Do you like puppets and slapstick and alien politicking and do not need Star Wars to showcase either a) Jedi or b) excessive space battles? You can fit SO MUCH OF THAT in this baby. *slaps hood repeatedly*

Tried to figure out why I walked out of the theater feeling such a profound sense of relief, and then I realized: I hadn't had to think about what a male character thought or how he might react for two whole hours. Maybe you could use that experience, too.

Nathan Tavares is here for everyone enraged over New Sunnydale never seeing the light of day.

What if "bravery" as the sole important attribute to enacting positive change is a scam, actually.

The problem isn't that the Federation has a War College, the problem is that the existence of a war college seems to skate right over the military aspects inherent in Starfleet from go, and I reeaally hope that they deal with that. reactormag.com/the-united-f...

the demon looked so much like the electricity monster in the Are You Afraid of the Dark? computer game that haunted me as a child

And I scream from the top of my lungs "uh... brain attack"?

For the Valentine's Day crowd! "You’re here, you’re queer—and it’s good for you, actually."

Sometimes you need a break - why not laugh about the end of the world for a couple hours, instead of swimming in dread?

Businesses think they can make jokes at their own "expense," but they can't. Not when they're holding the red veto pen.

Next up this January, an important look at intersectional identity, patriarchy, and The Hockey Show...

I really hope you read this one. Indrapramit Das pulls it all together in a way that will help your brain flip that switch you've been scrabbling for.

Many thanks to @use-theforce-em.bsky.social & @reactorsff.bsky.social for taking this piece. It's been a while since I've dug into some juicy critical writing, & it felt good (eager to do more). Heads-up that this contains spoilers for s1 of PLURIBUS (which I liked very much, to be clear).

Please watch Dust Bunny and talk to me about fighting for connection and belonging k thanks

Look, I made a joke about it before, but I'm back with receipts this time, and my logic is unassailable...

Between this and Legend of Ochi this year, the tiny child I used to be feels very seen and loved. (This is my favorite movie of the year, though. Find a theater, Pushing Daisies crowd.)

I'm just asking questions! (pretty sure it's true, though)

This one hurt. (Maybe just watch the first and final ten minutes?)

Everyone wants to talk about Superman saving the squirrel, or saying I love you 3 months into dating, or holding a dying robot, and I just wanna shake them and shout "And *why* do you like that part??" (This is why.)

The Vulcan underground depilation community must be *wild*. Wild, I say. Yes, this is the sort of thing I'm thinking about when I watch TV.

I don't care if it's overcrowded, give me every superhero story where we skip origins, always.

I know this is a losing battle and yet! I will die on this hill: SIX EPISODES IS NOT A SEASON IT IS A MINISERIES

The thing I realized as we put these lists together is that, regardless of subject matter or genre, I have 2 main desires: slapstick soulmate shenanigans or *gay ennui* Even the stuff that didn't make the list pretty much always hit those two categories.

Anywho, here are all my Andor recaps in one place:

Those last twenty seconds nearly ruined the entire show for me. I'm going to pretend they never happened.

Get thee to a theater, trust me, just go.

My body is on some kinda quest to destroy me (that's unfair, it hasn't caught a break in well over a year), but I have to admit, there is nothing objectively funnier than sneezing while wearing a neck brace.

How'd everyone like the Thaddeus Ross movie where Captain America showed up sometimes? reactormag.com/captain-amer...

Lynch was a saint cloaked as a transgressor in a world full of transgressors cloaked as saints.

This is the exact opposite of what this week needed.

It just seems like folks have real strange ideas about what constitutes "holiday cheer" and "romance" and also "use of image consent."

Updated my voter registration! Which is wildly difficult to figure out when you've got a name change in NY (it's in a very weird place and the website only suggests you go change it in person, which, no), and these past weeks have been *rough* so this is my major win for the time being.

James Earl Jones was supposed to live forever, what the FUCk is going on here.

It's so cool what you can do when you want to be creative with your pals instead of pressuring everyone to make a billion dollars in a weekend? ...That's probably not the takeaway they wanted me to have.

Hope you wanna hear about that Megalopolis trailer clusterfuck because my brain will NOT shut up about it.

Hi this is my Joker origin story?? Brothers. Dorian and Basil are being made into BROTHERS.

This is all we can talk about this morning

You have to love these flaccid Calvinist hot takes by highly successful people. Systemic inequality is good, actually, bc it allows the elect to demonstrate their profound virtue and genius. If you are truly pious, you will achieve prosperity via God's special underwear gnome economics

NEW FROG AND TOAD JUST DROPPED

If you, like me, have not finished your Hugo nominations yet, I hope you might consider nominating my Reactor column, Mark as Read, for Best Related Work. Here's a little thread of some of the 2023 pieces I'm fondest or proudest of, starting with "On Learning to Read Generously"

Good stuff for Hugo noms! I think the deadline is tonight though, so I'm guessing everyone's already submitted their lists because they're not my level of procrastinator.

Every time someone I love slams Maestro, my heart grows three sizes bigger. This is not a joke, I walked into my parent's place for the holidays and they were like "We just watched Maestro and we did not like it at all" and I was like "You are extremely correct, it was bad." The RELIEF and LOVE.

I have just discovered that there is no feeling more powerful that telling insurance that they fucked up your billing and emerging victorious. Like, for-profit insurance is a blight on our species, but right now I'm pretty sure I could attack and dethrone God.

insert "it's alive!" GIF here:

The Reactor crew are doing a Reddit AMA, if that's your thing. Ask us stuff!

Answering your questions about the rebrand! The important parts are: nothing is written by AI, we are all the same people doing the same weird stuff, Stubby the Rocket is eternal.

We are gonna be brand new! With a redesign and our lovely new name (which I picked out and may brag about forever. It's not a big deal. I just like it. *foot scuff*)

The problem is that most party dresses fall into the categories of "elegant," "sexy," "cute," or some combo thereof, and I want none of those things, where is my dress selection for "grungy little guys"??

We're sick and watching Muppet Christmas Carol and we need to talk about the fact that the premise is literally Gonzo being like "I'm Charles Dickens" and Rizzo going "oh, this is the weird roleplay we're engaging in tonight? sure thing"