Tamar Herman

Got into the Rings of Power NYC preview screening this Thurs, which is great because nobody else cares about this show but me but I love it so so much that this is going to be my personality for the rest of 2026.

I admit I do not do this enough. I should try to share and praise the reporters, analysts, humorists, educators and advocates that are speaking to the better, fairer world that I want, not just those with big platform spewing ignorance.

I haven't written a newsletter in weeks and I feel like a fraud and a failure, but I guess there's always another day to write about.

Holy smokes I fuckin' did it. As promised, I hard launched before Yom Kippur, with hours to spare! I am going to take a nap.

Never heard a more Jewish chorus than Irene and Seulgi singing about being in love with anxiety

Too bad we don’t have trains or walkable cities in most places it could probably help idk

I get uncomfortable when orgs and businesses want to commission "zines" because usually what they are asking for is not a zine but a pamphlet/booklet that they don't want to pay professional rates for. It devalues publishing professionals and diminishes the meaning of zines.

Everyone loves nostalgia, and AtHeart are bringing back the sounds of 1996 with remakes of classics by The Cardigans and Roo'Ra. In Conversation with AtHeart for Notes on K-pop: notesonkpop.com/in-conversat...

Kinda wondering if naming it Notes in K-pop was a mistake but yolo four years later

Everyone loves nostalgia, and AtHeart are bringing back the sounds of 1996 with remakes of classics by The Cardigans and Roo'Ra. In Conversation with AtHeart for Notes on K-pop: notesonkpop.com/in-conversat...

A person so miraculous she made Siskel & Ebert agree ♥️

Sad news, our friend @sorayaroberts.bsky.social has died. www.justatad.xyz/p/soraya

Went to KCON LA 2026, had some thoughts about trends and happenings notesonkpop.com/notes-on-kco...

So… my suitcase broke. 2/2 broken from samsonite’s set of three I bought before moving to Hong Kong in 2020, so I feel like given how hard I am on my luggage that’s not a bad return rate…

Now THIS is perfection

This essay by @jillmapes.bsky.social is really crushing and also beautifully written. I also have hope that this period of cultural decline isn't forever and people will remember the value of art and criticism that's not also advertising!

Non-fiction books aren’t always fact-checked.

Cannot express the complicated emotions I have whenever a family member or friend who has ignored my entire career texts me that someone they are talking to went to a BTS concert like yes, I have indeed been telling you about their impact for literal years. They are famously famous!!!

When did people get a memo that you can talk on your phone without headphones everywhere in NYC?

dodree are essentially answering the question of what a heavy-emphasis on the Koreanness of K-pop can look like when you base your identity around classical culture, traditional training, and blending them with modern performance sensibilities. Read the whole interview at NotesonKpop.com!

Sometimes I wonder if I need to go back to Twitter for professional reasons, but god I really don't want to

dodree are essentially answering the question of what a heavy-emphasis on the Koreanness of K-pop can look like when you base your identity around classical culture, traditional training, and blending them with modern performance sensibilities. Read the whole interview at NotesonKpop.com!

Hi! I'll be going to KCON! If you're in LA that week for it, I'd love to connect! If you're an editor looking for some K-pop coverage, please reach out.

BTS have announced they will not be submitting their music to the Grammy’s this year.

Famously, we love books it’s very annoying.

I think something interesting is going on with K-pop music production in 2026: we're seeing more cohesive albums than the past few years have given us, and I wonder if it's a shift away from using albums as nothing more than chart-seeking streaming-oriented packages notesonkpop.com/in-2026-k-po...

Idk if it’s just me but it really rubs me the wrong way when I read something written by anyone who only cites men writing about BTS as if non-men journalists and critics do not have any validity as sources when discussing one of this generation’s biggest pop acts.

CRJ makes music that feels like finally getting on the ferris wheel with your summer crush and having your first kiss while fireworks go off.

Has anyone done the yearlong cuny writers’ institute program? Very curious about it

Hmm

I think something interesting is going on with K-pop music production in 2026: we're seeing more cohesive albums than the past few years have given us, and I wonder if it's a shift away from using albums as nothing more than chart-seeking streaming-oriented packages notesonkpop.com/in-2026-k-po...

youtu.be/QmS7WuI9u40?... are you normal or are you crying at the idea of Galadriel and her husband finding each other amid the end of an age?

IDK what it says about me that my life was easier when I was being paid minimum wage in a Hong Kong newsroom in the middle of a pandemic

Tonight begins Tisha B'Av, the Jews' mourning the destruction of the First & Second Temples & more. So I'm looking at a now near-lost practice of Jews in Morocco, Kurdistan, Calcutta, the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Ethiopia, Eastern Europe & beyond: Specialized women lamenters / wailers:

I'm always interested in the artists others find the most irritating www.npr.org/2026/07/20/n...

There’s a novella in the Vorkosigan books about a planet of just men nearly dying out (due to their donor eggs running out) because they hate women so much they fled us all and everyday I feel like we’re getting closer to that reality

Okay, what does everyone think is the best K-pop release of 2026 so far?

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.