Aja Romano

@bookshop.bsky.social

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Senior culture writer at Vox. They/them or she/her, etc. Stanning on main — mainly Wang Yibo with a side of Xiao Zhan. http://ajaromano.com

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I can't stop thinking about how the whole section about "Mr C" is an astonishing dead ringer for JD Vance, right down to the bitter class-obsessed contempt, white trash roots with parental issues, and the scholarship student-->law firm-->investor-->politics trajectory. I mean. Jesus, Dorothy.

I am never not thinking about who goes Nazi. The character types Dorothy Thompson draws here just keep getting more breathtakingly accurate by the year. harpers.org/archive/1941...

Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompsonharpers.org

I am never not thinking about who goes Nazi. The character types Dorothy Thompson draws here just keep getting more breathtakingly accurate by the year. harpers.org/archive/1941...

Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompsonharpers.org

derailing whole conversations by shoehorning in a mention of Wang Yibo since 2020

Tbh a few years back I got an offer to freelance for the NYT and I was elated even though i had to say no. Now? I would absolutely not write for the NYT; anything I wrote on that platform in its current state would just be giving it plausible deniability and helping to launder its transphobia.

"we make our worlds small, save each other" is maybe the advice I've needed for a while.

We make our worlds small, save eachother. These arent allies.

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If you need a break from...everything...there are so many bears on the bear cam right now: www.youtube.com/live/d1YoGAx...

Brooks Falls - Katmai National Park, Alaska 2024 powered by EXPLORE.orgwww.youtube.com **Chat rolls are on 7am - 5 pm PT from Monday through Sunday.Brooks Falls is on solar power and will be live whenever we have enough sun. Brooks Falls in Ala...

if you're a fan of court cases gone off the rails, please enjoy the motion to dismiss in the Rust trial, which at bare minimum is a portrait of a stunningly incompetent prosecution. nmcourts.gov/wp-content/u...

nmcourts.gov

Finally got around to watching Exhuma after seeing it praised far and wide and it was so, so good. Recommend to everyone who's a fan of K-horror, rituals, ghosts and demons, stories with (literally) buried secrets, and cultures grappling with the trauma of the past. Felt invigorated by the end.

vox has allowed me to con them into writing about wang yibo so many times already, yet i remain unsatisfied, i will pull this con job as often as humanly possible

i once again feel like i'm being gaslit by the rest of the world whenever i have basic conversations about generative AI and the conversation includes someone just being like "well obviously computers can create just like humans" no? they obviously can't? OBVIOUSLY THEY CAN'T?

was just babbling at mer about how mia goth both is and isn't a scream queen because she's both the villain and the final girl of the X series and then i was like "she's ambi-dexter" and i'm pretty proud of myself ngl

gen AI defenders: It's good at brainstorming! You know what else is good at brainstorming? YOUR BRAIN You know what doesn't use a liter of water to function every 20-50 prompts, decimate entire industries, and use up enough energy to power Japan? YOUR BRAIN

Why for the love of fuck would you, making a random kiki/bouba labeler, use openAI rather than a fucking random function. Just felt like shooting a panda in the face each time it's used, or something?

fools on twitter calling my kevin spacey article "biased": my dudes would you like me to walk you through my years of kevin spacey fandom, the mailing lists i ran, the autographed portraits and playbills and magazines, as I explain to you that none of that balances 50+ accusations of sexual assault?

"my only love sprung from my only hate" -- me when I'm at the Muji store but it's the one in Hudson Yards

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When cops shot Linda Tirado in the George Floyd protests, they destroyed one of her eyes with a rubber bullet. The subsequent brain damage is proving fatal. Linda needs funds for hospice Venmo: Linda-Tirado-3 PayPal: Bootstrapindustries@gmail Zelle: 806.433.6075

Police Blinded Her With a Foam Bullet. Suing Them Was When the Pain Beganrubberbullets.longlead.com When less-lethal weapons are misused, journalist Linda Tirado learned, there are no consequences — except for the people at the wrong end of the launcher.

Bridgerton taking the Dear Evan Hanson approach to influencers lol

other people root yearly for their fave sports team; i just root yearly for bridgerton to find a queer character

Again, for anyone tempted to believe Spacey because he cried and admitted to getting "handsy" on Piers Morgan 👇👇👇

We've finally updated this piece to include the 50+ public allegations made against Kevin Spacey. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time the full list of allegations has been collected in one article. Read this to understand who he actually is. www.vox.com/culture/2017...

Here are all 50+ sexual misconduct allegations against Kevin Spaceywww.vox.com They span nearly half a century and paint a picture of a serial predator.

i don't really feel proud of my writing very often but i just randomly reread my Suits piece from last year and was so pleased, i think it is good writing and a smart read on a tricky, ridiculous show. www.vox.com/culture/2386...

Suits is an unlikely time capsule for a troubled decadewww.vox.com Suits is half comfort watch, half reckoning — and America can’t stop streaming.

I am just going to share my personal #bridgerton theory here because it's earwormed me and won't leave me alone. benedict, who i refer to as The Inexplicably Straight One, has his big storyline next season. The Bridgerton producers have kept the identity/casting of his love interest TOTALLY secret.

petition to create a chrome extension that auto-replaces every instance of "gen AI" on a web page with "shitty copy/paste" because it's literally just a really shitty copy/paste tool, and i get so tired of saying this into the void and hearing the endless clamor of hype in response

The only thing I can do whenever people try to rehabilitate Kevin Spacey — as a one-time huge Kevin Spacey fan — is beg them to actually read what he did to his victims. And these are JUST the ones brave enough to come forward. www.vox.com/culture/2017...

Spacey is a TERRIFYING serial predator. Read his victims' stories. He would try and physically intimidate them. He would grab them, grope them, stalk them, pursue them, back them into corners, follow them into rooms alone, bully them, harass them. Don't let him anywhere near a community theatre.

The sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey span decades. Here’s what we know.www.vox.com The two-time Oscar winner now faces felony assault charges.

my basic takeaway from all the dissing is that drake's disses all become self-owns. you're making fun of K-dot because he's short? and because when he was 16 his label may have screwed him into an exploitative contract? now you're using a woman's success to mock him? oh ok you're just an asshole

I wish more people understood this, and I'm always so grateful for Emily, who always supported and respected my critical work even when our takes completely diverged. It's very difficult to do criticism when you're struggling with the pressure to be "right." I've frequently clung to exactly this:

Criticism's job isn't to get it "right." It is to deliver the best, most honest, most informed piece of writing you can within the constraints placed upon you.

me when i make academics talk to me about wang yibo for ~journalism

"When a tiger comes to eat your flesh and drink your blood, how do you negotiate with it?" — War of Faith

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Aja Romano

#MDSZ /#CQL fans, I'm doing some research and need recommendations of popular fan fic written by non-Chinese speakers who aren't part of the Sinophone diaspora, with metatext that contain Chinese terms (e.g.putting certain concepts in context).

Today is my excuse to drop an early internet relic that i used to listen to an embarrassing number of times, and honestly it still slaps 😂 www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsgW...

Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Versionwww.youtube.com The ORIGINAL! NO commentary in the background! NO annoying cam quality!As you know I did NOT make this. Credit goes to dascottjr. Sung by PersephoneMaewynI a...

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Aja Romano

Laurie Anderson at the Hirschhorn