Bill Barol
@billbarol.bsky.social
Hammertown: hammertownusa.substack.com
Podcasting about creativity at imaginationandjunk.com
HOME: Stories From L.A. archived at homestoriesla.net
Writing: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Fast Company, Time, Newsweek, Boing Boing + more
Podcasting about creativity at imaginationandjunk.com
HOME: Stories From L.A. archived at homestoriesla.net
Writing: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Fast Company, Time, Newsweek, Boing Boing + more
The commentator on Men's Freeski Big Air just used the term "nose butter" three times in 45 seconds and I have never loved sports more.
February 15, 2026 at 7:31 PM
The commentator on Men's Freeski Big Air just used the term "nose butter" three times in 45 seconds and I have never loved sports more.
Does anybody know where I can go to be affirmed in my opinion that the NBA's All-Star Saturday Night was straight trash oh wait right social media
February 15, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Does anybody know where I can go to be affirmed in my opinion that the NBA's All-Star Saturday Night was straight trash oh wait right social media
If I know anybody who knows Ryan Murphy, could you please tell him it's okay to just kinda... not make television anymore? It's fine. Many people stop making television and go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives.
February 13, 2026 at 8:41 PM
If I know anybody who knows Ryan Murphy, could you please tell him it's okay to just kinda... not make television anymore? It's fine. Many people stop making television and go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives.
Imagination & Junk is back for a new season! Sort of. Kind of. We're easing in so we don't pull a hammy. So join us for a Very Special Bonus Episode™️, won't you? It's out now. Regular episodes resume on March 11. #podcasts
www.imaginationandjunk.com
www.imaginationandjunk.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Imagination & Junk is back for a new season! Sort of. Kind of. We're easing in so we don't pull a hammy. So join us for a Very Special Bonus Episode™️, won't you? It's out now. Regular episodes resume on March 11. #podcasts
www.imaginationandjunk.com
www.imaginationandjunk.com
I love that they think "the President floated the idea" is a climb down. He "floated" it like a New Jersey cement contractor floats the idea that you might like to consider purchasing his product.
Days ago, Trump insisted to reporters it was actually Chuck Schumer who suggested renaming Penn Station for Trump.
Today, the White House contradicted him. “It is something the President floated in his conversation with Chuck Schumer”
Today, the White House contradicted him. “It is something the President floated in his conversation with Chuck Schumer”
Leavitt Contradicts Trump on Effort to Rename Penn Station After Him
The White House press secretary said Trump "floated" renaming Penn Station for him, after Trump insisted it was Chuck Schumer's idea.
time.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:11 PM
I love that they think "the President floated the idea" is a climb down. He "floated" it like a New Jersey cement contractor floats the idea that you might like to consider purchasing his product.
Hey! Imagination & Junk, the podcast I host with @matricardo.bsky.social, returns tomorrow, February 11, for its fourth season. We're tuning up with an installment of our Very Special Bonus Mini-Series™️ "I Might Be Wrong But..." and we hope you'll listen.
imaginationandjunk.com
imaginationandjunk.com
Imagination & Junk
A transatlantic conversation about creativity
imaginationandjunk.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Hey! Imagination & Junk, the podcast I host with @matricardo.bsky.social, returns tomorrow, February 11, for its fourth season. We're tuning up with an installment of our Very Special Bonus Mini-Series™️ "I Might Be Wrong But..." and we hope you'll listen.
imaginationandjunk.com
imaginationandjunk.com
I was remiss, in my extravagant praise for Bad Bunny's halftime show, to not mention the power poles. Yes. There was a whole story being told there, and although it was mostly celebratory, it wasn't entirely so. Like so many good stories, it had its quotient of sadness.
February 9, 2026 at 8:31 PM
I was remiss, in my extravagant praise for Bad Bunny's halftime show, to not mention the power poles. Yes. There was a whole story being told there, and although it was mostly celebratory, it wasn't entirely so. Like so many good stories, it had its quotient of sadness.
Well. They took a selection of the things that are the most exuberantly gorgeous about Latinx life, and they put them in a snow globe and they put the snow globe down on the biggest stage in the world. And then they shook the hell out of it. Well done.
