Aja Romano
@bookshop.bsky.social
Longtime culture writer, full-time fan. Formerly of Vox. Member, WGAE, ATCA. They/them or she/her, etc. http://ajaromano.com - I am NOT @bookshop.org lol.
Pinned
Aja Romano
@bookshop.bsky.social
· Sep 13
Omg i have video, FINALLY! that means you all get to enjoy my hyperfixation (that will apparently take like an hour to upload but idc we're doing this), what else
Wang Yibo, Like the Sunshine (1/5)
Wang Yibo, Like the Sunshine (1/5)
yaaaaaay it's here! VOTE VOTE VOTE
R1M1
💛 Legend of the Female General
❤️ The Best Thing
📅 Ends: December 1, 2025, 12:00 AM UTC
📊 Show results
💛 Legend of the Female General
❤️ The Best Thing
📅 Ends: December 1, 2025, 12:00 AM UTC
📊 Show results
November 30, 2025 at 12:03 AM
yaaaaaay it's here! VOTE VOTE VOTE
god i just so desperately want to read a job application that's like, "We will never ask you to use generative AI. We value your human brain and ability to utilize critical thinking and do independent research without trusting a machine that frequently generates misinfo." instead of this misery:
November 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
god i just so desperately want to read a job application that's like, "We will never ask you to use generative AI. We value your human brain and ability to utilize critical thinking and do independent research without trusting a machine that frequently generates misinfo." instead of this misery:
Google's latest Chrome update forces (at least it did for me) an "AI Mode" search function in your url / search bar. To disable it, go to your Settings --> Search Engine, scroll down to "AI Mode," click the three vertical dots next to it, and choose "Deactivate."
Sigh.
Sigh.
November 23, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Google's latest Chrome update forces (at least it did for me) an "AI Mode" search function in your url / search bar. To disable it, go to your Settings --> Search Engine, scroll down to "AI Mode," click the three vertical dots next to it, and choose "Deactivate."
Sigh.
Sigh.
To make the gallingly obvious point, this is the predictable outcome of defanging the federal government for decades by demonizing the idea of regulation, while allowing the tech sector to bully and/or dazzle officials into letting it self-regulate.
regulation, enforcement, accountability, now.
regulation, enforcement, accountability, now.
November 23, 2025 at 6:08 PM
To make the gallingly obvious point, this is the predictable outcome of defanging the federal government for decades by demonizing the idea of regulation, while allowing the tech sector to bully and/or dazzle officials into letting it self-regulate.
regulation, enforcement, accountability, now.
regulation, enforcement, accountability, now.
(i had to do one more bc i'm a dork)
Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
November 23, 2025 at 6:17 AM
(i had to do one more bc i'm a dork)
Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
Za~n koku na tenshi no yo~u ni
Sho~ou~ne~n yo shi~n~wa ni NARE!
Sho~ou~ne~n yo shi~n~wa ni NARE!
I hope life treats you kind
And I hope you have all that you ever dreamed of
And I wish you joy and happiness
But above all of this
I wish you love
And I hope you have all that you ever dreamed of
And I wish you joy and happiness
But above all of this
I wish you love
November 23, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Za~n koku na tenshi no yo~u ni
Sho~ou~ne~n yo shi~n~wa ni NARE!
Sho~ou~ne~n yo shi~n~wa ni NARE!
I was a theatre reviewer! Then my friend La dragged me into writing about fandom for @susanapolo.bsky.social. Then @laurenorsini.bsky.social dragged me into writing about fandom full-time. Then @emilystjams.bsky.social dragged me into writing about internet culture. Now available for dragging!
November 23, 2025 at 2:31 AM
I was a theatre reviewer! Then my friend La dragged me into writing about fandom for @susanapolo.bsky.social. Then @laurenorsini.bsky.social dragged me into writing about fandom full-time. Then @emilystjams.bsky.social dragged me into writing about internet culture. Now available for dragging!
The amount of fazed you all are right now by the poem and the felching etc suggests that the number of people here who spend too much time on AO3 is not nearly as high as I thought
November 22, 2025 at 7:07 AM
The amount of fazed you all are right now by the poem and the felching etc suggests that the number of people here who spend too much time on AO3 is not nearly as high as I thought
People really need to weigh how many of our most prominent MAGA-era voices have been shameless opportunists aligning themselves with whatever position they think will get them more power. JD Vance. Gavin Newsom. Every major tech bro.
