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Sam Machkovech

@samred.com

1.5K followers 400 following 1.3K posts

Recently: NYT, Polygon, The Stranger, Game Developer, Games Radar. Previously: Ars, American Airlines, The Atlantic. Clips + contact info: https://samred.com. He/him, from Seattle.

samred.com.

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · Nov 10

I've dreamed my entire career of writing an article like this. New in today's @nytimes.com: My profile of Tetris creator (and Seattle-area resident) Alexey Pajitnov, on the games, attempts, and failures he's worked on in the 40-year shadow of his most famous game. (Upshot: He's still designing.)

After the Triumph of Tetris, an Unsolved Puzzle

Alexey Pajitnov, who created the ubiquitous game in 1984, opens up about his failed projects and his desire to design another hit.

www.nytimes.com

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 4h

in line with every other 2025 Harrell appearance, this blathering flurry of his words in no way suggests Harrell wants to take accountability for Seattle's existing woes or has a serious interest in average voters' lives, which sure is a helluva reelection strategy

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 5h

you are fun to hang out with at a gay bar and I hope that happens again someday, sorry about your illness doldrum. I prescribe sleep, popcorn with fresh melted butter, chocolate, or all of the above

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 5h

...I posted this before I saw that tape was still on the ceiling, I meant the roll of tape, don't mind me

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 5h

good that you left the blue tape in there for all visitors to see and marvel at lol

Reposted by Sam Machkovech

Brett Hamil @bretthamil.bsky.social · 9h

This cartoon is from Oct 2022. These two clowns are now begging the president to invade the city they've based their careers on slandering (neither of them actually live here). What a world.

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 11h

(You appear to be engaging thoughtfully. But that NYT op-ed leans on abusive-relationship-survival hallmarks of pretending that an abuser's violence deserves benefit of the doubt. A sickness that is far too common on op-ed boards to coddle, instead of challenge, readers who made the wrong '24 call.)

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 11h

Mamdani's campaign reminds me of candidates in Seattle who've pushed for reform, only to be stymied by centrist city councils. But Mamdani's version is better, because he's not suggesting he'll bend to an imaginary center. THAT is what he's doing right: giving up that early-'00s Dem delusion.

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 11h

I hate this op-ed. Standard NYT nonsense of a false equivalency between policy that a mayor cannot immediately enact but create public pressure for other officials (ie mass transit funding) and Trump's bad-ideas-sold-as-good (ie hardline anti-globalism as a viable economic solution).

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 12h

If you'd like to know my political views, here's one: standing fellow citizens up to humanize them and give them personhood. That's a political choice, as much as dehumanizing is. If you pick the latter, you have chosen violence, and I pity you and pray for you. Great statements here.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 16h

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 23h

Tron Ares (2025)

men in neon-green goggles shower themselves in champagne

text reads "MARINERS ADVANCE TO ALCS / FIRST APPEARANCE SINCE 2001"

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 23h

oh I know! I wanted to metaphor it for the good people

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 23h

imagine a single League match lasting 140 minutes and both sides being equal the entire time, tonight was wild on a baseball basis

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 23h

this may honestly be my ghost writing these skeets

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 23h

I needed this many minutes after tonight's sports to stop cheering and breathe in. Wow. That was one of the best baseball games I've ever watched. 15 wild innings. Great sports. Congrats to my city's Mariners!

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Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 1d

some Seattle animals

black and brown dog sits in front of mural of a bird and sasquatch painted on a wooden fence

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 1d

in that case, hit those amazing-looking fried corn fritters

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 1d

fyi, they do have a few vegan items, but it's not a great vegetarian menu

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 1d

well in BSkerp's case, they clearly think pancakes and waffles are a legitimate comms strategy, which says a lot

Sam Machkovech @samred.com · 1d

I got through three rounds of interviews for this role a few months ago. I was not selected, and apparently, nobody else was, either. Then the person who advertised the role left Bluesky. I would believe it if they never actually hire through for this.

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