Beautiful Weather = Loud Music today in Chicago. Probably the best jam-from-car moment I heard was a guy cranking Miley's "Wrecking Ball" at a light. "I never meant to start a war; I just wanted you to let me in." There are so many wars right now. Things felt sunny/solved in that fleeting moment.

Benetti is fucking brilliant on these Sunday night games. Somehow makes two analysts better. Another version of the medium he just steps into and owns. ⚾️⚾️⚾️

Here at Jeff’s Red Hots, they just put Heart “Alone” into Sabrina Carpenter, and we’re all eating dogs with everything plus sauerkraut. Nothing can stop us.

Alright, I have a player copy of ‘Rebel Yell,’ probably a “Nice Price” sticker at one point. But after writing about this entertaining doc @deciderdotcom.bsky.social for I’m hitting crates this weekend for Idol. Flesh! For fantasy. decider.com/2026/04/02/b...

Of interest with Man on the Run is how cool Paul and Linda looked throughout the 1970s. If it was 2026 when Macca left the Beatles and fled into zippered sweater solitude, his beard definitely would have had its own Instagram. decider.com/2026/02/28/p...

As a person who swears by written notes, obsesses over them being "clean," and hates having to cross out a mistake/misspelling, covering THE PITT and its firehose of medical terms/weird disease names presents particular challenges. Let's just say "Dr. Strikethrough" is always on call.

After Season 1 I'd think about characters on THE PITT like they were past coworkers, or people I knew in a different city. "I wonder how it's going with Whitaker crashing at Santos' place," etc. Anyway I'm insane. Hyped to be 'capping S2 for @deciderdotcom.bsky.social . decider.com/2026/01/08/t...

A train station bar is random by design, especially on a holiday. So I appreciate the bartender who did not deviate from her playlist of 80s metal deep cuts. Faster Pussycat, Britney Fox, a FireHouse cut I’d never heard, a lesser Poison Bic ballad; the Crue w/ “Kickstart,” just for a holiday jolt.

You should chase away the bullshit this weekend w/ 'Last Samurai Standing,' a thrilling, thoughtful action series set in 19th c. Japan, where a noble samurai has a few things left to prove to the jerk-offs running his country. Wrote about it @deciderdotcom.bsky.social: decider.com/2025/11/13/l...

I’m recapping ‘Alien: Earth’ for @deciderdotcom.bsky.social, which is awesome because this show is scary and stylish and weird and a great place to escape to, even if its future is still full of rich dipshits. Also: Sabbath and Tool and other exquisitely curated jams. decider.com/2025/08/12/a...

While I detest in all its forms the in-game interview w/ coaches/players, I’d pay extra for a feature that opened a (listen-only) mic whenever players were talking at first base.

I feel like for FOUNDATION S3 — what year is it in this show? Wellllll… — basically everybody, even Asimov heads, must be watching only for its flowing river of impenetrability. My sense of what’s happening? Vague. But! Space drugs, mind-control pirates, and “something casting shadows in the math.”

Was able to dart in and grab an extra ice cube from the tray while my freezer's door was closing, extricate my arm without disturbing its motion. 🏆 (Feel like I deserve to take the rest of the day off)

Sly was so cool, and his music will forever be powerfully danceable. Questlove's recent Sly doc is also totally brilliant. decider.com/2025/03/25/q...

Like 20 years ago, I rested a coffee on the roof of a car before climbing in. Drove away and it went flying. “Never again!” I swore about roof-resting things. Anyway, I just rested my computer on a car’s roof and drove away 💀

Nothing but anecdotal data on this, but TV used to have more bar fights. Nice to see a few pool cues meet cheekbones in the latest ep of DUSTER. Took a drag on a recap: decider.com/2025/05/30/d...

DUSTER is cruising away from all noise and bullshit at 275hp. I mean, in the second episode, 70s Josh Holloway is out here robbing Elvis. ‘Capped it for @deciderdotcom.bsky.social: decider.com/2025/05/23/d...

DUSTER is one of my fave pilots in some time. Thrilled to have the former Metro Wheelman himself, @johnnyloftus.bsky.social, recapping the exploits of Josh Holloway's wheelman over at @deciderdotcom.bsky.social. Fire up your 8 tracks and punch your gas pedals, hombres! decider.com/2025/05/16/d...

'100 Foot Wave' makes being an infinitesimal speck of dust -- one human against a zillion tons of surging water -- look both insane and totally cool. And as a proud Midwestern flatlander, surfing to me just seems beautiful and impossible. Maybe like life? Wrote about it: decider.com/2025/05/01/1...

Haven’t seen much of Etoile, but the show’s first episode does feature a fantastic intro of Lou de Laage as Cheyenne, rogue prima ballerina. And hey, solidarity w/ Cheyenne, too. In real life, lots of the forces and people harming our society deserve to get zinged w/ a solid line like this.

One burning question I have after the PITT season finale: do they keep that cooler for the post-shift park beers in the trauma unit somewhere? Anyways, time keeps on ticking into this incredible show's future, which I can't wait to watch. decider.com/2025/04/10/t...

Do you ever buy a couple random records, bring ‘em home, and when you slot them in, you look at the artist they’re next to alphabetically, the little genre dynamic that represents, or the interesting typefaces aligned, and say out loud to no one, “Oh shit, that’s a good one”? It’s a nice quiet win.

