Lifestyle
L.A. Affairs: My fling's words took me by surprise. ‘I’m not committed to you’
It was a beautiful February day in Los Angeles after the fires. The sun burned hot overhead. I pulled my Ducati motorcycle into a spot outside his restaurant in the Arts District. I was hot, thirsty, hungry — three simple needs that instantly faded when I saw him.
Michael.
Even with my darkened helmet shield, our eyes locked. He was wheeling produce up the ramp to the kitchen, his movements as familiar to me as my own breath.
For a moment, time slowed. The weight of unspoken words, of unresolved heartbreak, of unanswered questions hung between us. I had spent two months trying to make sense of the silence he left me in. The last time we spoke, he had dropped a bomb on me late on a Friday night, a few days before Christmas, in the casual way only he could.
“I’m not committed to you,” he said. Just like that, a simple sentence out of the blue that blindsided me.
And then, the knife twisted.
“I really like this woman in San Diego. I’m seeing her at Christmas.”
I could still hear the words, feel the numbness settle in, like a short circuit in my brain.
Hadn’t we just spent a perfect weekend in L.A.? Having dinner at Bavel, watching Liverpool play, the quiet intimacy of me reading while he walked his dogs. Hadn’t we just gone to the Bread Lounge for my favorite pastry, taken his vintage BMW for a ride, shared a moment that felt uniquely ours?
And what about the sweetness of those two days in Orange County: dinner, the Christmas play in Laguna, the laughter in the photo booth at A Restaurant, just like our first date 18 months prior, giggling and capturing our undeniable joy in snapshots?
The memories flooded in as I sat on my Ducati, wondering why he was here, why his restaurant, which he was selling, hadn’t yet closed escrow and why this pain still gripped me. Why had he gone dead silent after treating me so carelessly? His last text on Dec. 31 saying he was OK, he needed time, he’d been sick, but would be in touch felt like an echo in an empty canyon. I gave him time. But what I got in return was nothing.
And nothing is a kind of cruelty all its own.
Michael’s voice jolted me.
“Rainie, I’m late! I don’t have time to talk to you.”
I motioned him over. The heat pressed against my face as I pulled off my helmet and then my leather jacket. I met his gaze and asked the question that had burned inside me for weeks since the last time we spoke in December and his last text on Dec. 31.
“Why did you ghost me? Ghosting was what you do to strangers — to people who don’t matter.”
Had I really meant so little to him?
He had no real answer, just a feeble, “I thought it was better this way for you.” He agreed we could make a plan to talk “later,” sometime after the restaurant closed escrow, which was still up in the air. Then he told me to make myself at home in the restaurant and he told his staff to take care of me. Then he was gone.
I should have left too. But I stayed.
Sitting at the bar, I found myself in conversation with a stranger. Another Ducati rider.
Tim.
Three seats down, he had chimed in when the bartender asked about my bike. Within minutes, we were deep in conversation, drawn together by something simple, something easy.
I glanced at my watch — 3:09 p.m. What! How did it get so late? I had to get up to Mt. Wilson before it got dark and cold. I handed Tim my card and left, expecting nothing.
That night, he texted. Then he called.
For three hours, I was laughing — genuinely laughing for the first time in months.
Two days later, Tim and I met for a relaxed dinner at the Farmhouse in Roger’s Gardens. Afterward, when he kissed me, it wasn’t just lips meeting — it was a balm, a quiet reassurance that I was still here, still capable of connection, still alive.
The next morning, he skipped out on his conference and brought me breakfast in bed. We decided to ride together. But first, a stop at the motorcycle shop and then a half-hour appointment at my oncologist’s office. When I stepped out, there he was — on his Ducati, next to mine, waiting.
We rode the coastline, winding through Laguna Canyon, El Toro Road, Santiago Canyon, stopping at Cook’s Corner for burgers. The conversation flowed as effortlessly as the miles beneath our tires. His laughter felt like sunlight filtering through a dense forest, reaching places in me that had been dark for too long.
Tim had raced Ducatis. He was an expert. And yet, when he looked at me, he said something unexpected.
“You’re a good rider and your form is perfect. You ride better than any of my friends.”
The words hit differently than any compliment I had received in a long time. Somewhere in Michael’s silence, in his rejection, in the weeks of self-doubt, I had started to believe I wasn’t enough.
