"A market ceases to function when competition disappears. And it’s disappearing," contends writer Mike Schur in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter
Mike Schur: The Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Is Existential for Writers
Let’s begin with a statement of fact: mega mergers in Hollywood are bad for writers. They’re also bad for actors and directors, for production designers and caterers, for carpenters and Teamsters and electricians and set decorators. They are bad for consumers, who get fewer choices in entertainment controlled by fewer bosses with narrower worldviews. Mergers are bad for local businesses, who lose paying customers from disappearing productions. They are bad for high level TV and film executives, and entry-level assistants, and everyone in between.
bit.ly
Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?
Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
theguardian.com
Sure, this is great tool for someone like Scorsese who’s using it to translate a vision. Problem is the other 99% with *no* vision will use it to make a s#!t version of Goodfellas-lite. The only thing this will provide is glitzy mediocrity at scale.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3mo agoMartin Scorsese accused of ‘throwing artists under bus’ with AI storyboards
As someone directly affected, I am a proud signatory of the open letter protesting the Paramount-WBD merger. blockthemerger.com #BlockTheMerger
#BlockTheMerger – Block the WBD-PSKY Merger
The proposed Warner Bros. Discovery–Paramount transaction is not a done deal. 230+ allies and 33+ organizations standing up to protect indie film, audiences, industry workers, and local communities. #...
blockthemerger.com
Two young boys were locked up inside ICE's notorious detention center in Texas. Then Ms. Rachel shared their stories.
Ms. Rachel is helping kids get out of ICE detention—one video at a time
The wildly popular children's educator is taking on ICE's notorious family detention center.
motherjones.com
Volunteer #librarians from around the world joined forces to build the Nancy Drew collection on Open Library—volunteering their time to organize series, verify editions, untangle authorship, and clean up metadata so anyone can discover these books. Learn more ➡️ blog.openlibrary.org/2026/01/30/a...
It occurred to me during my weekend Reiner-thon that Apple’s obsession with limiting volume is a Reverse-Spinal Tap. (“But this amp goes to 3…”)
Ireland seems to have a sensible response to immigration: essentially “immigrants are good, but we need to retool some policy so we can adjust to the administrative realities of incorporating them.” apple.news/APQeb0Hh_TvG...
Ireland tightens immigration rules in bid to slow population growth — Reuters
Ireland introduced measures to tighten its immigration rules on Wednesday that the justice minister said were aimed at slowing a
apple.news
Why didn’t this story about Mississippi sheriffs running drugs for a Mexican cartel get more traction? apple.news/AGebhp5s4SMK...
2 Mississippi sheriffs, 12 officers charged in drug trafficking bribery scheme, officials say — PBS News
Federal authorities on Thursday announced indictments against 20 people, including 14 current or former Mississippi Delta law enforcement officers, that allege the officers took bribes to provide safe...
apple.news
🚨 60-40, Senators advance tentative deal to end the government shutdown www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
Senators advance tentative deal to end the government shutdown
The deal, negotiated by a group of Democrats and GOP leaders, funds the government through Jan. 30. If it passes, it still needs to clear the House, which will likely take days.
nbcnews.com
A group of Democrats signalled they were willing to cross party lines to advance a bill that would reopen the federal government after a record budget impasse on.ft.com/4hTitL9
After failing in court ISPs have partnered with the Trump admin. to kill net neutrality. Finally Americans will be able to achieve our dream of not receiving the broadband speeds we pay for, with the added bonus of squashing any remaining egalitarianism on the web. Huzzah!!!
So Trump violates federal law and gets charged by feds, claims they violated federal law by charging him with breaking the law, and now wants to violate federal law to charge the feds who charged him with breaking federal law? Cool.
Scholars in Zurich have created an AI platform to generate images of Ancient Rome, thus proving the technology’s awesome power to create a shittier, less accurate version of what HBO did in 2005.
POTUS: “…he’s not a socialist, he’s a communist, there’s a difference.” One billion MELANIA$ meme coins if he can explain what that difference is.
It is truly surprising that POTUS not only knows Columbus Day is an Italian thing, and that his XO didn’t rebrand it Rudy Giuliani Day.
In 2024, ALA tracked 821 attempts to censor library materials, targeting nearly 2,500 unique books. That’s 10× more than five years ago. Join the fight for the freedom to read: UniteAgainstBookBans.org Donate to ALA: ilovelibraries.org/1984 #BannedBooksWeek
Liz Cheney’s felony indictment for putting the wrong mailing address on her mortgage is overdue. But there’s only so many reality TV spokesmodels with law degrees, so maybe it’s just a bottleneck thing.
The same guys who accidentally canned people who maintain our nuclear missiles are making a list of “non-essential” workers to fire. No foreseeable problems there.
I’ve never seen so much obvious prep go into *not* answering questions at a senate hearing. Must’ve been exhausting. Prediction: next time AG Bondi just holds up a sign saying ‘Suck it, Marxist Pedos!’ And makes loud fart noises whenever a Dem speaks.
The Bahamas is currently scrolling through old Tweets to see if they said anything deserving a US ambassador Herschel Walker.
Lots of people think POTUS shouldn’t put his own face on currency. But it’s a great hedge for my TRUMP$ meme coin, Beanie Babies, DJT portfolio.
Why is CNN not showing a live statement from the Minority Leader during a government shutdown?
The $55b purchase of EA Games answers a question I’ve had for a while: if you give Jared Kushner a s#!t-ton of cash doesn’t that just allow him to suck at investing in more market sectors?
Anyone else find themselves exponentially less interested in ‘Last of Us’ on Max after Pedro died?