Robert Rubsam
@robrubsam.bsky.social
Writing on books, movies, the arts: NYT Magazine, Baffler, Washington Post, Atlantic, Liberties, Commonweal, Mubi, Paris Review, Nation, etc. [email protected]
Pinned
The Strange Power of the Dance-Floor Novel
A new run of books embrace the literary potential of underground electronic music.
www.newyorker.com
Wrote about oonce oonce oonce oonce for a certain publication
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
skipped a pretty key step in the movie review process here
September 17, 2026 at 1:47 AM
skipped a pretty key step in the movie review process here
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
"The ultimate question even after we’ve worked on a song forever is, does this make me feel anything?"
@robrubsam.bsky.social interviews musician and science writer @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-rober...
@robrubsam.bsky.social interviews musician and science writer @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-rober...
Getting In over Your Head
Musician and science writer Jonathan Meiburg speaks with Commonweal about creativity, ignorance, and wonder.
www.commonwealmagazine.org
September 16, 2026 at 1:31 PM
"The ultimate question even after we’ve worked on a song forever is, does this make me feel anything?"
@robrubsam.bsky.social interviews musician and science writer @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-rober...
@robrubsam.bsky.social interviews musician and science writer @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-rober...
Don't put in the paper that I'm complicit
September 16, 2026 at 2:47 AM
Don't put in the paper that I'm complicit
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
Sep 15th 1997 - Reiko, and ex-husband Ryūji, watch the cursed videotape together and discover a hidden message.
📽️📅 Ring (1998)
📽️📅 Ring (1998)
September 15, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Sep 15th 1997 - Reiko, and ex-husband Ryūji, watch the cursed videotape together and discover a hidden message.
📽️📅 Ring (1998)
📽️📅 Ring (1998)
Was honored as ever to speak with the brilliant @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social about the excellent new @shearwaterband.bsky.social record, the deep history of Antarctica, and the need for all artists and writers to get in way over their heads: www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-rober...
Getting In over Your Head
Musician and science writer Jonathan Meiburg speaks with Commonweal about creativity, ignorance, and wonder.
www.commonwealmagazine.org
September 15, 2026 at 12:37 PM
Was honored as ever to speak with the brilliant @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social about the excellent new @shearwaterband.bsky.social record, the deep history of Antarctica, and the need for all artists and writers to get in way over their heads: www.commonwealmagazine.org/rubsam-rober...
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
the truly crazy making part of all of this is that voter fraud EFFECTIVELY DOES NOT EXIST. you have a better chance of finding an actual leprechaun at the end of the rainbow than of finding evidence of voter fraud that influences an election
Genuinely an insane paragraph from Sam Alito. “Voter fraud is real and scary and we have to stop it, so the fact that implementing Trump’s mail ballot rule will disenfranchise millions is legally irrelevant.” Brain melted. A right-wing podcaster in a robe. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
September 15, 2026 at 12:07 AM
the truly crazy making part of all of this is that voter fraud EFFECTIVELY DOES NOT EXIST. you have a better chance of finding an actual leprechaun at the end of the rainbow than of finding evidence of voter fraud that influences an election
They're calling it the least surprising news of 2026
They're playing 'Magic: The Gathering' in the Turnstile pit
They’re Playing 'Magic: The Gathering' In The Turnstile Pit
Last month, Turnstile released the star-studded reimagined version of last year’s Never Enough. Their equally stacked tour kicked off last week, and it looks like fans are playing Magic: The Gathering...
stereogum.com
September 15, 2026 at 12:15 AM
They're calling it the least surprising news of 2026
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
Wrote about oonce oonce oonce oonce for a certain publication
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
The Strange Power of the Dance-Floor Novel
A new run of books embrace the literary potential of underground electronic music.
www.newyorker.com
September 2, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Wrote about oonce oonce oonce oonce for a certain publication
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
The Trump admin has now ILLEGALLY deported over 170 people. That's 170 times they've broken the law &, in some cases, sent people back into harm's way.
The Constitution guarantees due process to ALL — Trump & Miller don't get to pick & choose. Everyone involved must be held accountable.
The Constitution guarantees due process to ALL — Trump & Miller don't get to pick & choose. Everyone involved must be held accountable.
Illegal deportations spike under Trump's ICE push
www.politico.com
September 14, 2026 at 5:40 PM
The Trump admin has now ILLEGALLY deported over 170 people. That's 170 times they've broken the law &, in some cases, sent people back into harm's way.
The Constitution guarantees due process to ALL — Trump & Miller don't get to pick & choose. Everyone involved must be held accountable.
The Constitution guarantees due process to ALL — Trump & Miller don't get to pick & choose. Everyone involved must be held accountable.
"Pretty insanely racist even for 1998" is such a funny phrase. We're not talking about the 18th century here
remember that Richard Dreyfuss movie that was pretty insanely racist even for 1998 where he plays an anthropologist and has his (white) family pretend to be a New Guinean tribe he has discovered
September 14, 2026 at 3:24 PM
"Pretty insanely racist even for 1998" is such a funny phrase. We're not talking about the 18th century here
Tapping the sign www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/m...
