LFGGGGGGGGGG

If you’d told me 35 years ago — hell, 2 days ago — that a member of Milli Vanilli would someday be nominated for a Grammy against the Dalai Lama, I’m not 100 percent sure I’d believe you

It’s Public Radio Music Day. It’s a celebration of art over algorithms. It’s a celebration of discovery, diversity, and deep listening. Keep the music playing in stations across the nation. Stand up for the NPR Network’s commitment to free, public-access music at the link here: n.pr/47jpe4d

Join NPR Music+! Listen to Ann and Daoud, who are two of the smartest and nicest people I know! Support public media! Thank you!

The good news for fans of the Dallas Cowboys: Yes, the Cowboys are "one trade away from being Super Bowl contenders." The bad news for fans of the Dallas Cowboys: That trade was for Micah Parsons.

In 2024, there were almost as many Trump voters in CA (6,081,697) as in TX (6,375,376); there were more Harris voters in TX (4,806,474) than in NY (4,583,210); there were more Trump voters in NY (3,548,552) than OH (3,121,077); there were more Harris voters in OH (2,481,269) than in WA (2,245,849).

If the taxes I pay on my writing are used to bail out an industry founded on stealing and then replacing my writing, I swear to god, I am going to do so much angry writing

"Excuse me, could you tell me where I might find the Romeo Doubs-Os?"

For every 10 articles, podcasts, or news pieces I file about Taylor Swift's new album, I should be allowed to insert one (1) flagrant falsehood, such as a parenthetical explainer that "Taylor" is short for "Taylorbert"

My brilliant colleague is a bit more bullish on The Life Of A Showgirl than I am -- we have a fun, lively discussion about it on Monday's PCHH! -- but this is a terrific, thoughtful, deeply considered review.

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere. Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself. Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

This is not a romance. Nobody is "in love" with apps. There are no A.I. boyfriends. You cannot "date" a chatbot. Accepting this framing and treating it as real is tech-industry propaganda. slate.com/technology/2...

me, fuming as I watch the Badgers rake-stomp their way to a 27-3 deficit:

People praise Mr. Show sketches for having modern-day relevance all the time, like when the "blow up the moon" bit went viral a few weeks ago. To me, THIS remains the show's endlessly resonant, weirdly poignant masterpiece. That closing line is me, every time I piss away an hour getting mad online.

Hi, everyone. As you probably know, NPR lost its federal funding this year. So NPR Music is trying something new to keep the music playing: Tiny Desk Donations on YouTube. If you’ve ever enjoyed our little series that could, please consider showing your support 2day: www.youtube.com/live/Q2CW9TZ...

About this Florida vaccine story: When they were little - 1 yr and 3 1/2 - my two older boys, who’d had all their shots, got whooping cough. We asked their pediatrician what would’ve happened if they hadn’t been vaccinated. “Oh, they’d have died.”

I'm a fan of both the Green Bay Packers and KPop Demon Hunters. As a society, I don't think we've prepared ourselves for what a breakout season by rookie receiver Matthew Golden would mean in terms of broadcasters yelling, "He's going up, up, up!" every time the guy leaps for a pass.

Literally an Onion story brought to life, and yet not funny at all.

Sure, you could read the alt text, remember that Max Kennerly is a rascal, or otherwise deploy common sense. But the REAL red flag in this quote is that it spells Warren Buffett's last name correctly.

Took a lovely little beach vacation with my family last week. Thought I'd revisit my camera roll from the trip, only to discover that I'd taken precisely one (1) photo the entire time. It's of a box of donuts, which I'd documented due to the most egregious misuse of quotation marks I've ever seen.

Saw this post while scrolling, read the text without seeing the image, got as far as “A sitting Republican senator says he is so scared driving in DC,” and thought, “It’s gonna be Markwayne Mullin.”

Breaking: It’s still summer! And summer is roadtrip season. This wk’s All Songs Considered from @npr.org shares pro-tips and tunes to make any 10-hour drive feel like 5. ❤️🚗 w/ @idislikestephen.bsky.social @totalvibration.bsky.social

For those not in the DC area: This is like if you got hired as a mall cop, then spent your shift cowering in the break room of the Build-A-Bear Workshop.

I've decided, with this birthday, that it's time to start obscuring my age behind subtle hints. Here, for example, is a still photo from a movie I loved as a child:

Juuuuuuuuust in case you need this as much as... yeah, you probably need this

The best thing about "Song Of The Summer" season, given that summer itself is currently very humid: talking to my pal @aishaharris.bsky.social about songs of the summer on Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Though Tom Lehrer rarely did interviews in retirement, he granted a few upon the release of a box set in 2000. I was lucky enough to get one of them for The A.V. Club. We included it in our 2002 book, and when I sent him a copy, he wrote back to let me know he'd already bought it. Just a lovely man.

