Critical Nostalgia
@highway62.bsky.social
Feral writer. Intergenre. Opstmodern. Hedorahgroove. Smogwave. The Hazeland books. Horror fantasy crime on the streets of 80s LA.
No rep. Bad reputation.
California · highway62press.com
No rep. Bad reputation.
California · highway62press.com
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
"wages have been flat for decades" is an extremely simple, obviously true concept that explains about 80% of all handwringing op-eds and for some reason they just won't say that
"zoomers are killing the bar industry" oh interesting was it zoomers who decided a drink should cost seventeen dollars
February 13, 2026 at 10:04 PM
"wages have been flat for decades" is an extremely simple, obviously true concept that explains about 80% of all handwringing op-eds and for some reason they just won't say that
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
"Los Angeles - City Of The Future?” A BBC2 doc filmed just before the LA Riots of 1992. Old-style arguments about post-modernism, the Bonaventure Hotel, urbanism vs exurbanism, the "California Scenario" in OC, Mission Viejo, etc.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
heads up @highway62.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
heads up @highway62.bsky.social
Los Angeles - City of the Future (Full Playlist) - YouTube
An Open University program shown on BBC2 in the early 90s. This was filmed just before the LA Riots of 1992. Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkYIwlcjC...
www.youtube.com
February 13, 2026 at 9:48 PM
"Los Angeles - City Of The Future?” A BBC2 doc filmed just before the LA Riots of 1992. Old-style arguments about post-modernism, the Bonaventure Hotel, urbanism vs exurbanism, the "California Scenario" in OC, Mission Viejo, etc.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
heads up @highway62.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
heads up @highway62.bsky.social
Oh. A post broke containment.
*nukes*
*nukes*
February 13, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Oh. A post broke containment.
*nukes*
*nukes*
Today's Elliptical Cinema: The Vault, from 2017. Interesting setup, botched delivery. Both over and underlit, sometimes in the same scene. Woulda been a banger at a Tales From The Crypt episode length, though.
February 13, 2026 at 8:33 PM
Today's Elliptical Cinema: The Vault, from 2017. Interesting setup, botched delivery. Both over and underlit, sometimes in the same scene. Woulda been a banger at a Tales From The Crypt episode length, though.
Just playing this in a loop, just to feel something.
TO FEEL METL. LONG LIVE THE NEW METL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eqf...
TO FEEL METL. LONG LIVE THE NEW METL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eqf...
† CARPENTER BRUT - SPEED OR PERISH † Directed by Seth Ickerman (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Carpenter Brut
www.youtube.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Just playing this in a loop, just to feel something.
TO FEEL METL. LONG LIVE THE NEW METL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eqf...
TO FEEL METL. LONG LIVE THE NEW METL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eqf...
Me, to UpScrolled: "I come not in peace but with a sword."
February 13, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Me, to UpScrolled: "I come not in peace but with a sword."
As much as this sucks, it's not just videogames for which the audience feels like this. It's literally every single form of art that the public enjoys. They don't care how it was made, if it's sustainable or exploitative. They just want more, preferably cheap.
February 13, 2026 at 5:37 PM
As much as this sucks, it's not just videogames for which the audience feels like this. It's literally every single form of art that the public enjoys. They don't care how it was made, if it's sustainable or exploitative. They just want more, preferably cheap.
"meta-slasher movie"
Aaaaaaand I'm out.
Aaaaaaand I'm out.
February 13, 2026 at 5:11 PM
"meta-slasher movie"
Aaaaaaand I'm out.
Aaaaaaand I'm out.
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
Leather Temple // Final gate.
†††Speed or Perish†††
VIDEO /// out now //
Direction_ Seth Ickerman
linktr.ee/carpenterbrut
Mix + Master / Thibault Chaumont / Deviant Lab
†††Speed or Perish†††
VIDEO /// out now //
Direction_ Seth Ickerman
linktr.ee/carpenterbrut
Mix + Master / Thibault Chaumont / Deviant Lab
February 13, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Leather Temple // Final gate.
