Ben McKenzie / is on Nostr

Not the one on Gotham. Performer, writer, game designer, ginger. Based in Naarm (aka Melbourne). Hosts the #Pratchat podcast; stars in time travel radio comedy #NightTerrace; wrote VR tabletop game #TableOfTales: The Crooked Crown.

Last Notes

2024-12-08 04:26:05

I’m usually pretty savvy and careful with online stores but I just spent around $80 on a collection of epubs that, once downloaded, I realised were almost certainly shitty pirated copies. This was from a legit-seeming website, but had I spent about five more seconds looking at it, I’d have seen all kinds of red flags.
Thankfully it seems more a straight-up piracy operation than a credit card harvesting one but still. A reminder that we can all make mistakes and making a fake storefront takes less time than ever.
(Don’t buy from horrorandthriller.com.)

2024-11-02 05:15:54

A radio show or #podcast I will likely never have the resources to make:
“Weirdo Reverse” (working title).
Every episode I interview a musician about the experience of being parodied by “Weird Al”, before inviting them to cover one of his songs.

2024-08-07 23:59:09

Podcasters who are starting out (and indeed podcasters who’ve been going for some time), for the love of my ears, please: edit.
Edit out coughing, edit out silence where you Google something, if you make a mistake and do a bit again, please edit out the first take.
Please. Respect your audience. A podcast is not live, take advantage of the post-production process even just a little bit.

2024-03-22 09:33:54

If there are no Maitlands in #BeetlejuiceBeetlejuice I think I’m out. They’re the heart of the film!
Also if we’re taking bets on Jenna Ortega’s next project, I’ll have $100 on Heathers: The Next Generation.

2024-03-19 20:48:36

I’ve never been one for pocket squares but in this fifth year of bloody global pandemic I have at last found a use for my breast pocket. (Only when it’s safe not to have it on my face, of course.)
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/112/124/317/732/718/180/original/6e4ddfcbfcbc41ac.jpeg

2024-03-02 06:08:43

This is your annual reminder that the .com website for #InternationalWomensDay is run by a PR firm, not the UN, and makes up a bullshit corporate theme every year. Don’t fall for it.
The official UN Women theme is on their website; this year it’s “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”. #IWD2024
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/announcement/2023/12/international-womens-day-2024-invest-in-women-accelerate-progress

2024-02-24 06:24:59

Okay, so I don’t think someone just tried to scam me; but a guy just showed up with no notice to put draft strips on my door and new shower heads in my bathrooms. Working for a seemingly legit company who specialises in this stuff, but appearing on a Saturday with no notice, apparently at the request of the body corporate (we’re in a unit, and he seemed to be intending to do every unit, but didn’t know anything about the layout of the place beforehand).
Is this allowed? I can find guidelines for what we need to do if we change stuff, and how much notice landlords and agents have to give for inspections etc, but surely they have to let us know about this stuff so we are prepared to let someone in?
(In this case, the guy was pleasant and polite and wearing a lanyard, but that’s not exactly hard to fake, and it’s not like I have anything to check his credentials against. He took photos of the installation using an official looking app on his phone, but that seems standard for this sort of thing these days. He didn’t ask for any money or access to any parts of the house that seemed weird. The main thing that made me wonder if it was a scam or a cover is that he never once acknowledged it was weird or apologised for the fact that I didn’t know he would be coming.)

2024-02-12 09:20:24

What’s your favourite episode of a straight up interview #podcast? I’m looking for examples of a great interviewer and guest. Ideally minimal editing and not two white dudes, and bonus points for a show produced in Australia.

2024-01-06 21:19:43

Last year while looking for a book about witches I read C. M. Waggoner’s The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry. It took me a little while to get into the rhythm of it but by the end I loved it more than any #book by a new author I’ve read in years.
Imagine my joy to find there was an earlier book set in the same world, though both are standalone novels.
I’m not even halfway through Unnatural Magic but I am loving it so much as well. It’s charming and witty and inventive; there’s a slightly Austen-esque air to it, but it’s a fantasy universe with quite different cultures (the trolls are great) and wonderfully nerdy mathematical magic and I love the main characters. Oh and this one has murders!
Seriously, do yourself a favour, as we say, and check them out. I don’t know why more folks aren’t singing Waggoner’s praises, and I hope there are more books in future; but these two are treasures.
#bookstodon #fantasy
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/111/711/091/119/242/377/original/ad77ea57f2a17ad5.jpeg

2023-10-25 03:37:44

There’s something immensely satisfying about successfully timing an errand requiring a walk up the road in between two rain showers.