Culture

Susan Sontag called him “one of America’s most valuable troublemakers.” On Wednesday, the world lost a priceless soul. Larry Kramer, the celebrated writer whose antagonistic activism helped shift America’s response to the AIDS crisis, died on May 27…

Staring down what already feels like a lost summer, it’s incredibly strange watching the race to reopen theme parks. Earlier this month, Disney World stretched the limits of its magic by reopening the Disney Springs complex to temperature checks and…

A century from now, maybe the Space Force won’t be a punchline. After all, SpaceX is scheduled to send NASA astronauts to the International Space Station this week — a commercial spaceflight milestone that could bring humans closer to becoming an…

On Friday, Terrace House: Tokyo star and professional wrestler Hana Kimura died at 22. Now, the series has canceled the remainder of its Tokyo-centered season, which had already suspended filming during the pandemic. Terrace House, while…

Like so many other cooped-up and stir-crazy Americans, I’d pay a hefty sum to be able to safely see a movie in theaters again. I don’t even care what’s playing. It’s not like I’ve been hurting for stuff to watch. On the contrary, my streaming queues…

Nearly a month into the pandemic, when it was already clear that concerts and other live events wouldn’t be coming back for a very long time, ticket companies began to tighten their refund policies. Ticketmaster adjusted its website’s language to…

Did you know: SZA’s debut studio album, Ctrl, was supposed to be released in 2015, not 2017? The musician, real name Solána Rowe, began putting out EPs in 2012, but cutting her first full-length album proved torturous. Shortly after Ctrl was finally…

You could tell me what the difference between HBO Go and HBO Now is 20 times, and I still wouldn’t be able to distinguish the streaming services. (I think one is for people with the TV package, and one’s streaming-only? Who can be sure.) That’s…

Paul Rudd is making out with Elizabeth Banks, and it’s making me sad. Not because he’s ignoring a drowning camper, eschewing his camp lifeguarding duties so he can swap spit with a blonde in a bikini. That bit from Wet Hot American Summer is…

Like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Travis Scott before it, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet debuted some new material in Fortnite on Thursday. Nolan, who has a near-sadistic commitment to the theatrical experience, made one major concession by…

As if there’s been no shortage of drama to distract us from...everything else, Lana Del Rey swooped in this week to take her share of the attention. In a lengthy notes app-style screed announcing the release of her new album this fall, Lana fired…

John Krasinski spun up Some Good News, his feel-good YouTube show, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The first episode hit the internet on March 30. The scrappy, DIY nature of the broadcast was a big part of its allure: here was a celebrity…

Have you found it hard to watch anything new in quarantine? Speaking from experience, I’ve had trouble finding the motivation to commit to the first watch of a lengthy drama series despite this being the very best time for such an undertaking. This…

Fyre Festival, the failed luxury festival that feels like it occurred in a different dimension, continues to yield significant legal consequences more than three years later. In 2018, a pair of attendees were awarded $5 million in damages for their…

Lana Del Rey posted a lengthy note on Instagram late in the evening on May 20, as Taurus season slid into Gemini time. The point of the letter was to announce the drop date of her seventh studio album, on September 5. But before Lana got to her…

After years of fan campaigns to #ReleasetheSnyderCut of Justice League, it is remarkably happening. On Wednesday, director Zack Snyder announced on a live commentary of 2013’s Man of Steel that his long-rumored extended cut of Justice League will be…

Hollywood shut down along with the rest of America in mid-March. Films slated for release were delayed or pushed straight to streaming. Things in pre-production may never see the light of day again. Projects in the middle of filming halted…

Although we may not be living in a full-fledged dystopia right now, there’s sure to be a number of upcoming pop culture events that imagine an even darker reality. It’s hard to believe the moviegoing public will want more exceedingly bleak reminders…

Now that coronavirus has completely and thoroughly disrupted 2020, it’s coming for 2021. According to Variety, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences is considering postponing film’s biggest night, the 93rd annual Oscars, slated for February…