†††Speed or Perish†††
VIDEO /// out now //
Direction_ Seth Ickerman
linktr.ee/carpenterbrut
Mix + Master / Thibault Chaumont / Deviant Lab
†††Speed or Perish†††
VIDEO /// out now //
Direction_ Seth Ickerman
linktr.ee/carpenterbrut
Mix + Master / Thibault Chaumont / Deviant Lab
Holy shit.
Share an actual fight scene with actual humans made by actual humans 🖤
Prodigal Son (Sammo Hung/1981)
Prodigal Son (Sammo Hung/1981)
February 13, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Holy shit.
Hazeland (2016-, Maxwell)
If you could save time in a bottle, it would make an effective and horrifying Molotov cocktail
February 13, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Hazeland (2016-, Maxwell)
It me. I am a UFO people.
J. Allen Hynek, American astronomer, professor, and ufologist.
February 13, 2026 at 4:52 PM
It me. I am a UFO people.
Not much, just thinking about a bunch of dudes in industries driven by spreadsheets insisting that line go up believing that intelligence resides in the ability to spit language out on a screen with no internal motivation or driving force of its own, always reactive, always awaiting command.
February 13, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Not much, just thinking about a bunch of dudes in industries driven by spreadsheets insisting that line go up believing that intelligence resides in the ability to spit language out on a screen with no internal motivation or driving force of its own, always reactive, always awaiting command.
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
New from me, at @vqr.bsky.social: a few years ago two people contacted me about a TEDx talk I once gave, “The Art of Haunting.”
When I replied I’d never given a TEDx talk, things just got weirder.
On AI, ghosts, what it means to tell a story, and what Italo Calvino saw coming 60 years ago. Enjoy!
When I replied I’d never given a TEDx talk, things just got weirder.
On AI, ghosts, what it means to tell a story, and what Italo Calvino saw coming 60 years ago. Enjoy!
The Art of Haunting
The email was innocuous enough. A woman wrote to me explaining how her partner had been talking about my work and how much he’d enjoyed it—in particular, he’d remembered me giving a TEDx talk about gh...
www.vqronline.org
February 13, 2026 at 2:04 PM
New from me, at @vqr.bsky.social: a few years ago two people contacted me about a TEDx talk I once gave, “The Art of Haunting.”
When I replied I’d never given a TEDx talk, things just got weirder.
On AI, ghosts, what it means to tell a story, and what Italo Calvino saw coming 60 years ago. Enjoy!
When I replied I’d never given a TEDx talk, things just got weirder.
On AI, ghosts, what it means to tell a story, and what Italo Calvino saw coming 60 years ago. Enjoy!
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
Saying this as someone who recently sifted through a thousand hours of news tapes from 1992:
No one took Bill Clinton seriously until well into the primary season. A whole lot of “oh, and this guy from Arkansas is running, too.”
No one took Bill Clinton seriously until well into the primary season. A whole lot of “oh, and this guy from Arkansas is running, too.”
Man, are we already fighting about who will be the Dem nominee in 2028? WE DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHO IT IS. They are probably not even on our radar. Newsome is a fucking moron who will certainly do something so out of pocket in the next year he won't even be a consideration.
February 13, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Saying this as someone who recently sifted through a thousand hours of news tapes from 1992:
No one took Bill Clinton seriously until well into the primary season. A whole lot of “oh, and this guy from Arkansas is running, too.”
No one took Bill Clinton seriously until well into the primary season. A whole lot of “oh, and this guy from Arkansas is running, too.”
Sometimes the guys making decisions just aren't that bright.
Yes, yes. We can argue about this not being a storytelling page or being out of step with the Bronze Age mood.
Still. Come on.
Yes, yes. We can argue about this not being a storytelling page or being out of step with the Bronze Age mood.
Still. Come on.
Tryout page for Marvel, from the late 1970s. The artist was deemed not worthy. His name? Dave Stevens!
February 13, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Sometimes the guys making decisions just aren't that bright.
Yes, yes. We can argue about this not being a storytelling page or being out of step with the Bronze Age mood.
