mikebarthel.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

mikebarthel.bsky.social

Writer, critic, researcher. Fiction in a bunch of places. Writing a speculative novel and a book for DUP “Singles” about “Party in the USA.” Ex-Pew, Awl, blogs. mikebarthelauthor.com

2,529 posts 1,724 followers 779 following

Posts 28 Comments 22

Long dissociative fugue where I pictured what it would be like to party with Barron Trump.

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

From an AmPol 101 perspective the weirdest thing about the current moment is that Republicans in Congress and SCOTUS are happily giving up their own individual power. Checks and balances assumed no rational person would do that. It’s like the right achieved collective consciousness.

submitted 22 hours ago • 3 comments

Someone used a grumpy flow chart I made on Tumblr 14 years ago to make a point about AI, so yeah, you could say I’m “concerned about my legacy.” www.tumblr.com/aorish/78674...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

I can’t quite justify paying $75 for Albini’s copy of the first MOTO cassette, but somebody should! www.stevealbiniscloset.com/stuff/p/moto...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

there's a nearly complete run of The Stalker for sale on the Albini estate site...people get called a hater for some mean posts these days, but that can't hold a candle to publishing multiple issues of a zine dedicated to talking about how much a band sucks www.stevealbiniscloset.com/stuff/p/stal...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

I randomly watched Kimi on a plane and was like “this is incredible and no one told me to watch this and he just makes one of these a year?”

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Exciting evening here as the kids found a bird but realized it couldn’t fly, so they came and got me. I coaxed it into a box and called animal control, who picked it up for treatment. (My wife asked “this isn’t a Bluey budgie situation, is it?” It was not.)

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Tortoise / Oganesson (Saul Williams Remix) @intlanthem.bsky.social youtu.be/-XtyqrzHZTE?...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

This is, it feels like deliberately, echoing the old patriotic propaganda “The Man Without a Country.” (Also, he was arrested after they took away his dog, Miss Sassy Pants.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 3 days ago • 19 comments

Fandom is great because when I saw PJ Harvey last year and she sang this, a song I have loved with all my heart for twenty years but never heard live, I could cry a little bit with happiness. youtu.be/py74Vbspc4M?...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

I finally like a Blood Orange song! He only had to put The Durutti Column on it! Everyone should put The Durutti Column on their songs!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

If you, like me, love “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” but haven’t heard much other Penderecki, you’re gonna flip for “Kanon.” open.spotify.com/track/5gLz8G...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

i wrote too many video game and D&D jokes so now when i try to tell people herbal tinctures and elixirs have really helped me with my severe anxiety and panic attacks they don't believe me.

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Kudos to Roland for making this deeply stupid thing I desperately want to buy. youtu.be/mcwUKJT4U6Q

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Extremely cross with Black Mirror for doing a beautifully sweet episode with Paul Giamatti and then not being able to come up with a poignant solo cello piece that’s actually played by a solo cello! That is at least two and maybe three cellos there, Black Mirror Guy!

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

SimCity 40,000

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Today (6/25/25) marks the first day I heard someone discuss optimizing a website for AI and search by ChatGPT.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Wondered why Sherman had the middle name “Tecumseh,” and ended up face to face with this horrifying factoid. CUMP?!

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

Not a movie guy, but here’s my ballot of half-failed experiments.

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

“Where is Iran? No one can say for sure. Some say it’s between Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East. Others say it’s in Germany, or Brazil. And one man, for some reason, thinks it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

“Where is Iran? No one can say for sure. Some say it’s between Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East. Others say it’s in Germany, or Brazil. And one man, for some reason, thinks it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Bluesky should flag anyone posting from the eastern US right now as “likely very grumpy.”

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

I helped my apartment building set up a smart thermostat for our boiler to be more energy efficient, and now I’m getting these increasingly unhinged emails from the company.

Long dissociative fugue where I pictured what it would be like to party with Barron Trump.

From an AmPol 101 perspective the weirdest thing about the current moment is that Republicans in Congress and SCOTUS are happily giving up their own individual power. Checks and balances assumed no rational person would do that. It’s like the right achieved collective consciousness.

Someone used a grumpy flow chart I made on Tumblr 14 years ago to make a point about AI, so yeah, you could say I’m “concerned about my legacy.” www.tumblr.com/aorish/78674...

I can’t quite justify paying $75 for Albini’s copy of the first MOTO cassette, but somebody should! www.stevealbiniscloset.com/stuff/p/moto...

there's a nearly complete run of The Stalker for sale on the Albini estate site...people get called a hater for some mean posts these days, but that can't hold a candle to publishing multiple issues of a zine dedicated to talking about how much a band sucks www.stevealbiniscloset.com/stuff/p/stal...

I randomly watched Kimi on a plane and was like “this is incredible and no one told me to watch this and he just makes one of these a year?”

Exciting evening here as the kids found a bird but realized it couldn’t fly, so they came and got me. I coaxed it into a box and called animal control, who picked it up for treatment. (My wife asked “this isn’t a Bluey budgie situation, is it?” It was not.)

Tortoise / Oganesson (Saul Williams Remix) @intlanthem.bsky.social youtu.be/-XtyqrzHZTE?...

This is, it feels like deliberately, echoing the old patriotic propaganda “The Man Without a Country.” (Also, he was arrested after they took away his dog, Miss Sassy Pants.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man...

Fandom is great because when I saw PJ Harvey last year and she sang this, a song I have loved with all my heart for twenty years but never heard live, I could cry a little bit with happiness. youtu.be/py74Vbspc4M?...

I finally like a Blood Orange song! He only had to put The Durutti Column on it! Everyone should put The Durutti Column on their songs!

If you, like me, love “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” but haven’t heard much other Penderecki, you’re gonna flip for “Kanon.” open.spotify.com/track/5gLz8G...

i wrote too many video game and D&D jokes so now when i try to tell people herbal tinctures and elixirs have really helped me with my severe anxiety and panic attacks they don't believe me.

Kudos to Roland for making this deeply stupid thing I desperately want to buy. youtu.be/mcwUKJT4U6Q

Extremely cross with Black Mirror for doing a beautifully sweet episode with Paul Giamatti and then not being able to come up with a poignant solo cello piece that’s actually played by a solo cello! That is at least two and maybe three cellos there, Black Mirror Guy!

SimCity 40,000

Today (6/25/25) marks the first day I heard someone discuss optimizing a website for AI and search by ChatGPT.

Wondered why Sherman had the middle name “Tecumseh,” and ended up face to face with this horrifying factoid. CUMP?!

Not a movie guy, but here’s my ballot of half-failed experiments.

“Where is Iran? No one can say for sure. Some say it’s between Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East. Others say it’s in Germany, or Brazil. And one man, for some reason, thinks it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

“Where is Iran? No one can say for sure. Some say it’s between Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East. Others say it’s in Germany, or Brazil. And one man, for some reason, thinks it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”

Bluesky should flag anyone posting from the eastern US right now as “likely very grumpy.”

I helped my apartment building set up a smart thermostat for our boiler to be more energy efficient, and now I’m getting these increasingly unhinged emails from the company.

Pulp - “Grown Ups” (2025)

Was doing some writing about The Leftovers and this came on.