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Culture and Ideas
Book reviews, cultural critiques, essays on the zeitgeist, and profiles of the avant-garde.
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The Inversion of ‘Animal Farm’
Andy Serkis’s new animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic inverts the point of the book to score shallow political points. It’s also just a…
Nicholas Clairmont
Was Michael Jackson Bad?
Audiences are loving the controversial new biopic ‘Michael’—for the same reason audiences loved the man himself. We want a good show.
Kat Rosenfield
I’m Not a Soldier in the Battle of the Sexes
Young women are miserable for so many reasons. But in certain media outlets, you’re only allowed to acknowledge one: the shortcomings of men.
Freya India
Everything Is Reality TV. And Spencer Pratt Knows It.
The reality-TV villain turned mayoral candidate just used the same tactics that once made him infamous to produce one of the most effective, viral…
Liel Leibovitz
The Admiral Who Says Atlantis Is Real and the Aliens Are Already Here
Timothy Gallaudet says he knows aliens have come to Earth; he just doesn’t know what their intentions are.
Will Rahn
1HR 0M
How One Man Broke the Marathon’s Holy Grail
Sabastian Sawe finished the London Marathon in less than two hours. Nick Thompson describes the innovations that helped it happen, and why such fast…
Joe Nocera
Let the Kids Smoke
A new tobacco ban in Britain for anyone born after 2008 may make the next generation safer. So why do I feel like we’re losing something?
Kara Kennedy
Lena Dunham’s Sickness Isn’t Romantic
Very online millennial women grew up glamorizing their ailments, posting about symptoms as if they were cute. But their high priestess Dunham proves the…
Kat Rosenfield
What the Hell Is Microlooting?
Stealing!
Suzy Weiss
What Does America’s Biggest Skeptic Think of Aliens?
Michael Shermer, the founder of ’Skeptic’ magazine, makes the case for why President Trump’s promised disclosure of UFO files probably won’t amount to…
Will Rahn
Baseball Saved Me
‘Why am I doing this to myself?’ asks Mets fan Will Rahn. ‘Maybe it’s because baseball breaks my heart in a way I can handle.’
Will Rahn
How We Became Screen People
In the age of ubiquitous screens, we might be edited. We might be cropped. We might be shared. We might be deleted. And we will have, in general, very…
Megan Garber
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