Matt Baldwin
@thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social
Writer, photographer, cyclist, naturalist, martial artist, tall ship sailor. The Pirate Guy of Blue Sky, apparently. Mexican-American. No kings in America. He/him. San Diego, CA.
Pinned
Have picked up a lot of new followers recently, so: a (re)Dedication of Principles:
1) this is a diverse and queer-friendly place, inc. trans people
2) zero tolerance for anyone sharing, defending, or promoting AI "art"
3) I have a lot of interests, so expect posts covering a wide rage (con't)
1) this is a diverse and queer-friendly place, inc. trans people
2) zero tolerance for anyone sharing, defending, or promoting AI "art"
3) I have a lot of interests, so expect posts covering a wide rage (con't)
Reposted by Matt Baldwin
mom help i've gone viral on bluesky again
November 26, 2025 at 5:05 AM
mom help i've gone viral on bluesky again
Deliberately curating a neurological reward path in your own brain around doing harm to others free of consequence is a guaranteed way to morally rot yourself from the inside out, and will inevitably lead to you harming people you actually care about.
“Bullying” is bad by definition. It’s not a value neutral tool to be deployed positively toward good ends. It’s so fucked up that people want so badly to reclaim this thing, and are so eager to do it that they want to brand things that aren’t bullying as bullying.
"Some people deserve to be bullied" is always wild to see because it's so deliberately childish as to make it difficult to imagine the person saying it has the moral capacity of an adult human being.
November 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Deliberately curating a neurological reward path in your own brain around doing harm to others free of consequence is a guaranteed way to morally rot yourself from the inside out, and will inevitably lead to you harming people you actually care about.
All right. One more day of work and then a four-day weekend. LFG.
*pours coffee*
*pours coffee*
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
All right. One more day of work and then a four-day weekend. LFG.
*pours coffee*
*pours coffee*
wait what
Apparently today I have become the vector through which many people here on Bluesky have learned the association between upside-down pineapples and swinging, and I have to admit I don't know how to feel about this fact
November 26, 2025 at 5:43 AM
wait what
Reposted by Matt Baldwin
Every single time the book piracy/copyright discourse turns up, the people on the pro-piracy side aggressively demonstrate that not only do they not have the slightest idea how the publishing industry actually works, they actually revel in their ignorance, believing it makes them righteous.
November 24, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Every single time the book piracy/copyright discourse turns up, the people on the pro-piracy side aggressively demonstrate that not only do they not have the slightest idea how the publishing industry actually works, they actually revel in their ignorance, believing it makes them righteous.
mom help i've gone viral on bluesky again
November 26, 2025 at 5:05 AM
mom help i've gone viral on bluesky again
TRAIN DREAMS is....fine. A workmanly piece made by talented craftspeople with complete dedication, yes. But, to crib slightly from @geniusbastard.bsky.social, I'd be more impressed with it if I hadn't already seen a bunch of Terrence Malik films.
But I have.
But I have.
November 26, 2025 at 3:38 AM
TRAIN DREAMS is....fine. A workmanly piece made by talented craftspeople with complete dedication, yes. But, to crib slightly from @geniusbastard.bsky.social, I'd be more impressed with it if I hadn't already seen a bunch of Terrence Malik films.
But I have.
But I have.
Reposted by Matt Baldwin
.................this is going to turn out to be a viral marketing campaign for a new Seth MacFarlane TED movie, isn't it?
AI Teddy Bear That Talked Fetishes and Knives Is Back on the Market
AI Teddy Bear That Talked Fetishes and Knives Is Back on the Market
The toymakers say they've worked out the kinks (literally) and the bear is safe to use again.
gizmodo.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:12 PM
.................this is going to turn out to be a viral marketing campaign for a new Seth MacFarlane TED movie, isn't it?
Just discovered that I don’t have everything I’d planned to make for dinner tonight, but I’ll be damned if I’m setting foot in a grocery store before Friday afternoon.
November 26, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Just discovered that I don’t have everything I’d planned to make for dinner tonight, but I’ll be damned if I’m setting foot in a grocery store before Friday afternoon.
