Joseph Bien-Kahn
@josephbienkahn.com
Senior Editor at Esses Magazine
sports, movies, odd desert stuff, fire, adventure!
bylines: NYT Mag, NY Mag, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, GQ, SI, Wired...
jbienkahn@gmail.com
sports, movies, odd desert stuff, fire, adventure!
bylines: NYT Mag, NY Mag, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, GQ, SI, Wired...
jbienkahn@gmail.com
Pinned
Joseph Bien-Kahn
@josephbienkahn.com
· Dec 18
Island Time - Believer Magazine
I call Don Nelson from my rental car, which I’ve parked by some food trucks near the Kahului Airport. It rings through, which means I’m welcomed to the island by a sardonic voicemail: “Hey, you’ve rea...
www.thebeliever.net
Interested in outlaw country, weed brownies, feuding with billionaires, the early NBA, playing Gin Rummy on a weekday afternoon, and what it feels like to die?
I went to Maui to profile Don Nelson for The Believer!
@thebeliever.net
www.thebeliever.net/island-time/
I went to Maui to profile Don Nelson for The Believer!
@thebeliever.net
www.thebeliever.net/island-time/
February 19, 2026 at 3:21 AM
That Seinfeld episode with the entirety of The English Patient tucked in the middle
Y’know when the characters in a movie go to see a movie and it feels really meta? Well, with an “Ultimate Double Feature,” we play the first movie up until the point when they enter a cinema to watch a different film… then we play that film… then we go back to the first film to finish that story.
February 18, 2026 at 11:53 PM
That Seinfeld episode with the entirety of The English Patient tucked in the middle
Journalism Question of the Day: who knows a great freelancer in Barcelona? I have a cool story to assign for Esses
February 18, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Journalism Question of the Day: who knows a great freelancer in Barcelona? I have a cool story to assign for Esses
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
"the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children"
“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”
- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.
Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.
www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.
Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.
www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
February 17, 2026 at 8:09 PM
"the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children"
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
libs getting the chamber of commerce in the national divorce, sure, why not, welcome aboard
www.reuters.com/world/us-cou...
www.reuters.com/world/us-cou...
February 17, 2026 at 8:38 PM
libs getting the chamber of commerce in the national divorce, sure, why not, welcome aboard
www.reuters.com/world/us-cou...
www.reuters.com/world/us-cou...
Amish Paradise
you are all fools the REAL music question that will cause intergenerational warfare on bluesky is actually: what is weird al's signature song?
February 18, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Amish Paradise
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
I think the summer version of biathlon is a 1/2 marathon to a pond where you fish for 30 minutes.
February 17, 2026 at 11:49 PM
I think the summer version of biathlon is a 1/2 marathon to a pond where you fish for 30 minutes.
My driving instructor told me, at the end of the lesson, that I should check out Sean Paul, a musician she loved so much she would buy an album of him singing the phone book
okay one of my best friends just told me her driver's ed teacher was named
wait for it
Mr. Streetman
... and now, because the horrors are horroring, I wish to hear from Bluesky about all your great and bad and terrible and fun driver's ed stories
wait for it
Mr. Streetman
... and now, because the horrors are horroring, I wish to hear from Bluesky about all your great and bad and terrible and fun driver's ed stories
February 18, 2026 at 12:19 AM
My driving instructor told me, at the end of the lesson, that I should check out Sean Paul, a musician she loved so much she would buy an album of him singing the phone book
February 17, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
this whips youtu.be/hLOheGDwD_0?...
Ella Langley - Choosin' Texas (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by EllaLangleyVEVO
youtu.be
February 11, 2026 at 3:16 AM
this whips youtu.be/hLOheGDwD_0?...
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
there’s a whole different America out there posting on Threads
February 17, 2026 at 2:48 PM
there’s a whole different America out there posting on Threads
More like “Jimmy Eat Arby’s”!! 🤣🤣😜😜😜🤗🤗
February 17, 2026 at 3:46 PM
More like “Jimmy Eat Arby’s”!! 🤣🤣😜😜😜🤗🤗
POPULISM!
The interior of Kristi Noem’s new billionaire-class luxury jet is complete with two bidets and a wet bar with a wine chiller. It will be purchased on our dime from the slush fund Congress approved in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
open.substack.com/pub/newsnotn...
open.substack.com/pub/newsnotn...
