Great piece from a great journalist.

Did a lot of teaching this year and not a lot of writing, but kept a newsletter stacked with author interviews and ran an essay on Denis Johnson to close out the year. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...

Really amazing the extent to which even the biggest and most politically favored industries in the United States are oafish 19th-century style scams being run by blowhard hucksters and ideologues with no coherent ideology. The One Weird Trick economy. powering-the-planet.ghost.io/less/

Did a lot of teaching this year and not a lot of writing, but kept a newsletter stacked with author interviews and ran an essay on Denis Johnson to close out the year. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...

I spent far too much time this summer and then the past few months digging into Denis Johnson and I figured it was time I wrote an essay on what I think makes him special. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...

It was a tough year, but I was grateful to everyone who let me share their stories & to my colleagues @rollingstone.com Here are a few LA Fires: archive.is/n2Oh9 Nathan Fielder: archive.is/fQsFQ ICE takes over DC: archive.is/XHA0a LA Protests: archive.is/8DY2o Melissa Hortman: archive.is/11eT9

I spent far too much time this summer and then the past few months digging into Denis Johnson and I figured it was time I wrote an essay on what I think makes him special. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...

I met Melissa Hortman in October of 2024. She was smart and kind. I heard about her murder in a LA hotel room and it dropped me to my knees. So I went to Minnesota and talked to her kids, parents, and friends. This is not true crime, this is Melissa in real life. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

We’re stupid.

Darts is one of the wildest sporting events you can watch/attend. I love the energy. I also one wrote about it and what winning this crazy tournament means for @esquiremag.bsky.social www.esquire.com/sports/a4607...

I started watching The New Yorker doc and my wife came and sat down and said, “you should write for them” as if it was no big deal. I told her it was an honor to get multiple kind rejections for pitches. She has never seen my inbox or how many pitches I’ve sent because I’ve never had to heart…

This is insane from the Celtics, who should not be this good.

Imagine how many free throws Jaylen Brown would take if he played for the Lakers.

“Salah accused Liverpool of throwing him under a bus. The Egypt international made sure that everyone else at Liverpool – the club’s hierarchy, head coach and even teammates he professed to love – would be under it with him.” www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Would love someone to inform Arne Slot that Cody Gakpo should be on the bench.

"I recently spoke with Santa Claus, who is currently coordinating his staff of immortal blue-collar elves, about the morality of children and his friendship with a creature whom many carolers consider a war criminal: Krampus." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

Jaxson Dart is the real life version of J.D. McCoy and that’s probably not great for the Giants.

In observance of the holiday I'm offering a subscription to Hell World today for the same price as usual. Thanks www.welcometohellworld.com#/portal

lol that’s funny. If I learned anything in this business it’s never about what you do or don’t do and who you know. Carl Bernstein and Nora Ephron’s kid isn’t getting in trouble.

I wrote 4000 words about Nuzzi/Lizza/RFK, please read it before it gets taken down by HR

The thing phones have ruined for a lot of people is the joy of reading a book/magazine in a waiting room, specifically the doctor’s office. Nothing relieves the tension more or helps drown out the terrible daytime/evening television better

Would love a first.

Look, I need all the screengrabs because I’m not paying for Lizza to buy another brownstone or something.

Weird decisions, poor play in key areas from players like Salah and Isak, and a weird decisions not to just run through Wirtz, who has been excellent despite a narrative. Also, losing second balls. Second balls matter more than first ones because it’s the one where the action comes from.

The Dem establishment didn’t like him and now he and the movement in the city that he grew won’t be covered as much, it’s a political win.

I’ve been trying to write about Denis Johnson for a while and I’m close. But, for now, before you watch Train Dreams please read the novella. It’s one of the most profound and beautiful books I can ever remember opening. I devoured it three times in short succession.

While Turnstile gets a lot of rightful praise, the most interesting hardcore band is another Baltimore one and it’s Angel Du$t. A wild discography that shatters every norm and expectation.

Hey Worcester, are there any clothing donation places that are specifically looking for professional - type clothes? Rather than just dumping them in a generic donation bin? I'm giving up on my pre-Covid suits.

For my newsletter, I wrote about Olivia Nuzzi and the older men who have taken advantage of her her whole life. www.burnsnotice.com/olivia-nuzzi...

Imagine letting all of the accomplished and tremendous journalists and editors at Teen Vogue go so you can fit a Nuzzi under the Condé Nast payroll.

Remind me why these people keep getting jobs over more qualified writers and reporters? (Still stuck one the Carl Bernstein and Nora Ephron kid getting to write the profile for the times too.)

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around an essay about teaching high school and what I’ve learned about kids and not only LLM but also that they can get any answer they want with an internet search and how they can’t tell the difference or find answers any other way.

When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein. Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.

Hey you, keep going! You have to do this for the rest of your life anyway!

Hi, if you’re thinking: “we need more stuff like Nuzzi” I’d say open your email to my good pitch about the things going on today.

I will no doubt read and enjoy all your very good Nuzzi jokes, but I also want to say earnestly, so many of us (myself included) are on the verge of being pushed out of this industry and it's genuinely so dispiriting to see the worst among us, ethics-wise, get such preferential treatment.

Hi editors, you can hire me to write better stories and I won’t fall in love with my subjects and lie about it and break all the journalism rules you tell everyone are important. I also don’t live or need to live in Malibu.

The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social www.404media.co/ai-generated...

Would be nice to hold him accountable and stop blaming Wirtz when the only time you got the ball out of your own half was when it went through him.

Wirtz isn’t Liverpool’s issue, it’s Mo Salah (and Konate and Mac Allister)

Beyond Man City, other clubs which profit directly from emirati patronage should ask themselves some inconvenient questions; and if they do not of their own accord, we fans should be pressuring them into doing so. These other clubs very much include Arsenal FC. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Columbus Crew’s elimination means Darlington Nagbe has played his final game. Salute to a certified legend.

Since folks are talking a lot about democratic socialism this week, just gonna re-up this thread on how MLK voiced religious support for democratic socialism — but most folks aren't aware of when he did so most explicitly. That was in an obscure, little-known speech he gave in Frogmore, SC in 1966.

While the election results come in, maybe take a moment to read my interview with Delaney Nolan about her debut novel Happy Bad, which deals with out climate disaster future, the pharma industry and outpatient facilities for young women. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...

Worcester, always bucking the trend. It’s like we hate our own city, especially on Election Day.

Look, the Zohran kill shot was him sitting with the people at the Knicks game. Done and dusted.

While the election results come in, maybe take a moment to read my interview with Delaney Nolan about her debut novel Happy Bad, which deals with out climate disaster future, the pharma industry and outpatient facilities for young women. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...

Who would’ve bet Gary Neville would be the one taking a stand against middle-aged white man rage?