I had a nice, mundane chat with a Trader Joe’s cashier as he rung up my food. Did I want bags? Yes, please.

Taylor Swift is a living textbook in personal brand management. She does not set foot into the outside world without being 100% on-brand, and the press knows they’re not going to get access to an A-list pop star if they don’t reinforce that brand.

Double awwwww! Is that a pink-toed tarantula?

I’ve been on and off dating sites for years, and I spent a few years as a profile ghostwriter. (No, really.)

That seems to be the standard pattern: Two seasons as a featured player, and then into the main cast. So, she and Chris Redd will likely get bumped up next season, but Ego Nwodim still has another season of "And featuring..." to put in. 

You’re smarter than you might realize. Your first instinct is usually correct, whether it’s on a test or in the real world. When in doubt, trust your gut.

Brienne’s learning the hard way what a lot of people have to learn the hard way: When you finally hook up with that one guy things have been simmering with for a while, odds are the next morning he’s going to be out of there with some combination of “I’m not over my ex” and “I suck, so I’m leaving for your own good”

It’s not the most fun way to spend time, but it doesn’t exactly hurt - though if your boobs tend to get tender before or during your period, maybe try to avoid those days.

I talk in my sleep, and apparently it’s worse when I’m stressed out. My housemate’s bedroom isn’t even adjacent to mine, and she hears me loud and clear. Apparently last night I wanted to gather the girls and go shopping.

Isn’t this a federal crime, though? Those are different prison systems, and last I checked the federal system wasn’t nearly as overcrowded as the state system.

Even though it’s illegal, about 80% of the places I’ve worked (mostly, but not entirely, in entertainment) have language in their codes of conduct that make it clear that discussing salary is very much Not The [insert company] Way.

Here is a conversation I have had more than once.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor is a lovely movie. That’s not meant as snark - it truly is.

Last weekend, I attended a screening of Destroyer followed by a Nicole Kidman Q&A. When the topic of choosing roles came up, she readily said that she takes some roles - especially supporting roles - for the paycheck. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was to the effect of, “You take some roles because they’re…

The information was out there for years - and ignored by a distressing number of people because they wanted to sing “Ignition”.

No kids here, and never having them. When it turned out the best way to treat a medical condition would make pregnancy somewhere between highly improbable and completely impossible, I said yes before the question was even finished.

It’s been floated over the years, but usually by groups who are trying to weaken the power of the teachers’ union. Splitting the district into six or eight smaller districts means six or eight much smaller unions, and probably a proportionately bigger voice for charter schools, which for the most part are ununionized.

LA has had a hell of a time finding and keeping a superintendent for longer than I can remember. Being Superintendent of the LAUSD is like hosting the Oscars: It seems straightforward from the outside, but it’s a thankless job. The only people who want to do it are the ones who mean well but suck at it, and the people…

I did the Los Angeles one in 2000, and it had been going on for at least a couple years at that point. It was organized by the local Cacaphony Society branch, and as low-key as you can get for a group of 60 tipsy Santas. No fighting, no arrests, and the only injury came when someone twisted their ankle on Rodeo Drive.…

If you’re scratching your head over any of the nominations, here’s the general explanation.