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.
A Horrifying True Story, Told Through Mundane Details
I’m Still Here tempts viewers into a comforting lull before pulling the rug out from under them.
How the Village People Explain Trump
Showing off his new big tent, the returning president played circus master to a strange kind of union.
Dave Chappelle’s Sincere Plea on Saturday Night Live
The four-time host took a break from punching down to deliver a timely message.
The Millworker’s Wife
A poem for Sunday
What David Lynch Knew About the Weather
The filmmaker’s COVID-era L.A. forecasts found the eerie in the everyday.
What Are the Puzzles of Severance About?
In Season 2, the show’s abstract and surreal elements make more sense.
David Lynch Was America’s Cinematic Poet
The director’s death, at 78, is shocking only because it seemed he’d be with us forever.
The Hipster Grifter Peaked Too Soon
Kari Ferrell’s memoir is a zippy, intimate account of low-level trickery before the era of scams fully erupted.
I Have a Huge Crush on a Writer
Should I reach out to her?
No One Cares That the Chimpanzee Is Singing
The musical biopic Better Man is so much more than its curious gimmick.