September 14, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Tapping the sign www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/m...
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
Rawson, GOP nominee for Florida legislature, can also be seen in a photo from Charlottesville (left side in sunglasses) standing near James Alex Fields Jr.
Not long after this photo was taken, Fields drove car into counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer & injuring dozens of others
Not long after this photo was taken, Fields drove car into counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer & injuring dozens of others
September 14, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Rawson, GOP nominee for Florida legislature, can also be seen in a photo from Charlottesville (left side in sunglasses) standing near James Alex Fields Jr.
Not long after this photo was taken, Fields drove car into counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer & injuring dozens of others
Not long after this photo was taken, Fields drove car into counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer & injuring dozens of others
These numbers don't mean anything if you don't account for inflation. Adjusted for inflation Jurassic Park made 2.4 billion dollars worldwide. ET made 2.8! Even Jurassic World, only from 2015, grossed ~2.35 billion in 2026 dollars.
‘THE ODYSSEY’ has become Universal Pictures' highest grossing film of all time.
Now at $1.68 BILLION worldwide.
Now at $1.68 BILLION worldwide.
September 12, 2026 at 5:46 PM
These numbers don't mean anything if you don't account for inflation. Adjusted for inflation Jurassic Park made 2.4 billion dollars worldwide. ET made 2.8! Even Jurassic World, only from 2015, grossed ~2.35 billion in 2026 dollars.
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
I wrote about the torture, law-breaking, and how the embarrassing failure to convict KSM yet for masterminding 9/11 ought to be a warning for the Trump era www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The George W. Bush Administration’s Lesson for the Trump Era
They circumvented the law to persecute alleged Sept 11 perpetrators. It backfired.
www.theatlantic.com
September 11, 2026 at 1:47 PM
I wrote about the torture, law-breaking, and how the embarrassing failure to convict KSM yet for masterminding 9/11 ought to be a warning for the Trump era www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
Unfolding my iPhone to show you a Meta Glasses recording of my final divorce proceedings
September 9, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Unfolding my iPhone to show you a Meta Glasses recording of my final divorce proceedings
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
this crop art at the minneapolis airport
September 8, 2026 at 11:53 PM
this crop art at the minneapolis airport
what is there to say but: lol. lmao even
werner herzog on AI filmmaking (from here www.indiewire.com/features/int...)
![Q: A couple years ago at IDFA, I saw this movie "About a Hero," which is this partly Al-generated hybrid documentary that tries to recreate the atmosphere of your films.
A: The intention of this young filmmaker was never to remake any [of my films], but making something in the spirit. And I immediately said, "You will fail. It is such a stupid idea. It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it." He wanted me to explain things and have my voice in it.
I said, "You are alone. There's such a thing as free speech, which I respect. So go ahead and fail." And it is a failure, period.
It's so standardized that Al can step in because there's not real storytelling. It's mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it's ad nauseam.
When it's ad nauseam, please, please, please let Al step in and do the job.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:v5vphilwcf6nunioeyrpxw6g/bafkreibeadpx66jtqlttglhgbgkew6g65haxqngz5yt6p3ybwyi5zney54)
September 8, 2026 at 8:37 PM
what is there to say but: lol. lmao even
I love trying to read an article
September 8, 2026 at 1:54 PM
I love trying to read an article
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
Matsuo Bashō celebrated that “bit of madness in me / which is poetry.” @robrubsam.bsky.social writes on “The Narrow Road to Oku,” newly translated by Meredith McKinney.
Long Life’s Journey | Robert Rubsam
Matsuo Bashō’s “The Narrow Road of Oku” is a work of poetic and philosophical power undimmed by the more than three centuries since its composition.
thebaffler.com
September 4, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Matsuo Bashō celebrated that “bit of madness in me / which is poetry.” @robrubsam.bsky.social writes on “The Narrow Road to Oku,” newly translated by Meredith McKinney.
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
A haiku may read like a spontaneous record of a fleeting sensation. But such crystalline brevity takes heavy work. We can witness these contradictions and more in the poetic travelogues of Matsuo Bashō.
thebaffler.com/latest/long-...
thebaffler.com/latest/long-...
Long Life’s Journey | Robert Rubsam
Matsuo Bashō’s “The Narrow Road of Oku” is a work of poetic and philosophical power undimmed by the more than three centuries since its composition.
thebaffler.com
September 3, 2026 at 10:01 PM
A haiku may read like a spontaneous record of a fleeting sensation. But such crystalline brevity takes heavy work. We can witness these contradictions and more in the poetic travelogues of Matsuo Bashō.
thebaffler.com/latest/long-...
thebaffler.com/latest/long-...
Every day on this site:
George: You know, we're living in a society! We're supposed to act in a civilized way. / S02E11 The Chinese Restaurant
September 4, 2026 at 1:33 PM
Every day on this site: