Matthew Murray
banner
westernactor.bsky.social
Matthew Murray
@westernactor.bsky.social
Technology journalist and theatre enthusiast. "Flat-foot floogies finish up last; most of them are livin' on spam. That’s why light on my feet is what I am."
I am thrilled to announce that, starting today, I am now working as the Director of Labs, CNET Group, for Ziff Davis. I have been away from Ziff Davis for a long time, and I am very happy to be back, supporting the great work of its fine technology publications.
November 3, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
First time I’m launching a book on Bluesky, so here goes: I’m excited to announce my latest, the Second Edition of Adventure: The Atari 2600 at the Dawn of Console Gaming! Now with homebrews, mods, and more. Available on Amazon in paperback/Kindle: www.amazon.com/dp/195793207... #retrogaming #atari
November 26, 2024 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
A new song by Michael John LaChiusa is always cause for celebration. (Especially when it's sung by Mary Testa.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qivy...
"When I Go" from LaChiusa's "Beautiful Jolie Gabor..." performed by Mary Testa
YouTube video by Transport Group
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2024 at 10:51 PM
@lopatto.bsky.social Hi--is it possible for you to follow me just long enough for me to send you a single private message?
November 25, 2024 at 10:34 PM
If I'm going to have to start using BlueSky more now, is there any way we can get a better (heck, just good) iPad app?
November 22, 2024 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
I’m not sure that counts as nostalgia, though — we were trying to figure out how to write games that approached Infocom’s in sophistication, an ongoing and contemporaneous effort with the last gasp of text driven games like Legend’s.
June 7, 2024 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
New from me: Atari The400 Mini Review for PCMag. Loved it. www.pcmag.com/reviews/atar...
Atari The400 Mini Review
Atari The400 Mini is a highly customizable, faithfully reproduced, 8-bit computer system that lets you play 25 built-in games.
www.pcmag.com
April 8, 2024 at 4:19 PM
Am I the only one who doesn’t love the Bluesky iPad experience?
March 22, 2024 at 11:24 PM
@itsdlevy.me This is potentially relevant to your interests: thehardtimes.net/lists/every-...
March 18, 2024 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
I am very disappointed that no baseball news site has run the headline "Paul McCartney becomes first 81-year-old to pick up stolen bass."
February 16, 2024 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
There are five main couples to follow and hours and hours of music to spread out over ten episodes. Gorgeous period costumes and settings. The length opens the opportunity to expand on the Black characters’ stories. Enough of the music is diegetic so you can ease viewers into the musicality.
February 13, 2024 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
I know there have a been a handful of projects announced that purport to create 10-episode prestige tv mini-series from classic musicals (Oklahoma!, A Chorus Line), and I’ll believe it when I see it, but you know what classic musical would actually make a great prestige series? Show Boat.
February 13, 2024 at 1:51 PM
This, of course, means two things:

(1) I know one thing I'm seeing this summer.

(2) Six straight months of Kleban jokes. Get ready, folks. (Fetish is fine, God knows I have mine, but this is a little too much...)

weathervanenh.org/season/
Season – Weathervane Theatre | New Hampshire
weathervanenh.org
February 3, 2024 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
I’ll never forget my first week of graduate school watching a world-renowned quark-gluon plasma theorist and a string theorist decide they could fix the printer.

It was out of commission for days afterwards until an actual repair tech could get there.
January 27, 2024 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
This Is the Year of the Telegraph Desktop
January 27, 2024 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
When voice radio came out, I bet morse code telegraph operators were like, “Real sysadmins only use the command line!”
January 27, 2024 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
My youngest kid has gotten into Trek thanks to Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds so we looked up the theme songs on YouTube and they lost it over this one. “This?!? This was the show’s theme song?!?”
January 26, 2024 at 2:15 PM
I did theatre in high school, I studied theatre in college, and I have been around theatre a whole lot for most of the years since I graduated.

I have never known any "theatre kids" of the kind some people speak so disparagingly.

Have I just been lucky?
January 10, 2024 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
Space Battle: The Mattel Intellivision and the First Console War is a #1 New Release in the computer nerd category on Amazon! Available now for $14.99 in paperback and $9.99 for Kindle ebook, with hardcover and EPUB versions coming later this week: www.amazon.com/dp/1957932104
January 8, 2024 at 7:37 PM
Given the recent news, it's probably time to post a reminder.

The character's name is either Rose or Madame Rose.
January 5, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
LAY'S: MISERABLE
Carrefour, France’s biggest food retailer, announced it would no longer sell PepsiCo products, which include Lay’s potato chips, because the prices were “unacceptably” high for consumers despite falling inflation.
Major French Retailer Drops PepsiCo Products Over High Prices
Carrefour, a supermarket chain, said the maker of Pepsi, Lay’s and 7-Up was keeping its food “unacceptably” expensive despite falling inflation.
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
I'm excited to announce my latest book, Space Battle: The Mattel Intellivision and the First Console War! www.amazon.com/dp/1957932104/ A love letter and overview of the Intellivision, details on its greatest games, and emulating and collecting for the system today.
January 4, 2024 at 3:38 PM
This is absolutely terrible news. But his attitude about it is inspiring. I hope that everything works out the best it possibly can under the circumstances.
Broadway Veteran Announces ALS Diagnosis : “A Divine Opportunity Disguised as an Impossible Situat...
“Broadway actor Aaron Lazar recently announced that he has been diagnosed with ALS.”
www.onstageblog.com
January 1, 2024 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
quietly deleting my Prigozhin Jet Tracker twitter account
August 23, 2023 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray
I’m excited to announce my latest book, and it's been a long time coming—the Second Edition of Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1957932023
August 17, 2023 at 3:14 PM