Ben McKenzie
@benmckenzie.com.au
He/him performer, writer, educator, game designer and ginger on Wurundjeri Country (aka Melbourne, Australia).
I make the book club podcast Pratchat, time travel radio comedy Night Terrace, games and more.
The doco about cryptocurrency was the other guy.
I make the book club podcast Pratchat, time travel radio comedy Night Terrace, games and more.
The doco about cryptocurrency was the other guy.
I learned years ago that there’s always a double rainbow, but the second one is much fainter. You can usually see it if you know to look. I saw one this morning.
“Look for the second rainbow” feels like an aphorism, but “when you see a good thing, look for another one” doesn’t feel very profound…
“Look for the second rainbow” feels like an aphorism, but “when you see a good thing, look for another one” doesn’t feel very profound…
September 8, 2026 at 10:28 PM
I learned years ago that there’s always a double rainbow, but the second one is much fainter. You can usually see it if you know to look. I saw one this morning.
“Look for the second rainbow” feels like an aphorism, but “when you see a good thing, look for another one” doesn’t feel very profound…
“Look for the second rainbow” feels like an aphorism, but “when you see a good thing, look for another one” doesn’t feel very profound…
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Melbourne! Do you love kinky queer smut as much as you love mossy green forests? Do you want to attend a church invented by a tired, middle aged artwitch, sexworker and weirdo? Come to Dirt Church! www.melbournefringe.com.au/whats-on/eve...
September 8, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Melbourne! Do you love kinky queer smut as much as you love mossy green forests? Do you want to attend a church invented by a tired, middle aged artwitch, sexworker and weirdo? Come to Dirt Church! www.melbournefringe.com.au/whats-on/eve...
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
if people were genuinely interested in preparing children for an “inevitable future” they’d be stopping global warming and solidifying concrete pathways to homeownership, not teaching kids how to play with Claude The Guessing Toy
September 7, 2026 at 2:18 AM
if people were genuinely interested in preparing children for an “inevitable future” they’d be stopping global warming and solidifying concrete pathways to homeownership, not teaching kids how to play with Claude The Guessing Toy
Avery Alder has made some of the most interesting and influential RPGs of the last decade or so.
My fave is The Quiet Year. I just bought her recent sitcom game, Going for Broke. (I’m hoping to play it with my comedy students!)
If you’ve never played or read her games, now’s a great time.
My fave is The Quiet Year. I just bought her recent sitcom game, Going for Broke. (I’m hoping to play it with my comedy students!)
If you’ve never played or read her games, now’s a great time.
Do you love any of the games that I have created?
Whether it's Monsterhearts, Dream Askew, The Quiet Year, Going For Broke, or a deeper cut, now would be a great time to hit quote-tweet and tell your friends about it! It's been a slow month. 💕✨
store.buriedwithoutceremony.com
Whether it's Monsterhearts, Dream Askew, The Quiet Year, Going For Broke, or a deeper cut, now would be a great time to hit quote-tweet and tell your friends about it! It's been a slow month. 💕✨
store.buriedwithoutceremony.com
Buried Without Ceremony
My name is Avery Alder, and for the past eighteen years I’ve been designing tabletop roleplaying games. These are games about community, relationships, doubt, queerness, and the collapse of civilizati...
store.buriedwithoutceremony.com
August 26, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Avery Alder has made some of the most interesting and influential RPGs of the last decade or so.
My fave is The Quiet Year. I just bought her recent sitcom game, Going for Broke. (I’m hoping to play it with my comedy students!)
If you’ve never played or read her games, now’s a great time.
My fave is The Quiet Year. I just bought her recent sitcom game, Going for Broke. (I’m hoping to play it with my comedy students!)
If you’ve never played or read her games, now’s a great time.
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Dolly Parton's family asked that, in lieu of flowers, fans make a donation to the singer's Imagination Library.
Here's what the charity does ⬇️
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Here's what the charity does ⬇️
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Turning Pages: Inside Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
Core team of 15 staff and thousands of volunteers and partners help the country-music philanthropist deliver books to kids around the world.
www.rollingstone.com
August 25, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Dolly Parton's family asked that, in lieu of flowers, fans make a donation to the singer's Imagination Library.
Here's what the charity does ⬇️
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Here's what the charity does ⬇️
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Nearly every Australian engages with arts and culture. Politicians should pay attention
theconversation.com/nearly-every...
theconversation.com/nearly-every...
