Andrew Willett
@awillett.bsky.social
Sometime spec-fic writer. Not supposed to have opinions in public for job reasons, will generally not post about the News. He/him.
Empty MetroCards made excellent bookmarks and I will miss them. Stock up now!
ONE WEEK LEFT: MetroCard sales end on December 31st, 2025! It's time to tap and ride using your digital wallet, contactless credit or debit card, or OMNY Card.
December 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Empty MetroCards made excellent bookmarks and I will miss them. Stock up now!
Reposted by Andrew Willett
Excellent read.
I've definitely noticed an uptick in this sort of writing style of late, and this is great advice for copy editors on how to approach it.
Plus, we get this gem: "No point in picking fights one is almost certainly going to lose. One is not, after all, Jake Paul or Andrew Tate."
I've definitely noticed an uptick in this sort of writing style of late, and this is great advice for copy editors on how to approach it.
Plus, we get this gem: "No point in picking fights one is almost certainly going to lose. One is not, after all, Jake Paul or Andrew Tate."
on comma splices and run-on sentences and that sort of stuff
The road goes on and on (and on and on and on).
[a guide for the perplexed copy editor]
open.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Excellent read.
I've definitely noticed an uptick in this sort of writing style of late, and this is great advice for copy editors on how to approach it.
Plus, we get this gem: "No point in picking fights one is almost certainly going to lose. One is not, after all, Jake Paul or Andrew Tate."
I've definitely noticed an uptick in this sort of writing style of late, and this is great advice for copy editors on how to approach it.
Plus, we get this gem: "No point in picking fights one is almost certainly going to lose. One is not, after all, Jake Paul or Andrew Tate."
Reposted by Andrew Willett
On this day in 1989, The Simpsons officially premiered as its own series so here’s a short thread of language facts relating to the show, starting with this…
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
December 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM
On this day in 1989, The Simpsons officially premiered as its own series so here’s a short thread of language facts relating to the show, starting with this…
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
In the Spanish version of The Simpsons, Bart’s “eat my shorts” catchphrase is changed to multiplícate por cero (“multiply yourself by zero”).
There is the long game, and then there is Girl Genius. Shout-out to anyone else who loved today's Big Reveal, between two characters who last spoke to each other on the page in I believe 2006.
#webcomics #girlgenius Girl Genius for 12/10 (www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?da...) Weird. Usually I sleep longer in the winter– but the last few days I'm clocking in at around 6 hours of sleep. Reverse hibernation, I guess.
December 10, 2025 at 5:26 PM
There is the long game, and then there is Girl Genius. Shout-out to anyone else who loved today's Big Reveal, between two characters who last spoke to each other on the page in I believe 2006.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
'Warmth is for Sorry! This is not a hug. This is a chess clock in a stranger’s living room telling you your parents are getting divorced. The invitation is “Are you smart enough to sit at this table?”'
As a childhood fan of this game, this is pure gold.
As a childhood fan of this game, this is pure gold.
"If you put a kid on the cover, you’re telling buyers it’s a kid game. If you put adults on the cover, you’re telling kids it’s a gateway to adulthood. This is basic aspirational psychology. They’ll feel like tiny professors. Or tiny villains. Both sell."
The Mastermind Box Cover: What the Hell Were They Thinking?
- - -INVICTA GAMES, LTD. Packaging Team — Official Minutes Project: Mastermind / New Cover Presentation MARTIN SMITH (Marketing Senior Vice Presi...
buff.ly
December 9, 2025 at 4:28 AM
'Warmth is for Sorry! This is not a hug. This is a chess clock in a stranger’s living room telling you your parents are getting divorced. The invitation is “Are you smart enough to sit at this table?”'
As a childhood fan of this game, this is pure gold.
As a childhood fan of this game, this is pure gold.
Sometimes, what you really really want is fried dumplings. A lot of them.
November 28, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Sometimes, what you really really want is fried dumplings. A lot of them.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 AM
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Reposted by Andrew Willett
once again it's the most beautiful, most deserted week of the year in new york city. make that impossible dinner reservation! take the l train at 6 pm on a tuesday for no good goddamn reason! you wanna go buy a croissant from radio bakery, see what all the fuss is about? go fuckin nuts
November 23, 2025 at 11:32 PM
once again it's the most beautiful, most deserted week of the year in new york city. make that impossible dinner reservation! take the l train at 6 pm on a tuesday for no good goddamn reason! you wanna go buy a croissant from radio bakery, see what all the fuss is about? go fuckin nuts
Reposted by Andrew Willett
Uh
this is
enormous
this is
enormous
British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium. This molecule kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. buff.ly/YlXaONo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Scientists find hidden antibiotic 100x stronger against deadly superbugs
A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Uh
this is
enormous
this is
enormous
Reposted by Andrew Willett
OH HELLLL YES!