February 9, 2026 at 1:34 AM
Well. They took a selection of the things that are the most exuberantly gorgeous about Latinx life, and they put them in a snow globe and they put the snow globe down on the biggest stage in the world. And then they shook the hell out of it. Well done.
Bad Bunny doesn't have to say a single political thing. The mere fact of this is political as hell.
February 9, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Bad Bunny doesn't have to say a single political thing. The mere fact of this is political as hell.
I'm not saying it's the time of year when the whole NBA is banged up, but apparently I'm starting for the Lakers tonight.
February 8, 2026 at 1:33 AM
I'm not saying it's the time of year when the whole NBA is banged up, but apparently I'm starting for the Lakers tonight.
So they'll throw a White House staffer under the bus, but not three goons who murdered two US citizens in cold blood. Noted. Also, there is no "White House staffer."
February 6, 2026 at 6:46 PM
So they'll throw a White House staffer under the bus, but not three goons who murdered two US citizens in cold blood. Noted. Also, there is no "White House staffer."
I'm seeing posts today saying that the ghost of Katharine Graham should haunt Jeff Bezos for eternity. I once sat next to Mrs. Graham at a Newsweek lunch for about an hour, and I can say that being haunted by her for eternity is not a thing anybody would want. She was terrifying (in a great way).
February 5, 2026 at 6:33 PM
I'm seeing posts today saying that the ghost of Katharine Graham should haunt Jeff Bezos for eternity. I once sat next to Mrs. Graham at a Newsweek lunch for about an hour, and I can say that being haunted by her for eternity is not a thing anybody would want. She was terrifying (in a great way).
Fun fact I learned from David Greenberg's magisterial John Lewis biography:
The first time Lewis met George W. Bush, he introduced himself and Bush said "I know who you are," then stuck out a finger and poked Lewis in the belly, saying "Boop."
This is a true story.
The first time Lewis met George W. Bush, he introduced himself and Bush said "I know who you are," then stuck out a finger and poked Lewis in the belly, saying "Boop."
This is a true story.
February 5, 2026 at 6:14 PM
Fun fact I learned from David Greenberg's magisterial John Lewis biography:
The first time Lewis met George W. Bush, he introduced himself and Bush said "I know who you are," then stuck out a finger and poked Lewis in the belly, saying "Boop."
This is a true story.
The first time Lewis met George W. Bush, he introduced himself and Bush said "I know who you are," then stuck out a finger and poked Lewis in the belly, saying "Boop."
This is a true story.
"Mayor Huffman has been relatively absent from the scene this week, confining his appearances to brief afternoon pool sprays in which City Hall reporters are invited to sing him a soothing selection of camp songs while he sits at his massive mahogany desk doodling or practicing card tricks."
February 5, 2026 at 4:45 PM
"Mayor Huffman has been relatively absent from the scene this week, confining his appearances to brief afternoon pool sprays in which City Hall reporters are invited to sing him a soothing selection of camp songs while he sits at his massive mahogany desk doodling or practicing card tricks."
Every one of the walking steno pads who stood there looking uncomfortably at their shoes when he told Kaitlyn Collins she should smile more should have blinked out of existence right then and there and their jobs should have gone to some of the people who just got axed from The Post.
February 4, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Every one of the walking steno pads who stood there looking uncomfortably at their shoes when he told Kaitlyn Collins she should smile more should have blinked out of existence right then and there and their jobs should have gone to some of the people who just got axed from The Post.
Thomas is undeniably a White Sox great, but on the other side of the ledger there's the horrible way he leers "And SHE'LL like it too {wink}" in those commercials for fake testosterone. I figure it evens out.
The Chicago White Sox committed an unforced error in snubbing franchise legend Frank Thomas in a social media post for Black History Month. This time the divorce might be unfixable.
Column: Chicago White Sox drop the ball in latest snub of Frank Thomas — and the divorce might be permanent
The Chicago White Sox committed an unforced error in snubbing franchise legend Frank Thomas in a social media post for Black History Month. This time the divorce might be unfixable.
trib.al
February 2, 2026 at 10:13 PM
Thomas is undeniably a White Sox great, but on the other side of the ledger there's the horrible way he leers "And SHE'LL like it too {wink}" in those commercials for fake testosterone. I figure it evens out.
