Mark Sample
@samplereality.bsky.social
Professor of Film, Media, and Digital Studies at a small liberal arts college.
Digital skulduggery and more
☞ https://www.samplereality.com ☜
Digital skulduggery and more
☞ https://www.samplereality.com ☜
You know what? Probably worth putting into dialogue the two most high profile pieces of banned media of the past two weeks: the video game Horses and the 60 Minutes report on the U.S.'s use of the CECOT prison in El Salvador.
December 23, 2025 at 2:40 AM
You know what? Probably worth putting into dialogue the two most high profile pieces of banned media of the past two weeks: the video game Horses and the 60 Minutes report on the U.S.'s use of the CECOT prison in El Salvador.
Good torrent link here (from the Internet Archive) archive.org/download/60m...
December 23, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Good torrent link here (from the Internet Archive) archive.org/download/60m...
Random shoutout to Tailscale, which creates an encrypted mesh network between your devices. Pretty much changed my workflow for everything, especially after installing on my home router (an Asus router with the aftermarket Merlin firmware).
December 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Random shoutout to Tailscale, which creates an encrypted mesh network between your devices. Pretty much changed my workflow for everything, especially after installing on my home router (an Asus router with the aftermarket Merlin firmware).
I'm working on something so cool that only a handful of other people will also think it's so cool. Again.
December 18, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I'm working on something so cool that only a handful of other people will also think it's so cool. Again.
Taper #15 is out. Each issue contains tiny computational poems centered around a theme. The complete code must be under 2Kb. One of my pieces in the issue is an interactive erasure of Shakespeare's Sonnet 15, in which only half the poem can ever be visible at once.
taper.badquar.to/15/sonnet15....
taper.badquar.to/15/sonnet15....
December 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Taper #15 is out. Each issue contains tiny computational poems centered around a theme. The complete code must be under 2Kb. One of my pieces in the issue is an interactive erasure of Shakespeare's Sonnet 15, in which only half the poem can ever be visible at once.
taper.badquar.to/15/sonnet15....
taper.badquar.to/15/sonnet15....
Fuck these apps with their end-of-year "wraps" and "reviews." They're all just algorithmic data points designed to make us feel so very unique and special as the machine swallows us whole and obliterates everything truly unique about the world.
Plus, you know what? I don't want to relive 2025.
Plus, you know what? I don't want to relive 2025.
December 17, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Fuck these apps with their end-of-year "wraps" and "reviews." They're all just algorithmic data points designed to make us feel so very unique and special as the machine swallows us whole and obliterates everything truly unique about the world.
Plus, you know what? I don't want to relive 2025.
Plus, you know what? I don't want to relive 2025.
Come work with me! My institution is hiring a new library systems/digital services specialist. And what a place to be—we're in the midst of a $100 million library renovation and good things are happening here.
Library Systems & Digital Services Specialist
Davidson’s E.H. Little Library seeks a Library Systems and Digital Services Specialist to support the effective management, maintenance, and continuous improvement of library technology services and i...
fa-exci-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Come work with me! My institution is hiring a new library systems/digital services specialist. And what a place to be—we're in the midst of a $100 million library renovation and good things are happening here.
Check out the latest issue of Taper. I've got two minimal (2Kb) code poems in there, something to do with Shakespeare and something to do with Tarot...
Taper #15: Crossroads is now live!
We have 26 new works of minimalist computational poetry, all created using only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code that is 2048 bytes or less and no external dependencies.
Share and enjoy! taper.badquar.to/15/
#elit #DH #poetry
We have 26 new works of minimalist computational poetry, all created using only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code that is 2048 bytes or less and no external dependencies.
Share and enjoy! taper.badquar.to/15/
#elit #DH #poetry
Taper #15
taper.badquar.to
December 16, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Check out the latest issue of Taper. I've got two minimal (2Kb) code poems in there, something to do with Shakespeare and something to do with Tarot...
Reposted by Mark Sample
I only went and bloody did it. Made a little spot to write about it, too: hetconned.substack.com
“Hetconning (n.) — the deliberate retroactive straight-washing of history to frame queerness as a modern intrusion. A pretext for justifying attacks as a “return” to a world that never existed”
“Hetconning (n.) — the deliberate retroactive straight-washing of history to frame queerness as a modern intrusion. A pretext for justifying attacks as a “return” to a world that never existed”
December 15, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I only went and bloody did it. Made a little spot to write about it, too: hetconned.substack.com
“Hetconning (n.) — the deliberate retroactive straight-washing of history to frame queerness as a modern intrusion. A pretext for justifying attacks as a “return” to a world that never existed”
“Hetconning (n.) — the deliberate retroactive straight-washing of history to frame queerness as a modern intrusion. A pretext for justifying attacks as a “return” to a world that never existed”
already there, tyvm
I will send you to hell.
