Joshua Rivera
LightNews LightNews
banner
jmrivera.bsky.social
Joshua Rivera
@jmrivera.bsky.social
7K followers 2.1K following 7.6K posts
writer for hire. bylines at Vulture, Slate, The Ringer, and Vanity Fair. movies and tv and games and books and
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
jmrivera.bsky.social
Joshua Rivera @jmrivera.bsky.social · Nov 25
Oh I never did an intro post. So:

I’m a writer interested in pop culture and how we make meaning from it. I was entertainment writer at polygon, and before that had stints at EW, GQ, and freelanced everywhere. Stories saved my life and I want to help people understand them, and each other, better.
jmrivera.bsky.social
the thing about rewatching Buffy in 2026 is that it’s clear that you are supposed to hate some characters and each time it’s like “nah I don’t think I hate her”
February 15, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
jeredolan2.bsky.social
Galactus smoking and using the Human Torch as a lighter
February 15, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
bakerdphd.bsky.social
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo: A liberal arts education will release you from prison and help you exact revenge on your enemies
February 15, 2026 at 7:07 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
This adaptation ruuuules. And if I’m not mistaken, PBS is broadcasting another one in March?? The Dumas Den is feasting
alixeharrow.bsky.social alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 19h
three hours of this man swishing around in increasingly dramatic coats, staying extremely loyal to the text. heathcliff who, honestly
youtu.be/8Q6y1waxlTY?...
The Count of Monte-Cristo : Official Trailer in 4K
YouTube video by Pathe
youtu.be
February 15, 2026 at 7:01 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
is every video game music composer just ripping off enya’s “Caribbean blue”? I don’t think so, but the good ones are.
February 15, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
austinwalker.bsky.social
We just hit $20k for the WFM's Immigrant Rapid Response Fund, and are continuing on! Next up: Keith and Art have to carry a huge pain of glass through a nightmare world filled with obstacles, and bc of a donation incentive, they are not allowed to talk about the glass!

twitch.tv/friendsatthetable
a screenshot of Carry the Glass, featuring two figures carrying a big pane of glass that is about to be hit by a huge hammer.
February 15, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
ztul.bsky.social
the crowd is chanting "machine zone, machine zone, machine zone". there's a biplane flying overhead trailing a banner that says READ NATASHA DOW-SCHULL'S 'ADDICTION BY DESIGN'
timkellogg.me Tim Kellogg @timkellogg.me · 10h
Token Anxiety

i think i mostly echo this for myself. with so much that can be done, i often feel like i *should* be doing something, always
Token Anxiety Nikunj Kothari C @nikunj • Feb 13 A friend left a party at 9:30 on a Saturday. Not tired. Not sick. He wanted to get back to his agents. Nobody questions it anymore. Half the room is thinking the same thing. The other half are probably checking the progress of their agents. At a party. All the parties are sober now. Young people don't drink because they're going back to work after. Not inspired by Bryan Johnson, although that's probably a factor. The buzz they want now runs on tokens per day. I keep noticing it on walks through the Mission. Laptops glowing everywhere. Cafes, sidewalks, heck even park benches. People walking with screens open like a flashlight guiding them somewhere. Less drunk laughter on the streets these days. More keystrokes. Dinner conversations used to start with "what are you building?" That's over. Now it's "how many agents do you have running?" People drop the number the way they used to drop their follower count. Quietly competitive. The flex isn't what you've accomplished anymore. It's what's working while you're sitting here not working. The vocabulary is what really gets me though. People describe models the way sommeliers describe wine. This one has better taste. That one hallucinates with more confidence. Opus is bold, Codex is smooth. They talk about harnesses and reins like they're controlling horses. Invisible whips directing invisible labor. Someone at a dinner said they keep labor. Someone at a dinner said they keep "Claude on a tight leash for code review but give it more slack for creative work." We've started borrowing the language of how we treat animals for something none of us actually understand yet. Waking up and checking what your agents produced overnight is the first thing now. Before coffee. Before texts. You open your laptop and grade homework you assigned in your sleep. Some of it is good. Most needs rework. But you start shipping a plan before you sleep just so you can wake up to more code written overnight. Saturdays became uninterrupted build windows. No meetings, no Slack, twelve hours of you and your agents. Sunday morning X is all terminal screenshots and shipping receipts. "What'd you ship this weekend?" replaced "what'd you do this weekend?" The anxiety is rational, which is why it sticks. Every week some new benchmark drops that makes last month's workflow feel prehistoric. Codex ships overnight processing. Opus gets faster. Context windows double. None of it reduces the pressure. It multiplies it. You can do more now. And someone already is. The window to be first at anything feels like it's shrinking by the day. Literally, by the day. I replaced Netflix with Claude Code. I lie in bed thinking about what I can spin up before I fall asleep, what can run while I'm unconscious. Reading a novel feels indulgent now. Watching a movie without a laptop open feels wasteful. This voice in my head that says "something could be running right now" just doesn't shut off. I'm not even building a company. I'm just addicted to building my random ideas. Everyone here knows they should step away more. That's not the problem. The problem is what your brain does when you try. I still take a x ss walks. The agents come with me now.
February 15, 2026 at 3:49 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
Crazy that nine inch nails did a fanfic, this movie would’ve been so cool
wario64.bsky.social Wario64 @wario64.bsky.social · 6h
TRON: Ares Soundtrack 2xLP Vinyl White Limited Edition (Nine Inch Nails) is $21.31 on Amazon amzn.to/4m3Ekk0

