"Buy now, pay later" for rent is just the next frontier of predatory extraction. It's a way of monetizing desperation: turning the basic human need for shelter into yet another fee-laden credit product that will hit the poorest tenants the hardest.

New 'Twin Peaks' book releases today. My chapter is on Christology, Christ figures, and Laura Palmer. So pleased to see this book in the world.

Deep text here

TRAFFIC UPDATE: Lasagna Junction has collapsed in on itself.

Live version of a song that becomes the definitive version in one's mind? Here's one: victoryrecords.bandcamp.com/track/all-ou...

Let's get this over with. www.cio.com/article/4115...

Rothko + SUNN O)))! It’s all happening.

Semi-regular reminder that 'Days With Dr. Yen Lo' is a perfect album. KA forever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnU...

This was a fun conversation about found-footage movies featuring @richmwaters.bsky.social, the director of one of my favorites ('In a Stranger's House'). Seat Struck Supergroup is a fine way to begin the year. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

It is truly wild to see these guys taking SO LONG to realize no one wants this. Like it never occurred to them?

To anyone who might see this, I wish you a calm and happy beginning to the year. May this song ease the way. www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Fu...

If you slept on Burial's 'Streetlands' EP in 2022 or in the years since, there's time to rectify that. burial.bandcamp.com/album/street...

Wise (and funny) guy.

Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing a text, writing an email, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing since the dawn of time.

Which advertising horror am I most looking forward to never seeing again: A) Pete Davidson talking to some AI smart-home thing B) Those commercials where half the cast of The Office are running a small business (?) and the whole thing has an ineffable fog of sadness C) ads for the movie Anaconda

The current Flaming Lips live show is fantastic. The band no doubt works hard to bring that energy and precision to the stage. But any diminishment of Drozd’s role(s) is an unwarranted slight. His era of the band bears his musical signature fully and always will. www.instagram.com/p/DSiMeYrDz_z/

AI advocates: you really need to learn to stop coming off to subject matter experts in other fields as if you’re Kool-Aid manning into the room and going “you’re dumb not to use these tools for your trivially easy jobs” you may think this is an unfair read on your intentions, but life is unfair.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything with a larger disconnect between the executive class and the general public than AI - there have been cases where executives want to push something they know is unpopular, but on AI it's like the backlash hasn't penetrated their bubble at all

Little reminder that if you're looking for a holiday gift, GANDOLFINI is currently available in hardback, paperback, and audiobook! bookshop.org/p/books/gand...

On the first day of Peaksmas we bring you the first of 7 Japan Themed Twin Peaks articles. twinpeaksblog.com/2025/12/17/t...

Holy Fool Tell 'Em.

My favourite albums of 2025/AOTY (alphabetical; updating throughout December) 1,000 UK Artists - Is This What We Want? Adrian Sherwood - The Collapse of Everything Air & Vegyn - Blue Moon Safari Al Wootton - Calvinist Hospitality Alan Sparkhawk - With Trampled by Turtles Alien Weaponry - Te Rā

the vibe you need to thrive in this day and age, the groove you need to make it through the Christmas season, is this picture of Ronnie James Dio playing bass when he was in Elf

“We come to this place for mergers. We stream to self-silence. To censor. To slop. Where content is chosen by the best billionaires we have.” Jane Fonda 💯💙

If you wish to think new thoughts or to foster the thinking of new thoughts in your classroom, this technology that eats and vomits up the fruits of others' work is not your ally or your tool. The only thing inherently conservative about resisting it is the desire to preserve space for originality.

“The work was emotionally exhausting, with chat users confiding intimate details about their real-life relationships, as well as their own emotional trauma, falsely believing they were talking to an unfeeling AI chatbot.”

Twin bass rock songs are so underrated.

Companies including OpenAI have stolen vast libraries of works owned by the studios and created by WGA members to train their artificial intelligence systems. We have repeatedly called on studios to take legal action and defend the intellectual property we help create. variety.com/2025/digital...

New Kramer alert! '...and the crimson moon whispers goodbye' comes out on 12 December. It's 'a 4-part ambient drone-poem for The Living and The Dead.' It's a fresh contender for those AOTY lists. Great music comes out all December, long after the thrill of AOTY is gone. Let's hear it for Kramer.

'Check it out...'

FFO: Experimental Music FFO: Silence or Ambience or the literalization of 'studio recording'. FFO: Resistance to AI. www.isthiswhatwewant.com

Amen.

I wrote about four excellent albums for @popmatters.com‘s Best Albums of 2025: a melodic punk album (Nate Parrish), a folk album (Richard Dawson), a rap album (Clipse), and a soul album (Annie & the Caldwells). Add some music to your day

🎬 The Internet Archive’s 2026 Public Domain Film Day Remix Contest is on! 🎥 Celebrate Public Domain Day in January by creating a 2–3 minute film using at least 1 piece of public domain media from 1930. 📆 Deadline: January 7, 2026 💰 First prize: $1,500 ℹ️ Details 👉 blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2...

Taking the tangle out of Pentangle since the 70s.

every time I see an A-list actor in an ad for some slot machine phone game, I think about how Bill Murray's character in Lost in Translation doing advertisements is framed as basically the highest form of humiliation an actor could go through.

Forty years ago, 90% of media outlets were spread across 50 companies. Now, just 5 companies control 90% of the media market. This consolidation hurts consumers and helps oligarchs. 🧵

Never not thinking of the UDUCU (Universal Dark Universe Cinematic Universe)

Joint Statement of the Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Netflix.

I've never appreciated an appreciation post more. Forever my favorite band.

Dark Watch - 'The Mortal Codex: Eulogy I'

Q: 'Do you know how fast you were going?' A: 'I'm sorry, I was listening to "Comedown Machine," the fifth studio album by American rock band the Strokes.'