Eric Michael Johnson
@ericmjohnson.bsky.social
Senior Writer/Editor at CBC News, Production Designer at #BlackwaterDnD, academic, TTRPG enthusiast, primate. Unceded territory of Vancouver, BC. https://linktr.ee/EricMichaelJohnson
The latest Resident Evil, from writer-director Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons), is grotesque, comedic fun. It starts tense and grounded, like Netflix’s excellent zombie series Black Summer, before escalating into full-blown creature horror, with effects clearly inspired by The Thing. 8/10 #Filmsky
September 28, 2026 at 4:01 AM
The latest Resident Evil, from writer-director Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons), is grotesque, comedic fun. It starts tense and grounded, like Netflix’s excellent zombie series Black Summer, before escalating into full-blown creature horror, with effects clearly inspired by The Thing. 8/10 #Filmsky
Reposted by Eric Michael Johnson
everyone who's ever joined in an online pile on should read this.
September 26, 2026 at 3:17 PM
everyone who's ever joined in an online pile on should read this.
I haven’t kept up with martial arts and Hong Kong action films since the early work of John Woo, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. But The Furious is pure adrenaline-fueled madness. Exhausting and exhilarating. And who doesn’t love a plucky duo taking on a billionaire pedophile ring? The Raid is next.
September 26, 2026 at 8:35 PM
I haven’t kept up with martial arts and Hong Kong action films since the early work of John Woo, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. But The Furious is pure adrenaline-fueled madness. Exhausting and exhilarating. And who doesn’t love a plucky duo taking on a billionaire pedophile ring? The Raid is next.
In my latest for CBC, I wrote about a new Statistics Canada wastewater report showing stark differences in drug use across Canadian cities:
- Meth and cocaine were highest in Prince Albert;
- Halifax had low meth but high cocaine;
- Fentanyl remained far higher in Metro Vancouver than elsewhere.
- Meth and cocaine were highest in Prince Albert;
- Halifax had low meth but high cocaine;
- Fentanyl remained far higher in Metro Vancouver than elsewhere.
From fentanyl to meth: Canada's drug picture changes city by city | CBC News
New StatCan data shows sharply different drug-use patterns across eight Canadian cities, with methamphetamine elevated in parts of the Prairies and Moncton, cocaine comparatively high in Halifax and f...
www.cbc.ca
September 26, 2026 at 6:55 PM
In my latest for CBC, I wrote about a new Statistics Canada wastewater report showing stark differences in drug use across Canadian cities:
- Meth and cocaine were highest in Prince Albert;
- Halifax had low meth but high cocaine;
- Fentanyl remained far higher in Metro Vancouver than elsewhere.
- Meth and cocaine were highest in Prince Albert;
- Halifax had low meth but high cocaine;
- Fentanyl remained far higher in Metro Vancouver than elsewhere.
Reposted by Eric Michael Johnson
BREAKING: Judge Timothy Kelly (Trump/DC) orders White House to restore credentials to POLITICO/CNN/MSNOW reporters. Kelly 'skeptical' Trump's decision to revoke the passes had anything to do with national security. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
CNNPOLMSOrder092426.PDF
www.documentcloud.org
September 24, 2026 at 5:24 AM
BREAKING: Judge Timothy Kelly (Trump/DC) orders White House to restore credentials to POLITICO/CNN/MSNOW reporters. Kelly 'skeptical' Trump's decision to revoke the passes had anything to do with national security. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
A clip from my interview with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social about why fantasy matters when reality seems overwhelming. youtu.be/_8zC3WkhsGQ?...
Brennan Lee Mulligan on the power of story — and why story alone isn't enough
YouTube video by CBC News
youtu.be
September 8, 2026 at 7:32 PM
A clip from my interview with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social about why fantasy matters when reality seems overwhelming. youtu.be/_8zC3WkhsGQ?...
Why are thousands paying to watch D&D live? I spoke with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social about actual play, authenticity and visibility. My CBC News feature also includes @ecfriedman.com, Abdul Aziz, @jesslupini.bsky.social and @emcarlson.bsky.social of @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social. #TTRPG #DnD5e
What makes watching people play D&D live so compelling? | CBC News
The growing world of "actual play" is taking tabletop role-playing games from living rooms and online streaming to sold-out theatres. Performers and scholars say its appeal lies in the unpredictabilit...
www.cbc.ca
September 8, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Why are thousands paying to watch D&D live? I spoke with @brennanleemulligan.bsky.social about actual play, authenticity and visibility. My CBC News feature also includes @ecfriedman.com, Abdul Aziz, @jesslupini.bsky.social and @emcarlson.bsky.social of @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social. #TTRPG #DnD5e
Reposted by Eric Michael Johnson
Read some words I said, and some words said by people a lot cooler than me! Great article by @ericmjohnson.bsky.social about the upcoming endless dungeon show in Vancouver! www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...
