As I was walking this morning, a jogging couple essentially collided with me from behind, with the woman then having the audacity to tell me that I should be careful because someone might fall into the sea (there was a meter high fence between us and the cliff, but sure).

One of the MAJOR PROBLEMS with wealth inequality at this scale is exactly that people amass this much wealth and attendant power and then use it to say, “Policy is what I say it is, I am too powerful to offend.” They become entirely immune to policy. You can’t live that way.

For 50+ years, the NPR Network has offered America trusted information, free of charge. As public media faces a future without federal funding, we're relying on you to sustain this work in 2026 and beyond. Donate now to power Tiny Desk concerts, local reporting and more: n.pr/4pCcFIx

Without intending to, I had managed to avoid hearing "Wonderful Christmastime" until coming down for breakfast this morning at my hotel. And then, bam. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Doctor Pepper Zero -- or Zerooo as the bottle has it -- is far and away the best zero calorie soda I've had. So of course it's not available in the Czech Republic.

Welp, laryngitis has compelled me to postpone the last episode of the year (and also AMT) to 2026. But now is a fine time to listen to some Festivelusionists, which are gathered in a playlist at theallusionist.org/festivelusionist

Happy darkest evening of the year, from Robert Frost and me.

I've spent the last 5 years on a book about the complex relationship between pop culture and the gay rights movement. This thread is a good reminder that art can do a great deal, but it's slow and cumulative. It gives people new ways to think, but it's not its job to "fix" things, and it doesn't.

every post is like i bet you didn’t know this absolutely wonderful thing about rob reiner and each one is different

It’s true! The great @alisonwillmore.bsky.social and I are debuting our new show Critical Darlings on the Blank Check podcast feed on January 1st! Come listen to us talk about all the awards-season movies, won’t you?

60,000 is the *low end* estimate.

Someday, the American people will learn that their representatives rarely vote yes or no on single questions, and that saying "they voted to increase taxes 27 times" might mean that someone voted yes on a bill that increases 27 separate taxes, or some other bizarre interpretation.

I continue to be grateful—as a writer, reader, lifelong fan—that Fansplaining exists as a space to properly wonder about how fandom shapes modern life. In this piece, I am wondering about how fandom can make us better and worse tourists, with the editorial guidance of @elizabethminkel.bsky.social.

I'm absolutely delighted with the new sensation I have reviewing student writing assignments where I am not sure if my students have finally gotten better and followed my instructions of if they just used AI. It's awesome.

They are running the government according to the logic of right-wing grievance media. I cannot emphasize that enough. The point is to create content, and they don't see an actual difference between dunking on Sabrina Carpenter, passing legislation, and bombing other countries.

“I don’t treat fat people any differently” (Photos by the inimitable Haley Morris Cafiero: www.haleymorriscafiero.com)

Ukraine has foiled multiple Russian assassination plots against Zelenskyy, but this one is stunningly brazen and escalatory in an EU country that is not at war with Russia. For the EU, you may not be at war with Russia, but Russia is at war with you.

Station wagons very much still exist, nimrod.

Last night I dreamt I was in Trump's cabinet and was able to successfully invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. In case anyone was wondering whether living abroad means I don't have Trump nightmares. Heh.

A bunch of new (to me) podcasts for 2025: @theresthistory.bsky.social became an instant obsession, as did @romepodcast.bsky.social and Data over Dogma. For something lighter, the return of @helenzaltzman.bsky.social and @ollymann.bsky.social with Answer Me This! has been a wonderful surprise.

Adding alt text to this because this is fucking amazing and everyone deserves to read it.

[GLEN enters, crosses to center of room, flips folding chair around, sits in it backwards and rolls up his sleeves] “We’re not doing this again this year. Any of it. Your takes on DIE HARD, “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” Hallmark movie cliches, they’re done. They’re over. Stop.

