Shoutout to all of us traumatized by baba yaga as children, we’re now winners.

I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland. And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.

“Someone from Elmo’s team probably brought Rocco” Elmo is close to the edge lmaoooo

Haven’t been sleeping well in general, but woke up after a nightmare(?) that I was flooded by people yelling at me for not picking their favorite albums but it was in fact lovely because everyone had different suggestions and good taste

Ty to whomever posted there’s an hour and a half LEGO Lord of the Rings cut scene film on YouTube

For the Lunar New Year, I finally finished my final 2025 list! Please enjoy, put on an album or two, buy me an LP of Yerin Baek's Flash and Core, and have a Year of the Horse full of luck, wealth, and good times only notesonkpop.com/best-k-pop-a...

This genuinely might be the most important “follow the money” story in the history of journalism, and I deeply worry that the industry is too depleted and waterlogged to stay on it with the ferocity it requires

Nile Rogers inspiration for Diana Ross' I'm Coming Out - which I'm sure he's told before - is still pretty fantastic

Me: happy lunar new year! 🐎🧧 Also me: Judaism has four lunar new years and this hilariously doesn’t align ever with any

Superb piece. “Writing means many different things to me but one thing it is not: writing is not the transcription of thoughts already consciously present in my mind. Writing is a magical and mysterious process that makes it possible to think differently.”

I know this makes me an extremist but I think our baby concentration camps should be abolished.

Looking at jewelry designed by my favorite K-pop star and glad we believe in genderless jewelry, at least.

Someone write the words for me, writing is hard

Glen from Letterkenny out here just conquering the zeitgeist.

Billy Steinberg was a pop wizard. The hits he cowrote!! I Drove All Night! True Colors! Like A Virgin! Devastating. variety.com/2026/music/o...

So when thousands of women (and children) were being duplicated--including in non-consensual AI porn--it was no big deal. But it took "only a 15-sec clip" of these two famous white men to draw outrage and fear. Gotcha. Cool cool.

Congratulations!!!

No, don’t call me out

“To confuse and enrage you” that they love things you can’t fathom not hating

me: I’m not going to spend that much time on the stats post for the K-pop list this year also me: popexcellence.wordpress.com/2026/02/13/o...

I think/hope this piece by @kattenbarge.bsky.social is right. I think there remains a lot more space for small publications and newsletters. Thank you Kat for talking to me for this: spitfirenews.com/p/newsletter...

Chadwick Boseman and James van der Beek both died in their 40s of an illness that's treatable if a colonoscopy catches it but almost no insurer covers them for people under 45, this is what Engels meant by "social murder"

Explaining why I hate American mahjong to people after learning to play in Hong Kong

@areum.bsky.social presenting her book @kpopfandom.bsky.social in NYC at the Korea Society. I’ve already read it, and hope many people do

it really can't be said enough that this is a person who has dined with the president of the united states

Please shame us

As an established writer, I'm not really worried by AI, because AI can't do what I do. It can only pretend. And I've cultivated the kind of audience that can spot the difference. BUT... that word "established" is load bearing. The opportunity to LEARN to do what I do is what AI is taking away.

it feels like every day there is something that would normally be a massive scandal except there are so many that almost everyone is just ground to dust mentally trying to either understand what to do next, calling representatives, or go back to sending and answering emails that feel pointless

We (rightfully) give celebs and music artists a lot of crap for their moral behavior, yet notice how all these artists and bands left that Epstein assoiate’s talent agency run when athletes, academics and corporate workers still working under some of the biggest names in the file

Breaking news out of Seoul: Court rules in favor of Min Hee-jin against HYBE, which must now pay her upwards of 25.5 billion won ($17.7 million) koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-02...

Extremely exciting news: We're hiring a full-time film critic to come work with me at The A.V. Club! You probably have an idea if you're qualified for this, but if there's something that's not in the job listing, I'm sure I can answer Qs www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

… and then what??? What happens to all the detainees of each background once they’ve been… sorted according to “perceived” immigration status?* Mind you, the first 1/2 of the story @chrislhayes.bsky.social is quote skeeting is horrific enough, even before they sorted anyone. *next skeet

I am crying

It looks like the Blake Lively case is headed for trial and I’m steeling myself to have to relive another version of Depp v. Heard. Like Final Destination for viral smear campaigns against celebrity women

Very sad to see Kayla did not follow through on the threat to add a blurb that’s just “like Jennie Jennie Jennie Jennie” on infinite repeat

A little sad at how much generational analysis is just “look at these self-starters who know exactly how to work seven jobs to afford a carrot”

the deliberately blank faces of bai jingting, william chang, huang bo, and jackson wang as they vainly try to conceal their Horrified Misgiving about the weibo night "dancing" robots? will in fact be my new reaction gif for all of 2026 i'm just warning you now

Chappell Roan, Best Coast, Wednesday, Orville Peck now Weyes Blood....should I be surprised that with the exception of Dropkick Murphys it's mostly women & queer folks/fronted bands leading the way against Wasserman?

I wanna be creative and pitch a book but also wanna live in a place that isn’t violent and causing harm to countless lives so wants really mean nothing in 2026

Welcome to our weekly game, Violent Atrocities or Gross Incompetence? in which we try to decode minimally informative breaking news without scaring the chickens

You deserve access to abortion care if you are pregnant and do not want to be. Full stop. Your reasons are your reasons and they are good enough. Abortion is healthcare and everyone deserves healthcare access.

in fact you do not have to show your ID when you board a train in the united states, you only need to show your ticket (which can be purchased without an ID)

Doing my taxes this morning and rewarding myself with a read through some of the most fun, insightful blurbs I read all year. Kayla doesn't tell anyone what the ranking is, so I'm also going into this surprised.

Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude

Would honestly watch this movie

It’d be hilarious if they just remade the seulgi & Irene mvs

Rep. Delia Ramirez to DHS officials: "I have as much respect for you as I do for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color. I have no respect for the inheritors of the Klanhood and the slave patrol. Those activities were criminal and so are yours."

Oh, I’ve dreamt about this since I was a little girl.

Finally watching Fallout season 2, and the dramatic "SHE'S CANADIAN"... You know Bad Bunny would be proud of her