J. Fergus
@cheersmxj.bsky.social
cheersmxj.com
they/them
Bar critic at Time Out LA. Co-host of All Mxd Up. I've been "quitting journalism" for several years now (ex-Input Mag, Thrillist, CBS).
they/them
Bar critic at Time Out LA. Co-host of All Mxd Up. I've been "quitting journalism" for several years now (ex-Input Mag, Thrillist, CBS).
Pinned
J. Fergus
@cheersmxj.bsky.social
· Jun 17
J. Fergus Time Out Profile
www.timeout.com
As I skeet more, here's a deeply abridged thread of what you probably know me from. I'm currently a bar critic for Time Out LA:
Reposted by J. Fergus
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Reposted by J. Fergus
"I was embarrassed. I had been naively operating with a pre-ChatGPT mindset, still assuming a pitch’s ideas and prose were actually connected to the person who sent it"
Stunning investigation of how slop merchants are getting work into established media outlets
thelocal.to/investigatin...
Stunning investigation of how slop merchants are getting work into established media outlets
thelocal.to/investigatin...
November 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
"I was embarrassed. I had been naively operating with a pre-ChatGPT mindset, still assuming a pitch’s ideas and prose were actually connected to the person who sent it"
Stunning investigation of how slop merchants are getting work into established media outlets
thelocal.to/investigatin...
Stunning investigation of how slop merchants are getting work into established media outlets
thelocal.to/investigatin...
Who is millennial Mariska Hargitay?
Gen X is obviously Stana Katic, but did we ever re-up? Or did we all love SVU so much we never bothered casting this archetype? Or is it the rise of plastic surgery?
I'm not looking for a movie star, just someone giving off duty Balkan model as a detective.
Gen X is obviously Stana Katic, but did we ever re-up? Or did we all love SVU so much we never bothered casting this archetype? Or is it the rise of plastic surgery?
I'm not looking for a movie star, just someone giving off duty Balkan model as a detective.
November 24, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Who is millennial Mariska Hargitay?
Gen X is obviously Stana Katic, but did we ever re-up? Or did we all love SVU so much we never bothered casting this archetype? Or is it the rise of plastic surgery?
I'm not looking for a movie star, just someone giving off duty Balkan model as a detective.
Gen X is obviously Stana Katic, but did we ever re-up? Or did we all love SVU so much we never bothered casting this archetype? Or is it the rise of plastic surgery?
I'm not looking for a movie star, just someone giving off duty Balkan model as a detective.
Reposted by J. Fergus
Mmmmm. Imagine believing most Jamaicans live in shacks.
That's a prosperous looking home with that vehicle and all. How many Jamaicans can afford to put up panels? Do they have to own their homes to do so? Do their homes need to be very sturdy, not shacks?
November 8, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Mmmmm. Imagine believing most Jamaicans live in shacks.
Is this why I'm having a weird time??
November 9, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Is this why I'm having a weird time??
Watching On the Town (1949) as a New Yorker in LA because I really needed the upbeat city tour in the first 5 minutes. It's a wonderful town! The Bronx is up and the Battery's down! The people ride through a hole in the ground! And they're about to ride the bus for free 🥹
November 5, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Watching On the Town (1949) as a New Yorker in LA because I really needed the upbeat city tour in the first 5 minutes. It's a wonderful town! The Bronx is up and the Battery's down! The people ride through a hole in the ground! And they're about to ride the bus for free 🥹
Reposted by J. Fergus
GET RID OF YOUR RING CAMERAS www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Amazon’s Ring to partner with Flock, a network of AI cameras used by ICE, feds, and police
Agencies that use Flock can request that Ring doorbell users share footage to help with "evidence collection and investigative work."
www.yahoo.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
GET RID OF YOUR RING CAMERAS www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Reposted by J. Fergus
If y'all are also getting your hard copies soon, check out our leveled magic item sets, free on our itch! biscuitwolfgames.itch.io
Biscuit Wolf Games
biscuitwolfgames.itch.io
October 3, 2025 at 2:55 AM
If y'all are also getting your hard copies soon, check out our leveled magic item sets, free on our itch! biscuitwolfgames.itch.io
Reposted by J. Fergus
Look what arrived today!
October 2, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Look what arrived today!
As someone who's always loved watching the end credits, even as a child, why are more and more movie credits either too small or in an illegible font? Who do I write a letter to about this?
October 1, 2025 at 4:29 AM
As someone who's always loved watching the end credits, even as a child, why are more and more movie credits either too small or in an illegible font? Who do I write a letter to about this?
Reposted by J. Fergus
I try to focus this account so it's for my readers, but hey writers:
NEVER sign a contract where the publisher keeps your rights indefinitely. For short stories, there should be a point when you can sell reprints.
and NEVER sign your movie/TV/etc adaptation rights to a publisher. Those are yours.
NEVER sign a contract where the publisher keeps your rights indefinitely. For short stories, there should be a point when you can sell reprints.
and NEVER sign your movie/TV/etc adaptation rights to a publisher. Those are yours.
