John Semley

Looking to speak with educators, at any level, who have implemented oral exams as part of their core curriculum, as a response to students' AI-reliance. Also looking to people who develop oral testing programs, as a response to the same. It’s for a Guardian story I’m working on. Feel free to share!

I watched the Small Business Administration's attempt at a Shark Tank-style knockoff show hosted by Dean Cain. It included Nicki Minaj as a judge and a weird animated short from Dr. Oz. With zero production value and pitiful viewership, it was another reminder that Trump's TV heyday is long past.

Working on a story for Toronto Life about Nathan Fielder's "Toronto Years." If anyone has stories/funny anecdotes, and wants to share them on record...get at me!

Working on a story for Toronto Life about Nathan Fielder's "Toronto Years." If anyone has stories/funny anecdotes, and wants to share them on record...get at me!

Philly! next month, november 10, I will be hosting a q&a at @philamoca.bsky.social with filmmaker Mark Pellington about his doc THIS IS BUZZ, tracking the history of the popular, outre, avant 90s MTV news magazine program BUZZ. tickets here: etix.com/ticket/p/809...

In the @thestar.com this week, I stake out my most contrarian take yet: that murder is bad. And that no person, state, or entity can say it's bad and then go on to take a life--on TV, no less! www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

are you a longtime Philly/Delco resident with memories of Pulsations nightclub? and the dancing robot Pulsar, specifically? I want to talk to you for an article (about Pulsar and Pulsations). feel free to RT for visibility!)

For @wired.com, I spoke with workers about the quiet push to experiment with AI tools from book publishing executives at the Big Five. www.wired.com/story/book-p...

“Primetime” sets its sights on the hopped-up media bloodlust of the early aughts: the perverse logic of the War on Terror, Bush-era legerdemain, and obsession with moral cleanliness. @johnsemley3000.bsky.social wipes down the spotty looking-glass mirror:

Me and @markkrotov.bsky.social wrote about Anne Carson and the Nobel Prize in Literature newrepublic.com/article/2164...

In “Primetime,” Robert Pattison performs a caricature of Chris Hansen, self-styled predator hunter extraordinaire. As @johnsemley3000.bsky.social argues, the film’s manic sensationalism is as divisive as America’s own vexed relationship with pedophilia.

I have a piece in @theguardian.com about Canadian veterans, and their families, reacting to the Trump Administration's unkind comments about Canada's military. "To hear him spit on our sacrifice is insulting, it’s hurtful, and it’s disrespectful to the dead." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

From their dorky parties to their weird walks, the movie holds OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other stakeholders with contempt, while demonstrating their recklessness.

for @thebaffler.com: I wrote about Chris Hansen, TO CATCH A PREDATOR, and PRIMETIME as a definitive post-9/11 document. thebaffler.com/latest/pedog...

The first season of James Donaldson’s reality competition show was supposed to be a symbiotic relationship: the local film and TV industry would get an injection of cash and jobs, and the production would enjoy generous Canadian tax credits. The reality was far less tame

I'm trying to non-algorithmically find things to read on the Internet lately and am pleased to have found this wonderful piece by @johnsemley3000.bsky.social ! It hit perfectly for me between a Six Feet Under series watch and a seasonal program of SFX-heavy movies. harpers.org/archive/2026...

For the @thestar.com, I wrote about Doug Ford's anti-Trump chest-puffing, and why the enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Geese actually had a pretty chill response to our psyop story in their new Rolling Stone interview. They wondered the same thing! www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Alright honey the NYtimes is doing a profile on us. Make sure your best Bo Jackson jersey is clean for the photo shoot.

Fun new journalism trend: high school newspapers facing censorship and legal threats. Luckily, groups have emerged to support the scholastic press. For the @theguardian.com, I looked at how teen reporters are bearing the burden of being "the enemy of the people." www.theguardian.com/law/ng-inter...

Happy to appear on CBC's FrontBurner to talk about PROTEINMAXXING, the relentless quantification of the self, and the grim inevitably of death. Fun chat! www.cbc.ca/radio/frontb...

For @thestar.com this week, I wrote about some of my most cherished memories of “Lake America.” whttps://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/trump-is-like-freddy-krueger-the-more-you-think-about-the-horror-tropes-the-stronger-they-get/article_d660dcdc-ef53-494e-9f9b-34359458aa2a.html

For @thestar.com this week, I wrote about some of my most cherished memories of “Lake America.” whttps://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/trump-is-like-freddy-krueger-the-more-you-think-about-the-horror-tropes-the-stronger-they-get/article_d660dcdc-ef53-494e-9f9b-34359458aa2a.html

looking to talk with Canadian military vets and families about recent Canada/US tensions, for an article. get at me! please RT!