The Hammertown News-Telegram calls First Lady Lana DeLoof Huffman's vanity memoir, LANA: I AM A WOMAN "...a limp dishrag of a thing, hiding its face in shame between ugly covers, poorly designed and produced and shabby to the touch...
January 30, 2026 at 11:30 PM
The Hammertown News-Telegram calls First Lady Lana DeLoof Huffman's vanity memoir, LANA: I AM A WOMAN "...a limp dishrag of a thing, hiding its face in shame between ugly covers, poorly designed and produced and shabby to the touch...
"We, like you, have heard the rumors that First Lady Lana Deloof Huffman is furious with Mr. Carbondale, and also at her staff for the poor vetting that resulted in a known creep who hangs around schoolyards getting the assignment to ghostwrite her memoir."
News and Notes: January 30, 2026
An update about the the cozy mysteries of Lane Carbondale
open.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 9:58 PM
"We, like you, have heard the rumors that First Lady Lana Deloof Huffman is furious with Mr. Carbondale, and also at her staff for the poor vetting that resulted in a known creep who hangs around schoolyards getting the assignment to ghostwrite her memoir."
“This is going to be a great, great thing. An incredible, unbelievable thing. Not for you, but for kids to come. Kids of the future. Future kids. Space kids, potentially. We want that account to get bigger and bigger and bigger, don’t we? The Jewish kid there, he knows what I’m talking about."
This Week in Hammertown #31
It's Thursday, January 29, day 493 of Huff 2
open.substack.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:21 PM
“This is going to be a great, great thing. An incredible, unbelievable thing. Not for you, but for kids to come. Kids of the future. Future kids. Space kids, potentially. We want that account to get bigger and bigger and bigger, don’t we? The Jewish kid there, he knows what I’m talking about."
I freely admit that my emotional thermostat is all messed up right now, but stories about MN National Guardsmen handing out coffee and donuts to protestors is what broke me today, thank you very much.
January 26, 2026 at 1:00 AM
I freely admit that my emotional thermostat is all messed up right now, but stories about MN National Guardsmen handing out coffee and donuts to protestors is what broke me today, thank you very much.
If the NBA is really the social justice league, which is a notion they like to pay lip service to, they should cancel today's game in Minneapolis. And every other game on the schedule while they're at it. Shut it all down. Make a stink.
January 25, 2026 at 5:49 PM
If the NBA is really the social justice league, which is a notion they like to pay lip service to, they should cancel today's game in Minneapolis. And every other game on the schedule while they're at it. Shut it all down. Make a stink.
I'm extremely intelligent, so it took me 24 hours to realize that casting Pretti as a terrorist is their craven play to hang onto the 2A crowd, who don't tend to like it when federales take a permitted gun owner exercising his right of assembly, disarm him and execute him in the street.
January 25, 2026 at 5:39 PM
I'm extremely intelligent, so it took me 24 hours to realize that casting Pretti as a terrorist is their craven play to hang onto the 2A crowd, who don't tend to like it when federales take a permitted gun owner exercising his right of assembly, disarm him and execute him in the street.
If the complete total of Trump's knowledge about rare earth minerals isn't "They have the word 'rare' right in the name, like gold, so gimme," I will eat some.
January 23, 2026 at 9:14 PM
If the complete total of Trump's knowledge about rare earth minerals isn't "They have the word 'rare' right in the name, like gold, so gimme," I will eat some.
I spent A WEEK getting ready for my investiture into the Board of Peace –- picking out an outfit, booking a flight, raising $1 billion –- and now I find out my invitation's been withdrawn? This is some BULLSHIT, man. {bursts into tears}
January 23, 2026 at 4:49 PM
I spent A WEEK getting ready for my investiture into the Board of Peace –- picking out an outfit, booking a flight, raising $1 billion –- and now I find out my invitation's been withdrawn? This is some BULLSHIT, man. {bursts into tears}