wrote on charlie kirk for the newsletter this weekend

The Hollywood Conference was great! Congratulations to @lucimarz.bsky.social and all the organizers. #HWC2025

"It just really comes as a shock that such accomplished intellectuals, who’ve spent their entire careers pushing the upper bounds of human achievement, could be judgy about a machine that runs the entirety of human imagination through a shredder and glues together what comes out."

Got to see how the other half lives. The ceremony was in the new data sciences building, designed to look like an uneven stack of books. @betsywal.bsky.social observes that, fittingly, it looks like it’s going to topple over onto the humanities buildings.

The administration is attacking American history by trying to erase it. They are dismantling the Woolworth's lunch counter exhibit at the NMAAHC, among other significant artifacts of the Civil Rights Movement. blackpressusa.com/the-smithson...

i often see things that make me say "this is the most Boston thing I have ever seen in my life" but i think this one might have swept them all

Yay Reut (who isn’t on Bluesky, but I’m thrilled anyway)!!

This was a blast thanks to @betsywal.bsky.social’s insights and Charlotte Howell’s hard work putting it together.

Uhhhh...we are. Aren't we? Studying all of it? [checks bookcase] Yes, we are. And have been. Sigh.

Some news! Thanks to @tvbookstvbooks.bsky.social for guiding me through this project/process with endless patience and humor.

Oscars Add Best Stunt Design Category Starting in 2027 variety.com/2025/awards/...

Still hoping to get to #scms25 but I'm entering hour 7 of being stuck at Logan Airport. I think I live here now.

Best AI hype allegory to date via @tressiemcphd.bsky.social “every time someone asks me, “What about A.I.?” with the breathless anticipation of a boy who thinks this is the summer he finally gets to touch a boob”

Update: A letter repudiating the weakness and equivocation of the Academy's letter and expressing support for Hamdan Ballal started circulating today and has now been signed by more than 300 Academy members. Will share more if/when it becomes public.

AMPAS has issued a new statement that basically says: “we will continue to say nothing.” they don’t even bother mentioning Hamdan Ballal — an Oscar winner!!! — by name.

Being the Film & Media Festivals SIG grad rep has been such a lovely gig! It's a terrific opportunity to connect with other scholars. Please consider nominating yourself for SIG co-chair or grad rep, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about either role.

8 US presidents died in office b/t 1841 & 1963. Whose funeral was recreated for radio? Check out my article, "Bury Him By Radio: Early Funeral Broadcasts & the Mourning of Pres. Harding," in the "Sound History is Cultural History" issue of Resonance! #Radio #Death online.ucpress.edu/res/article/...

23andMe declared bankruptcy and the company is gonna be sold off for parts. That includes your DNA information and the only amount of control you have is to delete your info immediately. It’s very simple to do. Gift link: wapo.st/4kUsBEF

You just know he'll claim he made the whole menu by himself.

I hope my senators are trying to free and get justice for this man (@hassan.senate.gov and @shaheen.senate.gov). This is horrific. And by the way, your shameful votes yesterday only enable this administration’s overreach and abuse.

The absolute devastation that @chuckschumer.com is about to inflict on D.C. by supporting the GOP’s continuing resolution is hard to overstate. Massive cuts to schools and law enforcement. Teachers laid off en masse. Basic city services may grind to a halt because we *cannot spend our own money.*

AI chatbots are wrong 60% of the time www.cjr.org/tow_center/w...

For our next issue, Ampersand solicits papers on rupturing, deconstructing, and recreating boundaries of assumed forms within American Studies. We encourage a variety of topics and formats and prioritize the work of emerging scholars. Find out more and submit by 4/1 at sites.bu.edu/ampersandjou...

sometimes the angel of death comes as a stupid blowhard

Justice Sotomayer - "We're going to lose our democracy." www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/...

ABC has now confirmed the Nielsen data I reported this morning. Must credit @tvmojoe.bsky.social 😉

This is not law. It couldn’t withstand legal scrutiny. Don’t comply in advance university presidents. General counsel, don’t panic. Do law, not vibes.

Conan O’Brien: “Anora is doing well tonight. I guess Americans are happy to see someone finally stand up to a powerful Russian.” #Oscars

A lot of people are going to die from this

This should be true no matter where the fascists go for vacation.

Always fun to talk Oscars (and doubly fun to hang out with a bunch of them)! www.bu.edu/articles/202...

Tesla lost enough value today that it could have fully funded USAID for a year.

“Woke just means you give a damn about other people,” Jane Fonda said at the #SAGAwards. Read the full list of winners: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

True story: a few years ago, I was being interviewed by a reporter for the New York Times. I mentioned the history of eviction statutes and how they tied into Jim Crow. The reporter asked "what's Jim Crow?" When I explained, the reporter didn't believe me and said the US wouldn't do that.

The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?

We’re all in hell and the universe is just gonna double down with another Chiefs Super Bowl, isn’t it

congratulation to Oscar frontrunner Nominees To Be Determined

They…turned off…National Institutes of Health grants? That’s nearly $50 billion of scientific research.

thats ok im already fluent in anxiety

I really think that people taking video/speakerphone calls in cafes and public transportation might end up being my villain origin story. It has happened every single time I've been out recently.

Like smoking a cigarette, driving a giant SUV/pickup endangers anyone nearby. The narrative power of secondhand smoke galvanized the anti-tobacco movement in the 1980s – and it could do the same for car bloat today. My deep dive, in Vox 🧵 www.vox.com/future-perfe...

On the side of the wall at the Golden Globes there’s a studio leaderboard, lest things become too classy

Seth Rogen MVP of the night for acknowledging how fucking weird this camera placement is.

Boooooo no clips boooooo Really, why would an awards show "celebrating the best of film (and holding space for television)" want to show footage from films like "The Brutalist," "Emilia Perez," and "The Substance," movies everyone definitely already knows about and wants to see?

I found this book at a Smithsonian bookstore and it is as dense and substantial as you expect

Vol. III, Issue 1 spotlight: C. G. Branch links the 1960s with present labor movements via a close comparison of Hollywood strikes and the “star power” that marks SAG-AFTRA and WGA activities. Read it now at sites.bu.edu/ampersandjou...

We proudly share our newest issue, “Disruption as Resistance: Labor, Noise, and Refusal." These seven pieces represent a diverse set of voices and scholarly methods examining unionization, activism, and noise-making. Read it at sites.bu.edu/ampersandjou...

sesame street isn't supposed to make money. the post office isn't supposed to make money. not everything is supposed to MAKE MONEY