Decoding the Most Important Songwriter of Our Time
What’s the secret to making great pop music? A Max Martin–inspired musical has some answers.
The Incandescent Wisdom of Cormac McCarthy
His two final novels are the pinnacle of a controversial career.
The SNL Sketch That Perfectly Mocks Our Upside-Down Reality
The show finally got satire right ... with the help of Hello Kitty.
The Truth in a Violent Santa
As if on cue, 2022 has reached into its bag and delivered a jolly old elf who slays.
A Film That Makes Sex Scenes Look Like Works of Art
Netflix’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover updates the book’s treatment of sex, presenting the act as not just an erotic force, but a miraculous one.
Kanye West Finally Says What He Means
The swastika that the rapper tweeted ties a nasty little bow on his ever-expanding collection of disturbing ideas.
The End of Companion Television
CNN’s Headline News may seem thoroughly old-fashioned now that it’s dead. But its demise is a reminder of the creeping nature of media obsolescence.
A Novel That Will Make You Laugh and Then Punch You in the Gut
Kevin Wilson’s Now Is Not the Time to Panic features narrators haunted, yet not bound, by troubled pasts.
RM of BTS Is Embracing the Silence
On his debut solo album, Indigo, the South Korean rapper finds meaning within the noise of global stardom.
Christine McVie’s Most Miraculous Song
“You Make Loving Fun” showed that the late Fleetwood Mac member was a titan in her own right.
Gift Giving Is About the Buyer, Not the Receiver
Many of us want to feel like we’re benevolent, yet we pay substantial attention to how the process of giving will make us feel about ourselves.
Stubborn, Determined, and Dying
In the Netflix film The Wonder, a “fasting girl” becomes a holy spectacle of self-annihilation.
Ode to the French Baguette
Intangible in cultural heritage, tangible in my mouth
Unfortunately, the Sexy Teen-Cannibal Romance Is a Letdown
In Bones and All, the gore is paired with a love story that’s surprisingly tame.
The Strength of the ‘Soft Daddy’
A modern generation of animated sitcoms shows a rarity in the genre: well-adjusted fathers.
The Kingdom Is the Strangest Medical Drama You’ll Ever See
Lars von Trier’s hospital horror-comedy, back for a third season, is a scathing satire of institutional failure.
Seven Books That Will Make You Smarter
These titles do more than answer questions: They explain how the world moves and what moves it.
The Generation
A short story
Hernan Diaz on Erasing Subjectivity
“Although the scope of ‘The Generation’ may seem, literally, cosmic, it is in fact intimate and highly personal.”
A #MeToo Movie Devoid of Sensationalism
What She Said understands about investigative journalism
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