DonE
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optional.bsky.social
DonE
@optional.bsky.social
680 followers 680 following 1.9K posts
let me fish out my sociologist card from my old wallet, I think it said it was good for life

co-managing ed @gamerswithglasses.bsky.social

previous at Unwinnable, Uppercut Crit, Bullet Points Monthly, Wireframe, Polygon, Symbolic Interaction & more
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Oops. Whelp, I got it the next time. #optionalplaying #sektori
January 1, 2026 at 5:14 PM
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May I present… a cryptid for the season… the Holly Man
A photo of a gingerbread man decorated with candy Holly leaves, berries, and icing. The hands and feet are covered in leaves. Buttons and a wide smile are berries. Green frosting fills in more space.
December 21, 2025 at 6:37 PM
optional.bsky.social
Y’know, I really like this Wikipedia pic of the day.
Official caption for this on Wikipedia reads: “Soaked in rain Cyclamen coum sown between the roots of an Alder (Alnus).”
December 17, 2025 at 8:16 PM
optional.bsky.social
I’ve now seen 4 operas in person (today was La Bohème) and two have ended with the leads reclining, singing, and dying. Cue curtain. Give the people what they want, I guess.
A photo from the audience at the LA Opera. House lights are up and there are numerous people, mostly in dress clothes, and then the stage. The curtain is down and is projecting an image of a Parisian street in the style of an impressionist painting.
December 15, 2025 at 1:25 AM
optional.bsky.social
The skater in Skate Story on its way to the moon on a bed of stars. Cosmic surrealism. #optionalplaying
A screenshot from Skate Story. A semi-transparent, reflective figure rides a skateboard. A carpet of stars swirls around it. The moon is large and bright ahead of the skater, in the background.
December 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
optional.bsky.social
Demonschool by moonlight - detailed, quotidian. The occult and otherworldly is underneath, next door, perpendicular. #optionalplaying
A screenshot from Demonschool. Small figures stand in a dockside scene. String lights glow softly over a boardwalk and narrow, cobbled alleys. Wooden kiosks for vendors are scattered and, further in, vending machines of various types.
December 11, 2025 at 7:14 PM
optional.bsky.social
Straightforward.
A tier maker image. Deus Ex is in “S” tier, Betrayal at Club Low “A,” Manhunt “B,” and Invisible War “D.”
December 5, 2025 at 12:06 AM
optional.bsky.social
I like the nonchalant carry of this skull that appears out of a murder well. #optionalplaying
Saga from Alan Wake 2, carrying a moose skull with one hand. Her other arm rests at her side. It’s a rural scene, with her facing a barn in the woods. A sign to her left reads, “No Entry Staff Only.”
November 30, 2025 at 5:51 AM
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100 days of The Hundred Line later and ready to can (not) redo. #optionalplaying
A screenshot from The Hundred Line. Text in a box overlaying a black screen reads, “We finally made it to Day 100.”
November 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
optional.bsky.social
Meanwhile, the outdoors has this going on. I love the literally saturated colors of these petals.
Bougainvillea growing on a fence. There are orange and magenta flowers.
November 14, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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I mostly cruised through the main path of Spooky Express, with one puzzle being the kind that I could solve after going to bed and trying it again. But I was stuck dipping in and out on this one for days... until I just cracked it. Good stuff. #optionalplaying
A screenshot of Final Funfair 18 from Spooky Express. A board with a skull train, tracks, and a single car is set up, with four potential passengers (a vampire, two demons, and a cultist) to navigate.
October 31, 2025 at 7:49 PM
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When I say, “adorable,” this is what I’m talking about. This is emblematic of the event.
The front of an orange t-shirt with text reading “Alhambra Pumpkin Run.” There’s an image of a pumpkin with glasses, sweatbands, running shoes, stick arms and legs, and an open smile set against icons of clocks, signs, and buildings. The pumpkin has sweat drops coming off of it.