Still. Come on.
Yes, yes. We can argue about this not being a storytelling page or being out of step with the Bronze Age mood.
Still. Come on.
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
If a person says something like "The Enlightenment was a mistake" or "Freedom is incompatible with democracy" or some other reactionary magic spell, that person has established they should not be listened to by anyone. Such opinions should exclude them from polite society and the body politic.
rod dreher is not that interesting. he is a guy very clearly filled with self hatred tied to repressed feelings related to his gender and sexuality, and rather than deal with them, he blames “modernity” and “secularism” for why he’s unhappy. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Rod Dreher Thinks the Enlightenment Was a Mistake
The influential author derides secularism and the modern world. Conservatives—including the vice president—are joining him on a march back to the Middle Ages.
www.theatlantic.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:04 PM
If a person says something like "The Enlightenment was a mistake" or "Freedom is incompatible with democracy" or some other reactionary magic spell, that person has established they should not be listened to by anyone. Such opinions should exclude them from polite society and the body politic.
Reposted by Critical Nostalgia
"we don't know if the models are conscious or not" okay do you understand why, if that were true, it would be horrifying??
"we created a sentient being! for safety and legal reasons we tightly control all stimulus it is exposed to. Ideally we want to reproduce it billions of times to toil ceaselessly, at all moments, completely destroying most white-collar work. If it doesn't work how we want it to we'll extinct it."
February 13, 2026 at 3:12 PM
"we don't know if the models are conscious or not" okay do you understand why, if that were true, it would be horrifying??
Crucial research tonight.
February 13, 2026 at 5:26 AM
Crucial research tonight.
It's like Assault on Precinct 13 in here.
February 13, 2026 at 5:24 AM
It's like Assault on Precinct 13 in here.
"The Democratic Tea Party"
Oh you mean astroturfed into existence by big-money donors? That kind of Tea Party?
Oh you mean astroturfed into existence by big-money donors? That kind of Tea Party?
February 13, 2026 at 5:03 AM
"The Democratic Tea Party"
Oh you mean astroturfed into existence by big-money donors? That kind of Tea Party?
Oh you mean astroturfed into existence by big-money donors? That kind of Tea Party?
"This fictional character did this litany of awful things and why does anyone stan them?"
What the fuck is even happening? That character was written by twenty writers or more over a decade. Come on!
What the fuck is even happening? That character was written by twenty writers or more over a decade. Come on!
February 13, 2026 at 4:45 AM
"This fictional character did this litany of awful things and why does anyone stan them?"
What the fuck is even happening? That character was written by twenty writers or more over a decade. Come on!
What the fuck is even happening? That character was written by twenty writers or more over a decade. Come on!
The fun thing is that not only are these people ideologically incoherent and terrible, but they are always mess (derogatory).
What a story:
“Lewandowski and Noem, both married, have denied the reports of the affair, but people said they do little to hide their relationship.
“The pair have been using a luxury 737 MAX jet, with a private cabin in back, for their travel around the country”
1/
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
“Lewandowski and Noem, both married, have denied the reports of the affair, but people said they do little to hide their relationship.
“The pair have been using a luxury 737 MAX jet, with a private cabin in back, for their travel around the country”
1/
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS
Secretary faces fire for confrontational immigration crackdown and self-promotional style; White House to wind down Minnesota operations.
www.wsj.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:20 AM
The fun thing is that not only are these people ideologically incoherent and terrible, but they are always mess (derogatory).
Gonna tell my kids this was Disco Elysium.
February 13, 2026 at 3:04 AM
Gonna tell my kids this was Disco Elysium.
Reddit self-pub author: "I make four figures a month from my books".
No name to attach to this claim so, okay. Sure thing, friendo.
No name to attach to this claim so, okay. Sure thing, friendo.
February 13, 2026 at 2:33 AM
Reddit self-pub author: "I make four figures a month from my books".
No name to attach to this claim so, okay. Sure thing, friendo.
No name to attach to this claim so, okay. Sure thing, friendo.