Culture

The buzziest indie rock tour of 2020 is shaping up to be the Democratic campaign trail. Recently, a number of bands beloved by people who were in college circa 2010 have thrown their weight behind Bernie Sanders, playing at his rallies in states…

Diversity has become more of a buzzword than a set of values to be implemented at a high level. Consider Goldman Sachs’s recent announcement that they would not take companies public unless they have at least one “diverse person” on their executive…

In an era when online streaming dominates entertainment distribution, nostalgia for a particularly cantankerous, nearly obsolete way of watching things seems to be on the rise: According to eBay, sales of VHS tapes on the site have grown about 5%…

Rihanna’s eighth studio album, Anti, released at the top of 2016, preceded major releases from Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and plenty of others. As Anti turns four years old this week, all of Rihanna’s contemporaries have…

You know the classic maxim: “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.” Well, it seems that generations of Americans heeded Arthur’s sage advice: a new Gallup poll found that people spent much more of their free time at the library last…

There’s something about grief that makes you feel a little bit foolish. Foolish for believing a terrible thing would not happen, foolish for forgetting how random and unjust the course of life can be. Foolish for feeling so devastated at all. It’s…

At the 2020 Grammys on Sunday night, Billie Eilish made history as the second artist in the show’s history to win all four major categories: Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year. At 18, she’s the youngest…

The 2020 Grammys felt different, but it wasn’t like the Recording Academy proactively made sweeping changes to the awards. Conversely, some sad circumstances seemed to force their hand this year. Kobe Bryant’s sudden death, just hours before the…

Once a month, 47-year-old Scott Lindsay visits his local GameStop with a stack of 15 to 20 gift cards. He hands the cards to a cashier, who patiently scans each to determine the remaining balance. These cards don't come from the usual suspects —…

A new study from the racial justice organization Color of Change found that TV shows about law enforcement have functioned as excellent public relations for police officers. The organization published the 152-page report, Normalizing Injustice: The…

Nancy Drew — the beloved teen sleuth whose adventures are canonized in hundreds of chapter books, a couple TV series, a few movies, and an enthralling series of computer games — is about to celebrate her 90th birthday. It’s quite a milestone and…

It seems like the internet becomes more inhospitable each day. Regulations have chased porn off the internet, social media is a cesspool of bad opinions and corporations are using their branded accounts to create elaborate deaths for their weird…

The Sundance Film Festival just kicked off in Park City, Utah, where it’s cold, windy, snowy and there are long lines for every single buzzy screening… To be honest, I’ve had to remind myself a few times this week that the festival is not, in…

“Message: #iamtherealdeal.” Mercedeze, a 27-year-old player on Netflix’s reality series The Circle, says this to her television set in the sixth episode. Or rather, she instructs The Circle, a voice-activated social platform that functions as the…

Throw a rock and you’ll find a true-crime documentary. Or a true-crime podcast. Or a true-crime book. All offer insight into the violent circumstances around a high-profile or mysterious death or disappearance. The true-crime genre offers audiences…

Some people love her, some can't stand her. Taylor Swift wants people to know she doesn't care what they think of her — at least, not anymore. The official trailer for Miss Americana, Swift's Netflix documentary, dropped on Wednesday ahead of the…

Mr. Peanut’s death was announced today, ending the 104 years that the animated character has served as the (apparently living) mascot for Planters Peanuts. The news was released via Mr. Peanut's Twitter account, in a perplexing notification that…

As a character trope, cheerleaders appear across pop culture. They epitomize all-American imagery, whether it be wholesome or hyper-sexualized. That imagery has grown more inclusive than one immediately might think. Over the decades, queer…

American Dirt, a fictional novel by Jeanine Cummins, has been hailed as a heart-wrenching portrayal of what Mexican migrants experience when they cross the border by book reviewers, Oprah, and Gina Rodriguez. Except, as a number of journalists and…