Nearly every Australian engages with arts and culture. Politicians should pay attention
Governments at all levels often assume arts funding is not electorally popular. New data shows they are wrong.
theconversation.com
August 24, 2026 at 4:44 AM
Nearly every Australian engages with arts and culture. Politicians should pay attention
theconversation.com/nearly-every...
theconversation.com/nearly-every...
Great to see the other Ben McKenzie doing local media about the documentary, just as we’ve released the episode of @bridgertonpod.bsky.social where I appear as a guest and mention it…
www.bridgertonpod.com/episodes/59-...
www.bridgertonpod.com/episodes/59-...
August 23, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Great to see the other Ben McKenzie doing local media about the documentary, just as we’ve released the episode of @bridgertonpod.bsky.social where I appear as a guest and mention it…
www.bridgertonpod.com/episodes/59-...
www.bridgertonpod.com/episodes/59-...
Optimist: the cup is half full
Pessimist: the cup is half empty
Creative arts teacher: who filled the cup? What were their influences? Where is the cup from? Is that really water? What does your own cultural capital help you understand about it? Reflect on your experience of the cup in 800 words.
Pessimist: the cup is half empty
Creative arts teacher: who filled the cup? What were their influences? Where is the cup from? Is that really water? What does your own cultural capital help you understand about it? Reflect on your experience of the cup in 800 words.
August 22, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Optimist: the cup is half full
Pessimist: the cup is half empty
Creative arts teacher: who filled the cup? What were their influences? Where is the cup from? Is that really water? What does your own cultural capital help you understand about it? Reflect on your experience of the cup in 800 words.
Pessimist: the cup is half empty
Creative arts teacher: who filled the cup? What were their influences? Where is the cup from? Is that really water? What does your own cultural capital help you understand about it? Reflect on your experience of the cup in 800 words.
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Now free to read for all subscribers.
For Extra Credit, my Field Notes on the episode (and the days since), as I think about how the sausage is made, & what happens when an academic navigates a little bit of nerd notoriety.
Exclusive to Extra Credit for two weeks, free to read thereafter.
Exclusive to Extra Credit for two weeks, free to read thereafter.
Field Notes: Adventuring Academy | Dr. Em Friedman
Hello! You may be wondering how a professor gets on Adventuring Academy. I "met" Brennan in 2022, when I was writing for Polygon and Dropou
www.patreon.com
August 17, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Now free to read for all subscribers.
Writer and artist friends, I get it, changing platforms is daunting. But Substack has a number of longstanding serious problems and you don’t need to use it.
This site by @seankilleen.com has more info and options for alternatives, and if you need help, reach out.
leavesubstack.com
This site by @seankilleen.com has more info and options for alternatives, and if you need help, reach out.
leavesubstack.com
You Should Probably Leave Substack
You should probably leave Substack. Here’s why and how.
leavesubstack.com
August 11, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Writer and artist friends, I get it, changing platforms is daunting. But Substack has a number of longstanding serious problems and you don’t need to use it.
This site by @seankilleen.com has more info and options for alternatives, and if you need help, reach out.
leavesubstack.com
This site by @seankilleen.com has more info and options for alternatives, and if you need help, reach out.
leavesubstack.com
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Teaching a summer class on fixing everything that's wrong....in your first five pages. I know. I wish I could teach you how to fix everything that's wrong in the damn universe. But I can definitely help your manuscript kick some serious ass. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/firs...
Craft Seminar: The First Five Pages: Making A Beginning That Sells Your Book with Maria Dahvana Headley — The Shipman Agency
4 Sessions: Thursdays, August 6, 13, 20, 27 6:00-8:00pm ET Maria Dahvana Headley Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times -bestselling, Hugo , and World Fantasy Award-winning author...
www.theshipmanagency.com
July 29, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Teaching a summer class on fixing everything that's wrong....in your first five pages. I know. I wish I could teach you how to fix everything that's wrong in the damn universe. But I can definitely help your manuscript kick some serious ass. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/firs...
GNU Bill Oddie.
In the liner notes for a Goodies anthology, he (jokingly) wrote: “I would like to thank the other two Goodies, but I really can’t: it would have been so much easier without them.”
It’s a little harder without you, Bill. But what a life, and now you return to the nature you loved.
In the liner notes for a Goodies anthology, he (jokingly) wrote: “I would like to thank the other two Goodies, but I really can’t: it would have been so much easier without them.”
