Mark Sample
Professor of Film, Media, and Digital Studies at a small liberal arts college.
Digital skulduggery and more
☞ https://www.samplereality.com ☜
- I'm pivoting to text
- Remember: "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
- University of Illinois college republicans advocate for executing protesters as “traitors” with art that takes a disturbing killing and makes it even more extreme. dailyillini.com/news-stories...
- The venerable annual Interactive Fiction Competition @ifcomp.org just announced its rules on generative AI for the 2026 competition. Essentially no player-facing text or assets may be created with AI. blog.ifcomp.org/post/80727379135601…
- You don't want to hear the names of 5 classes I took as an undergrad. Depressingly boring. Which is why, I guess, the courses I teach now have names like "Death in the Digital Age," "Monsters," or "Hacking, Remixing, and Design."
- Zarf's Visible Zorker was so cool, glad to see he's giving ALL the Infocom games the same treatment. Support his new Patreon if you can for this non-trivial media archaeological work!
- Replay for the morning crowd: I have launched a Patreon to do Visible Zork 3, followed by all the rest of the Infocom games. One per month. There's an associated Discord for game discussion as we run through them. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/01/the-... www.patreon.com/VisibleZorker
- And oh, while Infocom is on my mind...don't forget you can follow @youarecarrying.bsky.social to see random room descriptions from all the infocom games. And reply 'i' to the bot to see your inventory
- The world is falling apart, but 2026 is the year I finally get my use of Obsidian to stick.
- Stop supporting ed tech or predatory platforms like academia dot edu. Start supporting community-led initiatives like Knowledge Commons (Humanities Commons), built by academics *for* academics.
- 🧵 1/3 Today we’re announcing a new individual membership program, KC Champions, available through our storefront! 💪 Our platform is available free of charge, but we've designed an offering for those who want just a bit extra and who want to help support us. 🔗 about.hcommons.org/2026/01/26/b...
- Reposted by Mark SampleHappy to have some moral clarity at the head of my union these days. Join AAUP. Your dues pay for these legal victories we keep wrapping up and these trainings that have taught a thousand new organizers how to do the work.
- The answer is No
- Reposted by Mark SampleHi friends. I haven’t been around here much and intend to be around here even less going foreward. Mastodon is far from perfect, but if you’re looking for a scholar-run space that promises not to blue-check fascists, we’d love to see you at hcommons.social.
- Saw someone here arguing that George R.R. Martin owes it to his fans to finish his Song of Ice and Fire series. Once you start something, the post argued, you just can't leave fans hanging. 🧵
- Then the post used the analogy of Stephen King's The Green Mile, which was released serially. Once King published the first 4 volumes, he was obligated to his readers to publish the final 2. Hold on, I think Stephen King has something to say about this topic. Lemme see...
- Oh, yeah, this is it. King wrote an entire novel about the pathology of fans demanding their favorite writer cater to their readerly whims. It was called Misery.
-
View full threadIf GRRM finishes The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, awesome! Great! If not, A Song of Ice and Fire joins the crowded ranks of other heralded unfinished works. Again, that's life! (And death!) ((And life!)) Either way, fans, don't be jerks. The world does not exist to fulfill your demands.
- One line of code, or the Ruffle browser extension, and you can get William Poundstone's fantastic 2005 Flash piece "Project for Tachistoscope {Bottomless Pit}" up and running
- Reposted by Mark Sample[This post could not be retrieved]
- Again, I'm working on something I think is so cool that only a few other people will also think is so cool
- How Generative AI Destroys Institutions. Killer opening line: "If you wanted to create a tool that would enable the destruction of institutions that prop up democratic life, you could not do better than artificial intelligence."
- Reposted by Mark Sample[This post could not be retrieved]
- Been thinking a lot lately about Pete Seeger's "My Name is Lisa Kalvelage," the lyrics of which are taken almost verbatim from Lisa Kalvelage's court statement after her arrest for an anti-war protest.
- Ordered some material for a physical computing project. Received a follow-up email saying I'll have to pay a 45% import duty upon arrival. Fuck yeah, this economic policy is working just perfectly.
- I made a Python script to selectively delete your Bluesky posts based on certain criteria (age of posts, number of likes, images or not, etc.). Check it out! github.com/samplerealit...
- Reposted by Mark SampleIMINT #14696 from NROL-82 (EXPERIMENTAL) 1. Quantum Kink Commissary 2. Erotic Astronauts 3. Radioactive Content
- Today I updated my procedurally-generated million-stanza ode to the daily news fugitivetexts.net/acts/
- Pre-ordered!
- I wrote a book with my friend. It's about making video games. @adamledoux.net wrote the forward and @brkeogh.bsky.social blurbed it. It's like thirty dollarydoos. Buy it, won't you? Storytelling for Video Games Using Bitsy: A Guide for Aspiring Designers www.amazon.com/dp/3031893344
- Creepy things at my in-laws' that give my kids nightmares 🧵 1 - a porcelain cat next to an old fruit press
- Creepy things at my in-laws' that give my kids nightmares 2 - dried bunches of ancient herbs and flowers
- Creepy things at my in-laws' that give my kids nightmares 3 - bundles of sticks in a wicker basket
-
View full threadCreepy things at my in-laws' that give my kids nightmares 10 - The Clock (always capitalized, even when spoken)
- While I wish good riddance to 2025, it wasn't exactly a bad year professionally and creatively. A roundup of my last 12 months: samplereality.com/2025/12/31/m...
