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kayti burt

@kaytiburt.bsky.social
235 followers 423 following 68 posts

pop culture ✍🏼: @time-magazine.bsky.social @rollingstone.com @polygon.com @vulture.com @latimes.com @pastemagazine | transformative fandom fan | poor country kid | she/her | black lives matter | @fspnwu.bsky.social | TCA member

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Reposted by kayti burt
Brandon Bovia @brandonbovia.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"Freelancers are the foundation of your industry, and the foundation is sagging."
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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 28/08/2026
This is a longstanding problem with the Times specifically. All the legacy papers have really taken to yoinking independent journalists’ work with zest, though, and with so many pubs opening specifically to cover culture it sucks to see papers eliminating culture coverage and just stealing ours.
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Andrew Curry @andrewcurry.com · 28/08/2026
This happened to me last week! I wrote a story about a #trebuchet victim for @science.org based on in-person reporting at a conference in Berlin, it got a lot of attention online, the NYT has someone re-write the same story a week later. No new angle, no credit.
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
NYT did this to me too. A piece I wrote went super viral and days later the Times pub’d the same story. I put up such a stink and got my followers so riled up the Times was forced to link my story in their article. They do this CONSTANTLY. They believe it’s not a real story until they publish it.
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Rascal News @rascal.news · 11/08/2026
We were planning to have a podcast episode up today talking more about Rascal's finances, plans for the future, and how you can help us survive long enough to realize them. Mysterious PC failure postponed that plan (tomorrow), but you can support us RIGHT NOW: www.rascal.news/state-of-the...
rascal.news
State of the Rascal: August 2026
An earnest appeal and radical honesty.
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Trans News Network @transnews.network · 27/08/2026
We stand by and reiterate our call to boycott the New York Times. Their role in enabling trans genocide is immense, and we cannot stand by idly. Additionally, we stand with those before us who have called to boycott the Times over their complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Boycott and Divest NYT!
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Aja Romano @bookshop.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Fansplaining continues to delight me all the time. I had SUCH a good time copy-editing this piece, which involved stopping midway through and going "wait, this music is actually fun?! what do you MEAN this guy went to Berklee and their manager has six Grammys???" etc. You can't stop the throb! 🔥🔥🔥
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
When I write a feature like the one being discussed here, I am drawing on decades of experience in fandom and years of (unpaid or under-compensated) labor spent studying and writing about fan culture professionally. I do this work because I think fan culture merits earnest, thoughtful analysis.
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Dan Vock @danvock.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The Times should be better than this. They’ve always done stuff like this, but it hurts a lot more when they’re ripping off a freelancer who made $300 on a 5,000-word story than when they’re ripping off someone who at least gets a regular paycheck and health care. fansplaining.com/lessons-from...
fansplaining.com
Lessons From a Heated Media Rivalry
How we learned that the New York Times has a Fansplaining account.
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Clare @claresears.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
this is really interesting and infuriating. and a useful reminder to self to subscribe to fansplaining!
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
As a longtime fanfiction reader (and occasional fic writer), I am deeply concerned about the way AI is impacting fandom spaces. @fansplaining.bsky.social was the perfect place to explore this anxious curiosity in the context of the booming Heated Rivalry fandom.
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Freelance Solidarity Project @fspnwu.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
The muffling of critical voices compromises consumer choice. A dollar a word would help critics make a living wage. nwu.org/join Illustration by @colleentie.bsky.social
Quote on the graphic reads "Criticism is an essential part of a functioning literary ecosystem, and it takes an enormous amount of time, effort, and care. We get the quality of criticism we pay for, and we should pay more for it" by Ed Yong. Illustration is by Colleen Tighe, showing a cartoon person in a green shirt that reads "The Prestige Mag" swiping a card; the card reader shows a big red X and a loaf of bread and two apples are nearby, implying that the person's card was declined while buying groceries. FSP-NWU Book Critics Working Group is noted at the bottom left
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The TCA @tvcritics.org · 27/12/2025
TCA EOY Spotlight | @kaytiburt.bsky.social "For this piece about Netflix docu-series 'Pop Star Academy: Katseye,' I spoke to director Nadia Hallgren about what it was like to get to know and follow the teen girls competing to be in one of the biggest musical acts of the year."
time.com
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Ranking the Best K-Dramas of 2025 for TIME is a near impossible task, but I tried my best. Here are the 10 dramas that had me thinking, feeling, laughing, and crying—in the best cases, all at the same time—this past year. time.com/7340988/best...
time.com
The 10 Best Korean Dramas of 2025
From 'Trigger' to 'When Life Gives You Tangerines,' these are the best K-dramas released in 2025.
