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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

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Merch v3

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Israel Daramola

Usher performs onstage during his residency at La Seine Musicale on September 25, 2023 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

“Usher Residency” At La Seine Musicale

Arts And Culture

Can Usher Escape The Nostalgia Trap?

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Patrick Redford

San Francisco Ballet in Aszure Barton and Sam Shepherd's Mere Mortals // © Chris Hardy. Dancers flank Prometheus as he gears up to steal fire from the gods.

Mere Mortals

Maybe It’s Not So Bad Being ‘Mere Mortals’

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Barry Petchesky

05 February 2024, Saxony-Anhalt, Halberstadt: A sheet of music from the piece "ORGAN2/ASLSP" by John Cage lies in front of the organ in the Burchardi Church before the start of the sound change. After two years, the sound of the slowest piece of music in the world, performed in Halberstadt in the Harz Mountains, has changed for the 16th time. On Monday, the 639-year organ piece ORGAN²/ASLSP ("As SLow aS Possible") by artist John Cage (1912-1992) underwent a sound change. This means that the six-sound piece that has been played in the Burchardi Church since February 2022 has become a seven-sound piece. Photo: Matthias Bein/dpa (Photo by Matthias Bein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Press conference on the change of sound in the Cage project

The Song Goes On Even If We Don’t

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To Love ‘Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans,’ You Must Loathe It

Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.

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Dan McQuade

Moby performs on stage at a concert in 2002. He is in front of a mic in a black t-shirt with a weird eyeball design on it. He's sort of pushing forward with his torso as his arms go backward.

moby

Music

A Notorious Pitchfork Reviewer Was My Biggest Musical Influence

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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Nicholas Russell

The main character giving a speech in Origin

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‘Origin’ Fails As Both Homework And Entertainment

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Lauren Theisen

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Defector At The Movies

Stuck In The One-Woman Myth

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Soraya Roberts

A childhood photo of the author during ballet class next to a current photo of her wearing her ballet clothes

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Elder Wisdom

Ballet Brought Me Back To My Body

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The Five New Playboi Carti Songs, Ranked

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

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Drew Magary

Woman plays Wordle on her smartphone at the kitchen table of her home on 26th November 2023 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Wordle is a web-based word game played by millions of users / players worldwide often on their mobile devices. The game was created and developed by software engineer Josh Wardle, and owned by The New York Times Company since 2022.

Wordle Smartphone Game

Overexplained Lists

New York Times Games, Ranked

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Tom Ley

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David Roth

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Justin Ellis

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Chris Thompson

A bad guy reacts to having a grill thrown through his windshield by Jack Reacher

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It Is Now Time To Discuss Jack Reacher Throwing A Grill At A Guy

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Journalismism

Music Journalism Can’t Afford A Hollowed-Out Pitchfork

Corey Atad is a freelancer writer based in Toronto with an unhealthy Air Bud obsession.

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Corey Atad

Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone in The Curse

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‘The Curse’ Showed Just Enough To Unsettle

A garden party scene from The Zone Of Interest

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‘The Zone Of Interest’ Is About Cognitive Harmony

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Typing

Sabrina Imbler

hanging sculptures by Ruth Asawa in the tower of the de young museum

In The Shadows Of Ruth Asawa

A scene from Tenet in which The Protagonist fights a bad guy

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I Can’t Stop Watching ‘Tenet,’ And I Finally Know Why

Sean T. Collins has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Decider, Pitchfork, and many others. He lives with his family on Long Island.

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Sean T. Collins

TOM WILKINSON as Arthur Edens in Michael Clayton

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Tom Wilkinson And His Baguettes Are Eternal

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How ‘The Wheel Of Time’ Made Great Art Out Of Great Pain

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Albert Burneko

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1921: Conrad Veidt as "Cesare" in the film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Photograph. 1921

Conrad Veidt as “Cesare” in the film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”. Photograph. 1921

This Is A Damn Conrad Veidt Appreciation Blog

The Patti Smith Group pose for portraits, (L-R) Lenny Kaye, Richard Sohl, Patti Smith, Ivan Kral and Jay Dee Daugherty, in May 1976 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Patti Smith Group Portraits In Copenhagen

Life Lessons

Make Space For The Artist

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Does It Matter If Adam Driver Is A Bad Actor?

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Defector Staff

Year In Review

The Best Things We Watched In 2023

Andre Braugher in a black and white portrait taken in 2015.

Celebrities Visit SiriusXM Studios – April 30, 2015

The Good Guy

Antique print of whalers harpooning a sperm whale off New Bedford, Massachusetts. The print is from 1910.