Death to Realism! 024
Death to Realism! 024
I'm a bit late again this week (apologies!) but to be fair things have been a bit busy. Read on! If you need a refresher on the origin & nature of these bi-weekly updates, check out the first issue before reading on.
What's New?
Following the third Domino Club drop, and after the awards ceremony, I revealed myself as the author of Vault 819, Underground, alongside candle who created the extremely swanky Tape Window System for the presentation. It received the "Andrew Shannon Award for destruction of art in service of a higher purpose," to give an idea of theme. I also wrote up a more in-depth postmortem on the process and feelings/influences/ideas that went into it here. Be sure to check out the other Domino Club games if you haven't already, they're all great.
Coming Soon
Our move is just about finalized (I'll be writing the next issue fully in the new flat!) and I'm slowly but surely working towards a fully revised novel draft. However, the most important forthcoming thing is that Plaintext Distro will be revived for an in-person table at this year's Glasgow Zine Fair! I haven't updated the site to reflect this yet, but will probably do so and send an email to that newsletter sometime this week. What I will print and how the process works mostly remains the same, however! If you have writing, art, anything on DIY tech creativity broadly defined, and can put it in a black and white booklet format, I'll print it and sell it at cost for you at the festival. The festival itself is in early July so please get in touch about this by early June if you're interested so I have time to make the print order.
The Rec Room
Did you know there's a Columbo episode with Johnny Cash as the murderer?? I may be a little behind the Columbo zeitgeist, and way behind the people who were into it the first time, but I have to say I really reccomend this one, and the series in general, just for the amount of strange guys that appear as incidental characters... you don't get that on TV anymore...
This new blog documenting lesser-known multimedia CD-ROMs seems well worth following
I haven't received it yet but I am waiting on the edge of my seat for my copy of this zine to arrive, because bootleg pokemon figures are my passion
And well, it's not for everyone, but ADELTA's Tokusatsu-influenced BL game UUUltra C (18+ link) has been translated into English. I previously enjoyed their work on Hashihime (which I wrote about here), and the premise is right up my alley...
I've Been Reading
The Warehouse, which I mentioned last time, was a really good read on the relationship between worker experience and organizing potential in Amazon warehouses, and it feels newly relevant this week, as well as just being generally relevant to better understanding any workplace that has increased automation and worker surveillance. I've now moved on to my first "big Pynchon" after really loving The Crying of Lot 49, which I've decided will be Bleeding Edge. It's really fun so far.
This article on a networked dating service from the early 90s is fascinating and full of fun information on both the tech and matchmaking traditions of 1989. And while it is specifically focused on Chinese fans, for whom fanfic hubs like Ao3 are blocked, this article on alternative networks for fandom content was ultimately a bit relatable! Finally, I really enjoyed this more personal meditation on feelings of proximity to your artistic idols.
I think that's all I have this bi-week! For new subscribers who have signed on since the last newsletter, you can check out the archive of past issues at any time!
Thank you again for your support,
Emilie