2026 media diet

movies

• the phoenician scheme - ehhh. shrug if you put a gun to my head, i probably couldn’t tell you what the plot was a couple of weeks from now.

  20260125 update: this prediction has held true.

• the secret agent - i was glued to my seat. (having a first rate beer in hand helps considerably. all hail the zeitgeist zinema in duluth!) i don’t know what was going on in brazil in the mid-late 1970s. (and i still don’t) i really didn’t know where it was all going to go. so. many. questions. great movie.

• the naked gun (2025) - i’m a simple man. there are some weeks where even trying to catch up on the fallout episodes that have queued up in the backlog feels kind of heavy. when this is the case, this is the level of stupidity that is required. this delivered on the stupid.

• F1: the movie (2025) - well, at least (i hope) apple will stop trying to shove this into my eyeballs every time i spark up the TV. pretty mid and formulaic if you ask me. the car porn was pretty solid.

• good luck, have fun, don’t die (2025) - a little on the nose with the social commentary and the AI biz. sam rockwell truly inhabits his character. i went in just seeing the trailer knowing nothing more and i had fun. this was a solid bit of escapist entertainment.

tv

or, whatever we’re calling episodic streaming these days. with other stuff thrown in.

let’s face it, shit’s gone pear shaped. there’s very little time for tv.

• fallout (season 2) - honestly, with all that’s going on i need to watch the recap pretty much every time we try to sit down and watch an episode here. still, this is entertaining.

news

welcome to the AI driven hellscape. make sure you’re paying for the good shit when it comes to facts. having someone who will chase down whether or not that video that’s circulating is AI or not that is worth shelling out for.

• ny times - the new york times isn’t a news organization any more. they’re a technology company that carries the news and they’re exhibiting all of the trappings of a tech company. they want to pester you with ads constantly, they want to upsell you to get the games subscription, etc. make no mistake, they are no longer the gray lady with purportedly centrist liberal leanings. they are as rapacious as pretty much all Si valley tech is. all that said, they fact check and they have reporters all over the place. this costs money. at least now they came out with the family pack and i can have my own wordle.
• the economist - when you need a perspective that isn’t shoved up the posterior of the current US administration, you probably need to get outside the US. these folks have a slightly right of center, economically conservative perspective with something approximating a moral compass. again, they have knowledgeable reporters covering pretty much every corner of the globe and this costs money. they’re not cheap, but they’re really good. anybody who says they can keep up with the print version of this magazine is totally full of shit. i read this online and triangulate as appropriate.
• 404 media - some of the best tech reporting in the business with a declared and debated bias. their podcast is highly recommended. their FOIA programs have been worth a listen.
• the atlantic - pretty solid coverage on a wide range of topics. they’re most definitely an institution and consider themselves as such. there’s plenty of disagreement with some of the regular columnists, but on balance they exhibit a decided preference for democratic norms and openness to social experience, while being grounded in actual fact checked reporting. note well, they are not immune to bad takes on a variety of topics.
• wired - they’ve been killing it these days. i don’t know what’s got into them over the past couple of years, but they seem to have found their footing.
• communications of the ACM - very academic, typically well ahead of the curve on a number of interesting topics. they’re particularly solid around the intersection of computing trends and society more broadly. they also do a really interesting rundown on computing activities in other countries. (notably china and india)
• minnesota reformer - some of the best minnesota reporting on the ground.
• racket mn - small, reader owned, snarky as fuck. the best local roundups and budget eats reviews in town. the soul of city pages lives here.

podcasts

a collection of stuff to raise your cortisol levels.

• the economist podcasts - just suck it up and pay for the subscription, they’re covering things a lot more objectively than we get around here.
• 404 media - some of the best tech and media coverage on the market at the moment. their podcast is always fun and irreverent.
• techdirt - consistently solid coverage on what amounts to first amendment rights and open internet operation.
• the daily - 🤷
• lawfare - the legal dorks weigh in on misc. events. when you need the no BS take on things.
• arms control wonk - destruction dork central
• the ezra kline show - consistently solid guests and research, well worth the listen.
• dwarkesh - pretty solid AI coverage. definitely in the fan boy space solid, if not great, guests.
• wedge live - the best minneapolis politics coverage, full stop.
• racketcast - your weekly dose of local twin cities snark and reviews.
• RIPE labs podcast
• hard fork - pretty mid, but if you want a couple of tech fanboys with product manager-lite aspirations, then this might be for you. i find myself skipping episodes with regularity. these dudes can be insufferable. but periodically, they surprise you with a considered take on things. it’s a shame they don’t just start from there.
• making sense with sam harris - smart guy with some really impressive blind spots solid guests. i’m not as enamored with him as some of my friends are, but he’s often worth the listen.
• rational security - these folks are the complement to lawfare and just as good. if you’re looking for the facts then they’re well worth the listen.
• BHA podcast and blast with hal herring - first rate conservation news. you don’t have to be a hunter to appreciate what these guys are doing and the insights into the state of legislation on the conservation front are great. it’s a little hunting dense for me, but always educational.
• Uncanny Valley | WIRED - somehow wired’s been killing it lately.
• drilled - a true crime podcast on climate change. a touch on the hyperbolic side of things, but factually solid.
• conversations with tyler - this dude is just constantly outmatched by his guests. personally, i find him to be really mediocre listen, but he’s oft touted as a “conservative thinker”. from crypto to AI he can be relied upon to give a bad take.
• the fine homebuilding podcast - building and tool dorkery.