Alissa Wilkinson
@alissawilkinson.bsky.social
Critic @nytimes.com. Author AFTERGLOW (forthcoming), WE TELL OURSELVES STORIES (Liveright) and SALTY (Broadleaf). Teaching writing and criticism (Whitworth MFA, NYU XE).
Pinned
Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching?
www.nytimes.com
As basically anyone who’s talked to me since the summer knows, I’ve been working on this for months. Thanks to everyone who shared their insights. (I’ve got a lot more to say in the future, too.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
This was recommended to me by a friend and it's terrific
bookshop.org/a/6775/97805...
bookshop.org/a/6775/97805...
God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning
Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning
bookshop.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
This was recommended to me by a friend and it's terrific
bookshop.org/a/6775/97805...
bookshop.org/a/6775/97805...
I was just wondering yesterday if this was happening and thinking how many people’s Thanksgiving would get wrecked by AI
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I was just wondering yesterday if this was happening and thinking how many people’s Thanksgiving would get wrecked by AI
Oh, just realized it’s almost the best time of the year: when I dig up the playlist of creepy medieval Advent hymns that @clivethompson.bsky.social and I collaborated on years ago because it’s the only acceptable music to listen to for most of the season!!! Get excited folks
November 25, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Oh, just realized it’s almost the best time of the year: when I dig up the playlist of creepy medieval Advent hymns that @clivethompson.bsky.social and I collaborated on years ago because it’s the only acceptable music to listen to for most of the season!!! Get excited folks
good movie alert
Niche post for critics and movie-awards-season nerds: Don't sleep on The Plague, a superb, excruciatingly tense American debut film--not horror, but in its way terrifying--about being a 12- or 13-year-old boy among other 12- or 13-year-old boys. Opens next month; it's haunted me since I saw it.
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 AM
good movie alert
If you’ve been around evangelical twitter a while you know that certain sorts of guys saying “leggings” is engagement bait, but when this is the engagement I can’t say I mind
A friend who teaches theology shared with me a post about CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, which discusses foundational Christian logic across denominations. It reminded me of Dale's tweet below, and I wanted to share some thoughts here regarding modesty and respectability, which are often hot topics.
November 24, 2025 at 12:53 PM
If you’ve been around evangelical twitter a while you know that certain sorts of guys saying “leggings” is engagement bait, but when this is the engagement I can’t say I mind
Reposted by Alissa Wilkinson
Looking forward to this. We're watching “Train Dreams” tonight. Beautiful review by @alissawilkinson.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/m...
‘Train Dreams’ Review: Life, Understood in Reverse
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Looking forward to this. We're watching “Train Dreams” tonight. Beautiful review by @alissawilkinson.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/m...
A movie that takes place where you’re from
November 23, 2025 at 5:40 PM
A movie that takes place where you’re from
It took me a while to catch what it said
'Cause I had to match the rhythm of his belly with my head
"Jesus Saves" is what it raved
In a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And he claimed he had a dream
'Cause I had to match the rhythm of his belly with my head
"Jesus Saves" is what it raved
In a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And he claimed he had a dream
Oh, thunder only happens when it's rainin'
Players only love you when they're playin'
Say women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You'll know
Players only love you when they're playin'
Say women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You'll know
November 23, 2025 at 5:21 AM
It took me a while to catch what it said
'Cause I had to match the rhythm of his belly with my head
"Jesus Saves" is what it raved
In a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And he claimed he had a dream
'Cause I had to match the rhythm of his belly with my head
"Jesus Saves" is what it raved
In a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And he claimed he had a dream
I have been teaching for many, many years, and over those years many, many things have changed, but one thing has remained unfailingly true: if I plan a field trip or site visit as a central element of the course, that place will absolutely close for renovations for the duration of the semester
November 23, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I have been teaching for many, many years, and over those years many, many things have changed, but one thing has remained unfailingly true: if I plan a field trip or site visit as a central element of the course, that place will absolutely close for renovations for the duration of the semester
After some thinking/reading I'm going to do a bit of a twist on this recipe this year (mostly adding some liquid)
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019...
November 22, 2025 at 10:13 PM
After some thinking/reading I'm going to do a bit of a twist on this recipe this year (mostly adding some liquid)
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019...