That night, lying alone in my bed, I felt something shift.
Michael, who had once occupied every thought, every breath, who still hadn’t reached out to talk with me, suddenly seemed … distant. Less important. The weight of his absence felt lighter.
Not because Tim had replaced him. But because Tim had reminded me of something I had forgotten: myself.
Michael’s silence had stolen pieces of my confidence, had made me question my worth. But an afternoon of laughter, of conversation, of reaching speeds over 100 mph on my Ducati with someone who seemed to value me and didn’t make me doubt myself — it brought my confidence front and center.
I may never see Tim again. But I will always be grateful for what he unknowingly gave me: the realization that I am whole. That I am enough. That I don’t need Michael’s love, or his silence, to define me.
The next morning, I slept in, letting the experience settle, letting myself feel it.
Then I threw on my jacket, grabbed my helmet, and walked out to my Ducati.
I was bursting with joy and ready to go. I was finally moving forward.
The author is a personal assistant in Orange County. She lives in the Newport Beach area. She’s on Instagram: @rainienb
L.A. Affairs chronicles the search for romantic love in all its glorious expressions in the L.A. area, and we want to hear your true story. We pay $400 for a published essay. Email LAAffairs@latimes.com. You can find submission guidelines here. You can find past columns here.
With the nation’s big 2-5-0 coming up next year, NPR staff and critics recommended a lot of U.S.-focused titles for Books We Love, our annual year-end reading guide. Below you’ll find 10 favorites — perfect for the history buff on your gift list, or anyone looking to learn more about how the U.S got to where it is today. Read on, or check out our full 2025 list here.
American Grammar: Race, Education, and the Building of a Nation, by Jarvis R. Givens
In this deeply researched book, Harvard University professor of education and African American studies Jarvis R. Givens locates 1819 as a “crossroads” in the history of education in the United States. That year, Congress passed the Civilization Fund Act, providing funding for assimilative boarding schools for Native American children, and the governor of Virginia signed an anti-literacy law that made it a crime to teach enslaved people to read and write in schools. Amid the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the Department of Education, Givens’ clear-eyed assessment of American education offers an opportunity to reflect on the long-standing relationships among race, power and schooling in the U.S. — Kristen Martin, book critic and author of The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, by Rick Atkinson
I’ve been eagerly waiting years for this book! This is the second volume of Rick Atkinson’s trilogy on the American Revolution. Atkinson makes good use of letters and diaries. You feel like you’re in the middle of a battle, with all the sights, sounds and tragedy. Harrowing tales of hand-to-hand fighting, scalping and desperate evacuations. Fine detail: the waxed mustaches of the Hessian forces, the number of rum barrels distributed to weary and ill-clad troops, the dull thud of cannonballs smacking into ships. The stench of makeshift hospitals, with piles of limbs stacked outside. He carefully lays out how the battles began, and the successes, mistakes and missed opportunities – on both sides. — Tom Bowman, Pentagon reporter
History Matters, by David McCullough, Dorie McCullough Lawson (contributor), and Michael Hill (contributor)
If history can be a comfort read, this is it. David McCullough’s daughter Dorie McCullough Lawson and his longtime researcher, Michael Hill, assembled this posthumous collection over two years. Some of the historian’s old manuscripts and files were kept in a New England barn, so the occasional acorn and nest turned up along with the historian’s glorious observations about Americans and their history. The essay subjects are diverse – painter Thomas Eakins, Harriet Beecher Stowe in Paris, “A Book on Every Bed” (it will melt your heart). One theme emerges that you might find reassuring in its own way: There was no “simpler time.” — Shannon Rhoades, supervising senior editor, Weekend Edition
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families, by Judith Giesberg
In 2017, historian Judith Giesberg and her team of graduate student researchers launched a website called the “Last Seen” project. It now contains over 5,000 ads placed in newspapers by formerly enslaved people hoping to find family members separated by slavery. The ads span the 1830s to the 1920s and serve as portals “into the lived experience of slavery.” In Last Seen, her book drawn from that monumental website, Giesberg closely reads 10 of those ads placed in search of lost children, mothers, wives, siblings and comrades who served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. — Maureen Corrigan, book critic, Fresh Air
Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools, by Mary Annette Pember
