Who is publishing film criticism, reviews, and commentary these days with moo-lah? An exciting creation just arrived in my inbox and I want to write and file this story.

Every time I see Charles's face, I am reminded of how it is not easy for someone to act alongside Natalie Portman AND Julianne Moore and he knocked it out of the park. Me and my sister were speechless at the end of "May December." SPEECHLESS.

And to think, just last night, we were having a good time talking about grunge.

It's the exact same for metal guitar! Learn Blues chord progressions and scales and you can play literally ANY Metallica song.

This is my face whenever I hear a certain vibrato or chord progression from white folk:

I think good good singing sends a chill down your spine because you know the divine is near. A performance can give you a glimpse of eternity, imho.

Little Richard really did birth a lot of children, sheesh.

I just read that one of Chris Cornell's influences was Little Richard. A-ha! A-HA!

I hope this doesn't come out wrong but if you've ever visited Seattle--a city that I really like--it can inspire melancholy. Perhaps that's why they sang like that. It's very gray and very rainy. The effects have to be revealed somewhere.

And imagine singing like that every night. Every night.

Can anyone these days really cover a Soundgarden song? Who gon' do lead?

I think that's it: Their voices were so haunting. But also, I don't like small singing. You gotta sing out and powerfully and they did it.

Sang his ass off. With ease.

I think if I were not a writer, I'd be an ethnomusicologist. Yep.

Man...growing up in a Black church was one of the best things for my musical sensibilities. I got a good ear!

If I were wealthy, I'd build a music conservatory right in Sunflower County, MS--the birthplace of blues. If you want to sharpen your knowledge of American music, you gotta go to Mississippi.

Okay...wait. I said before that Layne Staley's belting reminds me of church and I thought I was splitting hairs but if I'm not! If I'm not!

We need YEARNING. We need GRIT. As the Black proverb says, "You betta' SANG." I want to hear it come up from the pit of your stomach. You better feel that shit!

I miss 90s grunge and how male lead singers would SING in that genre. Ugh. Their voices were so distinct.

'Your Name' and 'Suzume' director Makoto Shinkai teases that he will announce his next film this year 🎞️ "it looks like it will be the year when I can finally share concrete details about my new film that I've been preparing for a long time"

Hell no. I wanna rest.

I love this damn city!!!

If you think the treadmill is a slog, watch “Heated Rivalry” while on that belt. It’s not because of the sex. The pacing is so tight that 43 minutes feel like 15.

Cheese is where it gets very erotic.

I love bread. It doesn’t matter which kind it is. If I ever disavow bread, it’s a cry for help. If you’re having a bad day, just eat some bread. Because carbs make you happy. And bread has never steered you wrong.

Michael Bolton was LOUD. LOUD! He was gon' make sure you heard 'em!

*takes deep breath* When a maaaaaaaaan loves a wo-man!

In his first press conference as NYC mayor, Zohran Mamdani announced three executive orders on housing and tenant protection One will revive the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants. He also revoked prior orders issued since Eric Adams’s indictment

Mary Sheffield was sworn in as Detroit’s 76th mayor, becoming the first woman to hold the office in the city's 324-year history

This is my song.

I hope she wears Mugler. She would KILL in Mugler. Or Jean Paul Gaultier.

Photos: Zohran Mamdani becomes New York City’s first Muslim mayor https://aje.io/kqqphz

A great part of this year: I was teaching on the night of the NYC mayoral election. One of my students, who was Pakistani, was very nervous and I admitted I was too. Another student had a friend from rural America rooting for us. Then on the Uber ride home, the race was called for Mamdani. Mm.

Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as NYC's first Muslim mayor on a Qur'an from the personal collection of the great Afro-Boricua intellectual Arturo Schomburg—as well as Qur'ans owned by Mamdani's grandparents. www.nypl.org/press/schomb...

In 2026, I want to have caviar and a dollop of sour cream on top of a crispy potato. Ideally cooked in duck fat.

We need another "Don't Worry Darling" press run. It was the right amount of sugar, spice, and everything nice.

I'm going to wake up tomorrow and Eric Adams will no longer be mayor.

I had been taking the National Museum of African American History and Culture for granted since it opened in 2016, but the Trump administration's threats to it changed that. And I wrote a personal, reported essay about it for @veritenews.org. veritenews.org/2025/12/30/n...

Honestly? I don't have an issue with Jack Schlossberg running for Congress. I want to read more about him but if you saw that your beloved, older sister was dying and you were a part of a political dynasty, what would you do? Go get 'em, Jack.

2025 may have been a lot but at the end of the day, I had my health. All the people I love and care for had their health. They also had shelter and they were fed. I don't need anything else tbh. What else is there really to ask for?

It's one thing to mourn the death of someone who's in their 70s and 80s. It's another to mourn the death of someone who was in their 30s and won't even see her kids graduate from kindergarten at the very least. Ugh.

And mind you, the New Yorker published her essay last month. Last month.

A lot of deaths happened in the past 24 hours but man Tatiana Schlossberg's...imagine being a celebrated environmental journalist before the age of 30 then giving birth to your second child and being diagnosed with cancer within the same day. I'm not done!

Alright that’s enough!!!

omg her too?!

I almost cut out the lights to make it real spicy in there. But I chose not to and probably avoided an injury haha

I hope Caroline Kennedy has a lot of people around her. My heart goes out to her and the entire family.

Mercy. I couldn’t stop thinking of her NYer essay.

Yall gotta stop talking about people outside of your weight class.

Mark THEE Ruffalo?!?!?!