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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
"The best of fandom isn't transactional. It’s moments of unlikely connection between strangers or friends who might not have crossed paths, let alone traveled them together, if not for loving the same thing." @kaytiburt.bsky.social on fan tourism—and how to make it collaborative, not extractive:
fansplaining.com
Can Fandom Make Us Better Tourists? — Fansplaining
In an era of overtourism, South Korea’s Jeju Island and international BTS fans are building bridges of mutual respect.
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I continue to be grateful—as a writer, reader, lifelong fan—that Fansplaining exists as a space to properly wonder about how fandom shapes modern life. In this piece, I am wondering about how fandom can make us better and worse tourists, with the editorial guidance of @elizabethminkel.bsky.social.
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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
We're putting the finishing touches on the final Fansplaining article of the year, by the inimitable @kaytiburt.bsky.social! Out tomorrow—here's a sneak peak. 😘
Image of a BTS book being wrapped in bojagi—here, a silky cloth that's blue on one side and white on the reverse, with small floral patterns.
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Alexis Gunderson @alexiskg.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
This sucks SO HARD, and I am so sad to lose my criticism-writing home of nearly a decade. Solidarity to all my fellow Paste TV alumni!
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Lacy Baugher Milas @lacymb.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Today, Paste Magazine shuttered all its non-music verticals, a choice I am both professionally and personally heartbroken about. Sadly, I am once again looking for a place that wants to let me write about Books and TV on the regular, so hit me up if that’s you or anyone you know.
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 03/11/2025
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting. now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
hollywoodreporter.com
As Condé Nast Folds Teen Vogue Into Vogue’s Website, NewsGuild Condemns the Plan
The union, which reps staffers, says the move was "clearly designed" to blunt the journalism of the brand, which has leaned in to progressive politics.
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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 03/11/2025
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day. certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
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Dramas Over Flowers: A K-drama Podcast @dramasoverflowers.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
We talk to the PD and writer of #TheFirstNightwiththeDuke about the challenges and pleasures of adaptation, why we’ve fallen in love with isekai stories lately, and what it’s like to work with stars Taecyeon and Seohyun: open.substack.com/pub/dramasov...
open.substack.com
Q&A with the production team of The First Night with the Duke
Director Lee Woong-hee and screenwriter Jeon Sun-young answer our questions about the isekai web novel adaptation starring Taecyeon and Seohyun
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Hanhonymous @hanhonymous.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Highlights of the #KpopDemonHunters interview: 😈 👩‍🎤 Insight into Korean folklore that informed #SajaBoys & #Huntrix ⚔️🔪✨ A breakdown of Huntr/x's weapons and characters (yes, there was more Mira & Zoey backstory) 🚦Lorde's song that inspired "What It Sounds Like" 💞The inspiration for Romance Saja
Kpop Demon Hunters boy band of demons: Animated image of 5 alluring men in long dark gowns, tall black hats and glowing eyes against a stormy backdropKpop Demon Hunters animated image of girl group Huntrix: Three young women in colorful sporty attire holding weapons. The girl on the left has two black braided hair buns, a crop top, loose pants and yellow sneakers and is holding three glowing daggers in each hand.  The girl in the middle has an oversized long purple braid, white crop top, yellow cropped jacket, black shorts and calf-high black boots. She's holding a glowing sword. The girl on the right has long flowing red hair, a cropped black t-shirt, yellow miniskirt and black thigh-high boots on. She is wielding a woldo, a Korean lance that has a blade on the end.Kpop Demon Hunters band the Saja Boys: Five attractive young men in various shades of pink attire. From left to right, the first has a pink sweater vest on over a white t-shirt. He has lavender hair covering his eyes. The one next to him has short tousled maroon hair and is wearing a pink polo shirt. His arm is leaning on the shoulder of the middle guy, who wears a pink button-down shirt that is open to a pink t-shirt. He's accessorized with a neck chain and rose-colored oversized glasses, and he has short dark hair. The person leaning on his other shoulder has a fuzzy pink sweater on over a white collared shirt and turquoise short hair. The last guy on the right is wearing a blush button-down shirt, a neck chain and his pink mulleted hair makes the shape of a heart. His hands are clasped over his heart as well as if he's swooning
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Meghan O'Keefe @megsokay.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
I think I'm probably in the minority of really liking the third and final season of SQUID GAME, partially because I'm a sucker for the "Battle Royale" genre and partially because Lee Jung-jae's whole run as Gi-hun is one of the all-time great TV performances. decider.com/2025/06/27/s...
decider.com
'Squid Game' Season 3 Review: The Netflix hit gets a twisted, poetic ending (that also teases a new beginning)
What Lee Jung-jae has accomplished this season, and throughout Squid Game’s entire run, is one of the greatest television performances of all-time.
