Time Well Spent: A Reading List
I've wasted enough of my life wasting away on the internet, and now's my time to shine. A few friends have asked for news sources I recommend, and I spent too much time thinking about it and now here we are. These are my favorite places on the internet - websites and newsletters and Bluesky(??) accounts and a few remaining institutions. I don't really have a good answer to "where should I get my daily news from?" - if you do, please share. Any organization that has the reach of a New York Times seems to have the politics of the New York Times...or the LA Times...or the Washington Post. Ethics are a diminishing resource.
But great writing isn't! Below you can find thoughtful cultural criticism, classic sports blogging, and brilliant writing on all this shit going on right now. I might keep this updated, I might add YouTube channels and podcasts someday, who knows. Everything's a little up in the air right now. You get it.
The Front Page
WIRED + 404 Media
As I write this, these are the two most vital sources for what is happening in DC. As I wrote above, my daily news usually comes from the NYT, but the best reporting right now is coming from WIRED and 404.
Where's Your Ed At?/Garbage Day/Max Read
Going off of that, the rise of "Silicon Valley fascism" has made finding a good tech blog essential. Where's Your Ed At? unravels the appalling mistruths that CEOs have spent decades spinning for their shareholders. Garbage Day hones in more on internet culture specifically - but seeing how threads like Gamergate animosity have bled into executive policy shows that Twitter was, devastatingly, real life. And Max Read attacks all of this, and so much more, from a million angles. It's probably my single favorite newsletter, for the important reasons and for the trash action movie picks.
Jamelle Bouie - Newsletter + Bluesky
Nobody I read is better at tracing the lines of American history through to today. There is some reassurance in "this is not unprecedented", undone by the realization that we're still doing the exact same shit. But the context is vital, the takes are nuanced and the emotions, while tempered, are refreshingly present. It's nice to read somebody write about the state of the country like they actually give a shit about the people in it.
David Roth
Writer/editor at Defector, writer at Flaming Hydra and elsewhere - proof that profound insight doesn't doesn't have to involve an ounce of stuffiness. You'll nod your head because he's right, you'll keep reading because the writing is so damn good.
ProPublica
Investigative journalism all-timers.
More to Read ▼
Flaming Hydra
The best collection of writers on the english-language internet
In These Times
Writing on the labor movement that is likely the best chance for America's future
n+1 Magazine
Terrific writing on current events, culture and more
More Perfect Union
Good source for news on governmental and/or financial corruption
Sequencer
News of the world filtered through the lens of science
WRITERS AND NEWSLETTERS: Alex Shephard/Osita Nwanevu/Jeet Heer/Hamilton Nolan/Lunch Reads/Long Reads/Today in Tabs
Los Angeles/California ▼
Torched + Big City Heat + LA Podcast
This collection of writers, through the LA Podcast, helped me maintain my sanity - to the extent that I did - in 2020. I learned my city council members, my regional policies and politics, and court cases that are still wrapping up today. Alissa Walker's Torched began as a 2028 Olympics newsletter and has become the main place I turn to as this city gains crises by the week. Hayes Davenport's Big City Heat is great as well, and I'm glad the LA Podcast has returned in some form with both of them appearing on at least some recent episodes.
Arts & Entertainment
Vulture
One of the only publications that's managed to keep a consistently stellar and adventurous crew - they host some of my favorite writers on music (Craig Jenkins), and film (Alison Willmore), and rotate in plenty of other great voices.
Hanif Abdurraqib
My favorite living writer. On music, on politics, on whatever random TV show or video game he's posting about on Instagram. And, most especially, on Carly Rae Jepsen.
Jia Tolentino
Tolentino's essay "Always Be Optimizing" plays on a loop in my head - one of the most insightful reads on something that nags at me about the world today. Tolentino manages to diagnose those kinds of things a lot. She can also crush a celebrity profile, a dying artform.
