Recent posts by NPR Staffers on Bluesky

That’s my last minute Christmas shopping handled, courtesy of Hudson News.

omg. I saw so so so many vital movies here. and also Seabiscuit. RIP to my second most visited Odeon

It is impolite on this morning to trend a fascistic sadist such as Stephen Miller and not deliver anything less than a Christmas miracle.

THE PLAGUE was probably my favorite movie from Cannes, a terrific debut, and it is finally out: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/m...

On the extraordinary, bizarre and quite wonderful (in every sense of the term) THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/m...

The Miser brothers aren’t getting along this year.

Here’s the problem with making Spider the emotional core of Avatar 3: I hate this character. No shade to the actor but this guy sucks. He’s annoying as shit. If I showed up to a party and he was there, I’d leave the party. If he was in my friend group, I’d have to make some really hard decisions.

Christmas Day: Merry Christmas, suckers and losers

mewwy cwissmiss, wussell!

Y'all please stop arguing about historically accurate costumes in an adaptation of a story that has lotus eaters, sirens, a sorceress, two sea monsters and a cyclops in it. Also: the women will have 2025 eyebrows, deal with it

Still life watercolor lesson continues

Learn to dance with Felix!

Co-sign Also: it never quite happened for him afterwards, but this was the film that got people talking about John Heard as a potential movie star who had a beautiful face but could act his ass off

I think it's beautiful that most Christmas movies have one moral at heart: "If you don't celebrate this holiday you are a piece of shit."

not usually a "the book is better" guy, imho adaptations are a different animal, but... the book is much better. (it's a solid movie with a great car chase & needle drop, though.)

My seven-year-old realization that Snow Miser sings “friends call me Snow Miser” but Heat Miser sings “they call me Heat Miser” means that HM doesn’t have friends - was the moment I unlocked that lyrics reveal character and was probably the reason I became whatever the hell it is I am today.

I am going to need a serious linguistic time-jump for Season 2

Everybody's got their own favorite CHEERS opener. This is mine. youtu.be/sebg44MS_io?...

🎶 Da-n-da-n-da-da-da and here I am The only Cybertruck in Uganda 🎶

In theory Russell Brand is innocent until proven guilty of multiple rape charges, but shouldn't the fact that he's been parading around as a Born Again Evangelical Christian count as a signed confession?

Another 4-Star review coming tomorrow. Wish I'd seen it before the Top Ten list deadline--it would've been near the top.

CLOUD ATLAS: I still will shout from the top of the valley that this is one of the finest films of the 10s. The casting controversies, the earnestness, the multilinear storytelling… none of it changes my mind one iota. It’s a masterpiece, and I am thankful I saw it the way I did, at Fantastic Fest.

I did not enjoy seeing my team get waxed.

This so perfectly articulates the best thing about this movie: Mary. “It’s a Wonderful Life is, in part, the story of someone becoming, kicking and screaming, against all intentions and desires, a big man. Mary sees the big man in George from the first, because she is a big woman.”

One of my all-time best movie experiences was watching IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE with my kids a few years ago, and feeling their awe at just how captivating, rich and incredibly moving it is.

This year started, middled, and ended pretty low for me, and I’m a pretty sunny and power-through person who generally ends up propping up everyone else. But here are some things that I am grateful for.

Reposting because while you're making your cookies/bird/mulled wine/whatevs, you WANT to listen to this! Christmas with Cocktails, in a Cardigan! www.npr.org/2025/12/18/n...

Tooth Tutors. Tooth. Tutors.

I am not an Oxford comma absolutist but this one threw me

Perhaps you would like to hear me and the objectively hilarious @joshgondelman.bsky.social and @samthielman.com talk about it back in the depths of pandemic-induced delirium. Well! You’re in luck! I think (if this link works.) open.substack.com/pub/yammpod/...

Some of you have never seen one of the most successful independent movies of all time (God’s Not Dead) and it shows

“Demotion zone” would be a good band name.

Wow. Top 10 list on @deadline.com. Shout out to @deadlinedominic.bsky.social for truly seeing "Clean Slate" and whatnot and so forth

lotta good stuff here obviously but The Long Goodbye + Night Moves is an inspired, perfect double feature

You know what's a surprisingly fun part of writing? Cutting your own material for length. This can go and this can go and this whole bit is garbage! Whooop!

Every time I log into Threads, they’re arguing over if Taylor Swift is evil, and I just ultimately don’t care.

It's A Wonderful Live was a box office disappointment in its day. Now, almost 80 years later, people still dive deep into it and write thoughtful essays like this about it. It's a wonderful and enduring work of art is what it is.