Let Them Fly First Class: Kristi Noem’s DHS Luxury Jet Scandal
Inside Noem's flying palace. Plus: Pentagon demands obedient, deadly AI. The race to deploy untested nuclear reactors. Lawmakers move to rein in presidential pardons. And remembering Robert Duvall.
open.substack.com
February 17, 2026 at 5:48 AM
POPULISM!
I can’t believe the Kennedy show is actually good
February 17, 2026 at 5:40 AM
I can’t believe the Kennedy show is actually good
"I can see by the look on your face/
That you've got ring worm"
That you've got ring worm"
What’s the best song lyric in history?
February 16, 2026 at 7:50 PM
"I can see by the look on your face/
That you've got ring worm"
That you've got ring worm"
Me, to every person I talk to in LA these next couple days: "what if we *DON'T* need this?"
February 16, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Me, to every person I talk to in LA these next couple days: "what if we *DON'T* need this?"
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
Few things about Law that I love.
1. Everybody loves Law. Ear to ear grins all over the place when he's speed walking up to people.
2. He's always got that shit on. He could start an instagram that is just him in various hats.
3. Knows ball.
This is worth your time if you like joyful things.
1. Everybody loves Law. Ear to ear grins all over the place when he's speed walking up to people.
2. He's always got that shit on. He could start an instagram that is just him in various hats.
3. Knows ball.
This is worth your time if you like joyful things.
February 16, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Few things about Law that I love.
1. Everybody loves Law. Ear to ear grins all over the place when he's speed walking up to people.
2. He's always got that shit on. He could start an instagram that is just him in various hats.
3. Knows ball.
This is worth your time if you like joyful things.
1. Everybody loves Law. Ear to ear grins all over the place when he's speed walking up to people.
2. He's always got that shit on. He could start an instagram that is just him in various hats.
3. Knows ball.
This is worth your time if you like joyful things.
“They gave him the name of a man.”
Ronald McDonald is such a good clown name. You wouldn't have thought of it. You would have given him something obvious like Bloopers McBurger, the name of a clown. They gave him the name of a man.
February 16, 2026 at 5:21 AM
“They gave him the name of a man.”
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union could do HEAT, but Pacino and De Niro couldn't do BRING IT ON.
December 27, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union could do HEAT, but Pacino and De Niro couldn't do BRING IT ON.
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
douglas adams was our most accurate futurist
We are at an airport restaurant. A robot just drove up to us with our food, said, "Hi! Here I am!" and then drove away with our food.
February 15, 2026 at 10:10 PM
douglas adams was our most accurate futurist
Learning that "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was a massive bestseller has sent me into a bit of a tailspin. Gotta imagine adults being serious people who get excited about reading serious books is beneficial for society. Don't think we're getting that back...
February 15, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Learning that "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was a massive bestseller has sent me into a bit of a tailspin. Gotta imagine adults being serious people who get excited about reading serious books is beneficial for society. Don't think we're getting that back...
All other issues aside, isn’t it “sunsetted”?
From today's @washingtonpost.com front page:
"Abruptly terminated": harsh, contentious, negative
"Sunset": natural, pleasant, the circle of life
h/t @alecmac.bsky.social
"Abruptly terminated": harsh, contentious, negative
"Sunset": natural, pleasant, the circle of life
h/t @alecmac.bsky.social
February 15, 2026 at 6:56 PM
All other issues aside, isn’t it “sunsetted”?
Drinks are expensive (not fully bars fault; rent is too expensive). But also, it’s the inability to talk to strangers that ruins bars for Zoomers.
If you’re scrolling on your phone instead of hearing the life story of an eccentric stranger, you’re gonna choose the cheaper option and drink at home…
If you’re scrolling on your phone instead of hearing the life story of an eccentric stranger, you’re gonna choose the cheaper option and drink at home…
"zoomers are killing the bar industry" oh interesting was it zoomers who decided a drink should cost seventeen dollars
February 14, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Drinks are expensive (not fully bars fault; rent is too expensive). But also, it’s the inability to talk to strangers that ruins bars for Zoomers.
If you’re scrolling on your phone instead of hearing the life story of an eccentric stranger, you’re gonna choose the cheaper option and drink at home…
If you’re scrolling on your phone instead of hearing the life story of an eccentric stranger, you’re gonna choose the cheaper option and drink at home…
Reposted by Joseph Bien-Kahn
Steph Curry, Dell Curry, Don Nelson, Mitch Richmond, and Drazen Petrovic
February 14, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Steph Curry, Dell Curry, Don Nelson, Mitch Richmond, and Drazen Petrovic