It’s a little harder without you, Bill. But what a life, and now you return to the nature you loved.
July 27, 2026 at 10:13 PM
GNU Bill Oddie.
In the liner notes for a Goodies anthology, he (jokingly) wrote: “I would like to thank the other two Goodies, but I really can’t: it would have been so much easier without them.”
It’s a little harder without you, Bill. But what a life, and now you return to the nature you loved.
In the liner notes for a Goodies anthology, he (jokingly) wrote: “I would like to thank the other two Goodies, but I really can’t: it would have been so much easier without them.”
It’s a little harder without you, Bill. But what a life, and now you return to the nature you loved.
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains… I mean, how could I stop at just one? (There are many more.)
July 26, 2026 at 10:02 AM
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains… I mean, how could I stop at just one? (There are many more.)
I gave up on the game (too much AC nonsense) but when working on a pirate game myself, I listened to the sea shanty soundtrack on repeat for months.
I’m sure I read that the singers got slightly drunk before recording so they’d be slurred and occasionally just a little off key. I hope that’s true.
I’m sure I read that the singers got slightly drunk before recording so they’d be slurred and occasionally just a little off key. I hope that’s true.
July 18, 2026 at 3:01 PM
I gave up on the game (too much AC nonsense) but when working on a pirate game myself, I listened to the sea shanty soundtrack on repeat for months.
I’m sure I read that the singers got slightly drunk before recording so they’d be slurred and occasionally just a little off key. I hope that’s true.
I’m sure I read that the singers got slightly drunk before recording so they’d be slurred and occasionally just a little off key. I hope that’s true.
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Hey folks! To cover some big legal costs related to my mum's passing, I've decided to make all Weird Age's titles 50% off for July only! You can check out a full bundle here:
Weird Age Games Half-Price Sale by Weird Age Games
A bundle by Weird Age Games, $73.37 for 14 games
itch.io
July 13, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Hey folks! To cover some big legal costs related to my mum's passing, I've decided to make all Weird Age's titles 50% off for July only! You can check out a full bundle here:
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
Games Not (Only) By Cis-Dudes 🧵
(list in progress I keep on my phone & pasting here)
* Apocalypse World
* For the queen
* The quiet year
* Yazeba’s bed and breakfast
* Seven part pact
* Kagematsu & A single man
* Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife
* Steal Away Jordan
* A Mending
* Field guide to memory
(list in progress I keep on my phone & pasting here)
* Apocalypse World
* For the queen
* The quiet year
* Yazeba’s bed and breakfast
* Seven part pact
* Kagematsu & A single man
* Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife
* Steal Away Jordan
* A Mending
* Field guide to memory
This year I wanna play more RPGs written or created by women or mostly women teams, indies and self-promo extremely welcome. Please drop your recs below, I need help to find hidden gems 🙏 Also looking for one-shot games 👀
July 16, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Games Not (Only) By Cis-Dudes 🧵
(list in progress I keep on my phone & pasting here)
* Apocalypse World
* For the queen
* The quiet year
* Yazeba’s bed and breakfast
* Seven part pact
* Kagematsu & A single man
* Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife
* Steal Away Jordan
* A Mending
* Field guide to memory
(list in progress I keep on my phone & pasting here)
* Apocalypse World
* For the queen
* The quiet year
* Yazeba’s bed and breakfast
* Seven part pact
* Kagematsu & A single man
* Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife
* Steal Away Jordan
* A Mending
* Field guide to memory
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
i accidentally let a bookmarking program I subscribe to lapse, meaning I lost a bunch of links I bookmarked for research, which is annoying. Can anyone remember a recent article or piece of research that looked at anti-queer bias in mainstream media?
July 14, 2026 at 4:27 AM
i accidentally let a bookmarking program I subscribe to lapse, meaning I lost a bunch of links I bookmarked for research, which is annoying. Can anyone remember a recent article or piece of research that looked at anti-queer bias in mainstream media?
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
This is pretty well known, but the Australian flag Sam Neill wore on his uniform in Event Horizon was designed at his request to show the Union Jack replaced with the Aboriginal flag, because he hoped in the future this is how it would actually look. A proper fucken ally in every way, this bloke.
July 13, 2026 at 6:35 AM
This is pretty well known, but the Australian flag Sam Neill wore on his uniform in Event Horizon was designed at his request to show the Union Jack replaced with the Aboriginal flag, because he hoped in the future this is how it would actually look. A proper fucken ally in every way, this bloke.