None of them are actually changing *themselves.*
None of them are actually changing *themselves.*
Everyone stop acting weird and shocked about MTG. She has been systematically distancing herself from the current GOP for months and months. She has a plan reform herself under a new image ON THE RIGHT that’s not part of a sinking ship.
She’s not suddenly changing her tune! SHE’S AN OPPORTUNIST
She’s not suddenly changing her tune! SHE’S AN OPPORTUNIST
November 22, 2025 at 3:45 AM
People really need to weigh how many of our most prominent MAGA-era voices have been shameless opportunists aligning themselves with whatever position they think will get them more power. JD Vance. Gavin Newsom. Every major tech bro.
None of them are actually changing *themselves.*
None of them are actually changing *themselves.*
I'm NOT arguing for "best" but I've watched Pumaman without the riffs, and you really can see the threads of what it was trying to be as a fantasy / hero movie, and it's genuinely charming! I've thought very often that a cheeky but sincere remake would be a blast and an unironic hit.
November 22, 2025 at 12:22 AM
I'm NOT arguing for "best" but I've watched Pumaman without the riffs, and you really can see the threads of what it was trying to be as a fantasy / hero movie, and it's genuinely charming! I've thought very often that a cheeky but sincere remake would be a blast and an unironic hit.
Reposted by Aja Romano
fork found in kitchen
Hollywood producer discovers** women enjoy watching hot men romance each other
**Discovers something that has been known for decades in Asia
#BLDrama #HeatedRivalry
www.teenvogue.com/story/inside...
**Discovers something that has been known for decades in Asia
#BLDrama #HeatedRivalry
www.teenvogue.com/story/inside...
November 21, 2025 at 10:27 PM
fork found in kitchen
TIL Joyce's "wan little husks" was subtweeting every white writer trying to do autofiction alongside Percival Everett. 🔥 observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
![Snapshot of a portion of a quote from an Observer interview with Joyce Carol Oates.
[Interviewer asks:] Did you expect to draw so much attention with your 2021 tweet deprecating the trend for “wan little husks of ‘autofiction’”?
[Oates answers:] I don’t have strong opinions on autofiction; you could say almost every poet was writing autofiction. Twitter [now X] is very trivial and extremely ephemeral.
The context was that I was reading novels of profound social significance as a juror for the Anisfield-Wolf Book awards [for books that contribute to the understanding of racism]. We gave our [2022] award to Percival Everett’s The Trees and I was thinking of the magnitude of some of the black writers we were reading. To set them beside autofiction ... I don’t want to condemn it by calling it “white” but there just seemed a painful contrast between the work Everett is doing and typical autofiction, which seems very narrow, takes almost no chances and says very little about the racial conflict that is so dramatic and terrifying in the US.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:s3gwpbphtdgyjfa45gwioa3u/bafkreih4lte3izzasair6cldrw3m54nxaovb4mkkvvr4gmatgymg2vkh7i@jpeg)
November 21, 2025 at 3:42 PM
TIL Joyce's "wan little husks" was subtweeting every white writer trying to do autofiction alongside Percival Everett. 🔥 observer.co.uk/culture/inte...
They are absolutely going to start trying to ban fat people from flying, aren't they
Trump's Transportation Secretary on how to improve air travel:
"People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly... We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
"People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly... We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
November 21, 2025 at 12:18 AM
They are absolutely going to start trying to ban fat people from flying, aren't they
Not *just* all of these urgent, existential questions, but also this: Have you starved your creative and critical capacities by outsourcing them to LLMs until your soul no longer hungers to be creative or critical? and if so — what, if anything, have you replaced that hunger with?
And if you're thinking "well that's fine but I'm built different": are you really, though? What don't you know how to do anymore because of an LLM? What have you not learned in the past few years, because you used an LLM? What information that you don't know is incorrect, did you learn from an LLM?