The rock show this weekend was packed. A six-piece band blowing up the spot. Which is why it was hard for everyone to hear me while I shouted in their ears about the brilliance of THE PITT and Dr. Robby reaching his breaking point.

As Dr Abbott, Shawn Hatosy is rocketing to the top of my Pitt staff power rankings. But after this latest episode, I’m mostly just sobbing along w/ Robby. This show is putting us through it! Wrote a recap: decider.com/2025/03/27/t...

The level The Pitt is working at...it's like if I was any other medical drama on TV, I'd probably say "It's over. Pack it up. We're gonna re-tool our format. Maybe 'scandals and animals.' There's no way we can compete with what The Pitt is doing." Wrote about it: decider.com/2025/03/20/t...

Our world is crazy. So maybe escaping into The Pitt, where their emergency department regularly shatters, is a kind of self-treatment. All I know is that it's so crazy gripping, I feel like I work there now. decider.com/2025/03/13/t...

This piece is about Gaga, but it's really about resistance, outrage and hanging on to yourself when others call you a monster www.npr.org/2025/03/03/n...

Hackmania, my Gene Hackman movie marathon this weekend, will include The Package (a double-tribute, as it was one of my dad's fave GH performances), The Conversation, Night Moves, Enemy of the State, and The Quick and the Dead.

Fired up a rewatch of ANDOR. The tyranny alive in BBY 5, how the series uses grime and the “used universe” aesthetic, the urgency of its writing — feel like it all feels way way amplified this time around.

Currently balancing reading Onyx Storm with a re-read of Persuader, the novel season 3 of Reacher is based on. So now I keep thinking a pedantic huge guy w/ fluid ethics is gonna suddenly reveal his signet, or maybe get into a fist fight with a dragon.

Shea Whigham is so great in American Primeval. Always the realest guy on screen. Fact is, Whigham is so great in Primeval, so real, that he made me miss all over again the unconscionably-canceled Perry Mason, where he was also the most real guy ever.

The Cut Copy bop “Take Me Over,” heard on this day in the subterranean wilds of the Chicago Pedway System. Latent cosmic energy from Pitchfork 2011??

I don’t know what I was doing in my life up until now that was so important that I didn’t catch up with Dickinson. Latest ever on this but: it is fantastic and acutely funny.

The season finale of Prophecy was an on-ramp to even more crazy Dune-ing. Palace coups and Sisterhood schisms. “CHOOOOOSE!” Wrote a ‘cap: decider.com/2024/12/22/d...

My 2024 award for Best Swashbuckling goes to The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, an incredibly fun French film with a built-in instant sequel. Adventure! Romance! Swordfighting! Incredible hats! Plus Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, and Vincent Cassel. Swashbuckling. It's the only thing that will save us.

Dua Lipa's set where she's accompanied by classical musicians is very classy and fun, and I'm not just saying that because I witnessed the viral popularity of K-Tel's 'Hooked on Classics' in 1981. decider.com/2024/12/15/a...

Is that a theremin’s zippy purr on the Skeleton Crew soundtrack? Into it.

When I was working on this piece, I heard a neighbor outside on the landing outside my place. “He’s listening to Ace of Base again.” Yes, yes I was. Those laserbeam keys, those harmonies that invade the ear— 90s radio rose up in here. decider.com/2024/12/05/a...

The robot is accurate. I parked my 2024 houseboat at “Right Back to It” back in March when Waxahatchee’s Tiger Blood hit. “You just settle in/Like a song with no end” indeed…

Stark’s piece speculating on “the golden at-bat” concept has me thinking again of my most gonzo ⚾️idea — either manager gets one chance a game to insert a second live ball into play. www.nytimes.com/athletic/596...

Yacht Rock doc good! A breeze, like. Wrote about it: decider.com/2024/11/29/y...

It's been a week and I'm still thinking about The Substance. Like what if someone slipped you the Substance without your knowledge, and you woke up with three eyeballs in one socket. But also, I just really want to see a floor plan of Elisabeth/Sue's apartment.

Think if somebody slipped me one of these, I’d definitely watch the video presentation, and call the number. Chances are good I’d even make it to the lockbox phase. I’m too curious.

All I'm saying is that Dune: Prophecy is the kind of dense, escapist sci-fi that we could all probably use right about now. I'm recapping it over at Decider. decider.com/2024/11/18/d...

In addition to revisiting Sisterhood of Dune for reasons, this week also feels like the right time, after that election, for me to read Tom Nichols’ ‘The Death of Expertise.’

@wakebakerake.bsky.social Yeah dude!

Confessions: I never finished the first season of SILO. Instead I started thinking about it in vague shorthand, like “I wonder what those people in the silo are up to.” Now that there’s a season two, I guess I got a check back in. Maybe they built a Quiznos in there or something.

@gloriousnoise.bsky.social I heard you’re making calls from the GLONO break room, setting up vendors and contacting talent bookers. Pitchfork is sadly no more, but in its place rises…Glorious Noise Fest

Whole Foods on Ashland hitting me w/ Jesus Jones upon entry was a low blow - I mean, I was just looking for fresh basil. But then the alt 90s variety satellite recovered by playing Belly’s “Feed the Tree” and Elastica w/ “Connection” back to back, so the weekend isn’t lost.

And anyways, as long as we're all here on this site, or making our way, howabout some links?? I really liked 'Pedro Paramo,' the directorial debut of cinematography legend Rodrigo Prieto, which exists in a fraught place somewhere between death and life. My review: decider.com/2024/11/07/p...