While I’m at it, a couple other dinner party notes: - I think it’s nice to try to make sure everyone can eat the same meal, and it’s basically possible no matter how many dietary restrictions are present. Just requires a little creativity.

Last night I made dinner for 8 and realized only when explaining the menu to the group that it was accidentally vegan. I’m not sure we would have even realized otherwise. It was an incredible set of recipes, so I’ll thread them below:

For the NYT Book Review, I wrote about Jen Hatmaker’s new memoir AWAKE: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/b...

We have this already, it’s called movie studio publicity embargoes

“Carr, fully aware of Trump’s stated desire that Kimmel should be the ‘next’ network late-night host to lose his show, grabbed on to the tiniest thread of grievance and spun it into a direct assault on Kimmel, ABC and the First Amendment.” Yes. Thank you for saying this. Yes.

Co-sign: this film has been on my mind since January, and my mind doesn’t stay on much these days

Everybody in NYC go see PREDATORS this weekend at Film Forum, easily one of the best movies of the year

“Yeah, we’re going to have censorship” says Spotify’s $250 million dollar man. shorturl.at/s4Boj

Everybody in NYC go see PREDATORS this weekend at Film Forum, easily one of the best movies of the year

"America may not be an actual autocracy. But it increasingly seems to be playing one on TV." [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/a...

I have seen at least three different movies described as the most controversial or incendiary of the year just today and none of them are the one that I think will actually kick up the most shouting

A country where you can't joke about the president's political faction by custom is not functionally different from one where you can't joke about the president's political faction by law.

News flash: Paul Thomas Anderson made another absolute banger

One more note on Robert Redford and his particular type of on-screen hero: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/m...

I forgot to post this over the weekend, but for our fall arts preview I had fun writing about one of the great performance artists of our time: Jennifer Lopez, whose life and art are inextricable www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Reposting for the night crowd. This is really about how Redford knew, and threw himself into, the power of platforming independent art.

Now go watch SNEAKERS

It's not an overstatement to say that through Sundance -- festival, Institute, the whole thing -- Redford pretty much changed the trajectory of my life, and I'm profoundly grateful.

My appreciation of Robert Redford, the star of THE CANDIDATE, who knew the power of the camera and tried to turn it in the right direction. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/m...

This is absolute nonsense

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah says she was fired last week over posts on social media in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/b...

NYC: see MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS, which has been held over for weeks at Film Forum due to demand but has to end this week. Shows the regime in Russia taking apart free speech in a matter of months, starting with declaring independent journalists to be "foreign agents": www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/m...

Last night @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social described the fliptree video (iykyk) as having the quality of an I Think You Should Leave bit and I think my soul left my body with the perfection of that description

I have spent all night cooking a very grand dinner for eight only to discover that nobody gave Martin Scorsese an Emmy. For shame

bunheads end of story

Taking stock of late-night leaves us with one man standing still preaching hope. Thankfully he’s pretty funny, too.

I'm teaching this online seminar on some of Joan Didion's essays with @libraryofamerica.bsky.social, beginning September 29. Four sessions, 75 mins each. We'll be talking about some of her most prescient essays, which I think we should be reading right now. Come join. www.loa.org/news-and-vie...

L F G

This is gonna be such a great book. I can't wait.

THRILLED to be back at @liveright.bsky.social with @giaquinta.bsky.social for my next book! I'm convinced that if we're to retain our humanity in the face of mounting technocracies and forces that want to make us into little atomized profit units, we've got to re-engage with big, bold, communal art.

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Incredible lack of even trying to engage with the long long long long history of thought on depiction of sacred texts here

Great movie, wrote about it in my megaDylan piece last year www.nytimes.com/2024/12/29/m...

Sharing for the post-holiday crowd: I went to Oz, er, Vegas to see the Wizard, and it was complicated. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/m...

all the good things that have happened in my work life have been a result of the unions I’ve been part of (and the ones that came before) and all the ones I’ve been stiffed by have been anti-union, so, happy Labor Day!

I went to see the Wizard www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/m...

Do you ever just contemplate the fact that a single year gave us Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest

If this fall festival circuit were a children’s book it would be called The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Hamlets

genuinely curious what prompted this rando Facebook message

The idea that it would be somehow “surprising” that Gen Alpha loves going to the movie theater has made my eyeballs roll fully back and I’m not sure they’re ever returning

A really strange and interesting data point now is that the “Heroes of the Faith” series of biographies for children in the church library at the conservative evangelical church of my youth had a biography for Louis Pasteur

My Las Vegas Uber driver says I am the seventh or eighth New Yorker to recently mention experiencing a bit of sticker shock over the price of food here

Well, I have no idea what happened with THE ROSES, but yikes. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/m...

This September, join @nytimes.com critic @alissawilkinson.bsky.social for a four-part online course exploring the writing of Joan Didion, from her celebrated essays to less-known works illuminating her political and pop-culture fascinations. Find out more and RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/joan-didio...

Via @status.news. Ah.

Sometimes I wonder how many viewers of EDDINGTON actually realized it was about what the AI guys are doing

Thank you! Pre-ordering is essentially the best way to support an author. It influences how many copies bookstores stock as well as best seller lists. If you love a writer’s work, pre-order.

This is an EDDINGTON joke

I read about half of this book before bailing and I think Jia’s essay is great. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

With the Venice Film Festival kicking off on Wednesday, here are three questions to ponder as a whole new awards season gets underway.