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Books & Culture

Infinite Scroll

IRL Brain Rot and the Lure of the Labubu

In the chimerical trend that is Labubumatchadubaichocolate, nothing is ever too extra. But those who embrace the aesthetic know that the only way out is further in.
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Blitt’s Kvetchbook

Showdown in the Oval

Donald keeps his eyes on the prize.
A Critic at Large

Did Racial Capitalism Set the Bronx on Fire?

To some, the fires lit in New York in the late seventies signalled rampant criminality; to others, rebellion. But maybe they were signs of something else entirely.
The Weekend Essay

Always Inadequate

The force of low self-esteem can feel so enormous, so unexplainable, it seems almost mythic.
Infinite Scroll

The Revenge of Millennial Cringe

The viral resurgence of the single “Home,” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, reflects a simultaneous disgust at and attraction to an era of unabashed sincerity.

Books

Flash Fiction

Missing Sheep

We all play a bit of a game when in love, don’t we?
Book Currents

Hilton Als’s Essential James Baldwin

Looking closely at a few of the legendary writer’s works.
Under Review

What We’re Reading

Our editors and critics review notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Under Review

The Budding Rivalry of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

The two young champions, who met as teen-agers, are expected to face off at this year’s U.S. Open. A new book by Giri Nathan tracks their parallel ascent.

Movies

The Current Cinema

“Splitsville” Plays Infidelity for Laughs; “A Little Prayer” Shows What’s Really at Stake

The meticulous shotmaking of Michael Angelo Covino’s film belies a dramatic staleness, whereas Angus MacLachlan orchestrates a powerfully understated catharsis.
The Front Row

“Honey Don’t!” Revives the Spirit of the Coen Brothers’ Movies

Ethan Coen, working with his wife, Tricia Cooke, endows this neo-noir comedy, about a lesbian detective, with dazzle but little more.
The Current Cinema

“My Undesirable Friends: Part I” Is a Staggering Portrait of Russian Journalists in Dissent

In Julia Loktev’s epic documentary, filmed before, during, and after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, several courageous Moscow reporters see their worst fears realized.
The Front Row

Roman Polanski’s Self-Centered “An Officer and a Spy”

This historical drama, about efforts to clear the wrongly convicted French captain Alfred Dreyfus, brings to mind the director’s own legal troubles.

Food

The Food Scene

The Sloppy Joe Makes a Kicky Comeback

Farley’s, in Bed-Stuy, lavishes attention on an unsung icon of Americana cooking.
The Food Scene

Three Plays on the Pancake

A masa-based version at Hellbender, a riff on soufflé at Pitt’s, and a modern-classic stack at S&P Lunch.
On and Off the Menu

L.A.’s Food Culture, Transformed by Immigration Raids

The city is defined by street carts and family-run restaurants. ICE’s vicious campaign has prompted many venders and patrons to stay home.
The Food Scene

A Young Parisian Chef’s Nouvelle Stodginess

At Le Chêne, in the West Village, a “Top Chef France” alumna cooks up chilly Gallic chicness.
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Photo Booth

The Futility of Simulating Nature

In “The Anthropocene Illusion,” the photographer Zed Nelson captures how the natural world has been reproduced, reshuffled, and repackaged, sold to visitors in the form of spectacle.

Television

On Television

“And Just Like That . . . ,” Carrie Bradshaw Bids an Unsatisfying Farewell

The series sequel to “Sex and the City” ends with an abrupt, disappointing finale.
The Lede

What Happens to Public Media Now?

Republican-backed funding cuts go way beyond NPR and PBS. Radio and TV stations from Alaska to the Allegheny Mountains may never be the same.
On Television

What the Cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” Means

CBS and its parent company, Paramount, have set an end date for one of the last public pipelines to some version of the truth.
Critic’s Notebook

What Do Commercials About A.I. Really Promise?

If human workers don’t have to read, write, or even think, it’s unclear what’s left for them to do.

The Theatre

The Theatre

A Merry and Rambunctious “Twelfth Night” in Central Park

At the newly renovated Delacorte, Saheem Ali directs a celebrity-packed production that is comically inventive but rarely stirring.
The Theatre

A Season of Unease at the Edinburgh Festival

In this year’s offerings, the mood ranged from baffled sorrow to laughter in extremis, reflecting our unsettled times.
The Theatre

Williams in Williamstown

Jeremy O. Harris, at his first Williamstown Theatre Festival as creative director, turns up the heat under rare works by the great Southern playwright.
The Lede

Women Playwrights Lose the Limelight

After years of progress in diversity, many companies’ upcoming slates feature mostly, and in some cases entirely, male-writer lineups. The backslide has prompted an outcry.

Music

Musical Events

There Is More to French Opera Than “Carmen” and “Faust”

The Bru Zane label is recording dozens of forgotten works that testify to a Romantic golden age.
Pop Music

The Sleazy, Unsettling Sounds of Mk.gee

The artist, on tour this summer, makes songs underpinned by feelings of dread and longing.
Pop Music

Ryan Davis’s Junk-Drawer Heart

The artist’s album “New Threats from the Soul” is suffused with listlessness and yearning, dark jokes, and wordy disquisitions on desire.
The New Yorker Radio Hour

Carrie Brownstein on a Portrait of Cat Power by Richard Avedon

The musician and “Portlandia” co-creator dissects an iconic rock-and-roll image: a 2003 photograph of Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power, for a New Yorker profile.

More in Culture

Goings On

Anthony Roth Costanzo Channels Maria Callas in “Galas”

Plus: the eclectic chaos of Haim, Trajal Harrell struts the catwalk at Park Avenue Armory, “Mamma Mia!” returns to Broadway, and more.
Pop Music

The Redemption of Chance the Rapper

His new album, “Star Line,” has the difficult task of reacquainting the world with the artist after several tumultuous years.
Second Read

The Nineteen-Thirties Novel That’s Become a Surprise Hit in the U.K.

Set in a small village in the Bavarian Alps, Sally Carson’s “Crooked Cross” presents an eerily familiar portrait of the rise of fascism.
Cover Story

Sergio García Sánchez and Lola Moral’s “Artist in Training”

Family time under the umbrella.
Books

Helen Oyeyemi’s Novel of Cognitive Dissonance

Kinga, the protagonist of “A New New Me,” has an odd affliction: there are seven of her.
Books

Briefly Noted

“Positive Obsession,” “Everything Evolves,” “Pariah,” and “Bonding.”
Pop Music

The Fiery Mania of Dijon’s “Baby”

The album’s frantic, unruly nature aims to communicate the madness of living with big feelings—emotions that are difficult to process and to hold to the light.
The Current Cinema

“Highest 2 Lowest” Marks a Conservative Pivot for Spike Lee

Denzel Washington stars as a music executive who takes police matters into his own hands, in this remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 kidnapping classic.
Goings On

Fall Culture Preview

What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this fall.
Book Currents

Dan-el Padilla Peralta on Learning How to Combat Loss

The Princeton classicist shares works that informed his thinking on identity and world-building, and his book “Classicism and Other Phobias.”