Reposted by Ben McKenzie
I call for a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand as we mourn one of the very best human beings of the past century, who also happend to be quite a dab hand at acting. Mine is one of so many broken hearts the world over - what a fucking mensch.
July 13, 2026 at 6:15 AM
I call for a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand as we mourn one of the very best human beings of the past century, who also happend to be quite a dab hand at acting. Mine is one of so many broken hearts the world over - what a fucking mensch.
GNU Sam Neill.
Two whole countries are broken hearted today I reckon.
Two whole countries are broken hearted today I reckon.
July 13, 2026 at 10:54 AM
GNU Sam Neill.
Two whole countries are broken hearted today I reckon.
Two whole countries are broken hearted today I reckon.
Do I know anyone using the “slow social media” app Roost?
It sends messages via virtual “pigeons” (various unlockable birds and other creatures) which take variable amounts of time to arrive, based on a speed stat and users’ actual distance.
It sounds cute. But I’ve no-one to send messages to.
It sends messages via virtual “pigeons” (various unlockable birds and other creatures) which take variable amounts of time to arrive, based on a speed stat and users’ actual distance.
It sounds cute. But I’ve no-one to send messages to.
July 5, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Do I know anyone using the “slow social media” app Roost?
It sends messages via virtual “pigeons” (various unlockable birds and other creatures) which take variable amounts of time to arrive, based on a speed stat and users’ actual distance.
It sounds cute. But I’ve no-one to send messages to.
It sends messages via virtual “pigeons” (various unlockable birds and other creatures) which take variable amounts of time to arrive, based on a speed stat and users’ actual distance.
It sounds cute. But I’ve no-one to send messages to.
I am very proud of our time travel audio comedy #NightTerrace. I think it’s very good and funny, and you can get it here:
nightterrace.com
I don’t plug it often because we’ve been struggling to finish a third season for many years. But I’d love more folks to enjoy the first two seasons.
nightterrace.com
I don’t plug it often because we’ve been struggling to finish a third season for many years. But I’d love more folks to enjoy the first two seasons.
Night Terrace
An award-winning science fiction comedy series for your ears!
nightterrace.com
July 4, 2026 at 2:56 AM
I am very proud of our time travel audio comedy #NightTerrace. I think it’s very good and funny, and you can get it here:
nightterrace.com
I don’t plug it often because we’ve been struggling to finish a third season for many years. But I’d love more folks to enjoy the first two seasons.
nightterrace.com
I don’t plug it often because we’ve been struggling to finish a third season for many years. But I’d love more folks to enjoy the first two seasons.
Finally, I can see the more famous Ben McKenzie’s film! Tempting to get up at 4 AM to ask a question…
PRE-ORDER to STREAM my movie about how crypto is dumb and bad NOW @: everyoneislying.com
July 4, 2026 at 2:04 AM
Finally, I can see the more famous Ben McKenzie’s film! Tempting to get up at 4 AM to ask a question…
I’ve been trying to learn the current state of Bandcamp, but there’s very little reporting since the union-busting of 2023. All I can find from the last year are one subscriber-only Substack post, and one AI-written guide to using it from a generic “advice for musicians” website.
Anyone know more?
Anyone know more?
July 4, 2026 at 1:40 AM
I’ve been trying to learn the current state of Bandcamp, but there’s very little reporting since the union-busting of 2023. All I can find from the last year are one subscriber-only Substack post, and one AI-written guide to using it from a generic “advice for musicians” website.
Anyone know more?
Anyone know more?
I don’t even know if we have Intersection at PAXAus (I’ve not been able to go since pre-Pandemic) but “welcome home” has to apply to everyone if it’s to mean anything. That means proper support, especially now, especially in the US. I hope the PAX folks see that.
With the nightmares for QTBIPOC in the United States right now, it is so so telling that @officialpax.bsky.social has decided that 2026 is the year to cut support and funding for The PAX Intersection & its PTI programs that made a PAX safer & life changing event for devs & attendees of color alike.
June 30, 2026 at 11:00 PM
I don’t even know if we have Intersection at PAXAus (I’ve not been able to go since pre-Pandemic) but “welcome home” has to apply to everyone if it’s to mean anything. That means proper support, especially now, especially in the US. I hope the PAX folks see that.