Questions I Had After Watching Figure Skating Today

Queries for the curious after the men's short program.

Of Razors and Ricky Martin

A very brief recap of the rhythm dance at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games

Let's Talk Olympic Figure Skating

Few things unify the Olympic audience like a voracious interest in figure skating. But for most viewers, the Olympics is the only time they pay attention to figure skating. Let me give you the real deal behind the headlines.

The Mood: Winter 2026

The Winter 2026 Seasonal Mood Board.

Bingo 2025

Looking back at a year spent trimming away overgrowth to make space for something new.

Synthetic Taxonomies

Let me explain how the model works, babe. Equity touches what the sun touches. After nine drinks you qualify for a free indulgence. It’s only a small bite, for encouragement.

Pouring Out the Cup of Disaster

I found myself six posts into a recap thread on Bluesky about this weekend's Cup of China competition before I realized, "Ellie, no, that's too much. Write a blog post and really let those lukewarm takes spill everywhere."

Dan Mangan is in Your Corner

It's impossible to listen to Dan Mangan and not think of the blizzards and the broken glass. His music has provided the soundtrack for moments great and small for more than 15 years.

I'm a Happy Website Proprietor

I unplugged for a few days this week and returned to a whole lot of people pissed off about waffles. It was, of course, nothing to do with waffles per se and everything to do with some seriously tin-eared comments from members of Bluesky's leadership team. I'm not rehashing them here, but the whole episode served as yet another reminder of the brittleness of social media.

Preoccupations: Fall 2025

Currently pondering, preoccupied, inspired, and investigating a plethora of notions. The seasonal sensual mix for Fall 2025.

The End of My Career as a Glass Eater

If I see one more story about someone claiming they solo bootstrapped a vibe-coded accounting platform to $2 million in ARR I will do something regrettable. My tech career, such as it was, is over and I'm out.

Recently Read Vol. 1: A Michael Lewis Trio

A career-spanning selection from the work of Michael Lewis, Bard of the Financial Bust.

Exiting the Stream

On switching streaming platforms and rescuing physical media from storage.

80 Minute Maximum

A rural, pre-digital adolescence and a genetic predisposition to collecting are the perfect foundation for an obsessive music fan.

Back to the Front of the Line

Politics, performance, and the wild odds of Olympic figure skating comebacks.

It's the Sweat that Keeps Me Clean

How a virtual cycling platform used silliness and a squirrel mascot to inspire 13,000 km (and counting) of riding.

Technicalities

What the reversal of Nikolaj Sorensen's suspension tells us about the complexity of investigating abuse in figure skating.

FS Comeback Camp: Olympic Qualifiers

How figure skaters on a comback tour fit into the Olympic qualification equation.

On the Return of Daisuke Takahashi

It’s rare for a singles skater to seriously compete beyond 27, and to land triple axels in your 30s prompts jokes about walkers and knee replacements.

No Nudges

Someone's still waiting for the sound, a status update, a sign