tuesday is when things start to move.
Tuesday the temperature will be above 40⁰ in DC.
I think Tuesday is when things start to move.
Listening to the song "Rainbow Connection" and I suddenly understood something more deeply: Most of the Muppets are freaks and weirdos. Kermit isn't. He's just a dreamer. But he hangs out with all the freaks and weirdos, because they believe he can make his own dreams come true when others don't.
Kermit Band GIF
ALT: Kermit Band GIF
media.tenor.com
February 8, 2026 at 11:34 AM
My son, last night: "Why don't we have nunchucks?
Me, who accidentally left my nunchucks at an elementary school playground when filming a scene for a 48-hour film competition 10 years ago: "We don't keep weapons in the house."
Me, who accidentally left my nunchucks at an elementary school playground when filming a scene for a 48-hour film competition 10 years ago: "We don't keep weapons in the house."
February 8, 2026 at 11:06 AM
My son, last night: "Why don't we have nunchucks?
Me, who accidentally left my nunchucks at an elementary school playground when filming a scene for a 48-hour film competition 10 years ago: "We don't keep weapons in the house."
Me, who accidentally left my nunchucks at an elementary school playground when filming a scene for a 48-hour film competition 10 years ago: "We don't keep weapons in the house."
Reposted by Potempkin Village Idiot
One of the most sickening realizations I've ever had came when it hit me that six hundred years from now historians will be writing things like "while technically illegal, intercourse with minors was broadly accepted as normal among the American ruling class, and even a marker of status"
February 8, 2026 at 7:30 AM
One of the most sickening realizations I've ever had came when it hit me that six hundred years from now historians will be writing things like "while technically illegal, intercourse with minors was broadly accepted as normal among the American ruling class, and even a marker of status"
Recently I've been casually referring to the current Spider-Man actor as "Tom Finland" instead of Tom Holland just to see who flinches when I say it.
February 8, 2026 at 3:45 AM
Recently I've been casually referring to the current Spider-Man actor as "Tom Finland" instead of Tom Holland just to see who flinches when I say it.