This is some pretty innovative DEATH BY LIGHTNING viral marketing, I gotta say.
No one knows exactly when Gramma was born. But if the estimated birth year of 1884 is accurate, Chester Arthur occupied the Oval Office and there were only 39 states at the time. n.pr/3M5wRnK
How a 'sweet and shy' tortoise outlived empires and survived two world wars
No one knows exactly when Gramma was born. But if the estimated birth year of 1884 is accurate, Chester Arthur occupied the Oval Office and there were only 39 states at the time.
n.pr
November 26, 2025 at 12:23 AM
This is some pretty innovative DEATH BY LIGHTNING viral marketing, I gotta say.
"Well actually, Thanksgiving is just a celebration of a settler genocide waged by a colonizer sta––" *shoves you into a catapult basket and sends you hurtling over the horizon*
Look, I know it’s a short work week because of the holiday and nobody really has anything important to do, but you don’t have to fight about Thanksgiving food online. Make what you want! Eat what you want! Set up a curry bar or taco stations instead of serving turkey! That’s the fun!
November 26, 2025 at 12:13 AM
"Well actually, Thanksgiving is just a celebration of a settler genocide waged by a colonizer sta––" *shoves you into a catapult basket and sends you hurtling over the horizon*
Also, the revenues earned from those airport fiction/popular bestsellers covers the expenses for a *lot* of mid-list books, because *dramatic drumroll* most books don’t actually earn money. Steven King’s earnings allow his publisher to pay authors downstream of him, for example.
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
I know we know this, but authors need to get better at talking about how they actually make their money. Stop pretending it's from the books.
November 26, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Also, the revenues earned from those airport fiction/popular bestsellers covers the expenses for a *lot* of mid-list books, because *dramatic drumroll* most books don’t actually earn money. Steven King’s earnings allow his publisher to pay authors downstream of him, for example.
Look, I know it’s a short work week because of the holiday and nobody really has anything important to do, but you don’t have to fight about Thanksgiving food online. Make what you want! Eat what you want! Set up a curry bar or taco stations instead of serving turkey! That’s the fun!
November 25, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Look, I know it’s a short work week because of the holiday and nobody really has anything important to do, but you don’t have to fight about Thanksgiving food online. Make what you want! Eat what you want! Set up a curry bar or taco stations instead of serving turkey! That’s the fun!
*norman rockwell standing guy meme*
I don't think clothing manufacturers should be allowed to call an article of clothing "wool" if it's actually mostly just a blend of spun polyester & other synthetic fabrics.
I don't think clothing manufacturers should be allowed to call an article of clothing "wool" if it's actually mostly just a blend of spun polyester & other synthetic fabrics.
November 25, 2025 at 11:37 PM
*norman rockwell standing guy meme*
I don't think clothing manufacturers should be allowed to call an article of clothing "wool" if it's actually mostly just a blend of spun polyester & other synthetic fabrics.
I don't think clothing manufacturers should be allowed to call an article of clothing "wool" if it's actually mostly just a blend of spun polyester & other synthetic fabrics.
Reposted by Matt Baldwin
Obviously Ken Burns’s final project needs to be an in-depth retrospective on the work of documentarian Ken Burns.
I figure Ken Burns has one, maybe two big documentary series in him before he fully retires. What do you think they should be? My votes include Football, Hip-Hop, World War 1, Reconstruction (though Skip Gates did this one well), Iraq/Afghanistan, 19th Century Expansionism.
November 25, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Obviously Ken Burns’s final project needs to be an in-depth retrospective on the work of documentarian Ken Burns.
Me: “Oh hey, why did I mute that person? Can’t recall.”
*unmutes*
Fifteen minutes later: “……….OH. Yeah, that’s why.”
*unmutes*
Fifteen minutes later: “……….OH. Yeah, that’s why.”
November 25, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Me: “Oh hey, why did I mute that person? Can’t recall.”