Movies ▼
The Film Stage
A great resource for independent/international/quality Hollywood news, monthly & festival highlights and trustworthy streaming recommendations.
MUBI Notebook
Especially recommend their weekly "Rushes" article, recapping the week in film news, articles and more.
The Daily (Criterion)
Ditto the above about Notebook's "Rushes" for The Daily's "Did You Read This?".
Justin Chang
My favorite film critic working today.
K. Austin Collins
My other favorite film critic - harder to pin down these days, I believe because he is working on a book. I've linked to his Letterboxd, if you know where else to find his current writing hit me up.
Wesley Morris
Someone else who doesn't write as often as I'd selfishly like, but everything he does pen is a must read.
WRITERS AND NEWSLETTERS: A.A. Dowd/Alison Willmore/Angelica Jade Bastien/Ashley Clark/Bilge Ebiri/Dana Stevens/David Sims/David Ehrlich/Esther Zuckerman/Jourdain Searles/Katie Walsh/Louis Peitzman/Manohla Dargis/Pilot Viruet/Priscilla Page/Rachel Handler/Richard Lawson/Stephanie Zacharek/Casey Young/Michael Pottle/Daniel Ott/Fran Hoepfner/Marya E. Gates/Iana Murray/Joshua Rivera/Matt Zoller Seitz/The Reveal (Scott Tobias & Keith Phipps)/Metrograph Journal
This isn't even all of the writers I love, I just had to find a limit. I'll add more sometime.
Music ▼
Stereogum
I may be forgetting something, but setting aside the obvious like iMDb and YouTube, I think Stereogum may be the only website I've visited consistently since high school. I love the breadth of the news coverage, the recommendations, the writing.
Hearing Things
Relatively new worker-owned music publication from ex-Pitchfork staffers and other great writers. Amazing features and reviews so far.
WRITERS AND NEWSLETTERS: Craig Jenkins/Lindsay Zoladz/Steven Hyden/Josh Terry/Ian Cory/Don't Rock the Inbox/Grace Spelman/Ann Powers
Literature ▼
Literary Hub
I don't follow much of the book world, so Lit Hub's round-ups of recommendations and articles is deeply appreciated.
Maris Kreizman
My favorite writer at Lit Hub, with a great newsletter of her own.
LA/NY/London/Chicago Review of Books
Local Bookstore Newsletters
Unabridged is one of my favorites, no better place for recommendations
WRITERS/NEWSLETTERS: A.O. Scott
Video Games ▼
Polygon
One of the last vestiges of coherent video game coverage in a post-Gamergate world.
WRITERS AND NEWSLETTERS: Austin Walker/Janet Garcia
TV ▼
Emily St. James
Her writing at A.V. Club changed the way I thought about TV and art in general. The GOAT of the Golden Age of TV Criticism.
WRITERS AND NEWSLETTERS: Roxana Hadadi/Mo Ryan/Alison Herman/Alan Sepinwall/Matt Zoller Seitz
Misc. ▼
The Flytrap
Feminist blog on culture and politics
EX Research
Random assortment of links on internet, games, deep dive culture. A delight.
Andrea Long Chu
The most recent addition to my list of personal favorite writers, Chu's thoughtful take on Last of Us helped me realize why the show wasn't clicking for me.
Hunter Harris
On pop culture, art, celebrities, gossip and plenty else (always love Harris going deep on a line reading that's wedged inside her brain)
Jeremy Gordon
Great writer, love his yearly wrap-up essay, excited for his book this year.
Kelsey McKinney
Great writer, love her podcast Normal Gossip, excited for her book this year.
Sports
Defector
One of the standouts of the worker-owned internet landscape.
Tom Ziller
Daily basketball newsletter with reasonable takes and good links
Jon Bois
The greatest mind on the internet?
Food
Jaya Saxena
My favorite writer on food culture right now
Cake Zine
Fascinating writing on cake and other baking
Games
Crosswords (via DailyCrosswordLinks)