Standard vinyl $34 amzn.to/414rTfz #ad
February 15, 2026 at 3:49 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
furious northwestern made this list and not Syracuse it’s like my Newhouse degree means nothing
robertscotthorton.bsky.social Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d
Hegseth to US military: if you get into MIT, we won't let you attend because of the risk that you will be exposed to ideas hostile to MAGA when you study there.
February 15, 2026 at 12:27 AM
jmrivera.bsky.social
I didn’t get a lot of flack for my piece but one bonehead wanted me to defend lyrics…from a verse not by bad bunny
kimmasters.bsky.social Kim Masters @kimmasters.bsky.social · 1d
Thank God, they’re stupid.
February 14, 2026 at 7:15 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
Doing karaoke but we all get a mic and sing the same song together (one armed scissor)
February 14, 2026 at 2:48 AM
jmrivera.bsky.social
my thing with emerald fennel movies is that they’re a whole lot of work just to do this
Guy about to put his finger in a donut, the sick fuck
February 13, 2026 at 11:00 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
hey thanks for the kind words about this. had no idea if it would connect with folks or not, so glad to see that people dig it! looking forward to getting the next one out there
February 13, 2026 at 5:53 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
a thing I like about video games is how they make you sound completely off your rocker when you describe them. this is good imo.
megannicolett.bsky.social megan farokhmanesh @megannicolett.bsky.social · 2d
for The Verge, I interviewed Edmund McMillen about Mewgenics' long road to release, unexpected success, and making a game with just about any disorder you can name www.theverge.com/entertainmen...
The hottest indie game is about breeding cats with ADHD and dyslexia
It’s been a long road to release for Mewgenics developers Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel.
www.theverge.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
jmrivera.bsky.social
introducing my column about resistance in fiction for @aftermath.site. I’m calling it THE WORK

aftermath.site/oscars-revol...
This Year's Oscar Nominees Have Real Fight In Them, Even If Hollywood Doesn't
An introduction to The Work, a column about resistance in fiction
aftermath.site
February 12, 2026 at 6:05 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
this news annoys me but lol TC Carson is so cool man
wario64.bsky.social Wario64 @wario64.bsky.social · 2d
God of War Trilogy Remake is in the early stages
February 12, 2026 at 11:09 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
Oh my god they are finally bringing Metal Gear Solid 4 back
February 12, 2026 at 10:38 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
This is pretty plainly evil. It is an evil act. It is a thing we have proof is bad, and they are saying it is not. It will harm millions. The word for this is evil.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d
Breaking News: The Trump administration repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being, meaning that the EPA can no longer regulate them. nyti.ms/4rSszQu
February 12, 2026 at 8:47 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
THE BOREANAZ DROUGHT IS OVER CC @jdmchenry.bsky.social @kellyq.bsky.social @unitednations

www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/d...
David Boreanaz to Star in NBC’s ‘Rockford Files’ Reboot
The former ‘SEAL Team,’ ‘Bones’ and ‘Angel’ star will take on a role first played by James Garner.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
mikeryan.bsky.social
Today is the one week anniversary of The Hard Pass. I can’t believe it’s been a week. It seems more like six or eight days. All day I’ve been talking to myself about all of our favorite Hard Pass posts. Today is your last day to subscribe and still be able to claim you subscribed the first week
What Was Luke's Plan in 'Return of the Jedi'?
This was a piece that published on February 28, 2018 when I worked at Uproxx. I would just link to it, but Uproxx has removed its archives before 2022, so this piece has been lost to the internet. But...
www.thehardpass.net
February 12, 2026 at 7:45 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
A secondary goal of this was to try and quietly re-assert the rich and varied meanings “resistance” as a term can embody, taking a little back from the Trump 1 era lib mantra, in my own small way.
papapishu.bsky.social Chris Person @papapishu.bsky.social · 3d
Real happy to have this on the site.
February 12, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Joshua Rivera
rcmacleod.bsky.social
So excited for Joshua's first column to be live! Thanks to all our subscribers for making it possible!
February 12, 2026 at 6:09 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
introducing my column about resistance in fiction for @aftermath.site. I’m calling it THE WORK

aftermath.site/oscars-revol...
This Year's Oscar Nominees Have Real Fight In Them, Even If Hollywood Doesn't
An introduction to The Work, a column about resistance in fiction
aftermath.site
February 12, 2026 at 6:05 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
My take on this is that we have to seriously reckon with the fact that these models are getting extremely good at brief demos and clips, which has nothing to do with their ability to do what human labor does, but everything to do with convincing CEOs to adopt them
chrislhayes.bsky.social Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 4d
I understand why people are exhausted by AI hype, and why those of us squarely in the corner of "human dignity uber alles" see AI doomerism as self-serving hype, but I *really* think people on the left broadly need to start thinking seriously about the possibiltiy of the hype being...true.
February 12, 2026 at 5:05 PM
jmrivera.bsky.social
do you have a favorite pretzel. I know about stellar, and dots. I need something hardcore. Something I gotta order special.

Not really, but that is the vibe I want from my pretzel twists
February 12, 2026 at 4:50 PM