Mary Annette Pember, a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe and a national correspondent at ICT News, grew up in the 1950s and 1960s as her mother’s “secret confessor,” listening to fairy-tale-like stories of the horrors she endured at an assimilative boarding school. In Medicine River, Pember traces the repercussions of her mother’s maltreatment, situating her family’s story within the United States’ systemic use of education to eradicate Native cultures. Through an approach that is “part journalistic research, part spiritual pilgrimage,” Pember provides a cuttingly personal account of the history of federally funded Indian boarding schools and a moving look at how Indigenous traditions and rituals can light the path for healing. — Kristen Martin, book critic and author of The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood
Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church, by Kevin Sack
There was great symbolism when a white supremacist targeted Charleston’s Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, killing nine Black worshippers as a means to ignite a race war. As we learn in this deeply researched history, the congregation has been involved in the struggle for racial justice ever since it was founded in an “act of bold subversion” by enslaved and free African Americans in the 1800s. I am struck by the stories of clergy and members who fought against seemingly insurmountable odds at nearly every turn of history, truly living out their faith and believing in a better America. — Debbie Elliott, correspondent, National Desk
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, by Brian Goldstone
In this paradigm-shifting, immersive book, journalist and anthropologist Brian Goldstone follows five families in Atlanta who, despite working full time, struggle to stay housed amid gentrification, a lack of tenants’ rights and low wages. These families, all Black, fall into a “shadow realm” – they are not considered officially homeless by the federal government, but lack a fixed living place as they double up with friends and family, sleep in their cars, or pay exorbitant rates at extended-stay hotels. Woven throughout their stories is a trenchant exploration of how America’s disinvestment in public housing and relentless pursuit of free-market growth have fueled housing insecurity for poor working families. — Kristen Martin, book critic and author of The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood
The War of Art: A History of Artists’ Protest In America, by Lauren O’Neill-Butler
This book is about the creative – if often short-lived and not always successful – ways in which artists have fought for social change in the U.S. since the 1960s. Personal favorite: a chapter on how the scrappy video collective, Top Value Television (TVTV), changed the public’s view of political conventions. With artist-led protests once again becoming a thing – from the thousands of actors and filmmakers who recently pledged to boycott the Israeli movie industry in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to the presence of a 12-foot statue depicting President Trump and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein frolicking on the National Mall, this book about the past provides a powerful frame for thinking about artist-led actions today. — Chloe Veltman, correspondent, Culture Desk
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, by Jill Lepore
As the U.S. approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, it feels like an appropriate time to reflect on where we’re at as a country and how we got here. We the People, by Jill Lepore, a history and law professor at Harvard University, helps satisfy that impulse. It tells the story of the U.S. Constitution, which is among the world’s oldest constitutions. Lepore focuses on battles over amendments, which were fought not just by politicians but by ordinary Americans. The founders designed the Constitution to be amended, but it has become much more difficult to do so over the years. As the Constitution becomes harder to amend, Lepore writes, the risk of political violence becomes greater. — Milton Guevara, producer, Morning Edition and Up First
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, by Michael Lewis (editor)
Thousands of unsung heroes in the government are making life better for Americans. But because of bureaucracies being made up of bureaucrats, we rarely hear those stories. This book showcases them. Like a coal-mining safety official who helped the U.S. reach zero mine-collapse deaths. Or the man who has led the National Cemetery Administration to the top of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. As the federal government is in its biggest shake-up in a generation, it’s worth learning about where the bright spots are. — Darian Woods, host, The Indicator from Planet Money
This is just a fraction of the 380+ titles we included in Books We Love this year. Click here to check out this year’s titles, or browse nearly 4,000 books from the last 13 years.
Brown University
School Not To Blame For Shooting
… Masters Students Say
Published
A group of second-year master’s students at Brown University says the school should not be blamed for the on-campus shooting that killed two and injured several others.
The students, who live on and near campus and work on the east side of Providence, RI — near Brown — tell TMZ … they don’t agree with one narrative being spun that the Ivy League school is somehow to blame for the mass shooting.
AP
Instead, the students say gun control and lack of access to mental health services are the real issues here … and they say there’s nothing Brown can do to control those things.
