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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.

Defector

Tom Ley

Christian Hansen sitting at his desk in The Octopus Murders

Arts And Culture

The Creators Of ‘The Octopus Murders’ Are Still In Its Grasp

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

A topiary of Goofy stands with the Spaceship Earth ball in the background.

Capital

A Disney World Pervert’s Take On: The Existential War Of Investor Aggression

Israel Daramola

Singer Kim Gordon performing a song on stage at a concert at the Astra in Berlin, Germany in 2002

Kim Gordon Rides The Thin Line Between Hip And Gimmick With ‘The Collective’

Christopher Nolan, winner of the Best Picture award for “Oppenheimer”, poses in the press room during the 96th Annual Academy Awards at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California.

Welcome To The Christopher Nolan Era

Kelsey McKinney

Sydney Sweeney at the world premiere of "Madame Web" held at Regency Village Theatre on February 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Why Can’t People Be Normal About Sydney Sweeney?

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

Corey Atad

Actress, Vita Vargas, Carla Hernández, Sayaka Yokoyama, Myriam Behar in Claquetazo Braulio Lopez Producer of a Scene from the filming of the film (Nudus) by director Gibran Bazan on October 26, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Good, Bad, Or Invisible, CGI Makes Movies Unreal

Danny Sullivan writes <a href="https://theunderline.substack.com/">The Underline</a>, a newsletter covering books, movies, and ideas. He lives in Santa Fe.

Danny Sullivan

‘Dune’ Novels, Ranked By Unfilmability

David Roth

Giri Nathan

Patrick Redford

Lauren Theisen

Radiohead performing onstage in support of their 2007 album "In Rainbows," with the Defector Music Club logo right in the middle.

Defector Music Club

Defector Music Club Reviews The People’s Radiohead Album

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

Englishmen in Paris gathered in Galignani’s library, 1820. English gentlemen read books, newspapers and periodicals. Doctor Syntax discovered by his wife in a bookshop. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Charles Williams from Doctor Syntax in Paris; or a Tour in Search of the Grotesque, W. Wright, London, 1820.

Interviews

“It Really Matters If Somebody Has Bad Taste”: An Interview With Book Critic Becca Rothfeld

Timothee Chalamet's Paul Atreides addressing the Fremen in Dune: Part Two.

‘Dune: Part Two’ Is Big, Bold, Loud, And Still Missing Something

Christy Mathewson head and shoulders portrait photo

How To Throw A Baseball And Live Forever

Soraya Roberts

Madeleine Sami as Eddie Redcliffe in Deadloch

Australians Just Have More Fun (On TV)

dakota johnson in a red leather blazer looking confused

Everything I Remember About ‘Madame Web’

Image of Vince Staples taken from Netflix's "The Vince Staples Show."

Vince Staples Gets Lost In His Own Show

Jason England

Still image from the movie American Fiction.

‘American Fiction’ And The Wet Eyes Of The Sentimentalist

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.

Sean T. Collins

Here’s To Cecilia Gentili

The Traitors cast arrayed around the round table.

‘The Traitors’ Is The Best Show On Television

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.

Drew Magary

A man walks on a pockmarked road, carrying another man across his shoulders, from the TV series 'Top Boy.'

I Am A ‘Top Boy’ Boy Now

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

Barry Petchesky

Whale stranded at Winterton, 1857. 'This fine specimen of the whale tribe was driven ashore at Winterton by the gales which visited the coast of Norfolk...When the whale found himself upon land he roared loudly, and he struggled most lustily to regain the deep...The colour of the outer coat is dark brown on the back, vanishing off towards the body of a bluish grey. The body is white; also about two feet of the nose and baleen is white; the rest of the outer part is black. We understand that the skin, head, and tail were removed from the carcase for exhibition. The whale is stated to weigh about 25 tons'. From &quot;Illustrated London News&quot;, 1857.

Defector Reads A Book

From Hell’s Heart We Blog At Thee: Let’s Chat About ‘Moby-Dick’

Color-coded passages of text tracking James Somerton's plagiarism

It’s A Great Time To Be A Plagiarist

Usher, Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupri and will.i.am perform onstage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium

The Usher Super Bowl Halftime Moments, Ranked

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

Can Usher Escape The Nostalgia Trap?

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.

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

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)