Reader
readdead.com
Reader
@readdead.com
I write about the literature and history that inspired the game Red Dead Redemption 2 over at readdead.com. Octavia, she/her. (You may know me from Toast Twt or Twitch.)
just read the line "why be serious about a game?" (Chaucer). the universe is just trolling me now
November 10, 2025 at 11:09 PM
me when I illegally fire employees for union membership and then remember the employees make the actual product
November 6, 2025 at 10:12 PM
@enwright.bsky.social something tells me you're exactly as surprised as I am by Rockstar's latest shenanigans ...
November 6, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Reader
lol
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Figured out one of the last allusions I really wanted to identify last night while researching something on the map apparently totally unrelated. RDR2 is such a web
November 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Love Scrivener, but its inability to format a simple outline is about to launch me into the crashout of the century
November 5, 2025 at 5:36 AM
I ain't watching all that
November 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Reader
Dan Houser (co-founder and former Head Writer and VP of Creativity at Rockstar) acknowledges the critical role workers have had in the success of Rockstar’s titles, yet Rockstar is engaging in one of the most ruthless acts of union-busting in UK video game history.

www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
November 1, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Reader
The biggest choice on today's ballots in PA is whether to retain 3 Democratic supreme court justices. The push to remake the court has been driven by billionaire Jeff Yass.

In 2022, @propublica.org detailed how Yass had avoided paying $1B in taxes and funneled that money to right-wing causes:
Meet the Billionaire and Rising GOP Mega-Donor Who’s Gaming the Tax System
Susquehanna founder and TikTok investor Jeff Yass has avoided $1 billion in taxes while largely escaping public scrutiny. He’s now pouring his money into campaigns to cut taxes and support election de...
www.propublica.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
the feminine art of typing "[whatsitcalled]" in your draft because if you tab out to look up the name your focus is cooked
October 30, 2025 at 4:19 PM
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In the quest for "biological truth," the Trump admin discounts the very real biological truth that some men do get breast cancer

Now it'll be harder for male veterans diagnosed w/the rare but deadly cancer to get VA coverage

always read @ericumansky.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/vete...
Citing Trump Order on “Biological Truth,” VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage
A Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica erects new roadblocks to care for veterans with the rare but deadly cancer. The agency cites no new science but relies on an executive orde...
www.propublica.org
October 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
RIP to Dr. Greg Newby. I used Project Gutenberg a lot writing this project, and I'll forever be grateful that that resource exists.
October 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Once again, I smile politely and refrain from writing "YOU'D THINK SOMEONE WHO STUDIED GEOGRAPHY AT OXFORD WOULD KNOW THIS BTW" in an essay
October 21, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Reader
Corals are disappearing, pushing Earth to its first major ‘tipping point’

grist.org/oceans/coral...

#Ocean #Coral #Climate #Heat #Reefs #Environment
Corals are disappearing, pushing Earth to its first major ‘tipping point’
A new report says Earth has reached a dire milestone with the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs. It's not too late to save what remains.
grist.org
October 20, 2025 at 11:09 PM
"Around here, they don't even like men voting"
The thing is that conservatives DO love having a king. That was like a whole bit in Sideshow Bob Roberts
October 20, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Working on site updates, but they're gonna take a while because WordPress block theme editor is so, so indescribably bad.
October 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Reader
I’m over here trying to enjoy PSLF and this comes across my screen. Sigh. IGN claims his classes are “a world first.” FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, EVERYONE!!!! NEVER BEEN DONE BY ANYONE EVER!!!!

Meanwhile, I and many others have been doing this for a decade or more.
ign.com IGN @ign.com · Sep 19
University of Tennessee students will have the chance to study up on the Grand Theft Auto franchise in 2026. The class will be led by history professor Tore Olsson, the same educator that taught a Red Dead Redemption class in 2021. bit.ly/47StbPi
September 19, 2025 at 7:09 PM
just got an email warning me, amongst other things, that "long paragraphs" may be hurting the site's "AI Search Health." regret to announce all paragraph breaks on Read Dead will be deleted forthwith
October 15, 2025 at 10:24 PM
found a basic grammatical error in one of these essays. I will take the only reasonable course of action: firing the whole site into the sun
October 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I'm working on fine-tuning my interpretation of RDR2's map in real-world equivalents, and the more I do, the weirder it becomes to me that someone with a geography degree did this
October 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
going over RDR2 cutscenes is both beautiful and painful, because there are so many little details I want to point out, and I can only cram so many gifs/photos in one post
October 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
just had the thought "Dutch is kind of giving manic pixie dream girl" so!!! edits are going well
October 6, 2025 at 8:20 PM
oh, JUST $620!! thank god groceries are so affordable rn, too, right?
ign.com IGN @ign.com · Oct 6
Sony's very expensive PS5 Pro is much cheaper with this renewed deal at Amazon, with $130 off right now.
Amazon Has Dropped Its Range of PS5 Pro Refurbs to Just $620 for Prime Day
bit.ly
October 6, 2025 at 5:40 PM
you know, it's amazing that Alien: Romulus was the first genuinely good entry in the franchise since 1979, and now we're doing Alien: Earth, which is *deeply* committed to being mid and boring
October 6, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Reposted by Reader
Mario Guevara has been detained by ICE for more than 100 days in retaliation for his reporting — even though a judge ordered his release on bond.

An immigration court just ruled Mario could be deported at any moment. ICE must free him now.
Free Mario Guevara
ICE detained journalist Mario Guevara for over 100 days for his reporting, despite orders that he be released on bond. Now, an immigration board has issued a final removal order - and he could be deported at any minute.
action.aclu.org
September 24, 2025 at 6:22 PM