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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

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

Arts And Culture

Here’s To Cecilia Gentili

Kelsey McKinney

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

Patrick Redford

David Roth

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’

Soraya Roberts

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

It’s A Great Time To Be A Plagiarist

Israel Daramola

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)

The Song Goes On Even If We Don’t

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

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

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.

A Notorious Pitchfork Reviewer Was My Biggest Musical Influence

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

The main character giving a speech in Origin

‘Origin’ Fails As Both Homework And Entertainment

Lauren Theisen

Stuck In The One-Woman Myth

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

Elder Wisdom

Ballet Brought Me Back To My Body

The Five New Playboi Carti Songs, Ranked

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.

Overexplained Lists

New York Times Games, Ranked

Tom Ley

Justin Ellis

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

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

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

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.

Corey Atad

Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone in The Curse

‘The Curse’ Showed Just Enough To Unsettle

A garden party scene from The Zone Of Interest

‘The Zone Of Interest’ Is About Cognitive Harmony

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

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

TOM WILKINSON as Arthur Edens in Michael Clayton

Tom Wilkinson And His Baguettes Are Eternal

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

Albert Burneko

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