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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

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 · 12h

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 · 1h

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.

Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 11h

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 · 12h

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 2d

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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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 5d

People need to start investing in, like, Polaroids and Technicolor film if you ever want to use photographic or video evidence in a courtroom after 2026

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Alex Dickson @adicksondc.bsky.social · 5d

MPL -Making public libraries sexy again.

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

scari @cari.bsky.social · 5d

made chicken parm egg rolls for humans and a tiny one for dog

tiny bite of egg roll in the foreground and a tricolor blue-eyed Australian shepherd staring at it

same dog and same egg roll now dangerously close to each other

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

This is highly educational but don't read it if you're about to eat dinner.

André Bruwer @andrebruwer.bsky.social · 5d

Uhhh, well there you go.
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Woman hospitalized with pain and vomiting—diet soda cured her

Doctors dissolve mass in woman’s stomach by getting her to chug soda.

arstechnica.com

Reposted by Mandy J Watson

André Bruwer @andrebruwer.bsky.social · 5d

Uhhh, well there you go.
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Woman hospitalized with pain and vomiting—diet soda cured her

Doctors dissolve mass in woman’s stomach by getting her to chug soda.

arstechnica.com

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

Film and TV. Unfortunately most people seem unable to tell the difference between well made and good and conflate the two.

Media literacy would help, of course.

I really should finish my review of Alien: Romulus, which landed in writing limbo, as it's a prime example of this problem.

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

Well, fuck, yes.

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

I see what you did there but I also appreciate your appreciation.

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

I don't know if you saw this from when I was working on the game:

bsky.app/profile/mand...

(Thank you for playing it!)

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 21d

DID YOU KNOW that the fedora is a women's hat that was made popular in a play, titled Fédora (1882), after it was worn by Sarah Bernhardt?

I am ANNOYED as I look good in one and I can never wear them as they have been CO-OPTED by the worst men.

#GameDev (this may not end up in my game though)

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Reposted by Mandy J Watson

Nosferatu Joseph 🧛🏻‍♀️ @tashjoeza.bsky.social · 5d

Finally got around to playing this! Super fun, suitably creepy for the season, and there's a fedora joke that made me laugh aloud.

Mandy J Watson @mandyjwatson.bsky.social · 19d

Anyway, I made a Bitsy game and I had a really good experience doing it. I'm particularly proud of the big piece of art towards the end, which I spent much of Saturday doing.

It's gothic horror with dark humour so it's not for everyone but I hope you enjoy it.

mandyjwatson.itch.io/to-reanimate...

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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