Noting the decision not to mark the day, the State Department stated: "An awareness day is not a strategy." Activists in the fight to end the ongoing AIDS epidemic disagree. n.pr/3Xu36zt

Tom Stoppard. A literal actual genius and legend. (1937-2025)

The legal, media, and academic institutions capitulating to an authoritarian ordering payments for favorable treatment are damning themselves to irrelevance. They are destroying their institutions. They will be — and should be — shunned for failing in their most basic purposes for existing.

Are anyone else's Grindr bots obsessed with mentioning they "earn passive income by investing in cryptocurrency and AI"? Not only is it a strong indicator that you, yourself, are AI, if you're not AI, it's the reddest of red flags. Might as well just say "I'm either a robot or the absolute worst."

Boneless turkey breast. Instant pot. Broth. Onions (or whatever you like). 30ish minutes. Some of the best turkey I have ever eaten without the slightly odd texture brining can create.

My neighborhood this morning. Contrary to what many seem to believe, it doesn't actually snow in Prague that often -- so it's nice to enjoy it while it lasts.

No one can be this stupid.

Oh! It's not just Fibbonacci Day but also Doctor Who Day; it first aired OTD in 1963! Allons-y!

As it's #DoctorWhoDay here's a Private Eye @privateeyenews.bsky.social cartoon of mine that appeared earlier in the year.

-No -No -No From a wider European POV, seeing the war in Ukraine as a war Ukrainians are fighting on our behalf, this is all totally unacceptable.

My Top 12 Adventures from Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun #Roll20Review @roll20.net #DnD youtu.be/NPvTEhGBX3Y

The American Right Wing has expressed their desire, in word and deer, to return to the way things *used* to be. It should come as no surprise that part of that urge comes from the desire to have sex with minors with impunity.

Pete's such a pick me. They're never going to approve of you, my dude.

Everyday Americans also have identities I think

This is a BIG reason I wrote Burn It Down. I was v tired of doing One Bad Man stories & wanted to shout from the rooftops that every He's Just One Bad Man is NOT a one-off--each 1 is propped up by multiple interlocking systems of enabling, protection & even celebration. The SYSTEMS are def evergreen

I have book news!! Where We Stand, Where We Fall is now available to preorder from Herne Books:

Yeah, do the Bond producers believe audiences are in any way confused by this? I can't decide if they're very stupid, they think the audience is, or both.

I may use this as an example for students of how *not* to write. First sentence: this thing is bad Second sentence: There is no definition for the bad thing. The first and second sentences *do not make sense together.* How can there be evidence that something is bad if the thing isn't defined?

I've said it before and I will likely have to say it again: the Democratic leadership are feckless and vapid, and they sorely deserve every ounce of historical scorn and anonymity coming their way. If the US system weren't so incredibly broken, they'd have been ousted years ago.

Oldest selfie on your phone. In front of a blank wall at the Doctor Who Experience in 2017.

Cool, cool, cool. How's SAG feel about a new blacklist?

As a reminder, FIFA is so corrupt as to almost be a parody of corruption. They make the Golden Globes look respectable. They once financed an entire movie about how awesome FIFA was. In short, nothing makes more sense than FIFA awarding Trump a prize.

A left leaning candidate winning the mayorship of a large city is *literally* only news in the US because the US media has simply lost all sense of perspective. Big cities are *supposed* to elect left-leaning folks. They're cities, ffs.

"Objective, primatology-based virtues"? We are honestly one day away from an NYT podcaster demanding his guests' phrenological head measurements. Just complete fascist-adjacent gobbledygook.

As Doctor Who: The Writers' Room finishes up its 13th year (!), we come to the end of the Matt Smith era. Our most recent Patreon bonus episode is a draft of the 11 best 11th Doctor stories: www.patreon.com/posts/matt-s...

I'd missed the news of Melvyn Bragg stepping down. "In our Time" podcast brought a panel of experts to talk about certain topics of science, history, culture... you never quite knew which topic was next or if @simontillotson.bsky.social would ask coffee or tea...

The way all of these people convinced themselves that Mamdani is antisemitic is a subject far more worthy of media examination than any of the ‘groupthink on campuses!’ thinkpieces we’ve been subjected to