Eric Michael Johnson

@ericmjohnson

Senior Writer/Editor at CBC News, Production Designer at #BlackwaterDnD, academic, TTRPG enthusiast, primate. Unceded territory of Vancouver, BC.

1.896 Folgt2.230 Follower960 Posts

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Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jun 18

Meanwhile, in the Swamps of Sadness.

A boy struggles to pull his horse through a murky green swamp as the Washington Monument can be seen in the distance.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· May 8

A little creation I whipped up for my D&D players. This colossal gibbering mouther opens up to reveal three playable levels. It was a beast to make! Primarily foam and papier-mâché. #DnD5e #DungeonsandDragons #TTRPG

A handsome man stands next to a three-foot tall monster with many yellow eyes, snarling mouths, gangly arms, and other protrusions.

A three-foot tall gibbering mouther, a monster with many yellow eyes, snarling mouths, gangly arms, and other protrusions.

A peak inside one mouth of the gibbering mouther revealing small versions inside.

A miniature display showing heroes battling against ooze creatures as a gibbering mouther descends a bridge that looks like a tongue surrounded by human teeth.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Apr 28

Happy birthday to the universe! 17th-century German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler dated creation to April 27, 4977 BC, by reverse-engineering biblical chronology, historical dates and planetary math. Wrong birthday, but impressive spreadsheet energy. #HistSci

A photoshopped image showing 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler superimposed on a diagram of our solar system.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Apr 21

My talented friend is available for commissions. #TTRPG #DungeonsandDragons #DnD5e #Art www.fiverr.com/auzins/draw-...

A D&D portrait of a young tabaxi artificer and orc monk.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Mar 20

Ep. 117 - Harmful Exchange. My latest D&D terrain creation for @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social The party confronts the evil wizard Eliban, his arcane obelisks, and a legion of ghouls in the city of Yorin. Watch it in action here: youtu.be/pWV6P0TDGwM?... #BlackwaterDnD #DnD5e #DungeonsandDragons #TTRPG

A D&D diorama showing a black tower surrounded by four glowing obelisks that have crushed surrounding structures. A central plaza with autumn-colored trees is being overrun with ghouls. An elvish wizard and huitjin devil look on. 1/4

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Mar 19

In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming — until oil prices spike.

A fake newspaper cover of Weekly World News. It shows a tentacled beast looming over oil tankers with the headline: CTHULHU AGREES TO HELP! USA Makes Pact With Beast To Protect Strait Of Hormuz

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Feb 17

My latest miniature terrain creation for @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social Our heroes travelled into the sinister Castle Voraz to rescue a lich and escape the Famished Lands. Watch it in action here: youtu.be/xXSmILAyyhc?... #BlackwaterDnD #miniatures #terrain #dungeonsanddragons #wargaming #DnD5e #TTRPG

A D&D terrain diorama depicting a dark fortress with gold ornaments and bone-lined stairs. Tentacles emerge from the roof and a bottomless pit sits beneath a lich hovering above wrapped in chains. Piles of corpses surround the pit and green smoke emanates from them. A huge creature made from corpses, a bone snake, two flying wraiths bearing scythes, and a ghoul wielding a bloody cleaver are scattered across the scene. 1/4

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jan 30

This makes me happy.

An elderly white man in a white Team Canada flannel is standing with an attractive young man wearing suit pants and a leather jacket. The young man is raising one leg, which is being held by the elderly gentleman.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jan 28

New job! I’m thrilled to be starting as a Senior Writer and Editor at CBC News. Today’s my first day in the Vancouver office.

A man with glasses, beard, and a suit stands in front of CBC Headquarters in Vancouver.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jan 18

Also I loved this little nod to TNG and Lower Decks. Apparently, this exocomp is named Almond Basket.

The exocomp robot Almond Basket from Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jan 18

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a lot of fun. These two are thoroughly enjoying themselves chewing up the scenery.

Paul Giammati, as the villain Nus Braka, looms over Holly Hunter’s Captain Nahla Ake in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jan 9

If you haven’t seen #Andor yet, I highly recommend it. Make it your nerdy escapism while also paying attention to themes that remain relevant today.

Senator Dasi Oran says, “They don’t even bother to lie badly anymore.” To which Senator Mon Mothma replies, “I suppose that’s the final humiliation.”

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Jan 8

Civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong says Wednesday’s deadly shooting by an ICE agent in Minneapolis proves that immigration officers are terrorizing communities, not making them safer. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

A photo of a concerned woman with a headline that reads, “Minneapolis ICE shooting ‘diabolical and unacceptable’ says civil rights lawyer”

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Oct 24

That’s no ballroom…

A Death Star is under construction where the East Wing of the White House used to be.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Oct 16

David Brooks headlines between 2020 and 2025. Hard to say whether this is tragedy or farce.

David Brooks headlines:

No, Not Sanders, Not Ever

Maybe Bernie Sanders Is Right

I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING

AMERICA NEEDS A MASS MOVEMENT-NOW

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Oct 11

“Yet according to recent estimates, generative AI now accounts for roughly 40 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product. In other words, if the AI spending boom falls apart, it could take down the entire economy with it.”

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Oct 6

Just saw #OneBattleAfterAnother. I loved this movie! It’s as if The Dude was reactivated in Trump’s America. One part manifesto, two parts the importance of found family. Hilarious, thrilling, and very touching. I look forward to seeing it again.

Poster from One Battle After Another showing Leonardo DiCaprio in a bathrobe holding a rifle and framed by members of the resistance and Sean Penn as the military goon set on destroying him.

Title that says “One Battle After Another”

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Oct 5

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 28

I will admit that my own theory of political change has been informed by historical examples where direct action operated in-person to interrupt the status quo. This makes a persuasive case that Internet politics needs to be taken seriously.