When I worked at The Onion in the ’90s and ’00s, we often used photos of family and friends (not to mention ourselves) in stories. Which, thanks to the magic of Internet archives and Instagram feeds, means I *just now* got treated to this photo of my former in-laws:

Fifteen years ago today, a few of my best pals and I launched a little "audio experiment" without so much as asking our bosses for permission. More than 2,000 episodes later, here we are. Here's to untold thousands more!

The first restaurant I visited when I moved to D.C. was the Wok and Roll where John Wilkes Booth conspired to assassinate Lincoln.

A live look at me winning this contest:

See a Tiny Desk Concert LIVE 👏 IN 👏 PERSON👏 We’re flying one lucky winner + their guest to D.C. to see a show up close 🎤🛫 Entering is FREE, and you can get bonus entries & limited edition merch by supporting The NPR Network 🤯 Enter now!

Attention D.C.-based fans of Survivor, The Traitors, and/or Deal Or No Deal Island: Prepare yourself for a meeting of the minds between a 4-time Survivor player (5 counting an upcoming Australian season) and a 48-time Survivor watcher! I'm interviewing Parvati Shallow at Sixth & I this Thursday:

Be right back -- gotta add "As seen in Architectural Digest" to my bio

Does no one understand what "no love lost" means? I truly felt gaslit trying to read this article. At first, I scanned "Tight" as "Fight" and was like, "Dang, that's too bad." Then I was just confused...

Met a film buff at a wedding this weekend and wouldn't shut up about how they needed to read my dear, brilliant friends (and former colleagues) at The Reveal. Had I known that The Reveal was moving to a new, non-Substack platform, my spiel would have been 1) even longer; and 2) more fervent somehow!

A few months back, a guy showed up out of nowhere, *tagged me* in a snotty and mean-spirited nitpick about my contributions to a podcast, and then blocked me after I gently pushed back. What I'm saying is, in a just society, Patrick's suggestion would be enshrined into law.

Turnstile ascends. Pulp returns. Little Simz blooms. WTMD's Izzi Bavis joins Stephen Thompson to discuss the week's most compelling new releases.

So many good ones so far! Thank you, and please keep it up! (Also, don't be afraid to nominate stuff people have already mentioned -- that's a useful data point for the project I'm working on.)

Friends! What song do you hear in movies and TV shows where you think, "This needs to be retired"? As in, you hear it ALL the time and wish music supervisors would give it a rest. (ex: tons of '90s romcoms used "Brown Eyed Girl" in montages, "Hallelujah" turned up everywhere for a while, etc.)

Just learned, a few days late, that comic-book legend Peter David died on May 24. He was dear to my family, so I want to honor him by telling a story about him that still makes me smile 30+ years later. 🧵

Pop Culture Happy Hour needs your help with our new Pixar poll -- let us know your three favorite Pixar movies, which will help us as we put together an upcoming episode. Can't wait to see what y'all pick. Good Dinosaur Hive, activate!

Oh, man. NPR posted my SNL musical-guest rankings on Bluesky and the replies are 🔥. My favorite is the one complaining that THIS was what we published instead of reporting on [an issue we're definitely covering]. As NPR's only employee, I can only work on one story at a time -- gotta prioritize!

This is always a labor of... work, and occasionally love: To celebrate the end of another season, here's my annual ranking of SNL's musical guests! tl;dr: There are a few huge stinkers this season, more flawed-but-worthy entries than usual, and a small handful that achieved glory. The full list:

It looks like R2-D2’s hearse.

This kind, handsome, faultless gentleman died peacefully at home this morning, surrounded by his immediate family — and swaddled in spirit by a satellite army of well-wishers who’d fallen in love with him along the way. Feeling too bereft to say much more than this: Bashi was the absolute greatest.

The thread I needed today.

The discourse surrounding the guy who created an AI employee (and immediately felt compelled to sexually harass it) is on FIRE right now, and I'm concerned that everyone's gonna burn out and stop dunking on him way too soon. Please, everyone, pace yourself so we can mock him for the next 5,000 days.

Today is the day: We've officially launched Tiny Desk Radio, hosted by the great and good Bobby Carter and Anamaria Sayre! Here, they break down the series' origins and long history with the aid of a few creaky old-timers: