Latest posts
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Tribal Theater in Fiji: Survivor 49’s Grand Illusion of Fairness
The two-hour premiere of Survivor’s latest season dropped us straight into the tropics: Fiji. Sand, sweat, whispered alignments, and the familiar tension that says, “You’re not safe.” But what struck me most was not the immunity challenges or the plundered rice rations — it was the spectacle of alliances forming and betrayal already baked in.
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Apple Blinks at the Screen: When a $3 Trillion Company Gets Spooked by a TV Show
Apple has spent the last decade branding itself as the patron saint of courage.Courage to remove the headphone jack. Courage to sell you the same laptop three years running with one extra port. Courage to charge $19 for a cloth. But courage to air a scripted drama about violent online networks in the weeks after
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The Prosecutor Who Wouldn’t Bend (and the President Who Couldn’t Tolerate It)
The American legal system prides itself on independence, impartiality, and the quaint notion that prosecutorial decisions are made in courtrooms, not at golf resorts. But on September 19, 2025, Washington delivered another episode of its long-running tragicomedy: Erik Siebert, interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned. His crime? Not mortgage fraud, not
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When Science Meets Conspiracy: The CDC’s New Vaccine Variety Hour
If you ever wanted to watch the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reinvent itself as a cross between a daytime talk show and a flat-earth convention, congratulations: September 18, 2025 delivered. Picture it—a fluorescent-lit conference room in Atlanta, where a panel once devoted to quiet, data-heavy immunization schedules has been rebranded as the CDC’s
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The Sundance Kid Rides Off: Robert Redford and the Indie Dream We Pretend Is Still Alive
The Perfect Death for a Perfect Myth Robert Redford died in his sleep at 89. Publicist Cindi Berger said it happened at his home at Sundance, tucked in the Utah mountains near Provo Canyon. No cause given, no final scandal, no messy revelation about a burner phone and a crypto scam. Just a clean exit,
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Kash Patel’s Senate Hearing: When Oversight Becomes Cage Match
The Director in the Hot Seat The FBI director is supposed to radiate calm authority. Buttoned-up, even boring. Kash Patel did not get the memo. At his Senate Judiciary oversight hearing, Patel delivered spectacle instead of stability—part wrestling promo, part courtroom drama, part Fox primetime audition. Patel denied politicizing the bureau, denied purging Trump critics,
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Shutdown Theater: Now With More Subsidies and Security Funds!
Welcome back to Washington, America’s longest-running soap opera, where every September the same plotline airs: Will the government shut down? Will Speaker [insert name here, they rotate faster than NFL quarterbacks] hold the caucus together? Will Chuck Schumer furrow his brows meaningfully? And will anyone, at any point, think about the millions of actual humans
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The Emmys Crown Their New Royalty: Streamers, Sad Billionaires, and Seth Rogen
Award shows love to pretend they’re about art, but the Emmys have always been about bragging rights. Who owns the zeitgeist? Who commands the hashtags? Who can throw the longest acceptance speech while orchestra violins nervously twitch in the pit? And this year, the 77th Primetime Emmys gave us the answer in flashing lights: streaming
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My Predictions for the 77th Primetime Emmys
Every year, the Emmys give us an opportunity to reflect not just on the television that entertained us, but the television that defined the cultural conversation. Some shows break through because they’re technically brilliant. Others linger because they captured a mood or gave us characters we couldn’t stop talking about. This year, the ballots feel
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Big Little Lies Season 3: HBO’s Attempt at Resurrection Theater
The Prestige Necromancy Business HBO just announced what Hollywood does best: recycling. Big Little Lies—the Monterey mommy noir that gave us Nicole Kidman in silk blouses whisper-screaming about trauma and Reese Witherspoon perfecting the art of weaponized brunch—is being resurrected for a third season. Francesca Sloane, fresh off Mr. & Mrs. Smith, is tasked with