My latest at @comicsjournal.bsky.social: I talked to @oglaf.bsky.social! Not the character, but rather, the people who create it.
They don't do many interviews, so this was a real treat. They're funny people! Turns out they're not super private, just...really bad at PR?
www.tcj.com/talking-ogla...
They don't do many interviews, so this was a real treat. They're funny people! Turns out they're not super private, just...really bad at PR?
www.tcj.com/talking-ogla...
Talking Oglaf with Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne: 'We'd stay up all night drawing stuff to make each other laugh' - The Comics Journal
Other than some time off every year for Christmas, Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne have delivered a new Oglaf comic, skewering fantasy tropes with absolutely not safe for work humor, every week since 2008...
www.tcj.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
OH HELLLL YES!
Reposted by Andrew Willett
On the other site, an 18-year-old Zohran canvasser described the legendary Wallace Shawn as "the actor who plays Dr. Sturgis on Young Sheldon" which is honestly adorable
November 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM
On the other site, an 18-year-old Zohran canvasser described the legendary Wallace Shawn as "the actor who plays Dr. Sturgis on Young Sheldon" which is honestly adorable
Reposted by Andrew Willett
Amy does a solid job here. I'll probably put something about this in Monday's newsletter. Writing it will be easy, but then going back and editing out all the swearing will be hard.
I couldn't leave this one alone. Like it seems silly and harmless, but this is such a slippery slope in to damaging conspiracy theories like anti-vax and climate change denial, so I'm going to keep explaining it in the hopes people start actually thinking about things.
Like I wasn't going to respond... #shorts #kardashians
One day I don't have to keep repeating these points. Also I threw this together super quick last night -- hoping these are clear enough short answers!
If you enjoy these shorts, consider supporting…
youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Amy does a solid job here. I'll probably put something about this in Monday's newsletter. Writing it will be easy, but then going back and editing out all the swearing will be hard.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
this is the Pope
his entire thing is going around waving to crowds and looking happy
he is also such a White Sox fan that this is the maddest - and most human - I have ever a pope look
his entire thing is going around waving to crowds and looking happy
he is also such a White Sox fan that this is the maddest - and most human - I have ever a pope look
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
October 29, 2025 at 12:59 AM
this is the Pope
his entire thing is going around waving to crowds and looking happy
he is also such a White Sox fan that this is the maddest - and most human - I have ever a pope look
his entire thing is going around waving to crowds and looking happy
he is also such a White Sox fan that this is the maddest - and most human - I have ever a pope look
Reposted by Andrew Willett
The sculptural reconstructions of The Kennis Twins.
The first showin ehre is my favorite, FAVORITE reconstruction of Lucy, ever. The second is Tollund Man, the famous bog body. The third is Shanidar Z, a semi-recent Neanderthal find. Fourth is Homo floresiensis (a "hobbit.")
The first showin ehre is my favorite, FAVORITE reconstruction of Lucy, ever. The second is Tollund Man, the famous bog body. The third is Shanidar Z, a semi-recent Neanderthal find. Fourth is Homo floresiensis (a "hobbit.")
October 16, 2025 at 2:51 AM
The sculptural reconstructions of The Kennis Twins.
The first showin ehre is my favorite, FAVORITE reconstruction of Lucy, ever. The second is Tollund Man, the famous bog body. The third is Shanidar Z, a semi-recent Neanderthal find. Fourth is Homo floresiensis (a "hobbit.")
The first showin ehre is my favorite, FAVORITE reconstruction of Lucy, ever. The second is Tollund Man, the famous bog body. The third is Shanidar Z, a semi-recent Neanderthal find. Fourth is Homo floresiensis (a "hobbit.")
Reposted by Andrew Willett
The way I am refreshing this repeatedly.
Too many amazing stories from Gallup, and almost none I will repeat here. However I will talk about what I myself experienced. There was Something in the basement at the Old Rehoboth Church
October 14, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The way I am refreshing this repeatedly.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
"...they watched in astonishment a brown wormlike creature greedily munching through green clumps of algae as if more than 130 years hadn’t passed since its last meal. Equally oblivious, a host of life – water fleas, worms, plankton – danced and spun around it."
#invertebrates #hope
#invertebrates #hope
Creatures buried in soil for over a century burst back to life in Toronto waterfront
A project to restore coastal wetland leads to astonishing discoveries of a host of life: seeds and plant scraps, as well as water fleas, worms, larvae and plankton
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:24 PM
"...they watched in astonishment a brown wormlike creature greedily munching through green clumps of algae as if more than 130 years hadn’t passed since its last meal. Equally oblivious, a host of life – water fleas, worms, plankton – danced and spun around it."
