matthew sekellick

Worse than Kent State, really than any episode I can think of probably dating back to Reconstruc & earlier b/c

1. continuing, not 1 off.
2. organized, not individual ofcrs losing it
3. literally at hand of federal government, which is
4. immediately lying & circling the wagons to prevent inves.

For 2026, I am logging off. I may show up infrequently to post updates, but for now, please reach out if you need my contact info!

How a bigger-looking butt could be a sneaky sign of autism and ADHD Your backside might reveal a thing or two about your brain.

I *know* I shouldn’t share the NYPost but I got served this BUTT PHRENOLOGY article

!!!!

And people should know that we have entered the era of BUTT PHRENOLOGY

!!!!

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

A man is washing dishes, behind him a man wearing a jacket and tie says, "we need you back. you're the best." the dishwashing man answers: I don't write film criticism anymore, Tom. I'm out of the game."

among other things, I have a print of this @pantspants.bsky.social cartoon behind my desk

I watched AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH in Portugal today and I just want everyone to know that the entire movie was subtitled in English in Papyrus.

The entire movie.

Bar chart titled “Who’s Really Blocking California Development?” showing the share of CEQA lawsuits by plaintiff type. HOAs and NIMBY groups account for the majority at 54%. Business and commercial plaintiffs file 20% of cases, government entities 13%, environmental groups 8%, tribal or cultural groups 4%, and labor unions 2%. The chart notes the analysis is based on 1,234 CEQA court opinions from 1973–2025 using CourtListener data, with HOAs/NIMBYs defined as homeowner associations, neighborhood groups, and ad hoc project-opposition groups.

The Abundance movement often points to environmental groups as the obstacles to building. But who actually files the lawsuits blocking projects? It’s not environmental groups. It’s been lawyered-up HOAs protecting property values all along. Regulation by litigation is the problem.

ava, tár, fire, and ash

updated my letterboxd favorite movies

I will tell you to have a good time 8-)

Why is this tiny gesture so funny

Had to track down the Rob Reiner cameo on 30 Rock.

Rob Reiner was one of the key people behind the effort to go to court to overturn California's anti-marriage equality Proposition 8 when it passed in 2008.

Working with Chad Griffin, they founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights and got Ted Olson and David Boies to team up to fight Prop 8.

the good that you do persists in this world

This is a textbook case of political asylum.

Agree with Greg — this part has long confounded me. Abrego Garcia agreed to go. But the admin wanted him to suffer.

These people are monsters.

TWU and SEPTA reach a deal on two-year contract, averting strike Gov. Josh Shapiro helped break an impasse in talks.

Transport Workers Union Local 234 and SEPTA reached a tentative agreement on a new two-year contract on Monday after Gov. Josh Shapiro helped break an impasse in talks.

🔗 www.inquirer.com/transportati...

Ideally, Philadelphia should have five permanent theatres, each one with a specific point of view relating to a specific audience supported by a Board which strongly underwrites that point of view. But this is clearly impossible today. Therefore, there must be a lot of give-and-take. The Time of Your Life for one part of the audience; Beclch for another. Too often our regional theatres are dominated by the taste of the Board and this taste, though it represents money and a certain social milieu, is no way representative of the entire community. Most of the community stays away from the theatre simply because it does not like what is done there.

Andre Gregory wrote this in 1967 after he was fired from Theatre of the Living Arts, on regional theaters and board politics. Just as true today:

"Most of the community stays away from the theatre simply because it does not like what is done there."

Now you're giving me homework?

I thought the whole point of a review of a bad book is that you don't have to read the book

i think the financial incentive to bait people into engaging with dogshit is a big part of how we got where we are.

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

an ad for a slushy drink that reads THE BLUE THING IS BACK!

james cameron every couple of years for some reason:

This shit is just planned out and orchestrated out in public. Her mother is a fucking conservative podcast host and lawyer, this isn't some kinda quirk or accident, this paper was written with the express purpose to gin up another culture war about trans people in academia and it's working.

Movies with plays in them Movies with plays in them. Real and fictional. Includes musicals, revues, school plays, but not operas. Details in notes. Loosely: where the play is featured more substantially, or is more integral to...

I am trying to expand my list of Movies With Plays In Them on @letterboxd.social. What is it missing? The play must be featured, somehow seen performed, not simply referenced or mentioned boxd.it/tpLw6

It’s not the Baumol Effect The Baumol effect is an observation that wages in an economy rise based on its average productivity, and therefore the wages also rise in sectors with low or no productivity growth, increasing thei…

"High American construction costs are not downstream of high incomes, but rather of poor governance leading to low labor efficiency, poor procurement practices, nonstandard systems, and overbuilding." pedestrianobservations.com/2025/11/30/i...

I left substack 4 years ago and Twitter about a year ago for ethical reasons and I am doing just fine. The fact that neither product does what they are supposed to do didn’t hurt the decision.

It feels focus grouped

he got a great final turn in the new Kleber Mendonça Filho flick

Because it's fun to cook something different and learn, the large bird is a spectacle for the holiday, and the meal is subsidized by grocers selling turkeys as a loss leader