Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week’s entertainment news, including SPF podcast shutting down, why X is under pressure from regulators, and how Instagram starts letting people create AI versions of themselves. Then, stick around for a chat with Sophie Brickman!

Sophie Brickman is a writer, reporter and editor based in New York City. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Saveur, The San Francisco Chronicle, the Best Food Writing compilation, and the Best American Science Writing compilation, among other places. She is currently a columnist at The Guardian.

She wrote a monthly column for Elle interviewing influential women—including Nancy Pelosi and Joyce Carol Oates—about their paths to success, served as Executive Editor of a travel publication launched jointly between Hearst and Airbnb, and was the Features Editor at Saveur. As a staff reporter at The San Francisco Chronicle, she won first place in the 2011 Association of Food Journalists’ feature writing category, for a piece about Napa’s French Laundry restaurant, and third place for best column.

In a previous life, after attending the French Culinary Institute, she worked the line at Gramercy Tavern, making risotto and lamb ragù for the lunch crowd. And before that, she graduated with honors from Harvard College, where her studies in social theory and philosophy prepared her for very few practical endeavors. Hence the desire to learn how to chop an onion correctly.

Her first book, Baby, Unplugged, about the intersection of parenting and technology, was published by HarperOne in Fall 2021, received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, and landed her a spot on Good Morning America. Her first novel, Plays Well With Others—a satirical epistolary romp through New York City, following the life of one mother as it begins to unravel in spectacular fashion—will be published by William Morrow in summer 2024.

Check It Out!

Plays Well With Others – https://www.amazon.com/Plays-Well-Others-Sophie-Brickman/dp/0063371200

SPF podcast shut down – https://selfpublishingformula.com/category/podcast/

Elon Musk’s X under pressure from regulators over data harvesting for Grok AI – https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/26/elon-musks-x-under-pressure-from-regulators-over-data-harvesting-for-grok-ai

Instagram starts letting people create AI versions of themselves – https://www.theverge.com/24209196/instagram-ai-characters-meta-ai-studio-release

Sophie Brickman – https://www.sophiebrickman.com/

‘Flatliners Resurrection’ Poised To Test Genre IP Frenzy With J.D. Barker Novel	https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/flatliners-resurrection-poised-to-test-genre-ip-frenzy-with-jd-barker-novel/ar-BB1qd2An?ocid=BingNewsVerp
Flatliners Will Spring to Life Yet Again, as a Book	https://gizmodo.com/flatliners-resurrection-novel-jd-barker-2000476608
J.D. Barker Rewrites the Rules of Publishing, Signs with Simon & Schuster	https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/j-d-barker-rewrites-the-rules-of-publishing-signs-with-simon-schuster-1033286176
One Underrated ‘90s Sci-Fi Movie Is Suddenly Getting A Weird Reboot	https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/flatliners-reboot-book-movie
BESTSELLING AUTHOR J.D. BARKER TO PEN NOVEL CONTINUATION OF ICONIC FLATLINERS FRANCHISE	https://ritzherald.com/bestselling-author-j-d-barker-to-pen-novel-continuation-of-iconic-flatliners-franchise/
The Genre-Defying Works of Literary Powerhouse, J.D. Barker	https://foxinterviewer.com/entertainment-2/the-genre-defying-works-of-literary-powerhouse-j-d-barker/