Willa @willa.bsky.social · 11/02/2026What's the email? Oh, you know, the town school board explaining that they will cut ties with school picture day company because one of its executives is in the Epstein files. 060
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 11/02/2026Perhaps you've seen Coalie, the Trump admin's cute coal mascot, over the last couple weeks. I wondered how it came to exist, so in the latest Decoder Ring, we found out. It's way more complicated and freighted than it seems. As ever, the goofy stuff can go deep places slate.com/podcasts/dec...slate.comCoalie Has Been Derided as Cuddly Propaganda. His Origin Story Is More Complicated.Why is the government trying to make coal cute? 130
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 09/12/2025I know top 10 season still works on me bc here my middle aged behind is listening to Geese 020
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 23/11/2025However chunky you are imaging this sweater to be, the reality is better. Like someone’s grandma crocheted her a sleeping bag w shoulders www.thecut.com/article/wick...thecut.comWhat Is a Chunky Knit Doing in Wicked’s Sexiest Scene?Elphaba’s giant sweater is really killing the vibe in “As Long As You’re Mine.” 020
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 30/10/2025A little shook MTV is ending as a broadcast network, and even more shook it was announced a few weeks ago and I had no idea! 1413416
Reposted by WillaKatie Rayford @katierayford.bsky.social · 19/08/2025Congrats to 4 (!!) @slate.com podcasts -- Decoder Ring, Death, Sex & Money, Slow Burn and Political Gabfest -- for making Left of Dial’s list of the 100 Greatest Podcasts of All Time (voted on by 300 audio creators, podcast hosts, writers, etc.) www.leftofdialmedia.com/essential-li... 0138
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 16/07/2025Ready to give it all up and embrace my true calling as a lantern fly hunter 270
Reposted by WillaIan Coss @iancoss.bsky.social · 13/02/2025Had a fantastic time working with Willa & Katie from @slate.bsky.social's Decoder Ring. It's funny how when someone else makes a thing based on your thing, they can see so much more clearly what it's all about (if that someone else is great at what they do) podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...podcasts.apple.comThe Scratch-Off Ticket’s Instant WinPodcast Episode · Decoder Ring · 02/12/2025 · 34m 021
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 07/01/2025one of my kids calls podcasts cadposts and im gonna try and keep it going til college 080
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 31/12/2024All the haute-jello looks great but come on with how it tastes! 000
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 28/12/2024Excited for The Brutalist to have been out long enough for people to start writing about what the whole final thrust is actually about!! 220
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Jealous of this piece! I have come to love Panettone almost Because I dont like it that much and think the real answer is to get a not insanely expensive one in chocolate and sort of wonder why you’re eating it for a week even as you can’t stop www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...theatlantic.comThe Luxury Makeover of the Worst Pastry on EarthHow panettone, the once-reviled Italian Christmas treat, became a high-end commodity 140
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 19/12/2024I was thinking about how all contemporary musicals sound…so like musicals but the songs in The Sound of Music or Singin’ in The Rain do not. What happened? I think part of it is a (Sondheim-ish) verbosity, but someone who knows about music, please explain! 021
Reposted by WillaPhillip Maciak @pjmaciak.bsky.social · 18/12/2024For good reason, BLUEY is the recent kids cartoon that’s received the most “Actually, This is Actually Good” attention from the critterati. But our younger daughter is watching HILDA now, and we, as a culture, have slept on HILDA. 3211
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 13/12/2024Real self own, but if I had to describe my musical taste it would be: songs that can play during a movie montage (preferably rom-com) 030
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 27/11/2024Gift guide singularity: the point at which there are so many gift guides everything has been recommended as a gift 050
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 21/11/2024If you read a piece of fiction in which a group of people were so fixated on uncovering pedophiles and sex predators everywhere that they went and…installed sex predators as the state you would be like this author has read a little too much psychoanalytic theory, it’s a little too tidy 1170
Reposted by WillaEvan Chung @evanchung.bsky.social · 20/11/2024For Decoder Ring, I look into "Pink Lady & Jeff," the infamous 1980 NBC variety show flop, dubbed one of the "worst shows in TV history." But it turns out that old narrative is too simplistic, too US-centric, and omits the voices of the Japanese stars of the show—the sensational pop duo Pink Lady.slate.comThe Time Japan’s Biggest Pop Stars Crash-Landed on American TV“Pink Lady and Jeff” tried to carry an international mania over to American airwaves. Instead, it became a punchline. 1115
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 20/11/2024Has anyone observed already it’s the reverse of the cliche? First time as farce, second time as tragedy 020
Willa @willa.bsky.social · 16/11/2023Latest Decoder Ring is a good one (lol I think) about a failed, 30 year old video game with a lot of contemporary resonances! slate.com/podcasts/dec... 040
Reposted by WillaThe Isaac Who Came In From the Butler @isaacbutler.bsky.social · 25/10/2023While researching my next book I discovered a hilarious, wild, unlikely story that I ALSO knew wouldn’t fit! Today, I bring it to Decoder Ring. So… Here is the story of how Melrose Place became home to a multi year long experimental art installation:slate.comThe Secret Art of Melrose PlaceHow an art collective smuggled their provocative work onto prime time TV. 1297