October 26, 2025 at 6:40 PM
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Bomb Rush Cyberfunk hews too closely to its inspirations. But I love these psychedelic platforming interludes. #optionalplaying
A screenshot with Red, the lead character of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, grinding a rail on a skateboard. The rail is suspended over nothing, anchored to a floating building. More rails over rockets are ahead, together with cityscapes that have been twisted into spheres. A liquid orange background swirls as a void around these structures.
August 31, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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Played the Lumines demo. I don’t play many demos these days, but c’mon, Lumines. Good news, it’s Lumines!
A results screen from the Lumines Arise demo. Figures float against a night sky and clouds. Time: 12:54.283, 2x2 squares: 339, Max Combo: 2, Max Burst: 44. Score: 35340. S rank.
August 27, 2025 at 1:38 AM
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it isn’t though, is it
A screenshot of analogue’s website. White text reads “The Future is here” over a cyan-yellow-magenta gradient.
August 20, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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Just *four* games I currently have set as "playing" on a backlog tracking site? Hahahahaha
A screenshot of my backlogged, with the "playing tab" displaying Pilotwings 64, Kid Icarus (NES), Koira, Onimusha, The Hundred Line, DK Bananza, Roadwarden, Quake, The Norwood Suite, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Coffee Talk, Cosmic Express, KoF XV, Undertale, Zelda TotK, F-Zero GX, Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy (pixel remaster), Trails, Unavowed, Caves of Qud, and Top Gear 3000.
August 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
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spotted on the way back from run club
A sticker placed at a walk signal for a stop sign. In black on yellow paper, a Hello Kitty is shown lifting weights in a tank top. Text on the shirt reads, “FUCK ICE.” Text on the sign reads, “A fascist worked out today… did you?”
August 15, 2025 at 4:23 AM
optional.bsky.social
“Absolutely crushing it at Pilotwings tonight,” he said to no one in particular. #optionalplaying
August 14, 2025 at 5:17 AM
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Just trying to keep it cool in here.
A photo of the cover of Joe Pass at the Montreaux Jazz Festival 1975. It’s printed on a cardboard sleeve for a vinyl record. Joe Pass is shown in profile, holding his guitar, in a high contrast black and white photograph. “Montreaux” is written in block letters on top of the image. “Pass” is written in smaller cursive font to the right of the image.
August 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM
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This was J.G. Ballard’s review of Alien. It’s not that I agree with it completely, although I do think it demonstrates how to write an interesting review in two paragraphs. I also think that if I’m watching an Alien thing and it doesn’t get what Ballard was after, I’m less interested.
A picture of the two paragraphs on Alien (1979), taken from page 22 of A User’s Guide to the Millennium.
August 13, 2025 at 6:11 AM
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Damn, I found out. But I did do the whole thing!
A dry erase board lying on green turf. A grid with six groups and target times is on the left side of the board. The right reads, “Track Night 3 miles alternating Every 1/2 mile B/w 1/2 MP to ‘steady’ - 400 m jog - 8x 200 @ 3k W/ 200 jog 12
August 7, 2025 at 5:38 AM
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‘Morning, Los Angeles
A photo with palm trees and multi-story buildings set against an overcast sky. A person in a high-visibility vest and helmet is harnessed near the crown of one palm tree, trimming its branches.
July 26, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Hell yesss
Image of a shrink-wrapped Jet Set Radio 25 tee. Still in its package, it’s in the shape (and image of) a spray can. Letters are yellow and green on black.
July 25, 2025 at 9:10 PM
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DK is no longer asking.
A side-by-side image of Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong 64. In the beta, he is shown holding his "coconut gun," depicted as a metallic shotgun. In the final, it's depicted as more of a hollow log with a twig sticking out of it. Both images have DK aiming at the viewer.
July 24, 2025 at 5:54 AM
optional.bsky.social
On my way to the run club
A photo of scaffolding on Wilshire boulevard in Los Angeles. Silhouettes of workers inside the scaffolding are backlit by a soft yellow sunset.
July 18, 2025 at 3:12 AM