I’m always so impressed with the people who know what they did and read and watched and listened to and thought all year and can sit down and write about it coherently; my list every year is just me, staring at a blank screen, bored but also crying a little

They've got Jar-Jar Binks writing headlines now

Having actually been to this Andrew Peterson concert many years ago (which is lovely), this is hysterical

Made two versions of this meme, to suit your individual taste.

Watching my favorite film of 2012.

People at my screening of Avatar 3 cheered when Payakan showed up.

This wockaflocka played too much Battleship as a kid. Just one will cost us $13,000,000,000. But remember, only give your dad a pair of socks for Christmas. Need to count our pennies, y'all.

Watching The Karate Kid with the kids in a hotel room, explaining that we really did use the phrase “dead meat” that often in the ‘80s.

So where's this rain?

I forgot to mention: One of the female leads is named Ana, and had the film revealed her last name was Conda, I would have had to give it a 10/10 score as a matter of principle. (Alas, she has a normal last name, boo.)

Alan has offered up his digital code for both of the BLACK PHONE movies. I'm gonna randomly select a winner below this skeet. If you want it, reply with your favorite James "PJ" Ransone performance (It DOES NOT have to be one of ours.) Let's celebrate PJ's amazing career. Answer by 1PM EST Dec 24th!

Early Christmas present to myself.

The best essay about this film that I've ever read, and I've not only read dozens, I've written a few myself. Hooray for Mary!

Been wrestling with JAY KELLY, and why I think George Clooney's actual relationship with his own celebrity is more interesting than the emptiness-of-the-A-lister angst he performs on screen www.vulture.com/article/is-g...

A story in four parts.

Sometimes, people, criticism isn’t a sign that you’re a brave truth-teller, standing strong in the face of condemnation from the backwards masses who will SOMEDAY see how right you are. Sometimes it just means your take is wrong. Super, super wrong.

Movie opening credits always be like VINYL PRODUCTIONS A VINYL FILMS MOVIE VINYL STUDIOS presents A film by VINYL

Discussed my Top 10 list, Bowen Yang's "SNL" departure and more in my biweekly podcast visit with @nickdigilio.bsky.social:

Hey #ttrpg folks I don’t know if I’m early or late to this party but the beta of WONDER X WORLDS, a universal system, by @colinkahl.bsky.social is pretty great. And filthily good looking for an indie rpg. wonderxworlds.itch.io/wonder-worlds

When I left the premiere I did say, well, I appreciate that Rian made all these upstate Catholics basically Southern Baptists. On the other hand, I know a lot of trads (mostly converts) who sound like this, so maybe it’s just 2025

Vacation plans already well underway

I cannot believe how bummed out I am by Cafe Gitane closing

I was talking about this the other night with some friends. It scares me

Let's do a fun Xmas thing. As we order delivery food during this SoCal storm, let's all overtip the delivery people. Like, madly.

Those pupils are DI-LATED

A lot of you are baffled by this note, but the weirdest thing about it is that I first heard it from an A-List director many of you absolutely LOVE. I've seen it in the wild since, and I hate it with all my heart.

We have not even begun to see the peak of “male loneliness crisis” articles my friends.

"Maybe it’s the age, maybe it’s my age; whatever, it’s hard to insist on the importance of movies when your country is sinking into totalitarianism. Yet it’s what I do, so, like most of us who feel caught in the amber of our own powerlessness, I keep on doing it." Here are the year's best films.

Life is short, and full of pain. Bring joy to someone, and heal it. It’s the only way. The only way.

One of the upsides of moving to our current place a few years ago is that we actually know our mail carrier, a kind of relationship I grew up with living in the suburbs, and which was new to E who didn’t. That means remembering to buy a small gift for the holidays every year, bc our MC is the GOAT.

You know, we're always told we view the past with rose-tinted glasses & the olden days were never really that good, but I remember when journalists used to piss & moan about having to do human interest stories instead of hard news because there wasn't enough news to fill half an hour. I miss that.

Tis the season etc etc

my family has changed Xmas Eve/Day dinner plans at least 3 times over the past 10 days, with many menu permutations, and despite my repeated, urgent pleas to just let me know what’s happening when I get there and the info becomes actionable I have been kept abreast of every. single. development

An autographed copy of my first book has been at Walden Pond Books on Grand Avenue in Oakland for yeeeeeears. If you are in the Town come get it for someone you love, so I don’t have to feel awkward every time I see it.😬 Happy Holidays!

