Last week right before my birthday I got to fly to Kyoto, Japan, visit the Nintendo Museum, interview the creator of Super Mario Shigeru Miyamoto, the head of Illumination Chris Meledandri, and make a very silly video with the cast of the new Super Mario movie Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Donald Glover, Benny Safdie, and Keegan-Michael Key. I also spent hours and hours absolutely losing my mind over ancient Nintendo relics, original production art, old Nintendo toys, games, and tons of other incredible things. They had the hand drawn maps from the first Zelda game, giant playable video game controllers, old Nintendo console prototypes and so, so much more that I’ll be thinking about forever. As a massive lifelong Nintendo fan this was one of the most surreal experiences of my life and truly one of my favorite days ever. Thank you so much to @nintendo_jp and @universalpictures for having me and to @jackblack for singing “Peaches” to me 20 feet from the first playing cards Nintendo ever made in 1889. Articles & videos up now on @igndotcom 🙌
I’ve officially been at @igndotcom for 15 years. FIFTEEN! I’ve met my best friends because of this job. Started a family. Traveled to Germany, Tokyo, Brussels, Norway, and countless other places. Helped make hundreds of hours of shows. Interviewed most of my heroes. Helped script and host dozens of live shows and award shows. Met countless fans. Went swimming with a live alligator. Got Shaq to wear the Infinity Gauntlet. Made Shigeru Miyamoto laugh. Showed Laurence Fishburne my toy collection. Hosted a travel show. Ate a squid ink cheeseburger in Shibuya. Hosted a Hollywood red carpet premier for a Vin Diesel movie. Got my lip split open by Trevor from GTA V. Worked with Key & Peele, Jay & Silent Bob, and The Lonely Island. Laughed so hard I’ve cried more times than I can remember.
Every time I think I’ve seen it all here, my job grows and evolves while the people around me continue to amaze me. I love this place and waking up every day to make cool shit with immensely talented peers will never get old. Thanks for rocking with me. It’s an honor to be here 💜
I can’t believe I’m actually saying this but I got to play Mario Kart with Jack Black, Charlie Day, and Keegan-Michael Key, aka Bowser, Luigi, and Toad in the Super Mario Movie! This is one of my favorite shoots I ever got to work on and sharing this stage with these guys was equal parts incredible and nerve wracking. I think I slept like three hours the night before because I was so excited and nervous. Everything went super smooth, the shoot was fun as hell, and everyone on the production crew was awesome. So how did I do against these comedy legends? Watch the video to find out! Link in bio!
Shout out to @jurrasicrabbit and @bennywatts for joining me on this shoot and editing the videos for @igndotcom and our social channels, as well as just being wonderful people. And thank you to @universalpictures and @nintendoamerica for having us over to play. It’s been very hard to keep this video a secret so I’m ecstatic that I can finally share it. Wahoo!
My pin collection got even better this week thanks to a care package from @fangamercom featuring not one but TWO new Bloodborne pins, plus some really cool pins of Mina the Hollower, Banjo Kazooie, Tunic, and even a Silent Hill flashlight pin that lights up. I’ve been collecting pins for over a decade now. I used to wear them on my leather and jean jackets but I got tired of losing them on my travels so I decided to start keeping them on frames where I can see them every day. I’ve picked up many of these all around the world, from gift shops in Osaka to a weird puppet store in Germany and various video game conventions all over the place. Most of the TMNT ones are from @ninjatoitles and they’re so awesome. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening ones were gifted from a friend who went to PAX West the year that game came out and Nintendo did a scavenger hunt around Seattle to collect them all and they’re some of my most prized possessions. Some of these were gifts from friends, indie game studios, and more. Tons of Star Wars, Mario, and pizza pins, too. I think pins are cool. A few personal favorites here are the vintage Pizza Hut lamp, Beavis and Butthead riding the bike from ET, and the Haribo gummy bear guy. If you know anyone making great pins drop a comment below so I can support them! Thanks again to my friends at Fan Gamer for the new pins and for being one of the only companies making new Bloodborne stuff in 2026!
Showed my kid the 1987 sci-fi action classic film PREDATOR for the first time and then I decided to draw Mr. Predator with Crayola children’s markers. I think Predator means well. Bad rap, mostly. He’s just kinda doing what he knows best as an intergalactic dreadlock lizard guy out looking for friends and challenges, right? Basic hunting fun with a bit of galavanting up in the topiary, you know? We’d all do the same given the chance. I like him. I just want what’s best for him. Anyway I should draw more. It’s relaxing.
Big thank you to @attackpeter for sending me probably my favorite Christmas present, a nine inch tall octopus monster toy named Takoro that he designed. Peter rules and he’s done stuff with Mondo, Skybound, Godzilla, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and selfishly, my personal favorite, my Evangelion remix album cover a few years back. It’s rare that I get a new toy and say “holy shit” as soon as I free it from its packaging but this one is so awesome and will be on permanent display in my home. Go follow @attackpeter and support his awesome artwork. Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you got some cool stuff too!
This is Claude, an albino alligator at the @calacademy in San Francisco. He passed away this week after being a staple at this place for the last seventeen years, just about as long as I’ve been living in the Bay Area, visiting the California Academy of Sciences, and seeing Claude hanging out in the water.
For the past seven years I’ve done daddy/daughter day trips to this place and watching my kid light up and stare in awe at this amazing alligator was always a highlight. I took her to see him about a month ago and he was surrounded by huge banners celebrating his 30th birthday and hanging out just a few feet from a gift shop that sold Claude plushies, t-shirts, and more. You know, like an amazing alligator. While we were watching him a mother walked up to us with her three kids and said “You know that’s a fake alligator? It’s just a statue.” Now generally I try to stay out of these things but I love Claude so I said “Why would they hang birthday banners for a statue? He’s real. That’s a real alligator.” She went to argue with me and just that second Claude started moving his arms and legs and swimming across his pool and all of her kids jumped up and said “he’s real!”
So thank you for all the memories, Claude. I’ll miss you and so will kids everywhere. You were a real one 🤍🐊🤍
Got a really fun Super Mario 40th anniversary retrospective video coming soon for @igndotcom ! And another one for Metroid! And a bunch of other cool stuff before this year ends! Never let your parents tell you that video games are a waste of time!
Just a happy guy who brought home a 1983 Mario Bros arcade marquee sign, a big spicy pizza, and other various oddities he found at the thrift stores. To be clear the pizza was from a restaurant. Don’t ever eat thrift store pizza.
BOO! I’ve wanted a @rsvlts and @generalmillscereal Monster Cereal collab for years and I’m so happy it’s finally a real thing, especially with the vintage cereal box art! I’ve loved Count Chocula and his monstrous and marshmallowy breakfast friends since I was a kid so this thing rules. Thank you to my friends at RSVLTS for the new drop. Pairs well with my apron when I make pizzas on Halloween!
Spent my Sunday morning building the new LEGO Game Boy and it might be my new favorite LEGO set. Multiple cartridges, display stands, swappable lenticular screens, all the buttons have a nice little click to them, and the instruction manual has a history lesson on the original Game Boy and two of its games. A really fun little build for $50. As someone who got the original Game Boy for Christmas the year it launched and has been obsessed with Nintendo handhelds since, building this with my kid today was awesome.
Also now I have a LEGO version of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, my favorite game of all time.
