My shouldn't-be-controversial opinion is that if you've ever been nominated for an Oscar, it should be considered very shameful to be in a TV commercial.

Is there a tag or list I can use for people who have ever said something to the effect of "Ok, you won the internet today" on Bluesky? I already have the "joined Nov 24" tag visible, which takes care of most it, but it would be good to clean up the dregs.

one of the funniest things i’ve ever seen

Watching Return of the King

People making a big deal about some churches being anti ICE is the same vibe as people thinking there is some vast tranche of leftists somehow hiding in the reddest states. Glad there are a few but let me know once it's more than a rounding error!

It's a good time to revisit Miss Perkins.

I wrote about being an animal johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/in-captivity

Great profile of C. Thi Nguyen in The NY Times! Why Keeping Score Isn’t Fun Anymore | In a new book, C. Thi Nguyen looks to his personal passions — from video games to yo-yoing — to illuminate the downside of our increasingly gamified world. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/b... | @add-hawk.bsky.social |

I can't adequately state the degree to which the Grateful Dead kept me somewhat sane during the pandemic. They brought me joy and fascination, and a body of work that provides a near infinite amount of both. Best wishes to Bobby on his next long, strange trip.

USA-ian DOI-CODI

Heroes in a half shell She's got the look

Not sure what Tolkien would think about a red Solo cup full of German beer, but so it goes. Happy birthday, JRRT! The Professor!

The primary role of this type of rhetoric is to convince ppl of a majoritarian center that actually doesn't exist and then pull that mythical center right. People find themselves left of this mythical center and feel anxious and forget that most people do agree w/ a sort of baseline tame liberalism.

Party animal this NYE

Not that anyone was asking but here are my fav albums of 2025: 1. Agriculture "The Spiritual Sound" No specific order: AFI "Silver Bleeds the Black Sun" Dax Riggs "7 Songs for Spiders" Lamp of Murmuur "The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy" The Aces "Gold Star Baby" One of Nine "Dawn of the Iron Shadow"

You can join a worldwide organisation dedicated to #Tolkien - just in time for Christmas! Members of the Society receive 6 Amon Hen a year, our journal Mallorn, member-only events and discounts, and more! Visit www.tolkiensociety.org/join and join from anywhere in the world!

Very stoked and proud of the next issue of Mallorn that should be arriving at people’s doors in the next coming weeks! Thanks to all who contributed art and scholarship! If you want an issue like this one, you can join the Tolkien Society and meet some awesome people www.tolkiensociety.org/join/

I'm going to try to start posting more about the shows I go to. I had an absolute blast seeing The Aces last night at The Kessler Theater in Dallas. I feel so lucky to have seen what I consider to be one of the best working bands out there at such a cool, intimate venue.

Hey @annieknk.bsky.social , any chance you'll add an episode to your new podcast that covers Trad Desk Organizers?

Finally, Norbit is getting the attention it's due.

Here's a look at the overlapping journeys of jazz legends Terry Riley and La Monte Young, known for their work with John Cale, Steve Reich, and others.

As someone who studied music, then library science, was a librarian, then did knowledge management for a federal foreign aid office I feel this

RIP Donna

While it wasn't as valuable to me as someone brought up in the milieu, I think the primary value of Talia Lavin's recent book on the evangelical right is that it desperately and effectively makes the case that we should actually believe and take very seriously the beliefs the right affirms.

I know things get lost in the churn, but it really is truly funny that Trump goes around openly demonstrating that he thinks the many dementia tests he takes are aptitude tests, and then brags about passing them even though he found them very difficult. That's like, VERY funny.

I firmly believe that throughout the fall of 1974, Billy Kreutzmann was doing some of the absolute finest drumming ever.

The domestic implications are very evident, of course, but I wonder when we start seeing ICE being deployed abroad as a sort of unshackled military unit, basically a rank and file version of the way we deploy special ops teams and it's sort just exempt from any sort of regulations or restrictions.

Pelosi, talking about she sent the Supreme Court a stern letter after they preemptively approved Trump for a 4th term: "Because remember, 6 7 [she slowly and awkwardly does the accompanying hand gestures] ate 9" (Bluesky Discover tab libs to their computer to make epic reply gifs)

Something I think about not infrequently is that in the movie Step Brothers, they chose to make the "Brendan's got a man-gina" chant in 5/4 instead of a triple meter like 6/8 or 12/8. What an odd choice.

Exorcist Exorcist III Let Me In The VVitch

I have a young relative staying with me this weekend and so we've been doing a lot of "family" stuff. I've determined that there are essentially three kinds of dads one is allowed to be: -Dad who will kill you with a gun -Clown dad -Golf dad

Add this toy ever growing "they should make a block list from this criteria" idea list: Anyone who has ever attempted to lib humor riff in the comments of an Aaron Rupar post.

Libby and other library discovery platforms should have a "secular" filter. It's kinda ridiculous that you can either see a thousand self help books that are mixed religious and secular, or you can see that 600 that are religious, but you can't see the 400 that aren't religious.

The way most people use this site is baffling. I follow exactly 1 person in the top 100 on this list. Expand it out to the top 300 and I only follow 8.

This is why they broaden the definitions of what they THINK happens to include the stuff that DOES happen. For example if you come into college believing in creationism and your intro bio prof says that evolution is real, that is not woke indoctrination. But they'll call it woke indoctrination.

One thing I appreciate about American politics is that, while the socialists don't seem to understand capitalism, the capitalists don't either, so it keeps it even.

Manhattan. Excellent show with an absolutely stacked cast,but it suffered from being on a network that couldn't really support it, especially in competition with so many excellent shows airing at the time.

I guess it's good that @livagar.bsky.social explained Helldivers 2 so thoroughly on a QAA episode. @travisview.bsky.social @jakerockatansky.bsky.social

Just realized I've been mashing Sierra Hull and Sierra Farrell together into one Sierra since maybe forever. Oops 😬

Reposting this because I want to revel in how good of a joke this and how unfortunately niche it is.

Once 144,000 posts are saved, they will be protected from this site's impending destruction. #ImminentizeTheEschaton

If you polled a sufficiently representative group of people, would a majority know what the word "subsidies" means?

The author of this piece should look up what Butler actually means by "performative" if he's going to mention Butler because Butler's definition is quite different than how it is used these days and in the rest of this article (ie. performative as ersatz/posturing).

Will we ever have a world where people know the definition of and use the word "reactionary" correctly? Doubtful.

I'm at a baseball game and I was wondering. Do you think I could start a thing that bunting is woke?