Top recent posts by NPR Staffers on Bluesky

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.

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.

Cancel your Paramount plus subscription today it’s the one thing they’re afraid of and it will harm their attempt to buy WB / CNN

The most important story many aren't talking about: we've become an airline style economy in which 10% of us enjoy First Class, responsible for 50% of the consumption, while the other 90% of Americans are responsible for the other 50%. It's not only unsustainable, but collapsing as you read this.

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.

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."

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

Ever notice how every single orange cat has impeccable comic timing

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!

"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.

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?

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.

The sad truth is that the wealthy know exactly what's going to happen, which is why they are all building compounds on hard to get to islands for when the great wealth reset happens. We are approaching the guillotine phase of the economic cycle & the wealthy plan to get the fuck out of Dodge first.

You know “Rule 3: Nothing ever stops until a Rich White Guy goes to jail”, was meant for a different context, but it absolutely applies to all these government agents. These people are violating court orders. An unenforced law is not a law.

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.

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

I’m sure he’s also got some photos that could help clear things up a bit

In the closet, I convinced myself the cis idly thought about "changing" their gender as much as I did and if I transitioned, I would surely miss many things about being a man, despite being assured neither was true. I wanted PROOF. I wanted assurance. And I finally got it. (1/2)

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.

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.

A story in four parts.

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

Reading these latest Epstein files and my hot take is that this man was a monster.

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.

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.

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

"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.

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!

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.

MARTY SUPREME CHRISTMAS DAY

I've been a devoted MCU fan. Saw all the movies. Watched all the TV shows. Maybe this will be good. I hope so. But I can't help but feel that I'm just fucking over it.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to say more but is this is an absolutely bullshit decision by the oligarch spawn claiming they want to release movies theatrically & brutally unfair to what I personally know are some of best people in US animation. This should’ve been their Demon Slayer, fucking idiots.

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.

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’

Therapy with Grace Reiter

The Downside to @emmavigeland.bsky.social

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.

This is why, despite what a lot of folks are saying on here, Bari's not getting fired anytime soon. They hired her to be a pain sponge for the rich and powerful, and she's doing her job. 👇

Learn to dance with Felix!

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?

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!

They've got Jar-Jar Binks writing headlines now

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

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.

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!

Vacation plans already well underway

Wicked: For Good has joined the Letterboxd One Million Club 🧹 🫧

"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.

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.

Nuts of distinction.

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.

From Robert Bresson to Antoine Fuqua, from the 1950s to the 2020s, Dan Mecca takes us on a tour through many cinematic interpretations of the King Arthur legend. boxd.it/2Ue

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

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

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.

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 would make me so happy if ten seconds after this clip, Doom breaks into the house, kills Steve, and that's what kicks the plot into motion. This is a very, very boring trailer.

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.

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.

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

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

Been thinking about Anthology and how I had another Beatles doc that first shaped me love for them... Watching now it deeply nostalgic and moments have a very Adam Curtis feel to it! you can find it on youtube...

“To see your package tracking, download our spyware app” is sooo obnoxious

Christmas Day: Merry Christmas, suckers and losers

Always be the first one on the zoom call so no one can talk about you before you get there.

Same

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

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’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

Still life watercolor lesson continues

Those pupils are DI-LATED

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.”

Remember that year where the general tone at the end was **worst year ever** because quite a few very old celebrities had passed away?

Art Twitter has lost its goddamn mind The gist is that a simple Do/Don’t mermaid drawing tutorial has users shrieking. “How dare you tell me what to do? Mermaids are imaginary!” Wish they had this much fire for Mecha Hitler youtu.be/vee_L33a_4U

I know it's a false etymology, but I still like to think that the smilodon is named that because of its beautiful toothy smile.

Tis the season etc etc

Woodworking: beloved by geophysicists

Would love to know what the historical armor accuracy folk think about the costuming for BEOWULF ‘99 starting Christopher Lambert.

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

Our Best of 2025 coverage begins this week with a look at some of horror's funniest moments this year:

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

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?

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

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

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

Today's Marion's Wish post is FREE FOR ALL! Happy Holidays! www.marionswish.com/18-scotty/

Saw one of those custom shampoo companies claiming their simple if-then hair type quiz was harnessing the power of AI 😝

Really enjoying The Creative Vegetable Gardener by Kelly Smith Trimble. Dives into the culture, psyche and benefits of gardening, along with recommendations for companion planting, pollinator attraction and creative design 🌱

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

Jennifer Lawrence talks about filming the bathroom scene in Die My Love 🛁 Watch the full interview: boxd.it/cSk Die My Love is now streaming on MUBI.

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.

a little-known fact about blue-state roads is that red-state cars frequently drive on them

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

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.)

Politically speaking, these bozos think this strategy will continue to work forever, don’t they?

A thing that haunts me is that in Father of the Bride it’s a whole thing that Steve Martin taught his daughter how to play basketball and then you see her play and her shot is I’m sorry absolute dogshit. Just two hands, no aim. Nancy Meyers you should have written this lady with some gd game.

Honored to have written the fourth-most read story on Vulture this year, especially given the subject matter.

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...

Pulp fiction: on the murderous paper chase of Park Chan-wook's NO OTHER CHOICE, starring Lee Byung-hun in one of the year's great performances. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

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.)