Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I still send physical holiday cards

music + data = me nerding out a lot over the last two weekends

I'm not on Spotify anymore, but 'tis the season. If last year was survival mode, this one was reconstruction. misterjt.com/2025/12/04/n...

Went to see Little Simz at the Palladium and got checked by the city. Maybe LA nightlife is fine, and I just got old.

A couple of weekends ago, we were in Memphis celebrating with family, and somewhere between the blues and the barbecue, I realized I hadn’t danced enough.

Halloween and Día de los Muertos brought deep thoughts on remembrance, resistance, and what it really means to love L.A. 💀🕯️💙🤍

After Game Five, a woman claimed she'd come to her first pro sports event just for Caitlin Clark. Then we dug deeper. #wnba

I suppose Labor Day is a good time to reveal that I'm working again. Mostly, I'm like Venus Williams in 2025: thanks for the subsidized healthcare.

I want less noise and more clarity online. It’s Been A Minute with Brittany Luse has been my shortcut. 20 minutes, no brain rot.

Missing #WNBAAllStar for the first time in years 😭 but the merch? Still fire. Here’s what I might cop from the comfort of my couch. misterjt.com/2025/07/19/w...

Started writing about music, ended up writing about LA, loss, and the magic that holds us together. The best of 2025 (so far): misterjt.com/2025/07/08/2...

NPR Tiny Desk Content Winner Ruby Ibarra at The Regent: protest-delayed, joy-delivered. We got a little hyphy. #livemusic #dtla #LosAngeles

What I see on my street is beautiful, as Los Angeles often is. Birds chirp. The sun shines. The jacarandas are in bloom, littering the sidewalks with purple petals. Neighbors walk their dogs and babies. I could be deceived into believing that life is normal. But my city is in crisis.

Hi, I'm doing some writing for the DC Jazz Fest this year. First piece up now!

"Just because the barbarians have broken through the gate, that doesn’t mean we have to cede our ground. I walked away from SXSW, but I’m not giving up on the WNBA. It’s my home. It’s our house."

Our friend is gone—and that truth still takes my breath away.

The surreal montage “Magic What We Do” awakens the lead vampire’s interest in Sammie in the movie and stirs something deep in me. I’m weaving across genre, time, space, and race as I reckon with my relationship with this powerful music. Am I a blues man now?

Back when I had TikTok on my devices, I would regularly get sucked into a Theo Von rabbit hole: clips of him talking to black celebrities or other people lip syncing his Theo-isms. He is the friendly fool, and I think that's genuine, even though it often means messy political takes.

Last weekend's hemming and hawing about Sinners' success is probably moot now, as it races to $100M by Sunday and potentially $200M in domestic box office overall, but I still wanted to look at the numbers. TL;DR: It's a big hit. Will this be your second or third screening this weekend?

Want to feel inspired? Spend some time with Civic Tech people and interested citizens. The attendees at this morning’s @datadonuts.la event were hopeful that we can still do good things despite their efforts being under assault by the current administration.

I look around and notice the gray in performers’ beards, the wrinkles on their foreheads, the stories about kids turning eighteen, and events from the previous century. I should feel my age, but that’s not the dominant emotion.

After the first Final Four semifinal, Ryan Ruocco threw to Elle Duncan’s show. However, our feed ended in the ESPN OTT app, and a static image appeared. As a long-time ESPN+ subscriber, I found this frustrating. New subscribers attracted by the NCAAW tournament might feel even worse.

A hodgepodge of thoughts about Juju's knee

It’s the first anniversary of my father's death today. As clouds, cold, wind, and rain arrived in Los Angeles last week, so did melancholy.

Sorry, Trojans, I can’t help it. I’m rooting for y’all to get to the Natty. I’m rooting for the banner to get raised in Pauley.

I would consider myself fortunate to lead a life that echoes just a fraction of the good accomplished by John Lewis and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. misterjt.com/2025/02/26/f...

"In 1955, courageous protester Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to sit at the back of a Montgomery bus. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. organized a boycott that forced the city to desegregate public transportation. However, there's a major problem: none of this actually happened."

"If the online right of the first Trump administration was an unstable blend of Facebook credulity and 4chan nihilism, the Soy Right is an unbearable mix of Reddit corniness and Twitter self-satisfaction." maxread.substack.com/p/soy-right-...

"For all the controversy that diversity programs stir up, most senior managers are still white men." IMHO, the "problem" is that having to talk about it makes those same senior managers very uncomfortable.

"The Soy Right is being oppressed, and they want you to know it. They’re scared to take the subway; they’re offended that you called them white or cis; they’re upset that you don't think they were cool in high school [...]. They are crybabies of the highest order."

“One of the remedies we who study Black life have pursued is a diligent recovery in the face of being forgotten, obscured, or submerged. We piece together clues and uncover hidden stories.” — @imaniperry.bsky.social

"The Whitman Sisters, a successful troupe in Black vaudeville, were the daughters of a black AME minister and a white woman. Their dynamic show featured dance, jazz, sketch comedy, and large production numbers. They thrived due to their visible moral signaling and adept code-switching."

On the day Spotify announced its first fiscal year of profitability, I canceled my paid subscription.

UCLA women’s basketball home games don’t usually feel particularly black-coded. They don’t have the South LA patina that USC Trojans’ games bring. But on this Sunday, a little bit of that Black Los Angeles Soul was in Westwood and it hit different. misterjt.com/2025/02/03/l...

"Hawaiian housing advocates say Maui’s experience is a cautionary tale for LA, highlighting the need for renter protections after a natural disaster disrupts a tight market. How LA leaders respond is still an open question as activists and politicians battle over strengthening these protections."

"[T]he purpose of this ideological project is the same: to put the broader mass of people back in their 'proper places.'" - @adamserwer.bsky.social

"It has been long out of use in American political life, but we do have a word for the kind of people who practice this sort of politics: segregationist." - @jamellebouie.net

Wordle 1,321 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 In 2025, we take our wins

Oh, @bookshop-org.bsky.social launched an e-book store and app, and I have a gift card to spend!

I might have to speed up my move to Ghost or whatever. h/t @taylorlorenz.bsky.social

"Removing large numbers of immigrants would drastically reduce the labor force, which could lead to rising wages, but potentially just higher prices for food, building and repairing homes, hotel stays and more things Americans hope to see lower prices for."

A brunch topic everyone is dreading this weekend but is unavoidable: “How much of your headspace should Donald Trump be taking up?”

"Some of this will occur in courtrooms, but most will happen on the political stage—hashed out in social media, campaigns, town halls, and legislatures. It demands a genuine opposition party ready to fight for an inclusive America and a more democratic Constitution." A bias towards action.

When Raven Johnson is on she is ON

Morrow vs. Kitts is a war already #ncaaw

🗣📣 RUN, GO APPLY, TELL YO' HOMIES & HOOP FRENS - 🚨"The WNBA is looking for a Creative Director to spearhead the creative development process and help establish a consistent, distinctive brand vision and voice for the league."🚨 #WNBA #WBB #WOMENINSPORTS careers.nba.com/job/11421/Crea…

I think I have watched most series in which being in Los Angeles is essential to the plot, but now that I've finished The Lincoln Lawyer, I'm hungry for more. What should I watch next?

"Broadcasters portrayed American men as victims of a Democratic campaign to strip them of power — a comforting message for a disspirited audience. Young men, especially those aged 18 to 23, are lonelier and less optimistic about their futures, with low social support."

If you are a visa holder/temp resident in the U.S., and your child was born here and doesn't have a passport, GET A PASSPORT FOR THEM IMMEDIATELY. Like, make the appointment this week. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/u...