September 29, 2025 at 9:46 PM
I try to focus this account so it's for my readers, but hey writers:
NEVER sign a contract where the publisher keeps your rights indefinitely. For short stories, there should be a point when you can sell reprints.
and NEVER sign your movie/TV/etc adaptation rights to a publisher. Those are yours.
NEVER sign a contract where the publisher keeps your rights indefinitely. For short stories, there should be a point when you can sell reprints.
and NEVER sign your movie/TV/etc adaptation rights to a publisher. Those are yours.
Reposted by J. Fergus
Here it is, my last piece for @eater.bsky.social: my treatise on the last 20 years of food culture, and how food turned into fandom. I really hope you read it. www.eater.com/food-culture...
Nobody Wants to Be a Foodie
How “foodie” went from badge of honor to cringey term to pejorative smear and all the way back again.
www.eater.com
September 24, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Here it is, my last piece for @eater.bsky.social: my treatise on the last 20 years of food culture, and how food turned into fandom. I really hope you read it. www.eater.com/food-culture...
Reposted by J. Fergus
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win (h/t @miriamposner.com)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
September 21, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win (h/t @miriamposner.com)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
In honor of fall, I really need more people to understand that the song of the summer was not in English:
Bad Bunny “is probably the most important musician in the world right now—the person future generations will point to when they talk about what the early 2020s sounded like,” Kelefa Sanneh writes.
Bad Bunny’s Puerto Rican Homecoming
The Latin-trap performer is probably the most important pop musician of our time. Key to his success is that the bigger he gets, the more local he seems.
www.newyorker.com
September 22, 2025 at 9:35 AM
In honor of fall, I really need more people to understand that the song of the summer was not in English:
Reposted by J. Fergus
You want to be alive, but they want you dead. We’re a new, well, funded democratic group that thinks you can meet them halfway.
September 17, 2025 at 2:07 PM
You want to be alive, but they want you dead. We’re a new, well, funded democratic group that thinks you can meet them halfway.
I think it's very funny that all the web 3.0 people aren't seizing this moment at all.
September 18, 2025 at 4:03 AM
I think it's very funny that all the web 3.0 people aren't seizing this moment at all.
Reposted by J. Fergus
There is so much bad stuff going on, but you are still someone worth taking care of.
September 15, 2025 at 6:37 PM
There is so much bad stuff going on, but you are still someone worth taking care of.
Reposted by J. Fergus
I know people think of California as a very wealthy state but it's actually a state of extreme inequality. We are tied with Louisiana for the highest poverty rate (using the supplemental poverty measure, which tends to be more accurate): 17.7% (7 million people).
California’s Persistent Poverty Crisis: 2024 Rates Remain Alarmingly High
California’s poverty rate remains among the highest in the nation (17.7%), with children, people of color, and renters most affected.
calbudgetcenter.org
September 15, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I know people think of California as a very wealthy state but it's actually a state of extreme inequality. We are tied with Louisiana for the highest poverty rate (using the supplemental poverty measure, which tends to be more accurate): 17.7% (7 million people).
Reposted by J. Fergus
There’s a way to be respectful in reporting on Charlie Kirk being shot while also refusing to whitewash who he was and what consequences his political activism has had. Obituaries for public figures are a part of history.
September 10, 2025 at 8:59 PM
There’s a way to be respectful in reporting on Charlie Kirk being shot while also refusing to whitewash who he was and what consequences his political activism has had. Obituaries for public figures are a part of history.
Reposted by J. Fergus
NBC news was listing the political shootings of late and conveniently forget about the legislators in MN.
September 10, 2025 at 9:04 PM
NBC news was listing the political shootings of late and conveniently forget about the legislators in MN.
When watching a slo-mo of a man making a cocktail, half the time, it's truly the messiest bartender I've ever seen and I immediately forgive myself for any minor filming hiccups
August 23, 2025 at 8:45 AM
When watching a slo-mo of a man making a cocktail, half the time, it's truly the messiest bartender I've ever seen and I immediately forgive myself for any minor filming hiccups
Watching Canva slowly turn into an Adobe product really breaks my "graphic design is my passion" heart
August 23, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Watching Canva slowly turn into an Adobe product really breaks my "graphic design is my passion" heart
Reposted by J. Fergus
the other half of the puzzle is media consolidation (and explicit conservative capture thereof), also meaning the loss of local and independent reporting
August 21, 2025 at 11:19 PM
the other half of the puzzle is media consolidation (and explicit conservative capture thereof), also meaning the loss of local and independent reporting
Reposted by J. Fergus
really feels like this point needs to be underlined again and again. the reason these stories have spread so well via social and standard media is virality. outrage and the algorithm are symbiotic; standard media then reports on viral topics as newsworthy
right-wing content mills spin up a self-feeding outrage machine, which is why their stories end up everywhere. Once you know the pattern, you can see it coming a mile away.
August 21, 2025 at 10:48 PM
really feels like this point needs to be underlined again and again. the reason these stories have spread so well via social and standard media is virality. outrage and the algorithm are symbiotic; standard media then reports on viral topics as newsworthy