Culture

The Biden era has already produced a bonanza of terrible art
Now that it’s over, you could reasonably assess whether the Donald Trump presidency was as great for punk, comedy, or art as some naive early optimists were hoping. (Unless you were taken by lip-syncing parody videos or exceedingly buff paintings of…
By Shawn Cooke

Movies & TV

Evan Rachel Wood alleges Marilyn Manson "brainwashed" and "horrifically abused" her for years
By Kara Weisenstein
In the last few years, Evan Rachel Wood has become a trailblazing domestic violence activist. In 2019, she spearheaded legislation to extend California’s statute of limitations for how long victims have to press charges against an abuser. Gov. Gavin…
Of course the GameStop movie is already happening
By Shawn Cooke
It was never a question of if, but Hollywood has still moved at startling velocity to get the Reddit Wall Street debacle adapted for the big screen. Just one week after millions of investors teamed up through r/WallStreetBets to drive up the price…
9 songs helping us dream up a less hellish 2021
By Shawn Cooke
Okay, I’m not going to predict in a public forum that this year will be any better than the one that came before it. In just one long month, we’ve had numerous indications of the crass stupidity and brutality continuing unabated. But there are also…
The Weeknd dropped $7 million of his own money to make the Super Bowl “cinematic”
By Kara Weisenstein
Last year, 102 million viewers tuned in to watch J.Lo and Shakira headline the Super Bowl halftime show. This year’s star, pop singer and body-mod enthusiast the Weeknd, is intent on making sure all those millions of stuck-at-home Americans get a…
“This is bullshit”: Jon Stewart joined Twitter to rail against greedy hedge funds
By Shawn Cooke
Everyone has some troubling impetus that gets them to join Twitter for the first time — I think mine was a failed concert ticket giveaway. For Jon Stewart, who had steered clear of the platform for more than a decade, it was the GameStop-Reddit…
AOC talking GameStop stonks on Twitch is peak 2021
By Kara Weisenstein
Here’s a word salad that’d never make sense outside of 2021: AOC did a Twitch stream about GameStop stonks on Thursday night. The beginning of the livestream was plagued with technical issues ("This is an ASMR channel now," the Congresswoman joked,…
Robinhood cut off traders because the game is rigged for the rich
By AJ Dellinger
For the last couple of weeks, a collection of Redditors organizing themselves in the r/WallStreetBets community have been squeezing hedge funds for all they’re worth by using the tools of the stock market against them. The effort has sent…
Inauguration eyebrow maven Ella Emhoff is now a model
By Kara Weisenstein
Was it the eyebrow waggle at Mike Pence that did it? Quite possibly! After stealing the show with her playful expression and bejeweled Miu Miu coat at the presidential inauguration, Ella Emhoff, the 21-year-old stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala…
Cardi B is right about pricey COVID-19 tests — she's just the wrong messenger
By Shawn Cooke
Despite every effort to divorce celebrities from the pandemic zeitgeist, they’ve been right there through it all. Tom Hanks Night will live in infamy as the moment when the coronavirus' severity set in for much of the country, and the “Imagine”…
Carey Mulligan being hot enough for ‘Promising Young Woman’ misses the entire point
By Kara Weisenstein
Imagine being actress Carey Mulligan and having some man opine that while you’re talented, he’d rather watch Margot Robbie seduce and shame would-be rapists in your latest film. The darkly comedic revenge movie Promising Young Woman stars Mulligan…
Disney+ is trying to shield kids from its old racist movies
By Shawn Cooke
After the summer of widespread protests against racial injustice, the broader Disney empire has worked overtime to paper over its most glaring racist stereotypes in old animation. The most long-awaited change came to Disney World’s Splash Mountain…
The Bernie porn no one asked for is here
By Shawn Cooke
Okay, so maybe you thought the cute Bernie Sanders mittens meme jumped the shark within its first 24 hours. (There’s no faster way to guarantee this than the brands getting involved, and buddy, they sure did.) But even if you ordered commemorative…
What the hell is going on with GameStop and Wall Street?
By Kara Weisenstein
Until it drew the interest of Redditors on a discussion board called r/WallStreetBets, GameStop was dying a slow death along with brick-and-mortar shopping malls, where the world's largest video game and electronics retailer was once ubiquitous. The…
Florida volunteers to host the Olympics — and more COVID-19 outbreaks
By Shawn Cooke
Much like any other large-scale gathering scheduled for this summer, the Tokyo Olympics are considerably in doubt. In the face of rising COVID cases, Japanese officials have reportedly gestured — and adamantly ungestured — at canceling the games…
The Rock's autobiographical sitcom is a trial run for the 2032 presidency
By Kara Weisenstein
When dark-horse celebrity candidate Donald J. Trump became president, his unlikely rise to power was read by some as a blueprint for other famous people with political aspirations. Fans of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson started pressuring him to run,…
8 TikToks that are helping us survive this endless winter
By Erica Euse
It’s hard to believe that anything could be more chaotic or surreal than last year. But already we've experienced a failed coup on the capitol, record deaths from the pandemic, and the second impeachment of Donald Trump — and we're not even out of…
What on Earth is going on in the Conway household?
By Kara Weisenstein
The Conway family crisis that’s been playing out semi-publicly on TikTok, Twitter, and in the media just gets sadder and more disturbing. On Monday, Kellyanne Conway allegedly shared a topless photo of her 16-year-old daughter, Claudia, on Twitter.…
FKA Twigs detailed "deeply horrific" abuse from racist Robert Pattinson fans
By Kara Weisenstein
Somebody cut FKA Twigs some slack already. The singer filed a lawsuit against her ex, Shia LaBeouf, back in December, alleging he subjected her to harrowing emotional and physical abuse. Twigs opened up even more about the toxic relationship while…
Turns out being former President Donald Trump is bad for your Hollywood career
By Shawn Cooke
It’s at least been quieter, hasn’t it? Even if Donald Trump vacating the White House and our social media feeds certainly doesn’t mean he’s gone away for good, the past week has slowed the exhausting deluge of content from the man. Whether he goes…
Keira Knightley is done shooting sex scenes for men
By Kara Weisenstein
Sex scenes have undergone a major overhaul in Hollywood as a direct result of the #MeToo movement. Steamy series like Normal People and Bridgerton now employ intimacy coordinators to ensure actors feel comfortable shooting risqué scenes. In a…