Reposted by Alissa Wilkinson
This is very cool. Often food pantries need to spend their money making sure everyone has the basics to keep them fed and healthy, but not on the spices and flavors that make an enjoyable meal. www.burlapandbarrel.com/products/don...
Donate a Holiday Spice Set • Give the Gift of Flavor | Burlap & Barrel
Help make someone's holiday meal special. When you purchase a single jar, 3-pack, or 6-pack of our equitably sourced spices, we’ll donate that exact set to a New York food pantry supporting families i...
www.burlapandbarrel.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:52 PM
This is very cool. Often food pantries need to spend their money making sure everyone has the basics to keep them fed and healthy, but not on the spices and flavors that make an enjoyable meal. www.burlapandbarrel.com/products/don...
Almost too hard to read this (my dad had AML as well, when he was barely older than me, and it is brutal) but it is important.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Almost too hard to read this (my dad had AML as well, when he was barely older than me, and it is brutal) but it is important.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
I'm a firm believer in a spatchcocked turkey, but I've never done it with this particular method. Contemplating it. Any tips?
www.thekitchn.com/how-to-spatc...
www.thekitchn.com/how-to-spatc...
How To Spatchcock a Turkey (An Easier, Simpler Way!)
While some might believe that the whole Thanksgiving meal centers around the picture-perfect carving of a whole roasted turkey at the table, we’ve found that it can be tricky to cook a bird with such out-of-proportion dimensions and a very thick breast evenly. There’s an easy technique of preparing the turkey, however, that gives you more control over the cooking process and cooks the turkey a lot faster too: spatchcocking.
www.thekitchn.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I'm a firm believer in a spatchcocked turkey, but I've never done it with this particular method. Contemplating it. Any tips?
www.thekitchn.com/how-to-spatc...
www.thekitchn.com/how-to-spatc...
Once, and only once, I made this stuffing for Thanksgiving -- I was a guest at a friend's house -- and if you want to own being a total psycho who also brought something weirdly delicious and cinematic with you, look no further:
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013...
Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing (Published 2010)
cooking.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Once, and only once, I made this stuffing for Thanksgiving -- I was a guest at a friend's house -- and if you want to own being a total psycho who also brought something weirdly delicious and cinematic with you, look no further:
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013...
cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013...
I am also considering doing my vast quantities of stuffing in my enormous slowcooker. tell me I'm wrong
I want to do an old-school Twitter thing and start a food fight. What is the best kind of mashed potatoes?
(I am doing Thanksgiving for twelvish next week and I have made many kinds of mashed potatoes over the years and am still willing to pick this fight)
(I am doing Thanksgiving for twelvish next week and I have made many kinds of mashed potatoes over the years and am still willing to pick this fight)
November 22, 2025 at 4:47 AM
I am also considering doing my vast quantities of stuffing in my enormous slowcooker. tell me I'm wrong
I want to do an old-school Twitter thing and start a food fight. What is the best kind of mashed potatoes?
(I am doing Thanksgiving for twelvish next week and I have made many kinds of mashed potatoes over the years and am still willing to pick this fight)
(I am doing Thanksgiving for twelvish next week and I have made many kinds of mashed potatoes over the years and am still willing to pick this fight)
November 22, 2025 at 4:41 AM
I want to do an old-school Twitter thing and start a food fight. What is the best kind of mashed potatoes?
(I am doing Thanksgiving for twelvish next week and I have made many kinds of mashed potatoes over the years and am still willing to pick this fight)
(I am doing Thanksgiving for twelvish next week and I have made many kinds of mashed potatoes over the years and am still willing to pick this fight)
I think one thing I have learned this week is I don’t actually have nearly enough specialized, targeted group texts
November 22, 2025 at 4:30 AM
I think one thing I have learned this week is I don’t actually have nearly enough specialized, targeted group texts
Is it satirical? Sincere? Analytical? A joke? Does it matter? On ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/m...
‘Zodiac Killer Project’: Hooked on True Crime
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Is it satirical? Sincere? Analytical? A joke? Does it matter? On ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/m...
