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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

NYC: Come To Our WNBA Comedy Show On May 16

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Live Event

Jake Romm is a New York City-based writer and the Associate Editor of Protean Magazine.

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Jake Romm

October8

Politics

The Paranoid Fantasies Of ‘October 8’

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Mark Asch

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Interviews

‘Eephus’ Director Carson Lund On Baseball As A Way Of Being

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

Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington being held at gun point in the control room in a scene from the film 'Crimson Tide', 1995.

Denzel Washington And Gene Hackman In ‘Crimson Tide’

Arts And Culture

A Small Gene Hackman Memory for You

Matene Toure

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‘Nickel Boys’ Deserves Best Picture

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Defector Staff

A camera operator stands by as director Rouben Mamoulian speaks with Greta Garbo.

Greta Garbo With Rouben Mamoulian on Movie Set

Staff Chat

Lights, Camera, Staff Chat! Let’s Talk Movies.

<a href="http://www.ddavisla.com">David Davis </a>is the author of Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation and Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku. He lives in Los Angeles.
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David Davis

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidget, learned to surf in Malibu, the surfing world has accepted her as surfing's early pioneers, mascots and avid promoters. April 27, 2006, (Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Photo of Gidget running through the Malibu Pier. Fifty years after Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, aka Gidg

Gidget The Survivor

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Alan Kluegel

Denzel Washington looking incredibly sinister and cool in Gladiator II.

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Defector At The Movies

II Decadent II Decrepit: The Politics Of ‘Gladiator II’

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Rachelle Hampton

Wicked co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande stand on a red carpet. Grande holds Erivo's hand to her mouth.

When Will The ‘Wicked’ Press Campaign End?

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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Nicholas Russell

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‘Rap World’ Remembers The Truth About Suburban Malaise

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Soraya Roberts

Promotional photo from joker folie à deux

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Folie À Poo: Boredom Is A Joker Sequel

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Lauren Theisen

“Megalopolis” Photocall – The 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival

‘Megalopolis’ Wants It To Be Francis Ford Coppola Vs. Everybody

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Albert Burneko

A gross alien facehugger, clamped onto a character's face in Alien: Romulus.

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‘Alien: Romulus’ Is Exhausting, Gross As Hell, And Incredibly Fun

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Israel Daramola

Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under The Influence

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Gena Rowlands Played Pathetic Better Than Anyone

Colleen Hoover, wearing a one-shoulder dress, smiles at the camera.

“It Ends With Us” New York Premiere – Arrivals

There Is Still No Escaping Colleen Hoover

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David Roth

Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. He is very dramatically backlit, naturally.

Hauer As Replicant

Podcasts

Hollywood’s Dampest Era, With Chris Nashawaty

(from left) Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Tyler (Glen Powell) in Twisters, directed by Lee Isaac Chung.

TWISTERS

‘Twisters’ Can’t Singlehandedly Drag Us Back To The ’90s

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Overexplained Lists

1990s Blockbusters I Haven’t Seen, Ranked

George Clooney, as Michael Clayton, talks into a cell phone while walking down a city street at night.

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This Is So Stupid

There Are Three Essential Lawyer Movies

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and co-founded the website <a href="http://popcorntennis.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://popcorntennis.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0PFWw6PL-FUqaCMME5TLqP">popcorntennis.com</a>. He wrote 63,000 words about the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal rivalry that can be accessed for free at <a href="https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thegoldenrivalry.substack.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726234676777000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OjAHpo4PVIhkx8Xd21lRJ">thegoldenrivalry.substack.com</a>.

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Owen Lewis

Josh O'Connor feeds a churro to Mike Faist in a scene from Challengers

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Tennis

Who Wins The Match In ‘Challengers’?

A Rockies fan by birth and a White Sox fan by geographic proximity, Annie Howard spends her non-suffering sports moments ardently rooting for the Nuggets and the Orioles.

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Annie Howard

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‘I Saw The TV Glow’ Unfurls The Great Trans Unknown

A promotional poster for the James Bond film "No Time To Die" starring Daniel Craig at a cineplex in Shanghai showing all six actors who have played the character James Bond.

China Film Marketing

It’s Not Who Plays The Next Bond, It’s How You Write Him

Guy Ritchie speaks onstage during the Special NY Screening of "The Gentlemen" at the Alamo Drafthouse on January 11, 2020 in New York City.

Special NY Screening Of “The Gentlemen” At The Alamo Drafthouse

Guy Ritchie Is The Least Appreciated Director In The World

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

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Danny Sullivan

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‘Dune’ Novels, Ranked By Unfilmability

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Kelsey McKinney

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Everything I Remember About ‘Madame Web’

The main character giving a speech in Origin

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‘Origin’ Fails As Both Homework And Entertainment

movies