“Armed with various putties, fillers, waxes, and bundles of human hair, their goal was to produce a visage worthy of an open casket.” John Semley (@johnsemley3000.bsky.social) reports from a mortuary arts competition. buff.ly/Iq92CM7

I wrote about the triumph of Doing Your Own Research and the stupid, nasty thing that is replacing some very recent history in real time. defector.com/were-just-go...

Open caskets used to be fairly standard, but we’re losing the artists who make that possible. John Semley joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history, culture and economics of morticians, why their particular trade is quickly going out of fashion.

John Semley, who reported on the dying art of the open-casket ceremony, spoke with Jess Bergman about the history of undertakers, the corporatization of funeral parlors, and communal grieving. buff.ly/woZYM9N

do I know any Calgary journos who would be willing to do me—or, really, a colleague of mine—a journalism related favour? please reach out, if so!

🐳 You’re God damned right @hesterblum.bsky.social & I made a TWENTY-FIVE EPISODE PODCAST just about 𝐌𝐎𝐁𝐘-𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐊. Subscribe now at exploringthegreats.com/moby-dick & enjoy our thrilling trailer:

This piece on the decline of restoring corpses for open-casket funerals is excellent, and not as morbid as you might think. After all, "their labor is intended for the living." harpers.org/archive/2026...

“As consumer tastes shift toward closed caskets and cremations, reflecting a general American ambivalence toward the traditions of ritualized bereavement, demand for posthumous primping has fallen dramatically.” —John Semley (@johnsemley3000.bsky.social)

Sad news to hear about the passing of Glen Hansard. He was a one of a kind generational singer-songwriter. Glen was a great friend of ours & us of him. Here's his last visit with us w/ The Swell Season last year on @worldcafe.bsky.social w/ @rahrahraina.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlmn...

“While restoration may be a moribund art, the atmosphere at the NFDA showcase was anything but sepulchral.” —John Semley (@johnsemley3000.bsky.social) harpers.org/archive/2026...

CW: take care with yourself because this deals frankly with death and grief and makes mention of tragic passings, mutilation, and viscera (not luridly, mind) But I found this to be an extraordinarily thoughtful and humane piece of writing to begin the day. harpers.org/archive/2026...

“These days, the American way of death seems less like denial than desensitization. We may still fear the reaper, but we are also bored by him.” John Semley (@johnsemley3000.bsky.social) on the dying art of the open casket.

Sports teams unveiling a new third jersey are always like "the brown stripe is a nod to our town's original nickname, Sewer City"

Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of Homer’s epic—the first by a woman—was called a woke “abomination” by online reactionaries. Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film faced similar critiques long before its release.

In @thestar.com today, I wrote about how the World Cup was a success for the US--in spite of Donald Trump's best efforts to ruin it. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

In the new issue of @harpers.bsky.social, I wrote about the history, and narrowing future, of the restorative arts: that is, the craft of rendering corpses casket-ready. I watched morticians face off in a corpse-head restoration contest, and travelled to DC to watch a restoration up-close.

“While restorative artists are accustomed to battling the ravages of time, it is now coming for their own discipline.” John Semley (@johnsemley3000.bsky.social) on the state of the mortuary arts.

In the new issue of @harpers.bsky.social, I wrote about the history, and narrowing future, of the restorative arts: that is, the craft of rendering corpses casket-ready. I watched morticians face off in a corpse-head restoration contest, and travelled to DC to watch a restoration up-close.

So much of this culture war jockeying, writes WIRED contributor John Semley, exists purely online, to sustain an infrastructure of monetized outrage that is increasingly preoccupied with Western chauvinism, racism, and just plain antisocial weirdness.

For all the hysteria over “woke” casting and ahistorical choices, Christopher Nolan’s epic is on track to make $200 million globally during its opening weekend. www.wired.com/story/the-od...

great stuff from @maxread.info on the boys and their formats

@johnsemley3000.bsky.social drove 40 minutes to get to a sold out 8 am screening of The Odyssey—the movie is not going to fail but the reactionary backlash sure did. www.wired.com/story/the-od...