I am of course familiar with the Flip Tree, whose annual festival has nearly arrived, cf @elongreen.bsky.social
Today while debating whether to buy an artificial tree we discovered the phenomenon of the “upside down Christmas tree,” which was so weird we stared for a full minute, clicked down to the comments, and still can’t really believe it isn’t a joke
November 22, 2025 at 2:14 AM
I am of course familiar with the Flip Tree, whose annual festival has nearly arrived, cf @elongreen.bsky.social
Today while debating whether to buy an artificial tree we discovered the phenomenon of the “upside down Christmas tree,” which was so weird we stared for a full minute, clicked down to the comments, and still can’t really believe it isn’t a joke
November 22, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Today while debating whether to buy an artificial tree we discovered the phenomenon of the “upside down Christmas tree,” which was so weird we stared for a full minute, clicked down to the comments, and still can’t really believe it isn’t a joke
I read a fair number of book reviews and it always baffles me when people complain about the book being in the present tense
November 21, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I read a fair number of book reviews and it always baffles me when people complain about the book being in the present tense
I saw WICKED: FOR GOOD a week or two ago, didn't actually know what the plot would be (other than, you know, the obvious part) and though it was uninspiring.
But I'll give it this: its flying monkeys were way cooler than the ones at (the) Sphere ...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/m...
But I'll give it this: its flying monkeys were way cooler than the ones at (the) Sphere ...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/m...
Is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Sphere the Future of Cinema? Or the End of It?
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I saw WICKED: FOR GOOD a week or two ago, didn't actually know what the plot would be (other than, you know, the obvious part) and though it was uninspiring.
But I'll give it this: its flying monkeys were way cooler than the ones at (the) Sphere ...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/m...
But I'll give it this: its flying monkeys were way cooler than the ones at (the) Sphere ...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/m...
There was actually a time when I thought stuff like BLACK MIRROR or whatever might serve as “warning bells” but I’ve been spending a lot of time these days trying to figure out what actual itch they really scratch for the species
Sales of AI-enabled teddy bear suspended after it gave advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives
Sales of AI-enabled teddy bear suspended after it gave advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives | CNN Business
Sales of an artificial intelligence-enabled plush toy have been suspended after it was found that it engaged in conversation around sexually explicit topics and offered potentially dangerous advice.
www.cnn.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:07 AM
There was actually a time when I thought stuff like BLACK MIRROR or whatever might serve as “warning bells” but I’ve been spending a lot of time these days trying to figure out what actual itch they really scratch for the species
Reposted by Alissa Wilkinson
This is great, and I was particularly glad to see Alissa note that there's plenty of blame to go around here, including for all the Platforms that are so hungry for Content these days.
Strong incentives for artists to take shortcuts have existed in the past, but doing so has never been this easy!
Strong incentives for artists to take shortcuts have existed in the past, but doing so has never been this easy!
![But with documentaries, there’s also a kind of social contract. We believe that what they show us happened, with some exceptions. Re-enactments have become more common in recent years, but filmmakers have developed a visual vocabulary for those staged scenes: they’re dreamy, a little blurry, usually faceless. You immediately know what you’re looking at, because it doesn’t look “real.”
These conventions exist to preserve our trust in what we’re viewing. If you’re watching historical images of a civil rights march or scenes from a family birthday party, you believe that a producer dug up that footage.
But finding and shooting footage is expensive and takes time. And that’s exactly what today’s documentarians are often not afforded — especially when they’re working on ripped-from-the-headlines films for the bottomless content pits that are streaming platforms. The temptation is clearly there to plug a prompt into A.I.; sometimes that’s even the mandate from on high. Who will know, right?
[the line that begins "And that's exactly what today's documentarians" is highlighted in blue]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fx3fhjmycoch4eaebv5jczmy/bafkreibd62nxasd3yhxsllriijqbewo3rqy5vmiskbxxkpzdn62fcdc6ya@jpeg)
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
This is great, and I was particularly glad to see Alissa note that there's plenty of blame to go around here, including for all the Platforms that are so hungry for Content these days.
Strong incentives for artists to take shortcuts have existed in the past, but doing so has never been this easy!
Strong incentives for artists to take shortcuts have existed in the past, but doing so has never been this easy!
The very lovely TRAIN DREAMS, starring the very lovely Joel Edgerton and based on Denis Johnson's acclaimed novella, premieres on Netflix tomorrow after its brief theatrical run (if you can catch it in a theater, do):
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/m...
‘Train Dreams’ Review: Life, Understood in Reverse
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The very lovely TRAIN DREAMS, starring the very lovely Joel Edgerton and based on Denis Johnson's acclaimed novella, premieres on Netflix tomorrow after its brief theatrical run (if you can catch it in a theater, do):
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/m...