#invertebrates #hope
#invertebrates #hope
Reposted by Andrew Willett
@feedly.com Clicking on Feeds > All, if you're already looking at Feeds > All, no longer refreshes the page. You have to click something else and then return to it to get an up-to-date list.
September 25, 2025 at 9:49 PM
@feedly.com Clicking on Feeds > All, if you're already looking at Feeds > All, no longer refreshes the page. You have to click something else and then return to it to get an up-to-date list.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
Reposted by Andrew Willett
I was closing out my grandmother’s house.
It had been in the family for 6 generations, but my mother left Indiana when I was 6, and my sibs were even younger, so we were never going to live there. And the last 40 or so years meant a lot of deferred maintenance as my great-grandfather aged.
It had been in the family for 6 generations, but my mother left Indiana when I was 6, and my sibs were even younger, so we were never going to live there. And the last 40 or so years meant a lot of deferred maintenance as my great-grandfather aged.
you don’t have to wait til Halloween to tell you ghost stories I WANT TO HEAR THEM NOW
September 24, 2025 at 12:58 AM
I was closing out my grandmother’s house.
It had been in the family for 6 generations, but my mother left Indiana when I was 6, and my sibs were even younger, so we were never going to live there. And the last 40 or so years meant a lot of deferred maintenance as my great-grandfather aged.
It had been in the family for 6 generations, but my mother left Indiana when I was 6, and my sibs were even younger, so we were never going to live there. And the last 40 or so years meant a lot of deferred maintenance as my great-grandfather aged.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
I look at old Sunday page comics and the amount of room they were given to work on and tell stories and then I look at the 3 panel family shlock on a single page of the daily paper now and i cant help but be crestfallen at how little art and storytelling are valued in our society.
Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay from September 23, 1906. One of his most impressive & famous pages.
September 23, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I look at old Sunday page comics and the amount of room they were given to work on and tell stories and then I look at the 3 panel family shlock on a single page of the daily paper now and i cant help but be crestfallen at how little art and storytelling are valued in our society.
Reposted by Andrew Willett
“The little guy is simply the human instinct to make something with little guy energy. If you carve a carrot into a bunny, that is a little guy. If you fold paper cranes from chopstick wrappers, that is a little guy. If you put googly eyes on a lemon, that is a little guy.”
Just make something. 🥹
Just make something. 🥹
Today's Love Letter is from the unstoppable @shing.bsky.social. Shing's ode to Making Little Guys is one of the single most nourishing pieces of nonfiction I have ever read. Maybe you need this one as much as I do.
Little Guys
A Love Letters Feature by Shing Yin Khor - September 2025
stone-soup.ghost.io
September 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
“The little guy is simply the human instinct to make something with little guy energy. If you carve a carrot into a bunny, that is a little guy. If you fold paper cranes from chopstick wrappers, that is a little guy. If you put googly eyes on a lemon, that is a little guy.”
Just make something. 🥹
Just make something. 🥹
Today, in cool threads!
Some of the most remarkable lost artefacts from the ancient world were the titanic wrecks of the Nemi ships, built for a Roman emperor.
In their first-century heyday they held gardens, palaces and baths in a floating wonderland. But barely a decade after their recovery, they were lost forever.
In their first-century heyday they held gardens, palaces and baths in a floating wonderland. But barely a decade after their recovery, they were lost forever.
September 1, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Today, in cool threads!
Reposted by Andrew Willett
Drowning is “the No. 2 cause of accidental death in children, ages 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents)—of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.”
Thanks for the reminder @janemunday.bsky.social. Every summer, I repost this article DROWNING DOES NOT LOOK LIKE DROWNING. To date, I know of FOUR kids who were saved after someone who'd clicked on the link learnt how to spot actual drowning. Take time to read and pass on.
slate.com/technology/2...
slate.com/technology/2...
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.
slate.com
August 11, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Drowning is “the No. 2 cause of accidental death in children, ages 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents)—of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.”
Reposted by Andrew Willett
Once I tried to get @tkingfisher.com to remove an em dash. She sent me a photo of STET THIS across her knuckles.
That's how you can tell human authors from AI.
AI will put in some em dashes, then apologise and take them out when told off.
Human authors will climb the filing cabinet, hissing, and defend their right to em dashes with a loaded stapler.
AI will put in some em dashes, then apologise and take them out when told off.
Human authors will climb the filing cabinet, hissing, and defend their right to em dashes with a loaded stapler.
Em dashes, like anything, should be used in moderation. Check first with your editor if em dashes are right for you. 😉
#WriteSky #WritingTips
#WriteSky #WritingTips
August 2, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Once I tried to get @tkingfisher.com to remove an em dash. She sent me a photo of STET THIS across her knuckles.