This is honestly the data economy in a nutshell. The data is almost always used to maximize profits and if you're willing to be completely unethical, you have a lot of opportunities to screw everyone.

2020: Zola 2021: Petite Maman 2022: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed 2023: Four Daughters 2024: Challengers 2025: The Secret Agent

You all should have made me watch The Lion In Winter decades ago!!!

One thing to bear in mind: people are actually terrible at recommending books. When someone recommends a book it's because they like it, nothing else. Except for me, I'm great at it. And it's partly because I will ask you a lot of questions before I recommend anything.

You can set a goal to Read More without making it about numbers or pressure. What counts: learning to make regular space for reading in your life, figuring out how to find new books, and, yes, quitting what you don't love.

My favorite spot in the triangle ❤️

Tubi is an amazing grab bag, you never know what's there, and if you scroll you will see a cinematic masterpiece next to the biggest piece of shit ever made.

I just turned on Phantom Thread and it strikes me that PTA's central concern is male competence/incompetence and perhaps coming out of that dominance or lack thereof.

I bought a half bottle of champagne to be all responsible and now that it's nearly 5 and I'm ready to drink I have regrets. But tomorrow morning when I'm making brunch it'll definitely be the right call.

Looking at the data we drink a lot of cheap vodka. They sold more Fireball than Hennessy or Jim Beam. Keeping it classy.

I disagree with most of these rankings *but* seeing BARRY LYNDON for the first time on the big screen this year was one of the peak moviegoing experiences of my life. I was not prepared.

Since June I've been having what I would have called the worst year of my life if it weren't for 2020. And even if you look at 2020 or other very bad years, it was one big terrible all consuming thing, whereas this year it was just bad thing after bad thing after bad thing to the point of absurdity.

Can't choose just one! Red X by David Demchuk Simplicity by Mattie Lubchansky The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt Strange Houses by Uketsu The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata

Guys. The sun and Venus are transiting my natal Venus right now and I'm on a really great first date. The church is true!

Once again, I did meal planning and I forgot about lunch. It's so frustrating to me that lunch doesn't just immediately appear when dinner is so much work.

Yesterday I took the kids to Carowinds (theme park) for the first time. There was a very very tall rollercoaster and the clouds were very very thick and low. So at the top of the coaster we were in the clouds and couldn't see anything and my brain was like ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT.

I am just about finished with my Mad Men rewatch and I think I may have figured out the problem with Don: the show takes place after the most interesting part of his story is over. It keeps wanting to remind us that Don lied about who he is, but that really only gets you one season of material.

Back to work today. :-/

During a recent rewatch of Silence of the Lambs I was so distracted by Jodie Foster's costumes that I kept getting pulled out of the movie. They spend all this time telling us how she was this poor kid, a scholarship student, even Lecter calls out her shoes but all her clothes are beautiful!

The problem you run into here is 1) who would have standing to sue for the violation and 2) this isn't a law anyone thought would be broken so I'm betting there's no enforcement mechanism. I'm curious if any legal experts have recommended steps forward for this and other similar violations.

2018 and 2025

Audition by Katie Kitamura Sleep by Honor Jones Woodworking by Emily St James Stag Dance by Torrey Peters Trauma Plot by Jamie Hood Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin Spent by Alison Bechdel King Sorrow by Joe Hill

A few years ago a January 6 rioter and qanon-er ran for my local school board and thankfully lost. Last year she ran for state school superintendent (despite homeschooling her kids) and lost. Now she's entered the primary for the Senate seat. The way this woman fails upwards.

Ok I was ready to be on her side until this: She's been coping by throwing herself into film projects, including one about George Santos "with whom she’s become friendly."

Those tiktok videos where someone stitches a funny video with themselves just laughing at it annoy me but I just realized they are the same as quote tweets that just say 🧵 and now I feel a little bit better. Is this how we heal the generation gap?

I am still young and kind of cool but also I'm considering having three different pairs of glasses that live in different rooms in my house and my car.

Sometimes the filings in these cases are quite boring given how egregious the actions, but this one is juicy and this judge is pissed.

I saw The Secret Agent and it may be my favorite movie of the year. Might be a perfect film? Grabbed me from the first frame. I always complain about pacing and movies being too long but this was beautifully crafted, starts with a nice slow burn and builds to a real edge of your seat final hour.

This is 1000% dictator shit and it makes everyone feel like we are slowly losing our minds to see everyone so happily go along with dictator shit. Leaving it as is sends a clear message that we are just fine having not just that one but another future dictator president.

LinkedIn knows I was unemployed for 7 months but still thinks I would like to see my year in review. Cursed platform.

The number of movies I've seen in the last few years that would be better if they were 20 minutes shorter is A LOT.

I've been a little stressed about the possibility of an AI bubble and today I talked to my financial advisor, who has been understanding of my opinions like "the stock market is just vibes and I hate it." Her take on the bubble? Don't touch your investments, make sure your cash reserves are solid.

This episode of Money With Katie about the Ambition Penalty with Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez shook me up! I thought I knew how bad it was but the data around marriage is something any woman married to a man needs to hear, imo. moneywithkatie.com/the_mwk_show...

The heater cannot keep up with the cold today and I'm SO glad we're out of the frigid temperatures the rest of the week. My house is literally not built for this.

a little perspective | patreon.com/lubchansky

It's a good day to use the "Hide post for me" button.

I want to hang in the Louvre the look on my teenager's face at the line "I'm having dinner with an old friend," at the end of Silence of the Lambs. Just perfection.

My favorite book of 2025 and I know I'm not the only one.

worth pointing out how we first came to know this. In populations affected by measles, deaths from other infections are elevated for YEARS afterward. So scientists started comparing blood samples and looking for antibodies.

Best lists are impossible, but I can definitely give you my 10 Favorite Horror Novels released in 2025. 🧵 in alphabetical order by title:

This is one of the three books I am waiting for that I'm not sure will ever exist but I will not give up hope.

I left the Mormon church 20 years ago. Today my mom asked me to help her with the talk she's giving on Sunday. Tbh I don't blame her, I was *so* good at talks.

Some I liked, some I hated, some I haven't heard of, some I didn't finish, and one I would not read if you paid me.

I don't know how long it's been since HBO undid its rebrand but if you use their app they still don't list anything from the Max era in the HBO section, including Hacks and The Pitt. Is someone over there just refusing to filter tags correctly? It's so weird.

When I read BAD BLOOD back when I was a young innocent 38 year old I realized that all these rich, powerful men that run companies were actually very stupid. And every day since I realize that I have once again given them too much credit and I need to lower my opinion of them further.

Look nothing makes sense anymore but Disney handing over its characters so anyone can make videos of Mickey Mouse doing cocaine is so out of character for the company that I truly don't understand what is happening.

In 2007 when the recession hit everyone said oh no if only we'd seen it coming. This time we do see it coming and we're all just gonna sit here and watch it happen, I guess.

One of the only things I miss from living in Utah is that sometimes in the grocery store there would be other people also singing along to the easy listening music playing over the store speakers.

The problem is I've read 30 books that have been released since my last newsletter. Catching up feels impossible. But ignoring all of them also feels impossible.

It's too cold already. I don't like it. I want a do-over.