November 20, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Not *just* all of these urgent, existential questions, but also this: Have you starved your creative and critical capacities by outsourcing them to LLMs until your soul no longer hungers to be creative or critical? and if so — what, if anything, have you replaced that hunger with?
there are two wolves inside of me
wolf #1: this is the absolute worst possible cultural moment to bring back an explicitly imperialist eugenics-coded US-military-partnered franchise that spawned some troubling bizarre racist subplots and utterly wasted Jason Mamoa
wolf #2: SGA FANFICTION HIVE RISE
wolf #1: this is the absolute worst possible cultural moment to bring back an explicitly imperialist eugenics-coded US-military-partnered franchise that spawned some troubling bizarre racist subplots and utterly wasted Jason Mamoa
wolf #2: SGA FANFICTION HIVE RISE
November 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
there are two wolves inside of me
wolf #1: this is the absolute worst possible cultural moment to bring back an explicitly imperialist eugenics-coded US-military-partnered franchise that spawned some troubling bizarre racist subplots and utterly wasted Jason Mamoa
wolf #2: SGA FANFICTION HIVE RISE
wolf #1: this is the absolute worst possible cultural moment to bring back an explicitly imperialist eugenics-coded US-military-partnered franchise that spawned some troubling bizarre racist subplots and utterly wasted Jason Mamoa
wolf #2: SGA FANFICTION HIVE RISE
There's been a concerted push in recent years to frame this specific moral framework—the vulnerable and oppressed need protection—as immature, juvenile, fantastical, the fault of kid's media, not applicable to the "real" adults in the room.
But "me but not thee" is antisocial, preschool thinking.
But "me but not thee" is antisocial, preschool thinking.
I'm struck by this clip of former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz saying Holocaust education has backfired in part because people Palestinians as victims: "They think the lesson of the Holocaust is…you fight the big powerful people hurting the weak people."
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
From the JewsOfConscience community on Reddit: Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz speaking to the Jewish Federation and lamenting that young people are learning the wrong lessons from Holocaust e...
Explore this post and more from the JewsOfConscience community
www.reddit.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:01 PM
There's been a concerted push in recent years to frame this specific moral framework—the vulnerable and oppressed need protection—as immature, juvenile, fantastical, the fault of kid's media, not applicable to the "real" adults in the room.
But "me but not thee" is antisocial, preschool thinking.
But "me but not thee" is antisocial, preschool thinking.
Many things are true about the South. Blue regions exist and are growing. Their representation is hopelessly fucked bc gerrymandering. The fight for racial justice historically shared commonality with the white working class. Many historically diverse cities get erased in convos about "the South."
November 17, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Many things are true about the South. Blue regions exist and are growing. Their representation is hopelessly fucked bc gerrymandering. The fight for racial justice historically shared commonality with the white working class. Many historically diverse cities get erased in convos about "the South."
Top five movie genres:
- Gorgeous coastal spot + SHARK
- Gorgeous coastal spot + MURDER
- Glamorous socialite meets a *scamp* and they tapdance about it
- Are you the gay serial killer or am I? Let's fuck to be sure
- pining romantic lead waits patiently for messy protag to get their shit together
- Gorgeous coastal spot + SHARK
- Gorgeous coastal spot + MURDER
- Glamorous socialite meets a *scamp* and they tapdance about it
- Are you the gay serial killer or am I? Let's fuck to be sure
- pining romantic lead waits patiently for messy protag to get their shit together
Top five movie genres:
The vampires are definitely gay
Cult musical made by a '70s auteur
Men in hostile terrain and/or inclement weather talk about their feelings
Venice is full of perversions
Slow-burn portraits of the bourgeois not realising the world is falling apart around them.
The vampires are definitely gay
Cult musical made by a '70s auteur
Men in hostile terrain and/or inclement weather talk about their feelings
Venice is full of perversions
Slow-burn portraits of the bourgeois not realising the world is falling apart around them.
Top 5 movie genres:
- Does this robot / monster have a soul? (Yes it does)
- Sassy New York newspaper gal does not need love but finds it anyway
- I travelled in time or space. It was a mistake.
- You’re supposed to be the victim of my crime but I love you
- Being a detective is miserable but hot
- Does this robot / monster have a soul? (Yes it does)
- Sassy New York newspaper gal does not need love but finds it anyway
- I travelled in time or space. It was a mistake.