What makes watching people play D&D live so compelling? | CBC News
The growing world of "actual play" is taking tabletop role-playing games from living rooms and online streaming to sold-out theatres. Performers and scholars say its appeal lies in the unpredictabilit...
www.cbc.ca
September 8, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Read some words I said, and some words said by people a lot cooler than me! Great article by @ericmjohnson.bsky.social about the upcoming endless dungeon show in Vancouver! www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...
Ep. 133: Hard to Forget. My latest terrain creation for @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social in which Best Wishes finally comes face-to-face with Harkuun, the Living Memory. #BlackwaterDnD #DnD5e #DungeonsandDragons #miniatures
September 3, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Ep. 133: Hard to Forget. My latest terrain creation for @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social in which Best Wishes finally comes face-to-face with Harkuun, the Living Memory. #BlackwaterDnD #DnD5e #DungeonsandDragons #miniatures
It’s finally getting cool enough to bust out my socks.
August 30, 2026 at 1:24 AM
It’s finally getting cool enough to bust out my socks.
I got a few shots of the partial lunar eclipse tonight.
August 28, 2026 at 6:39 AM
I got a few shots of the partial lunar eclipse tonight.
Reposted by Eric Michael Johnson
They are careful to highlight that a key issue is not his intellectual freedom to engage academically in controversial subjects but his ad hominems&avowed intention to specifically cause harm to others. Anyone willing to die on the hill of academic/intellectual freedom over this is on the wrong hill
Here is the full suspension letter from UGent that was sent to Nathan Cofnas, it shows ample reason for his suspension and potential termination. Including breach of contract, using the University of Ghent’s name and legitimacy to promote his racial supremacist views and causing reputational damage.
August 22, 2026 at 6:43 PM
They are careful to highlight that a key issue is not his intellectual freedom to engage academically in controversial subjects but his ad hominems&avowed intention to specifically cause harm to others. Anyone willing to die on the hill of academic/intellectual freedom over this is on the wrong hill
This is an excellent short documentary about the rise of conspiracy culture and how it has been monetized in the social media era. That system has now turned on some of its early adopters, as seen in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s killing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnNw...
Who Killed Charlie Kirk? How conspiracy theories sparked a MAGA civil war
YouTube video by MS NOW
www.youtube.com
August 8, 2026 at 1:29 AM
This is an excellent short documentary about the rise of conspiracy culture and how it has been monetized in the social media era. That system has now turned on some of its early adopters, as seen in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s killing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnNw...
I enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It was more serious, even somber at times, and traded the usual big-bad formula for something more nuanced. Destin Daniel Cretton (who directed the excellent Shang-Chi movie) built the story around its characters, and the result felt refreshingly grounded.
August 2, 2026 at 12:28 AM
I enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It was more serious, even somber at times, and traded the usual big-bad formula for something more nuanced. Destin Daniel Cretton (who directed the excellent Shang-Chi movie) built the story around its characters, and the result felt refreshingly grounded.
Centuries before The Odyssey was composed, the palace world that inspired it had vanished. A new study suggests repeated severe drought added pressure as those societies collapsed. My latest for CBC News: www.cbc.ca/news/science...
#Climate #Archaeology #SciComm #TheOdyssey
#Climate #Archaeology #SciComm #TheOdyssey
How drought shaped the Bronze Age world that inspired The Odyssey | CBC News
A new climate study suggests centuries of drought added pressure to the Bronze Age societies that inspired Homer's The Odyssey, revealing how environmental stress, food insecurity and failing trade ne...
www.cbc.ca
July 29, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Centuries before The Odyssey was composed, the palace world that inspired it had vanished. A new study suggests repeated severe drought added pressure as those societies collapsed. My latest for CBC News: www.cbc.ca/news/science...
#Climate #Archaeology #SciComm #TheOdyssey
#Climate #Archaeology #SciComm #TheOdyssey
I started my day talking to a climate scientist in Sweden and an archaeologist at her dig in Turkey. How’s your morning going?
July 27, 2026 at 6:16 PM
I started my day talking to a climate scientist in Sweden and an archaeologist at her dig in Turkey. How’s your morning going?
