Hahaha this is true

This month, we published another article revealing that MSG kept a database of VIP event attendees, labeling some of them as LGBTQIA and assigning a “risk score” to others. This is also now free to read:

In April, we reported on the MSG surveillance machine–an operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more. You can now read it for free.

Our two investigations into Madison Square Garden are now unpaywalled and free for anyone to read.

“TV Academy chair Cris Abrego told Variety that he hopes moving out some awards creates more leeway for musical performances, comedic bits and unexpected acceptance speeches.” Viewers are not clamoring for MOAR “comedic bits” but hey what do I know

I see variations of this every so often, of people not following thru on plans or social occasions, and it seems like there’s an uptick since Covid … but I’m struck by the fact that this doesn’t seem to be reflected in TV/film Are there examples I’m just not thinking of?

Love these two

We urgently need enforced disclosure of AI usage in TV shows & other media. These AI models use stolen work to displace human labour. It is reasonable to demand disclosures that let you avoid media made with them. variety.com/2026/biz/new...

I’ll also add that I think that an understanding of spatial relations and being able to put them into practice — parking a car — are really valuable cognitive processes that we shouldn’t be outsourcing! Our brains are very much use-it-or-lose it and navigating a large machine (a car) is one!

I’m constantly amazed by people with so much faith in technology that they let a car park itself. Or do whatever that app thing is on whatever brand of car I keep seeing a commercial for. I am not that trusting and if I owned a car insurance company that would get your dropped.

“A big problem with Hollywood is it’s obsessed with its past but doesn’t understand it and takes the wrong lessons” Yep

NEW: I obtained hundreds of emails between Colin Kaepernick's AI comic book startup and an Atlanta-area school district. The school superintendent gave the QB-turned-founder permission to write his answers on implementing tech in the classroom. issa new [eyeblack]

(whispers): yes

Netflix to Stop Releasing Viewership Data Every 6 Months, Will Shift to Annual Reports Lolololololol

This number from “The Music Man” makes me wonder if we’d find it weird if a song about package deliveries showed up in a modern musical It would probably have to be about porch pirates or “why is marked delivered but not actually here??” or “your driver never even rang my bell”

Regulation is good. Safety rules are good. Without them capitalists are going to kill us all. Would be great if people with power were willing to say these basic things.

it's ghouls all the way down

If we had started actually addressing indoor air quality at the height of Covid instead of sweeping it under the rug & calling IAQ nonsense, we would have a robust network of places people could be safe from the wildfire smoke now

I haven't eaten there since said private equity company joined the lawsuit to destroy the National Labor Relations Board. Fuck them.

A lady on the Clock app in Canada said that the wildfires keep happening because Canada outlawed indigenous people from doing prescribed burns. Did a little digging and yep - settler colonialism is to blame. indiginews.com/features/wil...

This is an extremely odd request. I am considering ordering the Hallmark branded wine Advent calendar, which includes 24 mini-bottles of wine I'd like to do an on-camera unboxing, tasting video. But I need to find a couple of hopefully Hallmark loving wine buddies in the Twin Cities to join me.

So women are using GLP-1s to lose drastic amounts of weight before their weddings, but then they need cosmetic surgery to treat the loose skin & loss of breast density? And this doesn’t sound like a scam to keep women wasting money on bullshit??

“In the last two years, so many of the brides he sees have lost so much weight that lipo is moot. Instead, skin laxity procedures are booming and he is doing ‘a huge amount of small volume breast augmentations’, for brides who have ‘lost volume’ in places they did not predict.”

“The Odyssey” has been getting universally rave reviews, which always sends me on the hunt for a contrarian perspective just out of curiosity, and this is an interesting one from Time’s @szacharek.bsky.social looking at some of the film’s shortcomings

You might think that a decaying whale tooth is gross and should be thrown away. But this specimen, tucked away in the back of a drawer, reveals exactly why museum collections matter.  Hear from Mammalogist Amanda Killian on finding a tooth from Keiko, star of “Free Willy”. go.nhm.org/keikos-tooth

I think I gotta agree, McShane is just tremendous in “Deadwood”

“Or you could, of course, not risk any downsides and just save money by letting yourself age naturally and look older with each passing year. Yes, that was sarcasm. If you read this entire story, we know you’re not doing that.” 🙄

My exposure to sports is mostly thru pop culture rather than avidly following a team/season/games so I ask: Is Chicago a booin’ town too?

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but that’s rape. www.salon.com/2026/07/15/m...

Guys this thing is bleach-resistant.

Every time one of us gets infected, we’re potentially contaminating the water supply to further spread and embed the parasite “like pythons in Florida.”

the inability to keep paid subscribers signed in is genuinely one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable journalism

George Lucas openly hates directing! There is no one more who wants to tell a machine what he wants for his movie and then have the machine spit it out!

On the language of Homeric Greek, and the language of a certain forthcoming film: here are a few simple observations.

Elsbeth Tascioni on “The Good Wife” S1E22 She’s a little quirky, sure but … not childlike the way she is on “Elsbeth.” On “The Good Wife” she’s a defense attorney so she’s skeptical of law enforcement/prosecutors, not working in concert with them. I hate what they did to her character on “Elsbeth”!

If I could add, kids could also really use more narratives that recognize that the adults around them a fallible. I've run into it a couple of times with my writing where the notes back were that 'this seems kind of irresponsible of (an adult)' 'this seems kind of mean.' And it might be. Let it.

The fact that J.K. Rowling successfully bullied Amnesty International into taking down a report that accurately called out her attack on trans people, especially trans women, is so repulsive and such a display of the power of her money, and her choice to put her vast fortune behind persecution.

Who can afford to pursue a life in the arts when the financial prospects of show biz can be so iffy? Children of the rich

I'm reading Chicago Tribune transcripts of an 1876 murder trial. Whenever something prompted a stirring in the courthouse audience, the text said: "[Sensation.]"

Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.

The Aragon Ballroom opened 100 years ago this week. I wrote this story for the Vintage Chicago Tribune page (gift link):

been punching up [eyeblack] across the website in mostly subtle ways. big one is an about page! So if u were ever like what is [eyeblack] ? now you know this is [eyeblack] www.readeyeblack.com/about

If you were lucky enough to finish most of your cognitive development before widespread GPS adoption ? Try to use a paper map now as often as you can so that you keep that ability. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

TV writers were right in 2023 and are being proven more right every day — there was a stable television model that made everyone lots of money and put out good shows. Then execs with no understanding of the industry confused the production model and the distribution model, and they blew it all up.

I don't want a sleek design, I want to be able to change my fucking lightbulbs without an instruction manual.

Just wanna say I’m so glad Lisa Kudrow was nominated for “The Comeback” — Valerie Cherish is ridiculous and therefore deeply human and it’s such a great performance

The conversation over the last few days has been about how the BL-TS friendship crumbled to pieces because of these (now settled) lawsuits … so if you’re this couple, you really gotta have zero PR instincts posting this video now. Shoulda just let the gossip play out without getting in the way 🤷🏻‍♀️

Saw a meme of GenZ baffled by how pre-internet travel worked, and realized we’ve crossed an enshittification threshold where IRL services that once seemed outdated, like travel agents, now seem luxurious: “You meet with a human expert who plans out your whole trip with you” sounds incredible now tbh

Yes! I’m so in favor of regionalisms just generally: grocery chains, dairy suppliers, architectural styles, accents … the great homogenization of everything is so damn boring! I love it when details of a place are unique and communicate “you are HERE” as opposed to “you could be anywhere 🤷🏻‍♀️”