- You’re supposed to be the victim of my crime but I love you
- Being a detective is miserable but hot
November 17, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Top five movie genres:
- Gorgeous coastal spot + SHARK
- Gorgeous coastal spot + MURDER
- Glamorous socialite meets a *scamp* and they tapdance about it
- Are you the gay serial killer or am I? Let's fuck to be sure
- pining romantic lead waits patiently for messy protag to get their shit together
- Gorgeous coastal spot + SHARK
- Gorgeous coastal spot + MURDER
- Glamorous socialite meets a *scamp* and they tapdance about it
- Are you the gay serial killer or am I? Let's fuck to be sure
- pining romantic lead waits patiently for messy protag to get their shit together
This makes me consider the countless women who dropped out of STEM departments/careers after men in authority told them they weren't good enough to progress.
We know that's pure sexism, but I've never quite put together before that "ew girls" was likely actually "ew, girls I don't want to fuck."
We know that's pure sexism, but I've never quite put together before that "ew girls" was likely actually "ew, girls I don't want to fuck."
And yet they also don't mentor the young women they DON'T want to fuck, do they?
November 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This makes me consider the countless women who dropped out of STEM departments/careers after men in authority told them they weren't good enough to progress.
We know that's pure sexism, but I've never quite put together before that "ew girls" was likely actually "ew, girls I don't want to fuck."
We know that's pure sexism, but I've never quite put together before that "ew girls" was likely actually "ew, girls I don't want to fuck."
Assassins is the most indispensable American musical ever written, and therefore the greatest, and I will die on this tiny hill, clinging to my tiny flag like charlie guiteau clinging to a flimsy chapbook of his own poetry
also "the ballad of guiteau" is one of the best songs in sondheim's Assassins, which is one of history's best musicals
November 15, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Assassins is the most indispensable American musical ever written, and therefore the greatest, and I will die on this tiny hill, clinging to my tiny flag like charlie guiteau clinging to a flimsy chapbook of his own poetry
This is the first time I've ever seen journalistic confirmation (apart from rampant rumors) that MXTX was actually imprisoned. That is just astonishing and horrifying and a brutal reminder that no one is safe under authoritarianism, no matter how popular or successful they are.
the first (to my knowledge) western reportage that yes, MXTX was detained in 2019, sentenced to 3 years in prison, and paroled in 2021; now with a link that actually works:
apnews.com/article/chin...
apnews.com/article/chin...
November 15, 2025 at 1:27 AM
This is the first time I've ever seen journalistic confirmation (apart from rampant rumors) that MXTX was actually imprisoned. That is just astonishing and horrifying and a brutal reminder that no one is safe under authoritarianism, no matter how popular or successful they are.
Reposted by Aja Romano
the private school and landlord labeler has added 'epstein connection' as a label just fyi
November 13, 2025 at 5:12 PM
the private school and landlord labeler has added 'epstein connection' as a label just fyi
"At most it would be the beginning of an investigation" is exactly what it should have been! This convo should have triggered a full-scale NYT all hands on deck effort to procure this photo. That it didn't — either because Landon never told editors or editors knew but shrugged — is astonishing.
Do we know Landon told anyone that he was having this convo with Epstein? We do not! But let’s say an editor knew. Then what? At most, it would be the beginning of an investigation. Would Landon be the reporter to do it? Probably not! You see he’s begging Epstein for specifics & doesn’t get them
November 13, 2025 at 5:22 PM
"At most it would be the beginning of an investigation" is exactly what it should have been! This convo should have triggered a full-scale NYT all hands on deck effort to procure this photo. That it didn't — either because Landon never told editors or editors knew but shrugged — is astonishing.
Look at my son, he leaneth
November 13, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Look at my son, he leaneth
The amount of casual antisemitism and obsession with Nazis laced throughout this transcript is truly nauseating but I'm stuck on this casual mockery and dismissal of Christianity in the mix (while also being heinously antisemitic), I'm sure that will play well with the base ....?
November 13, 2025 at 6:46 AM
The amount of casual antisemitism and obsession with Nazis laced throughout this transcript is truly nauseating but I'm stuck on this casual mockery and dismissal of Christianity in the mix (while also being heinously antisemitic), I'm sure that will play well with the base ....?