(PSA it’s not the year of the horse until lunar new year in mid Feb)

finally watched les miserables movie version for the first time yall were so mean to anne hathaway for no reason!!! 2026 is the year of hathassaince

Next up: Alexa, 17, has a moving out fund on their Transanta wishlist and we need just $145 to fund it completely www.instagram.com/p/DSODr0fDhL...

was just thinking about the era of twitter when we would tweet out-of-context quotes from our friends and sometimes we would post something a little too specific and there'd be this scramble to delete it before their boss saw it

twice in the last week i have cured a vague midday malaise with a steaming cup of hot water. miracle cure!

The duality of Defector

The latest episode of OIYGC is about The BACHELOR and whether it's possible to cheat on it! defector.com/is-it-even-p...

I wrote about the dirty, demeaning, absolutely booming business of turning something like a shitty bigoted college essay into a shitty public career as a bigot, and also estimated how old Marine Todd would be today. defector.com/the-conserva...

imagine being 14 and someone tells you that in 20 years, "going to work" would be sitting in a chatroom all day

The last episode of the first season of Try Hard is out today. It's a break in format because my guest didn't actually accomplish his goal, at all. We ended up having a really nice meta conversation about failure and how uncomfortable it is to rely on your people: defector.com/ronald-young...

It was great!! I ran so much faster than I meant to and now I feel destroyed 💀

wrote about this shitbag again defector.com/vaccines-do-...

Tomorrow I'm running my first half marathon in 6 years!! I'm really excited about it!! I wrote this essay about finding my way back to running after I thought my long distance days were over defector.com/falling-back...

die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a jilted lover in an ephron film

"What’s left when the rich people lose interest is the work," an important statement. An industry boom will show you who people really are. (Like Ira Glass, who starts this piece insisting that all podcasts should be listened to at 2x to maximize podcast listening.)

I expected this podcast festival to feel like a funeral, but it was surprisingly optimistic. Once you hit rock bottom, you can only really go up. defector.com/resonate-pod...

An in-depth look at the video team that helped so many people get into the Zohran Mamdani campaign: defector.com/selling-zohran

We lost a diva

i see you're doing something online that you have effortlessly done 100,000 times. would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? would you like to use this ai tool? w

not to brag but i went through a whole 24 pack of pimple stickers this weekend

i've been spiraling about "what is the point of learning" lately so i wrote a blog about it defector.com/learning-is-...

five years ago i switched to fountain pens because they were "more sustainable" but now instead of losing a $.50 pen every two months now i just lose a $10 pen every two months

EXCITING NEWS: Only If You Get Caught, a new podcast hosted by me and produced by @alexlaughs.bsky.social drops one week from today. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

a person at Treasury gave Defector a rundown of how this process—which appears to be against the law—was expedited in order to avoid public scrutiny defector.com/treasury-dep...

when they tell you publishing is slow they mean S L O W i've been working on this for five years and we sold it six months ago but now i get to announce to the world! i'm writing a book! never say the word "talent" around me if you don't want a whole ass dissertation!!!!!

Is it too late to get raptured

I went on @morningbrew.extwitter.link's Per My Last Email podcast to talk about something I know a lot about: being a tryhard at work! www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvN0...

I'm really proud to work at a media company that isn't made up of cowards, that can say All of This Is Really Fucking Bad over and over again because it is. defector.com/charlie-kirk...

this is fucking crazy

it's stunning what a rare and radical statement this is defector.com/five-years-o...

Heyyy! I’m back at Defector after book leave and just in time to say that I’m on a podcast! @alexlaughs.bsky.social had me on the latest episode of Try Hard. I learned to ride a bike. If you ever wished I did more fun things, wow, today is for you!

Let's remember some guys! Immaculate Grid has teamed up with our friends at @defector.com to present "Remember Some Guys from the 21st Century." Visit immaculategrid.com/remember this week to create and share a list of your favorite guys since 2000—there are no wrong answers!

cannot stress enough how many podcasters have pivoted into fine art because this is now somehow more lucrative than podcast

We've been working toward this day for NINE YEARS so allow me a moment of pride: IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR THIS NEW PROFESSOR. The students at Franklin & Marshall are very lucky if I say so myself 🥹

1) the fact that (rich) parents are down to subject their small children to an unproven educational experiment 2) the kids take “brain breaks” from their iPads by watching YouTube as a group 3) the “coaches” in classrooms don’t have to be licensed www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Lots of people have reached out and said nice things about this, but lots of other people have asked me why I care enough to spend 2000 words writing about a dying industry. (and a strange number of comments on the blog from people proudly proclaiming they don't listen to podcasts at all. ok??)

The latest Try Hard hit me like a ton of bricks with this quote: "Perfection impresses people, and imperfection is what drives connection." @alexlaughs.bsky.social doesn't miss! pca.st/aimdilw1

There have been a ton of 20th anniversary "best of" podcast lists lately, and it has started to feel a bit like an obituary for an industry. [gift link] defector.com/the-future-o...

Production-wise, Normal Gossip is a direct descendant of Another Round. These are the two most influential shows of my career and I'm honored that they've both been recognized by the industry as two of the top 100 podcasts of all time. www.leftofdialmedia.com/elp-normalgo...

you can read an excerpt of CHANGEOVER over at @nymag.com today a nice appetizer for this afternoon's Sinner-Alcaraz match nymag.com/intelligence...

lmao i've discovered i was in the same sorority as tree paine

my biggest takeaway from the new heights ep was that it was VERY carefully edited to look off-the-cuff so i am not surprised to learn this iramadison.substack.com/p/is-travis-...

Every new announcement about the gutting and consolidation of the podcast industry makes me want to throw up. The cynicism, the accumulation of wealth among a top few people, the careers destroyed. It's real bad yall.

What a beautiful tribute to Thirst Aid Kit ❤️ And it was so nice to see all our names together again! www.avclub.com/podcast-cano...

lancaster pa is like a richard scarry town

I feel so heartbroken. Today is a great day to sign up to be a sustaining member of your local public radio station.

Today, we’re happy to share that Press Forward, a coalition of funders committed to strengthening local newsrooms, has awarded our group a grant to build shared services for independent, worker-friendly local media organizations. defector.com/we-won-a-grant

Big announcement! We've got TWO new podcast collabs between Radiotopia and @defector.com, hosted by @redford.bsky.social and me! defector.com/try-hard-onl...

You motherfuckers still wear shoes IN YOUR HOUSE!