Get in here before we both starve!

In all the RSS retooling I forgot to mention that the original site feed (no comments, no marginalia) has changed. If you follow Ascent Stage in a newsreader and you want this feed please make sure to subscribe to https://www.ascentstage.com/atom.xml. All other feeds are at the bottom of the home page.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
Mission Elapsed Time: 20:00:21:06:42:40
Recently this blog (and my Flickr account) turned 20 years old, forever in Internet years. I went back through it all, retracing digital footprints made on what feels like a different planet. Here are some highlights.
The Terror Tourist
A roughly monthly exploration of places in horror fiction — real or imagined, geographical or psychological — culled from The Heavy Leather Horror Show.
Subscribe to the podcast or the email newsletter or just read through the archives posted here.
The Ampcamper
How I hauled myself, two teens, an 80 lb dog, and a whole load of crap 4000+ miles across six states in twenty days using an electric vehicle. And survived to tell the tale.
Latest Photos
Marginalia
Stuff I’ve found interesting from around the web lately.
The Bureau of Linguistical Reality
Alicia Escott’s artistic thinking focuses on grappling with what it is to live a human life amid a moment that is profoundly rare in the geologic and ecologic history of the planet.
Baby Steps | 2024 | PlayStation 5 and PC
Coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in 2024! https://babystepsgame.com Play as Nate, an unemployed failson with nothing going for him, until one day he discovers a power he never knew he had… putting one foot in front of the other. Explore a world shrouded in mist, one step at a time. Hike the serene
A Mystery in the Shape of a Book
On a gravel road outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming, I stood before a Little Free Library painted the colors of the Pride flag.
A Memorandum from the Newly Established Department of Grammar Efficiency
The federal Government is eliminating inefficient grammar. NO ONE understands how to properly use an em-dash or semicolon. Therefore, those types of punctuation are now ELIMINATED to protect hard-working American Citizens from further confusion. YOUR WELCOME.
What does Maga-land look like? Let me show you America’s unbeautiful suburban sprawl
In 1941 Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist who reported from Germany in the lead-up to the second world war, wrote an essay for Harper’s about the personality types most likely to be attracted to Nazism, headlined “Who Goes Nazi?” “Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what
Bad at Goodbyes
On today’s show we learn about the Casey’s Larkspur, a critically endangered perennial herb native to the Kyrenia Mountains in northern Cyprus, an island in the east of the Mediterranean sea. Please find us on the web at Bad at Goodbyes and on instagram.
Yes, Paris has its own bicycle hearse and so does the United Kingdom
In the burgeoning bicycle city of Paris, France, those looking for a more gentle, environmentally friendly funeral service now have the option of a hearse powered by a cargo bike.
The Retro Subway Map That Design Nerds Love Makes a Comeback
When it comes to the New York City subway, what once was old is new again.
Bringing Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities to life with AI
If you’ve ever read Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, it is not your typical book about urban landscapes.
The Public Domain Cinematic Universe Edition
Rex Sorgatz (RS) wrote the very popular Key Art Edition. We are happy to have him back. Rex here. The year was 1998, and people on the internet were mad at Disney. But it wasn’t wokeism or bloated cinematic universes or theme park prices that had them riled up.