Josh Levin

Why People Don’t Care About Avatar Late last week, Sigourney Weaver revealed that three sequels to Avatar would begin filming shortly. Given that Avatar was “the biggest-grossing movie...

Some good points by David Haglund in this post from back in the day slate.com/culture/2013...

Not a bad setting for championship point

Q. You mentioned that you kind of tried to stay away from your superstition eating at the same place over and over again. Where did you eat out while you were here? LEYLAH FERNANDEZ: Oh, my. So the first two rounds I tried to eat healthy. I went to an Italian restaurant, Officina. It was so good. I loved their tagliatelle bolognese and then their charcuterie board too there was delicious. But then afterwards, because I had two days off, I was, like, Okay, I can't be eating Italian for three days in a row now. We're, like, okay. It's fine, let's go to a Mexican restaurant. Luckily one of the Canadian team members that was here with Vickie told me about this great restaurant called Mi Vida. We went there before I think Jess's match. It was very good. Ate some great steak. The guacamole was amazing. But then after Taylor's match, the physio told me I need to eat a lot of salt. I asked her, Okay, so what should I eat? She suggested anything that has fries is very good.

So I told my dad, Okay, we've got two options for tonight. Either we' going to Mi Vida again to eat the chips and guac and put on some salt and all the steak, or we're going to Shake Shack, which is right beside. We got back to the hotel, and if I remember correctly, it was about 8:00 p.m., 8:30. We thought, okay it's too late to go to Mi Vida. The food's going to arrive a little bit late. We went to Shake Shack. We got burgers, hot dog, cheese fries, everything that an athlete should not eat before a match, but it did the trick. It gave me the right nutrients to recover from the cramps and get ready for the next round. After my semifinals yesterday, my coach and I, we were messaging, and I was, like, Okay, what do you want to eat tonight? We both answered at the same time, Burgers. So we knew we were going to go back to Shake Shack yesterday. That was kind of my diet for the whole week.

She really answered the hell out of that question.

In press, Davidovich Fokina said that after beating Fritz around 2am, he got a massage, went to his hotel, ate dinner with his team, and went to sleep at 5am. He then woke up at 1pm, got Starbucks, got room service, went to sleep again, went to the tournament site around 5pm, and beat Ben Shelton.

No MPs saved, somehow! But Fritz was up 5-3, 30-0 in the third and double faulted 2x in a row

At 45, Venus Williams Is Back on Tour—and Winning. She’s Also Doing Something She Never Has. Her first match back on the WTA Tour, after a 16-month hiatus, was something between a sporting event and a tent revival.

Wrote about Venus' comeback slate.com/culture/2025...

Teaching you about Tennys Sandgren is my greatest DC Open memory

The greatest.

Mpetshi Perricard serve and forehand coming right at you

Venus Williams first serve in her first match back on the WTA Tour. She got called for a foot fault. Rude!

Agassi is actually sitting in the royal box (next to Justin Gimelstob)

The Woman Behind Wimbledon's Iconic Finger of Fate An interview with the woman whose finger unwittingly created one of the most enduring images in modern Wimbledon history during the 2019 Djokovic-Federer final.

As you may have heard hinted at in Novak Djokovic's last press conference, I was delighted to track down and interview the woman (and finger) behind one of the most iconic images in modern #Wimbledon history:

Read her story and legend at Bounces:

www.benrothenberg.com/p/wimbledon-...

thank you!

It Was the Mystery That Shocked America in 1990, From Prime-Time Shows to Congress. It’s Been All but Forgotten. It Shouldn’t Be. The angry death of Kimberly Bergalis.

The story of Kimberly Bergalis and David Acer is a parable about how we decide who’s guilty and who’s innocent—and about whose lives we ought to protect.

This is happening tonight. Come on out DC!

Excerpts From the Memoir of a Marine Deployed to Los Angeles in 2025 A dispatch from the front (of the drive-thru) line.

What it was like in the shit in 2025 slate.com/news-and-pol...

Happy book release day to the legend @alansiegella.bsky.social -- and come see us at @solidstatebooksdc.bsky.social on June 17! www.solidstatebooksdc.com/events/2025/...

Stupid TV, Be More Funny This comprehensive account of the meteoric rise of The Simpsons combines incisive pop culture criticism and interviews with the show’s creative team that t...

STUPID TV, BE MORE FUNNY comes out on Tuesday. 1. Here's one last shameless reminder to preorder if you haven't yet. 2. Be on the lookout next week for a bunch of cool new Simpsons stuff 👀.

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...

Reeling in the Big One How TNT's Sam Querrey invested to build himself into a sudden social media and television star.

New at Bounces:

The story of how Sam Querrey put in the time, effort, and money to build himself into a sudden social media star in retirement, ultimately getting rewarded with a huge new role at #RolandGarros on TNT:

Read here:

www.benrothenberg.com/p/sam-querre...

bsky.app/profile/josh...

Judge dismisses Les Miles lawsuit against LSU over vacated wins A judge in Louisiana has dismissed the lawsuit brought by former LSU football coach Les Miles against the school, the NCAA, and the National Football Foundation

www.si.com/fannation/co...

Les Miles sued LSU, the NCAA, and the National Football Foundation in 2024 when the decision to vacate 37 of his wins took his winning % from .665 to .597, making him ineligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. That suit got dismissed. But with this change, Miles is now eligible!

Josh Levin Josh Levin is a podcaster, author, and editor in Washington, D.C.

I’m still going to be doing some work for Slate. I’ve also got some other exciting projects I’ll announce later this year. And if you want to hire me / work with me, please send a message here josh-levin.com 4/4

Thanks to everyone who made all that possible, including @jacobweisberg.bsky.social, David Plotz, @juliaturner.bsky.social, Jared Hohlt, John Swansburg, @lowenliu.bsky.social, @gabrielroth.bsky.social, Allison Benedikt, @lbenn.bsky.social, Hillary Frey, and @arenee998.bsky.social 3/4

I’ve written about sports and politics and culture, and edited Slate's sports, tech, and jurisprudence sections. I hosted the sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, edited every season of Slow Burn, hosted the seasons on David Duke and Fox News, and did six seasons of the history podcast One Year 2/4

After 20-plus years, I’m leaving my staff job at Slate. In an industry where steady employment is … unusual … I’m so grateful to have had a long tenure at a great place with great people 1/4

Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, recently used my second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run, and that of my teammate in the 800-meter run, to malign Soren Stark-Chessa, the trans-identified athlete who finished first. One of the reasons I chose to run cross-country and track is the community: Teammates cheering each other on, athletes from different schools coming together, and the fact that personal improvement is valued as much as, if not more than, the place we finish. Last Friday, I ran the fastest 1,600-meter race I have ever run in middle school or high school track and earned varsity status by my school’s standards. I am extremely proud of the effort I put into the race and the time that I achieved. The fact that someone else finished in front of me didn’t diminish the happiness I felt after finishing that race. I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points. We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren’s participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are. Anelise Feldman Freshman, Yarmouth High School Yarmouth

this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...

Oh damn, I have two more of these to give away! Who wants one?

Just missed out on the top 3, sorry!

Slightly too late indeed — sorry!