Okay, so my husband nonchalantly mentioned “book nooks” to me a couple weeks ago and I was like, what? And he was baffled that they hadn’t been advertised relentlessly to me on my various feeds, as they were on his. Frankly, I am too? Seems like a failure of algorithming

It is 78 degrees. My neighbor is mowing the lawn. Jess is tending the garden. I have the garage door open and I’m breaking down boxes for recycling. It is two days until Christmas and we are dismantling the global warming tracking infrastructure. Everything is fine.

So much weird bullshit scriptwriting advice online by people with 0 credits. This one big Tiktoker was ‘fixing’ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to be more ‘sellable’ because Charlie Kaufman doesn’t trim his action lines enough?? The only real rule is: do you have a unique voice like Kaufman?

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the posts of our lives. Here are the ones I'm proudest of from this absolute monster of a year:

as a former victorianist i really cannot say enough about pneumonia as a prop for that perfect trad mom cosplay; i've spent the last nearly a week wrapped in blankets and coughing while constantly noting how dickensian this is

Two more tasks and I can escape work…

Seriously how in the fuck did the Atlantic go from publishing Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Case for Reparations to accusing Canada of ‘treachery’ in the span of 11 years?

In 2023 I became obsessed with videos of dads in cargo shortswaiting in parking lots during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. So when she came to town, I grabbed a camera and headed down to talk to them. I thought it'd be funny. It turned out to be something else entirely.

This superhero origin story sucks

Nuts of distinction.

My dude you are literally a media analyst, it’s YOUR actual job to judge “whether it should have been included or not,” my god

The Supreme Court's unexpected opposition to Trump unleashing federal troops on Chicago is less a legal or moral victory than an admission of political reality. The corrupt six have spent the last year watching their depraved master bleed out, and now they're thinking about a future without him.

The Supreme Court unexpected opposition to Trump deploying federal troops in Chicago is less a legal or moral victory than an admission of political reality. The corrupt six have spent the last year watching their depraved master bleed out, and now they're thinking about a future without him.

Less of a legal or moral victory than an admission of political reality, I think. The corrupt six have spent the last year watching their lord and master bleed out in the public square, and now they're thinking about a future that doesn't involve impeachment in/or jail time for corruption.

Less of illegal or moral victory than an admission of political reality, I think. The corrupt six have spent the last year watching their lord and master bleed out in the public square, and now they're thinking about a future that doesn't involve impeachment in/or jail time for corruption.

When you've finished that wonderful gooey dessert, pour some flavored sparkling water into the bowl, scrape down the sides and... toss back a fancy artisanal mocktail! Enjoy!

Notable that this piece casts the CBS journalists’ reaction as how they “feel” about their piece and what they’re “used to.” Inherently denigrates their concerns. But hey nice try.

"At the request of the board, and just about everybody else in America, I am hosting the event." I don't know if he's the most morally bankrupt and repulsive president of all time – there's competition for that title – but he is certainly the most pathetic.

This is the weirdest lowest effort tagline I’ve ever seen in my entire life on a movie poster. Whatever happened to the gutter poetry of ‘No one can hear you scream in space’ or even ‘The luck of the Irish… has just run out’

Political and corporate spokespeople now regularly treat a request for comment from the mainstream media as an opportunity to drop a free ad into the middle of the story. Bad faith non-responses should just be discarded, with a note that they declined to respond to the substance of the question.

"A scene in a script should never be longer in number of pages than it has number of characters." In short, a two person scene should never be longer than 2 pages. Scott & I include a long dialog scene in every one of our movies that we are ALWAYS told is too long and will be cut, then never is.

I fell down a Shangri-Las rabbit hole recently and oh my god they were so good. This kind of adolescent girl group pop that at the time was thought to be here-today-gone-tomorrow has lasted forever.

Seriously convinced a huge problem is studios keep pushing IP out of touch with the main theatrical audience, who is now about 25. We had a Predator sequel and Running Man remake in space of a week, both nearly 40 year old movies! Not really surprising Minecraft has been the biggest movie this year.

Avatar: Fire and Ash co-stars Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldaña play Guess Your Movie based on your Letterboxd reviews 💫 Watch the full interview: boxd.it/ebW

It’s possible I allegedly once heard The Last Airbender had become one of Paramount’s biggest merchandising and tie in sellers and the original animated series did insane numbers when it was on Netflix for awhile. One of the reasons Netflix spent so much on the live action show. It’s wildly beloved.

Really enjoying the eerie glow being given off by the Toledo Rockets in the Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl Of Beans.

So, uh, trying to think of how I'm going to explain what's unfolding in these Epstein drops to my mom when she asks, because I don't fucking know man. These are the most depraved people on earth.

I hope you are making the most of your first day in the world.

Same