*unmutes*
Fifteen minutes later: “……….OH. Yeah, that’s why.”
*unmutes*
Fifteen minutes later: “……….OH. Yeah, that’s why.”
Reposted by Matt Baldwin
Also every time this discourse comes up, many of the replies make me want to take the novel draft that I've thus far spent a couple of years of my life and cumulative thousand dollars or so in material research costs on, set it on fire, and go get a law degree or become a CPA or something.
Every single time the book piracy/copyright discourse turns up, the people on the pro-piracy side aggressively demonstrate that not only do they not have the slightest idea how the publishing industry actually works, they actually revel in their ignorance, believing it makes them righteous.
November 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Also every time this discourse comes up, many of the replies make me want to take the novel draft that I've thus far spent a couple of years of my life and cumulative thousand dollars or so in material research costs on, set it on fire, and go get a law degree or become a CPA or something.
.................this is going to turn out to be a viral marketing campaign for a new Seth MacFarlane TED movie, isn't it?
AI Teddy Bear That Talked Fetishes and Knives Is Back on the Market
AI Teddy Bear That Talked Fetishes and Knives Is Back on the Market
The toymakers say they've worked out the kinks (literally) and the bear is safe to use again.
gizmodo.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:12 PM
.................this is going to turn out to be a viral marketing campaign for a new Seth MacFarlane TED movie, isn't it?
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER gets deleted outright and Tony Gilroy & Rian Johnson make a new follow-up to THE LAST JEDI.
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER gets deleted outright and Tony Gilroy & Rian Johnson make a new follow-up to THE LAST JEDI.
Reposted by Matt Baldwin
At the moment, I’m regrettably not reading Edgar Allan Poe whilst having cappuccinos and croissants in a dimly-lit quaint café on a cobblestone street in Prague during a snowstorm, so no, I’m afraid your email did not “find me well.”
November 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
At the moment, I’m regrettably not reading Edgar Allan Poe whilst having cappuccinos and croissants in a dimly-lit quaint café on a cobblestone street in Prague during a snowstorm, so no, I’m afraid your email did not “find me well.”
I feel like I've seen this film already, it was called ALL IS TRUE, and it was directed by and starred Kenneth Branagh in 2018.
A new film, adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel, posits that the death of Shakespeare's 11-year-old son may have inspired one of the greatest fictional tragedies ever written. n.pr/4irjBWS
Forget 'Shakespeare in Love' — 'Hamnet' explores Shakespeare in grief
A new film, adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel, posits that the death of Shakespeare's 11-year-old son may have inspired one of the greatest fictional tragedies ever written.
n.pr
November 25, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I feel like I've seen this film already, it was called ALL IS TRUE, and it was directed by and starred Kenneth Branagh in 2018.
Fun fact, attempting to accurately describe this clip and describe why it's so damn funny to an offline normie will make you sound *insane*.
November 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Fun fact, attempting to accurately describe this clip and describe why it's so damn funny to an offline normie will make you sound *insane*.
Tom Hanks-branded organic bath bomb & soap company called Splash!, exclamation point included.
Tom Hanks branded payday loan companies called "He Knows You're A Loan."
Tom Hanks branded road maps for old school drivers called Cloud Atlases
November 25, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Tom Hanks-branded organic bath bomb & soap company called Splash!, exclamation point included.
Hell yes.
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
www.reuters.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Hell yes.
Look, I'm no prude, I believe that a serious art & culture newsmagazine should intellectually engage with the presence of nudity & sexuality in human creative work. But foisting a nude image of a colleague onto employees without warning is an actual HR issue.
I regret to inform you there is more Olivia Newzzi: the print VF will feature a nude portrait by artist Isabelle Brourman that is also destined for Art Basel Miami Beach. Notably, its inclusion appears be a surprise to VF staff. VF looking worse and worse here. www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
November 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Look, I'm no prude, I believe that a serious art & culture newsmagazine should intellectually engage with the presence of nudity & sexuality in human creative work. But foisting a nude image of a colleague onto employees without warning is an actual HR issue.