The My Lie massacre

I have had a weird number of requests from French media lately (complimentary). I always like the idea of doing something my cousins in Marseilles might see

I think I've mentioned this but anecdotally, in Trump 2.0 compared with 1.0, I have found media in other countries a LOT more eager than US outlets to talk Trump & culture/politics issues. I ain't saying anything! I am just putting that out there!

© CBC/Radio-Canada 2026. All rights reserved.

Thanks to Elamin Abdelmahmoud and Commotion for having me on today to talk about the meme war. For a SE Michigan kid who grew up on Canadian broadcasting, being on a CBC show is always the pinnacle

www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

It will be funny though on Nov. 4 when CBS announces The Late Show with John Oliver, premiering fall 2027

I am not writing our review of this but I've come to the conclusion that Gadd just makes tremendously well-observed waking nightmares that don't do anything for me than evoke pain I don't want to subject myself to

Like, something becomes topic of the day. A few big accounts mention it. And people LOCK THE FUCK IN:

* What do the people I hate think about this topic
* What is it I hate them for
* How can I wrestle this piddling subject into that particular ideological framework

and we’re off to the races

I have no strong feelings about the whole get-to-the-airport early debate (other than being chronically punctual/early by nature), but it just shows how ridiculous the whole social-discourse machine is on even the most stupidly low-stakes topics

sauron's security infamously cannot account for three tiny guys, one of whom is literally carrying his most prized possession and who is able to do so fully into the heart of his realm where it is destroyed

See, if I opened up replies, I'd have to block a hundred people saying "um actually the Greek etymology of panopticon implies a visual device" but now I can just imagine it a hundred times in my head instead

the penne opticon

Rod Serling stands in a glowing doorway, surrounded by the title Serling: A Journey Into The Twilight Zone with TV's First Visionary, by Alan Sepinwall

Very excited to reveal the cover for my next book, Serling: A Journey Into The Twilight Zone with TV’s First Visionary. The book will be published by Grand Central on October 13 of this year, and pre-orders are open now: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...

Well now I will!

Croce for whatever reason I was able to appreciate as a kid. But Lightfoot, it took me well into adulthood to recognize as the absolute GOAT bsky.app/profile/mjam...

Wichita Lineman, Superstar, This Guy’s In Love With You — so many of those 60s/70s AM radio songs I thought were schmaltzy have amazing rich chord progressions I appreciated when I started playing guitar

There are many reasons I limit replies, but “You’re expressing your heartfelt feelings wrong” is definitely a top one

Given how active the Tolkien-misunderstanders are in pushing for a right-wing surveillance state, maybe it’s not such a departure from politics that Colbert is writing an LOTR movie after late night

When the cylon army comes I will defend my home with an impenetrable barrier of pool noodles

This moon people press conference is a pure delight. I wish the news were just moon people show every day

Interpreting Jesus and Atonement – Practical Issue #4: What About Hell? On February 11, 2008, comedian Stephen Colbert had Stanford psychologist Dr. Philip Zimbardo on his show, and they talked about heaven and hell.  It was a rare moment when you could see the ‘real’ …

This still remains my favorite Colbert Report moment

"Obviously you learned well in Sunday school."

"I TEACH Sunday school, motherfucker!"

newhumanityinstitute.wordpress.com/2015/08/20/i...

Kind of a gift that the universe gave Stephen Colbert such an opportunity to pull out his Catholic card in his final weeks

Drop your crime-fighting Catholics:

CUPERTINO is a David vs. Goliath legal drama set in the heart of Silicon Valley that follows a lawyer (Mike Colter) who is being cheated out of his stock options by his former employer, a tech startup. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney (Rachel Keller) to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite and help them fight back in a high-stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley. CUPERTINO is produced by CBS Studios. Robert and Michelle King will serve as executive producers and co-showrunners under their King Size Productions banner, with Robert directing the premiere episode. Liz Glotzer and Sam Hoffman also serve as executive producers.

I'm listening

checks out

My Malcolm in the Middle review last week was one of the fastest I've written recently, probably for various reasons but also it was four half-hour episodes and done

I didn't get into this in the review, but in a biz where age-casting gaps so often go the other way it was so refreshing to see her credibly play a character who, all evidence in the story suggests, is actually, like, Betty Gilpin

"Ultimately, 'Margo' is a show less about sex and skin than about social and class prejudice. Who is considered entitled to respect and to grace? Who is allowed to make mistakes and to come back from them?"

The dream is when I have the lede first, and then everything naturally flows out in order from that. But dreams do not always come true!

Anyway if you read my reviews you will probably notice a pattern of

[hopefully catchy lede]
[several paragraphs to cram in all the crap I have to mention so you know what I'm talking about]
[2-3 grafs of the part that actually interests me]
[hopefully catchy kicker, get the hell out]

(This is in addition to the TV-specific twist where a review that used to involve watching an hour or so of screeners now involves watching a full 8-10 hour season, maybe reading the book or seeing the movie the thing was adapted from, &c, &c.)

This is a tangent, but in words/hour, reviews take me longer than anything that's not a review. Maybe I'm an outlier among critics? A nonreview essay, I can take in any direction; reviews are these figure-skating routines with required components of premise, plot, cast, &c--it never gets easier!