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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
‘My journey to get aid in Gaza was like Squid Game’ - www.middleeasteye.net/news/my-journ…
middleeasteye.net
‘My journey to get aid in Gaza was like Squid Game’
Going to the US-backed aid distribution centre was the hardest day of my life. I’ve never felt humiliation like that
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
If we were living in a better timeline, Hwang Dong-hyuk would have had less inspiration for the final seasons of Squid Game: time.com/7298235/squi...
A screenshot of the article reads: For the Squid Game creator, the VIPs' more active Season 3 role stems from his real-world observations. “In the past, those that really controlled the system and maintained power, they were hidden behind the curtain, almost like this big unseen conspiracy. However, it's no longer the case, especially in America," Hwang says. "We talk a lot about oligarchy these days, but these so-called big tech owners, they step up, telling everyone who they're backing with their money. The people who really control the power and the system, they no longer hide behind a curtain. They willingly take their masks off, almost as if to declare, ‘We're the ones running everything. We're the ones in control.’"
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
if you need me this weekend, i'll be listening to the lost in starlight ost. www.denofgeek.com/movies/netfl...
denofgeek.com
Netflix's Lost in Starlight: Korea Makes an Animated Sci-Fi Romance for Adults
Netflix’s slice-of-life sci-fi love story is a visually stunning animation about human connection.
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Simone de Rochefort @doomquasar.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
anyway here's the email I sent to jim bankoff last week. i'm still heartbroken. I have been insanely, destructively angry for weeks, and I think I will be for a long time.
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
I've really been getting a lot out of these exit interviews Pete has been doing with the laid-off Polygon staff, including this piece, in which copy editor Kallie talks about the immense work and skill that goes into games/entertainment journalism.
A bolded heading reads: "What’s your wish for the future of gaming journalism?" The following answer reads: "I wish more people would consider it important. A lot of us will joke like I have a cousin who's a doctor, and clearly their job is more important than mine. Part of me agrees with that, and part of me is like, well, we can't all be doctors. There are different jobs for different people, and I still think that media criticism and investigative journalism and service journalism provide a reader service. They do matter. Especially when a lot of people get their news, not just entertainment news, from people who are not trained in journalism, who do not have standards of ethics or standards of reporting, or don't know what a leading question is. There's a lot of training that goes into being able to do this, and not everybody we work with has a background in journalism, certainly, but you learn a lot on the job about how to handle it properly and how to do justice to the material. Our skills do matter, and the void that is left with the slow decimation of gaming media does result in a cultural vacuum that is not easily filled."
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Tom @nowwearealltom.com · 02/05/2025
Here's the extremely delayed fifth and final week of my blog series on Naoko Yamada, covering her latest film The Colors Within (2024). The upside of this being so late is that the movie is now on demand and I highly recommend you watch it, it's so good!
nowwearealltom.com
[Week 5] The Colors Within
For the final installment in our Yamada series, we watched The Colors Within (2024).
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Pete Volk @petevolk.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
my final piece for Polygon is now live: part two of my interview with Chad Stahelski about Lazarus www.polygon.com/anime/552380...
polygon.com
John Wick’s director breaks down how he got to design action on Lazarus, ‘the funnest job’ he’s ever done
Here’s the story behind one of the year’s most exciting (and surprising) collaborations
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
I was part of the team who helped draft NWU's statement following Vox Media's sale of Polygon to Valnet, and the subsequent gutting of the site's staff. This decision, made by the corporate leadership at Vox Media, is a gut punch. I am angry & upset—for my editors, for myself, for this industry.
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National Writers Union @nwu.org · 05/05/2025
We condemn Vox Media’s May Day decision to lay off a majority of @polygon.com staff w/o warning as part of the sale to known media-brand-destroyer Valnet. We stand in solidarity with the staff who were laid off, and with @voxmediaunion.bsky.social in their ongoing contract negotiations.
