Mark Fisher

The Outsider can't stop watching: Dishonored, retromania, and the loop

Through a looping tape structure, this essay traps you in the Outsider’s condition: endlessly replaying the past, celebrating anniversaries, hitting Quick Load instead of moving forward. We live in Simon Reynolds’s ’total archive’ - a Void where the Outsider watches for 4000 years and we can’t stop scrolling. Billie Lurk pressed [ERASE]. Will you?

Home as a Spreadsheet Cell

The tragedy of David Martinez is a blueprint for our future. This essay dissects how the logic of Night City - where homes are spreadsheet cells and life is a subscription - is being built in our world by corporate landlords, threatening our fundamental right to a home.

A split-screen image contrasting Psy's energetic 'Gangnam Style' against a colorful background with a grim, masked guard from 'Squid Game' against a grey wall. Text below reads: 'From Comedy to Tragedy'.

From Gangnam Style to Squid Game: Korea’s tragic dream

From the global comedy of ‘Gangnam Style’ to the brutal reality of ‘Squid Game’. This is the story of a neoliberal dream that became a nightmare.