What’s more, the students say there are overarching problems that need to be dealt with at the federal level … and they feel they weren’t the only school or group of students that’s feeling the brunt of gun violence and mass shootings.
Fox News
The students say there needs to be tough conversations about gun control policies … and they want to see investments made into making mental health facilities more accessible.
Law enforcement says former Brown student Claudio Manuel Neves Valente was the gunman … and the students we talked to say Brown shouldn’t be held at fault for a former student who harbored hate in his heart for those alongside him.
Fox News
The students say the response from university administration and officials is making them feel safe and heard … and they’re more proud than ever to be part of the Brown University community.
Aisha Harris’ pop culture superlatives include (clockwise from top left) Hedda, Marty Supreme, Serena Williams at the Super Bowl, Sabrina Carpenter’s lyrics, Love Island USA and Friendship.
Amazon, A24, Getty Images, Peacock/Photo illustration by Emily Bogle/NPR
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Amazon, A24, Getty Images, Peacock/Photo illustration by Emily Bogle/NPR
Well, 2025 has been a year. A year women on reality dating shows got fed up with “apolitical” men; a year a pair of filmmaking brothers both released solo projects about semi-famous athletes; a year a series finale ended in fecal waste. So much happened, and frankly, much of it feels like a blur.
For better or for worse, these cultural moments stood out.
Film’s nerdiest moment: “Aspect Ratios with Sinners Director Ryan Coogler”
YouTube
This Kodak video is a most perfect union of art and commerce, just like Sinners itself. In his distinctive, soothing Bay Area drawl, Coogler got super technical about the differences between each of his movie’s available formats, while breaking things down in easily digestible layperson’s terms. At a time when theater attendance continues to struggle, he made the best case for big screens, and he didn’t need existing IP to do it.
Best running joke at an awards show: “Thank you, Sal Saperstein!” The Studio
YouTube
In retrospect, host Nate Bargatze’s dreadful Boys & Girls Club donation bit at this year’s Emmys only made The Studio‘s parody of running gags on awards shows that much funnier. The bit starts when Adam Scott, playing himself, accepts a Golden Globe and impulsively thanks the guy who let him crash on the couch before his career took off: studio exec Sal Saperstein (Ike Barinholtz). Soon, every other winner – Quinta Brunson, Jean Smart, Aaron Sorkin, Zoë Kravitz – is thanking Sal, too. Most of them have no idea who Sal is. But even better is how each iteration of the corny, beaten-to-death joke eats away at Seth Rogen’s spotlight-seeking studio head Matt Remick.
Best Safdie brother feature: Marty Supreme
Josh Safdie (left) and Timothée Chalamet on the set of Marty Supreme.
A24
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A24
Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine is … fine: Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, in a naked play for artistic credibility, barely has to stretch to play MMA champion Mark Kerr (the wig is doing much of the “transformation”). So in the matchup of solo Safdie bro sports movies, Josh’s Marty Supreme is the clear if imperfect victor. Timothée Chalamet’s wannabe table tennis champion is absolutely insufferable from beginning to end, but the movie bucks the typical narrative and turns out to be the frenetic tale of a cocky hustler who needs — and to a point, gets — a swift ego check.
Most awkward breakup: Huda and Chris, Love Island USA
Chris Seeley (left) and Huda Mustafa in Season 7 of Love Island USA.
Peacock
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Peacock
It was obvious to everyone with eyes that chaotic “mamacita” Huda Mustafa and blasé sleepyhead Chris Seeley were never going to happen; even they knew it. So the setting for their inevitable ending could not have been more magnificent or fitting: a romantic dinner in the middle of a candlelit pond, cordial vibes quickly descending into an exchange of various grievances. (“Why won’t you cuddle with me at night?” “Why won’t you let me get my sleep?”) Then, right in the middle of their breakup, with Huda on the verge of tears, an unnamed woman in an evening gown appeared out of nowhere, waved hello, and proceeded to serenade them with “Moon River.”
Most satisfying breakups: Sara and Ben; Virginia and Devin, Love Is Blind
Ben Mezzenga (left) and Sara Carton in Season 8 of Love Is Blind.