Just saw The Odyssey in IMAX. The hype is real: it’s extraordinary. It stays remarkably close to the book while drawing one key character from The Aeneid and the wider mythic tradition. A seemingly unfilmable epic, made compelling without abandoning its core story. A remarkable achievement. #Filmsky
July 26, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Just saw The Odyssey in IMAX. The hype is real: it’s extraordinary. It stays remarkably close to the book while drawing one key character from The Aeneid and the wider mythic tradition. A seemingly unfilmable epic, made compelling without abandoning its core story. A remarkable achievement. #Filmsky
“There are different archipelagos of the fandom, but what unifies each and every one of them is that they are very responsive to calls to action from the people who are there watching and feeling that they’re in community with,” said @friede.bsky.social, an English professor at Auburn University.
D&D players raise millions in real-life campaign against ‘corporate elite’
Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Dungeons and Dragons push is part of a wider trend using tabletop games for political action
www.theguardian.com
July 18, 2026 at 11:01 PM
“There are different archipelagos of the fandom, but what unifies each and every one of them is that they are very responsive to calls to action from the people who are there watching and feeling that they’re in community with,” said @friede.bsky.social, an English professor at Auburn University.
The same eugenic rhetoric was directed at people fighting for a 40-hour work week and labor protections. In 1891, Lombroso said they showed “characteristics of degeneracy common to criminals.” In 1895, Max Nordau wrote that the acts of revolutionists and anarchists were “attributable to degeneracy.”
Miller: "It's not a coincidence that when you look at these violent Antifa demonstrations not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person. Not one looks normal. They're all deformed in some way in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism." #cdnpoli
July 18, 2026 at 10:24 PM
The same eugenic rhetoric was directed at people fighting for a 40-hour work week and labor protections. In 1891, Lombroso said they showed “characteristics of degeneracy common to criminals.” In 1895, Max Nordau wrote that the acts of revolutionists and anarchists were “attributable to degeneracy.”
Stanley Kubrick anticipated U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth more than 62 years ago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Kv...
Dr. Strangelove - Precious Bodily Fluids
YouTube video by poolitics
www.youtube.com
July 18, 2026 at 12:06 AM
Stanley Kubrick anticipated U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth more than 62 years ago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Kv...
My latest for CBC News: “At the top of a 6,739-metre Andean volcano, where the air is thin, temperatures are almost always below freezing and humans struggle to survive, a tiny leaf-eared mouse has made itself at home — dining on toxic plants.” #scicomm #sciencenews #evolution
The world's highest-dwelling mammal is smaller than your hand | CBC News
At the top of a 6,739-metre Andean volcano, where the air is thin, temperatures are almost always below freezing and humans struggle to survive, a tiny leaf-eared mouse has made itself at home — dinin...
www.cbc.ca
July 11, 2026 at 7:13 PM
My latest for CBC News: “At the top of a 6,739-metre Andean volcano, where the air is thin, temperatures are almost always below freezing and humans struggle to survive, a tiny leaf-eared mouse has made itself at home — dining on toxic plants.” #scicomm #sciencenews #evolution
Reading had a good run. RIP @rosehorowitch.bsky.social writes the post-mortem.
The End of Reading Is Here
Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.
www.theatlantic.com
July 11, 2026 at 4:03 AM
Reading had a good run. RIP @rosehorowitch.bsky.social writes the post-mortem.
Writing in @sciencenews.bsky.social, @beebrookshire.bsky.social writes about a fascinating new paper arguing that a 1611 Renaissance painting may have documented a bat catching and eating a songbird — more than 400 years before scientists formally recognized the behaviour.
A discovery about this bat’s diet was hiding in a Renaissance painting
Renaissance painter Jan Brueghel the Elder painted a bat eating a bird — 400 years before scientists would document the behavior.
www.sciencenews.org
July 11, 2026 at 3:31 AM
Writing in @sciencenews.bsky.social, @beebrookshire.bsky.social writes about a fascinating new paper arguing that a 1611 Renaissance painting may have documented a bat catching and eating a songbird — more than 400 years before scientists formally recognized the behaviour.
Reposted by Eric Michael Johnson
Reposted by Eric Michael Johnson
This Fossil Might Be the Earliest Known Case of Face-Stabbing in Human History gizmodo.com/this-early-h...
This Fossil Might Be the Earliest Known Case of Face-Stabbing in Human History
If the researchers' hypothesis is correct, the fossil represents the earliest known instance of an injury caused by something sharp.
gizmodo.com
July 10, 2026 at 6:41 PM
This Fossil Might Be the Earliest Known Case of Face-Stabbing in Human History gizmodo.com/this-early-h...