Does anyone know who’s going to win this year’s Best Actor race? After a couple late-season upsets, it seems as though 2026 could be the rare instance where any of the five nominees could emerge victorious on Academy Awards night.
![That's So Raven | Raven Disguises As Her Mother [HD]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:soaavtk62zkxwuapntcjoi5y/bafkreihc7ej6lznrz56byaywei5t775ilr5tjt2appxrxaibtmcxzeaaf4)
Watching That's So Raven as our new-parent smooth-brain show, and discovered it's the anti-Surf Dracula: They waste zero time explaining the premise, because they already covered it in the theme song!
And with the time they save, they do THIS. In the very first episode!
youtu.be/fGdQ6Jn7MKU?...
It's a way to turn punching up into punching down, as if the only reason to hold the most powerful man in the world accountable is to get one over on car dealers in Sebewaing.
Once you notice this rhetorical okeydoke -- by which any critique of Trump is magically transmuted into a personal critique of his voters, which is ipso facto out of bounds -- you can't stop noticing it everywhere.
![A text box reading CONVERSATIONAL DYNAMICS:
Power dynamics: [Redacted] clearly holds expertise and authority; Nate defers to her judgment and seeks validation
Areas of alignment: Both agree on Nolan's supremacy, the importance of box office performance, and most tier placements
Points of tension: Disagreement over Greta Gerwig's placement, debate about Scorsese's current power level
Avoidance patterns: Neither directly addresses diversity issues beyond brief mentions
Question/response patterns: Nate asks direct ranking questions; Mara provides nuanced, contextual answers with industry insight](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:soaavtk62zkxwuapntcjoi5y/bafkreih6vw7awmr7clryrssckugqy2irv6l55e4dpccxqq3dv4j2ah2jay)
A text box reading CONVERSATIONAL DYNAMICS: Power dynamics: [Redacted] clearly holds expertise and authority; Nate defers to her judgment and seeks validation Areas of alignment: Both agree on Nolan's supremacy, the importance of box office performance, and most tier placements Points of tension: Disagreement over Greta Gerwig's placement, debate about Scorsese's current power level Avoidance patterns: Neither directly addresses diversity issues beyond brief mentions Question/response patterns: Nate asks direct ranking questions; Mara provides nuanced, contextual answers with industry insight
Today in creepy AI stuff, the transcription service we use has now thrown in some psychoanalysis for free:
POWER DYNAMICS: [Redacted] clearly holds expertise and authority; Nate defers to her judgment and seeks validation
was a real delight gaming out this incredibly consequential Oscars weekend out with the brilliant @kn8.bsky.social, who I think is among the best in the game at awards season coverage
www.vulture.com/article/this...
This week's Oscar column is looking ahead to what's at stake at the PGAs and SAG this weekend, plus a postmortem on the BAFTA omnishambles: www.vulture.com/article/this...
a few months ago, i talked to Tony Kushner for an hour and a half about Munich
I strongly recommend this well-sourced argument that Harry Styles is a "Potemkin pop star" exiledfan.substack.com/p/harry-styl...
*expansive lol
What I have learned since Friday is that I have a more expensive definition of hunk than others!
Break the news to her gently, Aubrey! I shall die! With slit ribbons of his shirt whipping the air he hops and hobbles round the table, with trousers down at heels, chased by Ades of Magdalen with the tailor’s shears. A scared calf’s face gilded with marmalade. I don’t want to be outmogged!
Here for the sidebar on twink vs hunk -- www.vulture.com/article/osca...
I wrote about one of Oscar's most infamous glass ceilings: the Academy's longstanding bias against hunks.
www.vulture.com/article/osca...
I’m so excited to be publishing my first-ever visual essay with @puddingviz.bsky.social:
pudding.cool/2026/02/wome...
It brings together so many of my recent interests — research, coding, design, and sewing — on a topic that won’t leave me alone: the chaos of women’s clothing sizes.
When I was interviewing casting directors last year, Powell's name kept coming up as a guy whose stardom they felt was being AstroTurfed by the studios
"Someday this war's gonna end..."
He is one of the only parts of season two I liked!
This week's Oscar column looks at how the theoretical Sinners surge, currently a matter of vibes and tea leaves, could become concrete:
www.vulture.com/article/what...
The thing I struggle with is that this very rhetoric has been cannily turned against people like us. See: years of railing against "the laptop class"
Congrats! In my experience 10K is the absolute worst distance, did that also hold true for you?
I made this the other night and my wife noted that, while it was delicious, it also resembled premium-grade dog food. On trend! cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020...
He's gotta change his name to Drake May Not
You know things are bad for the Patriots when you think, At least they sacked him forward.
If only I could bet the over on how many times the words "He's actually from Puerto Rico" will be said across America tonight
Who should win the first ever Casting Oscar? It’s another craft category award filled with Best Picture nominees, but each one reveals something about how the Academy is thinking about its new trophy.
In this week's Oscar column, I look at the five nominees in the inaugural Best Casting category, and what they can tell us about a craft that often goes overlooked:
www.vulture.com/article/who-...