Netflix
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Netflix
The whole premise of Netflix’s bizzarro pod-based “social experiment” is inherently political, but Season 8 was the first in which political conflict played such an unambiguous part of the dating process that the producers presumably couldn’t downplay it through clever editing. Progressive-minded Sara Carton and Virginia Miller both spent much of their on-screen time trying to get their respective fiancés, Ben Mezzenga and Devin Buckley, to discuss issues including abortion, racial justice, and queer rights. Both men repeatedly deflected and refused to take a clear stance, any stance. It took the women far too long to heed all those “apolitical” red flags, but when they finally did and ended their relationships, it felt like a triumph.
Pettiest cameo: Serena Williams at the Super Bowl Halftime Show
Serena Williams performs onstage during the Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 9, 2025.
Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
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Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
In a most pathetic move, Drake filed a lawsuit in January against Universal Music Group, the label he shares with Kendrick Lamar, for “defamation” over “Not Like Us.” Of course, Lamar performed the song at the Super Bowl anyway — but to rub salt in the wound, he brought out fellow Angeleno (and Drake’s alleged former paramour) Serena Williams, who was briefly spotted crip walking with a cool vengeance. Surely, Drake wept. (And then wept again, when a judge dismissed his suit.)
Most ridiculous mathing: Materialists
Dakota Johnson (left) and Pedro Pascal in Materialists.
A24
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A24
Credit where it’s due: Unlike most movies, Celine Song’s romantic dramedy about a matchmaker torn between a wealthy suitor and her working-class ex isn’t interested in painting wealth and class abstractly – her script engages with actual numbers to contextualize it. (Pedro Pascal’s character’s penthouse is worth $12 million!) But one data point just doesn’t add up, and that’s Lucy’s (Dakota Johnson) matchmaker salary of $80K a year before taxes while living in a spacious one-bedroom in New York City, without parental help. How?
Best Lonely Island album: Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend
YouTube
If her 2024 album Short n’ Sweet was notably cheeky and teasing, like a burlesque performance by way of a pop star, Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend went for the broad humor of a Lonely Island-era SNL Digital Short. Nearly every track seems calibrated to be taken un-seriously, from the chintzy disco-flavored “Tears” to the yacht-rock-y “Never Getting Laid.” But the Loneliest track has to be “When Did You Get Hot?”:
Congratulations on your new improvements
I bet your light rod’s, like, bigger than Zeus’s
Hey, wait, can you lift my car with your hand?
You were an ugly kid, but you’re a sexy man
Most depressingly apt series finale: And Just Like That…
Cynthia Nixon in And Just Like That…
Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max
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Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the conclusion of a beloved decades-long franchise, a bathroom toilet overflowed with excrement. This was caused by a very minor character who’d appeared in just five episodes total (played by Victor Garber, his talents wasted). Poor Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) spent her final full scene on her hands and knees, cleaning it up. Pretty much sums up most of the AJLT viewing experience.
Sickest musical number: Mr. Milchick and his marching band, Severance
Tramell Tillman in Severance.
Apple TV
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Apple TV
I could hardly tell you anything about the plot points in Season 2 of one of the most opaque shows currently on TV, but the pure pleasure derived from watching authoritarian manager Mr. Milchick celebrate Mark’s (Adam Scott) completion of the “Cold Harbor” file cannot be denied. It’s as if a more sinister Carlton Banks joined an HBCU marching band. Tramell Tillman earned that Emmy, and this moment is a huge reason why.
Best best friend: Nikki, Dying for Sex
Jenny Slate (left) and Michelle Williams in Dying for Sex.
Sarah Shatz/FX
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Sarah Shatz/FX
When Molly (Michelle Williams) is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she’s inspired to end her unsatisfying marriage and pursue sexual pleasure for the first time. But as much as Dying for Sex is about Molly’s journey, it’s also very honest about being a full-time caretaker, through the eyes of her best friend Nikki (Jenny Slate). Nikki’s commitment to Molly becomes a full-time job, to the point that she neglects her own career and emotional wellbeing, and the strains become evident. Slate’s performance is tremendously raw and empathetic, and the friends’ unshakable bond under the worst of circumstances is the heart of the series.
Best bromance: Dennis and Roman, Twinless
Dylan O’Brien (left) and James Sweeney in Twinless.