Canva-made graphic showing a raised fist with the words "NWU stands with" to the left. The NWU logo sits at the top left, and the Vox Media Union and Polygon logos sit along the bottom.Statement of solidarity with workers at Polygon and the Vox Media Union. Read the full statement at nwu.org/polygonStatement of solidarity with workers at Polygon and the Vox Media Union. Read the full statement at nwu.org/polygonStatement of solidarity with workers at Polygon and the Vox Media Union. Read the full statement at nwu.org/polygon
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Vox Media Union @voxmediaunion.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Our GoFundMe to assist our former colleagues at @polygon.com is now live! Please support them if you can, and share widely even if you can't! Thank you all for the kindness and care you've shared with Polygon and the union over the last 2 days — it means the world to us all. gofund.me/a21cbbdc
gofund.me
Donate to Support Polygon Workers and the Vox Media Union, organized by Ashok Selvam
On Thursday, May 1, Vox Media announced the sale of beloved video game s… Ashok Selvam needs your support for Support Polygon Workers and the Vox Media Union
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David Lumb @outonalumb.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Vox has a successor clause in its 2022-25 WGAE contract, meaning any buyer would need to abide by the contract [www.wgaeast.org/wp-content/uploads/…]. Rather than do that, Valnet liquidated everyone represented by WGAE. Hideous villain shit.
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
One of the best shows "on TV" right now.
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
If you're in NYC this Thursday, I am hosting a casual @fspnwu.bsky.social meetup to take part in the rate-sharing challenge. It will be from 4-6pm at Spring Cafe Aspen. Bring your laptop to enter rates into the challenge's Google form, and get to know fellow freelance workers! RSVP: bit.ly/41OXdjg
A digital flier with information about the event says "FSP Rate-Sharing Meet-Up! New York City Edition" at the top of the page. When: Thursday, March 20th from 4-6pm. Where: Spring Cafe Aspen at 14 West 4th Street in New York City. The RSVP link is "https://bit.ly/410Xdjg"
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Who Pays Writers? @whopayswriters.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
And even more 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠 If you want to help your fellow freelancer friends (& any ex-VF enemies) understand what the actual freelance media worker $$ landscape is these days, come add YOUR rates to WPW & the @fspnwu.bsky.social Rate Sharing Database! freelancesolidarity.org/actions-camp...
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Lara Witt @femmfeministe.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Prism is looking for a freelance reporter to cover inequities affecting marginalized students in public education in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, and Connecticut. Prism pays $0.50/word within 2 weeks. You can learn more about us here: prismreports.org
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Leigh Soucy @thicketleigh.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Joy as an Act of Resistance: Feb 4: worked on this design idea in my sketchbook (quote from @chappellroanbr.bsky.social at The Grammys) & had some very good & affirming chats with sweet folks in my community—including the wonderful @kaytiburt.bsky.social! Love how small this city feels sometimes.
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
If you need proof of how great an actor Go Min-si is, I recommend watching Netflix's The Frog and Prime's Jinny Kitchen S2 back to back.
Actress Go Minsi as an unwanted guest in Netflix K-drama The Frog. She is leaning against a convertible with a smile on her face and a phone in her hand. She has blood dripping down her arm and neck. Her clothes are also stained with it.In a promotional poster for the Korean reality cooking travel show Jinny's Kitchen Season 2, Go Minsi stands in a kitchen set, holding carrots and green onions. A big smile is on her face. She is holding up one carrot in her right hand.
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
For Rolling Stone, I spoke with anime filmmaker Naoko Yamada. Her latest film, The Colors Within, follows three teens who start a band. It's soothingly low-stakes in its narrative construction. Yamada told me: “I wanted anxious audiences to see this movie and think, ‘It's going to be OK.'"
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Tasha Robinson @tasharobinson.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Asked @kaytiburt.bsky.social to dig into online response after Vulture's huge Neil Gaiman feature. She came back with a thoughtful, in-depth portrait of a fandom struggling to process, adapt, respond — and express their feelings of betrayal.
polygon.com
Inside the Neil Gaiman subreddit and other fan forums, fans are upset, angry, and fighting back
Reddit mods explain the changing tone online after the latest report on Gaiman’s alleged sexual abuse and assaults
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Big Bang Comics @bigbangcomics.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
You know what would be a good New Year's Resolution? Telling more people when you appreciate and love their stuff. Tell artists, tell writers, tell everyone. Everyone loves a compliment, spend less time focusing on the negatives and put some love out there instead. Happy New Year, people!
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Year-end lists are here! For @thewrap.com, I wrote about the best international dramas of 2024, for @time-magazine.bsky.social, I wrote about the best K-dramas of 2024, and for @pastemagazine.bsky.social, I wrote about the best K-pop songs of 2024. Links below...
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
More than three years ago, I wrote this review of Squid Game based on screeners I had gotten for the first two episodes—aka only the beginning of the nine-episode season. www.denofgeek.com/tv/squid-gam...
denofgeek.com
Squid Game Doesn't Waste Its Brutal Premise
Squid Game, Netflix's new series about a group of people competing in a deadly game for money, knows what it's doing with its well-worn tropes.
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