The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
The Extreme Absurdity of the SNL ‘Secretaries’ Sketch
The former cast member and host Kristen Wiig knew just how to skewer mid-century office culture.
A Brilliantly Brutal Dev Patel
In Monkey Man, the actor and filmmaker channels his persistent irritations about Hollywood into a stylish thriller.
What Orwell Really Feared
In 1946, the author repaired to the remote Isle of Jura and wrote his masterpiece, 1984. What was he looking for?
Is Theo Von the Next Joe Rogan?
Or is he something else entirely?
A Vision of the City as a Live Organism
In this novel, Prague is impish, tyrannical—and alive.
Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever
Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas
Seven Books to Read in the Sunshine
Enjoying literature at a park, a beach, or an open-air café encourages a particular leisurely frame of mind.
If Teenage Girls Ran America
Girls State is a sharp study of how a well-meaning civics program can simultaneously inspire and limit young women.
This Is What an Album Needs to Do Right Now
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter is an exploration of country—not just the musical genre, but America itself.
What’s So Bad About Asking Where Humans Came From?
Human origin stories have often been used for nefarious purposes. That doesn’t mean they are worthless.