Roadside Attractions
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Roadside Attractions
The circumstances that allow for the budding friendship between prickly gay man Dennis (writer and director James Sweeney) and dim-yet-compassionate himbo Roman (Dylan O’Brien) are knotty and uncomfortable when eventually revealed in the movie Twinless. Yet watching this unlikely duo bond over similar traumas is a sweet and funny experience; in one of the year’s best scenes, Sweeney deploys a split screen during a house party, underlining their differing personalities while drawing them even closer together. It’s complicated but they’re connected, for better or worse.
Most diabolical bromance: Craig and Austin, Friendship
Tim Robinson (left) and Paul Rudd in Friendship.
A24
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A24
Alas, the bromance between meteorologist Austin (Paul Rudd) and marketing exec Craig (Tim Robinson) in Friendship is extremely short-lived, but the fallout is catastrophic. Cringey. Awful. Dying-from-secondhand-embarrassment. Because men like Craig — men lacking any shred of social EQ or self-awareness but still desperate to forge strong friendships, like any human — can’t handle rejection. Writer-director Andrew DeYoung has crafted one of the weirdest and most apt depictions yet of the current “male loneliness epidemic.”
Most vindictive ex: Hedda, Hedda
Tessa Thompson in Hedda.
Prime
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Prime
Given all Hedda (Tessa Thompson) is up against as a mixed-race woman born to a white father out of wedlock in mid-century England, her naked ambition to maintain a high social status can be understood. But the lengths she unabashedly goes to are ice-cold, nasty, and truly unforgivable. In one lavish evening, she tries to destroy several people’s lives, but perhaps her most humiliating deed is allowing former lover and now-rival Eileen (Nina Hoss) to enter a room full of peers — all men — while Eileen is experiencing an, *ahem* wardrobe malfunction. Thompson’s commitment to Hedda’s delicious depravity is everything.
Sweetest prayer: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Josh O’Connor (left) and Daniel Craig in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Netflix
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Netflix
If you’ve seen it, you know: This is the scene. After the murder of controversial firebrand Msgr. Wicks (Josh Brolin), his noted rival Rev. Jud (Josh O’Connor) is a prime suspect and looking to clear his name. While chasing a lead, Jud ends up on the phone with a chatty construction company employee (Bridget Everett), and what begins as a mildly annoying interaction becomes a tender expression of compassion when she asks him to pray for her and a sick relative. Time to solve the murder is ticking by, but Jud is called to his duty, and he beautifully serves.
Most haunting ending: It Was Just an Accident
YouTube
The past is never dead, as the saying goes, a sentiment felt acutely throughout Jafar Panahi’s timely film about Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), a former political captive who kidnaps someone he believes was one of his tormentors. The temptation for vengeance abounds, but Vahid and others wonder, to what end? Can past trauma be overcome or just merely subdued? The final quiet moment, after much has happened and been said, is the image of the back of Vahid’s head as he pauses in his tracks, having sensed the eerie presence of an all-too familiar sound. With the news that Panahi, a vocal critic of the Iranian government, has been given a year-long prison sentence and a two-year travel ban based on charges of propaganda, the ending echoes even louder.
And still more
A few honorable mentions for my 2025 pop culture yearbook:
Most charming misanthrope: Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), Pluribus
Best inevitable death: Erik (Richard Harmon) and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner) via an MRI machine, Final Destination: Bloodlines
Breakout performers: Tonatiuh, Kiss of the Spider Woman; Miles Caton, Sinners
Best movie about an artist dad trying to reconnect with his estranged children: Sentimental Value
Worst bad show: All’s Fair
Doing the most with the least: Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Best (and ok, only) “truthstorian”: Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke), The Lowdown
Greatest show-within-a-show: “Teenjus,” The Righteous Gemstones
Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets: Recap and final score
Where Seattle Seahawks’ No. 1 seed odds stand after Week 16
Navy jet climbed 8,000 feet after pilots ejected before crashing into San Diego Bay
Milwaukee neighbors finally see massive leaf pile cleanup after months
A once abandoned terminal changed Southwest Atlanta. Its future is still unfolding.
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
20% of NYC mayor-elect Mamdani transition appointees have anti-Zionist ties: ADL
Exclusive: Former MEP Kaili doubles down on ‘Belgiangate’
‘Music makes everything better’: A Texas doctor spins vinyl to give patients relief
Video: Who Is Trying to Replace Planned Parenthood?
Comer summons Minnesota officials as House probes massive social services fraud
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