writer, critic, & theorist; games & literature; bylines in the LA Review of Books, Gamers with Glasses, Bright Wall/Dark Room; lecturer in media arts & design at the University of Chicago; he/him; read my newsletter, "Critical Theorycraft," at www.patf.io
Patrick Fiorilli
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this is Tyrone Slothrop
hell yeah it is
www.patf.io/marathon-is-...
uhh just one more thing…
New for Patreon subscribers! We have a great time talking through Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space, a zany riff on The Crying of Lot 49's "woman caught in a postal conspiracy" plot. Maybe the adaptation that best captures Pynchon's vibe? Find out: www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-...
Thomas Pynchon, circa 1974: The Wisconsin delegate for the Pulitzer committee says he hates the book! Do you think I'll ever win the Prize?
His buddy: You? Never. Did the “Kenosha” kid?
Listen to the new episode of Pynchon Pals! redcircle.com/shows/3c4720...
This is a nutria! You can learn more about them in our first episode on Gravity's Rainbow! Listen to Episode 14: In which the Pynchon Pals, in their arrogance, thought they could talk through more of the book in three hours (Gravity’s Rainbow Episodes 1.1-1.7) now: redcircle.com/shows/3c4720...
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Patrick Fiorilli
Hey, first feature of the newsletter in @critdistance.bsky.social! Read more at www.patf.io. Very happy to be placed alongside an excellent essay from @gracemachine.bsky.social and @bpmonthly.bsky.social.
Marathon isn't a game about runs, it's a game about building to THE run. Finally unlocking Cryo Archive, I realized how much of Bungie's MMO know-how has gone into making each extraction shooter match feel like a piece of a bigger, more interesting puzzle. The secret ingredient, I think, is time.
Are water splashes really all that important? Ran a class discussion featuring @pippinbarr.bsky.social's always cool "v r 3" water museum recently and started thinking about the cottage industry of videos angrily comparing "little details" and "immersion" across games. www.patf.io/this-is-not-...
"The Runner is from an empire, of a kind, but of no nation in particular. Home is nowhere." @gracemachine.bsky.social on Marathon, up now. bulletpointsmonthly.com/2026/05/13/o...
No Escape from the Tyranny of Virtue 🏴🏳️⚧️🇵🇸
Pynchon Pals - a podcast about finally reading Thomas Pynchon
columbo out of touch thursday
Pynchon Pals - a podcast about finally reading Thomas Pynchon
Pynchon Pals - a podcast about finally reading Thomas Pynchon
Does it matter when a game says something doesn't matter?
This week in my "Video Games and Language" class, we read from Pippin Barr's The Stuff Games are Made Of (available open-access!). It's an ex...
this is what some of you look like in short sleeve button-up shirts
Bullet Points
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True to Bungie's promise, the end-game map makes the game click.
It's taken us a few weeks, but my buddies and I finally earned our way into Marathon's end-game raid map, the Cryo Archive. Our first ...
True to Bungie's promise, the end-game map makes the game click.
It's taken us a few weeks, but my buddies and I finally earned our way into Marathon's end-game raid map, the Cryo Archive. Our first ...
This week: Nostalgia. And lots of other things, to be sure. But, like, a *lot* on nostalgia:
critical-distance.com/2026/05/17/m...
Welcome back readers. There have been some good discussions over the past week about encouraging more longform blogging as a curative to short-form and often-hostile posting-driven discourse. Allow…