Citarella noted that he's been warning, for more than half a decade, that too many people remain under the mistaken impression that "what happens or the internet isn't real." He added that "the professional commentary class" has been particularly insulated from the power of digital discourse, because "they pay attention to the legacy sources of information, and they're just not having the same media-environment experience as most people in the country.

What is needed, Citarella's strategy suggests, is an understanding of a kind of post-internet politics, where, like it or not, online life is embraced as part and parcel of how modern belief systems are formed.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 28

This AP photo shows the truck that rammed into a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan before a gunman opened fire. The truck is draped in American flags. If it carried the flag of any other country, the coverage would scream “terrorism.” Instead, the narrative is: motive unknown.

A fireman carries a fire hose while, behind them, a truck with American flags is seen crashed into a Mormon church.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 26

The Heritage Foundation lied in order to frame the disproportionate victims of gun violence as the perpetrators. www.wired.com/story/herita...

The larger pattern, researchers say, points in the opposite direction: White supremacist, anti-government, and misogynist beliefs account for the lion’s share of ideologically motivated gun violence. Targeting “transgender ideology” as a terrorism category, they warn, confuses identity with ideology, risks licensing violence against anyone who defies gender norms, and shifts attention away from the real drivers of schoolyard violence.

“There are no legitimate studies that suggest that a majority of school shootings since 2015 involve trangender people,” said Rachel Carroll Rivas and R.G. Cravens of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project in an email. “Trans people are far more likely to be victimized by gun violence than to perpetrate it.”

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 22

Fantastic! I recently posted this photo of Curtis Evans, of Evanston, IL, a former Marine, outside of an ICE facility in Broadview on Sept. 19, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Photo of a man, a former marine, holding an American flag surrounded by gas while protesting an ICE facility. A protest sign on the ground reads, “Every ICE agent will be held to account.”

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 20

This is an excellent photograph. Credit and Caption: Curtis Evans, of Evanston, Illinois, a former Marine, carries a U.S. flag through gas deployed by federal officers as they clear protesters from the entrance of the ICE facility in Broadview on Sept. 19, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Curtis Evans, of Evanston, a former Marine, carries a U.S. flag through gas deployed by federal officers as they clear protesters from the entrance of the ICE facility in Broadview on Sept. 19, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 18

February 6, 1939. A headline pulled straight out of today’s news.

Newspaper article: Goebbels Ends Careers of Five Actors Who Made "Cracks" About Nazi Rule

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 15

Hell yeah!

A picture of Mon Mothma with the announcement:
EMMY WINNER
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
DAN GILROY
ANDOR

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 10

Here is my latest miniature set for @blackwaterdnd.bsky.social. The party journeyed to a stronghold in The Divide that was under siege by ghouls. Check it out in action here: youtu.be/YM3b7ZPGFPc?... #BlackwaterDnD #miniatures #miniaturepainting #terrain #dungeonsanddragons #wargaming #DnD5e #TTRPG

A miniature set showing a keep protected by a wooden barricade that has been breached. A dozen ghouls have breached the gates and are wandering around aimlessly as a boat attached to a hot air balloon approaches from the left. 1/4

BlackwaterDnD players Adam Lucas and Jess Lupini at the gaming table as the mini set of a keep under siege by ghouls sits in front of them. Both are smiling and enjoying playing a game with good friends.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 6

Welcome to inaccurate anatomy season!

Two plastic “skeletons” of invertebrate animals: an octopus and a snail.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 5

My music tastes are eclectic. Let’s do this!

Music Ask
1. A song you like with a color in the title
2. A song you like with a number in the title
3. A song that reminds you of summertime
4. A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about
5. A song that needs to be played LOUD
6. A song that makes you want to dance
7. A song to drive to
8. A song about drugs or alcohol
9. A song that makes you happy
10. A song that makes you sad
11. A song that you never get tired of
12. A song from your preteen years
13. One of your favorite 80's songs
14. A song that you would love played at your wedding
15. A song that is a cover by another artist
16. One of your favorite classical songs
17. A song that would sing a duet with on karaoke
18. A song from the year that you were born
19. A song that makes you think about life
20. A song that has many meanings to you
21. A favorite song with a person's name in the title
22. A song that moves you forward
23. A song that you think everybody should listen to
24. A song by a band you wish were still together
25. A song by an artist no longer living
26. A song that makes you want to fall in love
27. A song that breaks your heart
28. A song by an artist with a voice that you love
29. A song that you remember from your childhood
30. A song that reminds you of yourself

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Sep 3

The UK Online Safety Act of 2023 makes it a crime to send online messages about harming someone—even if you weren’t serious—if you were “reckless as to whether an individual encountering the message would fear that the threat would be carried out (whether or not by the person sending the message).”

Text from UK Online Safety Act of 2023:

181
Threatening communications offence
(1) A person commits an offence if-(a)
(c)
the person sends a message (see section 182),
(b) the message conveys a threat of death or serious harm, and
at the time of sending it, the person—
(i) intended an individual encountering the message to fear that the threat would be carried out (whether or not by the person sending the message), or
ii) was reckless as to whether an individual encountering the message would fear that the threat would
be carried out (whether or not by the person sending the message).
(2) "Serious harm" means—
(a)
serious injury amounting to grievous bodily harm within the meaning of the Offences against the Person Act
1861,
(b) rape,
(c)
assault by penetration within the meaning of section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, or
(d) serious financial loss.

Eric Michael Johnson@ericmjohnson· Aug 31

Things aren’t golden in Canada either. In Alberta (Canada’s Texas) they just banned over 200 books, including The Handmaid’s Tale. @margaretatwood.bsky.social had thoughts. www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art...