December 15, 2025 at 3:51 AM
already there, tyvm
Reposted by Mark Sample
13 ways of looking at a gun. 🧵
December 14, 2025 at 1:01 AM
13 ways of looking at a gun. 🧵
Every once in a while I revisit @everest.bsky.social’s awesome directory of tiny tools for creative coding. Instant inspiration: pick a random tool and just play around with it.
tinytools.directory
tinytools.directory
Tiny Tools Directory
A list of small, free, or experimental tools towards joyful digital creation.
tinytools.directory
December 12, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Every once in a while I revisit @everest.bsky.social’s awesome directory of tiny tools for creative coding. Instant inspiration: pick a random tool and just play around with it.
tinytools.directory
tinytools.directory
Hey, look at that, the 2026 site for @iftechfoundation.org's annual @narrascope.org conference on narrative games is live narrascope.org
NarraScope 2026 | A Hybrid Conference on Interactive Narrative
NarraScope is a conference that brings together the writers, developers, scholars, and players of interactive narrative.
narrascope.org
December 10, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Hey, look at that, the 2026 site for @iftechfoundation.org's annual @narrascope.org conference on narrative games is live narrascope.org
A web port of Jason Rohrer's 2007 game "Passage"—heralded by some at the time for its expressive power. Criticized by others for its gender and cultural assumptions. Either way, a lot happens in the 5 minutes and 8 bit game.
Passage (2007)
passage.toolness.org
December 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
A web port of Jason Rohrer's 2007 game "Passage"—heralded by some at the time for its expressive power. Criticized by others for its gender and cultural assumptions. Either way, a lot happens in the 5 minutes and 8 bit game.
Fuck. RIP Raul Malo, one of the greats. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Raul Malo, Golden-Voiced 'Maestro' of the Mavericks, Dead at 60
Raul Malo, the operatic singer and frontman of the country-rock band the Mavericks, has died at age 60.
www.rollingstone.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Fuck. RIP Raul Malo, one of the greats. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Reposted by Mark Sample
Object like uprooted tree drifting over Arizona desert.
December 9, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Object like uprooted tree drifting over Arizona desert.
Looking at the comments on Itch and GOG for HORSES reminds me that one of the biggest problems with video games is video game players.
December 5, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Looking at the comments on Itch and GOG for HORSES reminds me that one of the biggest problems with video games is video game players.
"Horses, the indie game that is too scandalous for either Valve or Epic, is only beyond the pale if you're not familiar with any other art form."
Horses Is Tame
Horses, the indie game that is too scandalous for either Valve or Epic, is only beyond the pale if you're not familiar with any other art form.
aftermath.site
December 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
"Horses, the indie game that is too scandalous for either Valve or Epic, is only beyond the pale if you're not familiar with any other art form."
I finished Horses, and pretty much agree with every thing here. I would add that most Americans seem to be missing the Italian context. Giallo films, Pasolini, and the historical collusion between the church, business, and fascist regime. The game turns out to be a pretty run of the mill critique.
Despite the controversy, Horses is only shocking if you're unfamiliar with the history movies, theater, literature, or basically any art form that does not have stats. aftermath.site/horses-indie-g...
Horses Is Tame
Horses, the indie game that is too scandalous for either Valve or Epic, is only beyond the pale if you're not familiar with any other art form.
aftermath.site
December 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
I finished Horses, and pretty much agree with every thing here. I would add that most Americans seem to be missing the Italian context. Giallo films, Pasolini, and the historical collusion between the church, business, and fascist regime. The game turns out to be a pretty run of the mill critique.
Reposted by Mark Sample
7 cigar shaped objects in the sky early monday morning
December 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
7 cigar shaped objects in the sky early monday morning
Reposted by Mark Sample
Weekend post has animating sprites and Midjourney styles, web arty proc gen and fun ( @samplereality.bsky.social's great 1 Million Random Acts, for instance), game article links, some narrative AI papers (new creative writing bench, couple on style), infovis/ds. arnicas.substack.com/p/titaa-73-a...
TITAA #73: Animated Sprites After Eating
Nano Banana Pro - MJ Style Creator - "Simple" Game Design - CW Benchmarks - Mgrep - Sprite Animation
arnicas.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Weekend post has animating sprites and Midjourney styles, web arty proc gen and fun ( @samplereality.bsky.social's great 1 Million Random Acts, for instance), game article links, some narrative AI papers (new creative writing bench, couple on style), infovis/ds. arnicas.substack.com/p/titaa-73-a...
every single report is found poetry
BRIGHT RED ORBS OF LIGHT IN THE NIGHT SKY. GLASGOW SCOTLAND.
December 2, 2025 at 4:07 PM
every single report is found poetry
One of the many problems with LLMs is that they obscure just how much found text written by humans is out there in the wild, raw text veined with indelible traces of authentic human experience. Like these UFO sightings, as collected by ufologists. (Yes, I made a bot.)
I SAW THREE BIG WHITE LIGHTS MOVING IN A TRIANGLE FORMATION.I TOKE PICTURES.
December 2, 2025 at 4:06 PM
One of the many problems with LLMs is that they obscure just how much found text written by humans is out there in the wild, raw text veined with indelible traces of authentic human experience. Like these UFO sightings, as collected by ufologists. (Yes, I made a bot.)
Schools filling more than two-thirds of their admissions slots through early decision? Fucking ridiculous. ED has got to go.
Meet the Millionaire Masters of Early Decision at Colleges
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Schools filling more than two-thirds of their admissions slots through early decision? Fucking ridiculous. ED has got to go.
New fellowship opportunity at the University of Bergen in Norway for an early career scholar of electronic literature. Check it out!
The 2026 Joseph P. Tabbi Fellowship for International Researchers in Electronic Literature | UiB
www4.uib.no
November 28, 2025 at 11:09 PM
New fellowship opportunity at the University of Bergen in Norway for an early career scholar of electronic literature. Check it out!