Pop culture

The Myrtle-Broadway subway station in Brooklyn, 2024.

The Rise and Fall of New York Clubbing The Rise and Fall of New York Clubbing

Emily Witt’s memoir of Brooklyn's rave scene accomplishes something that even the cynical among us cannot deny: It will make you want to go dancing.

Sep 23, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kevin Lozano

Singer Taylor Swift attends the 66th Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, in Los Angeles.

Taylor Swift May Yet Save Joe Biden Taylor Swift May Yet Save Joe Biden

Attacks on the popular singer help highlight the sheer weirdness of Trump’s GOP.

Feb 5, 2024 / Jeet Heer

Joe Matt

Farewell to a Poor Bastard Farewell to a Poor Bastard

Joe Matt (1963–2023) made hilarious comedy of his own misery.

Sep 21, 2023 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

Robbie Robertson circa November 1994 at The National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution

The music called Americana was created by a Jewish-Canadian-Cayuga-Mohawk.

Aug 14, 2023 / Jeet Heer

Sinéad-O'Connor

Sinéad O’Connor (1966–2023): Premature Anti-Fascist Sinéad O’Connor (1966–2023): Premature Anti-Fascist

For years, O’Connor had been raising an alarm about pedophile priests exploiting children with impunity while an enabling Vatican hierarchy looked the other way.

Aug 1, 2023 / Obituary / Margaret Spillane

Fordism Comes to the Gallery—and AI Comes for the Artists

Fordism Comes to the Gallery—and AI Comes for the Artists Fordism Comes to the Gallery—and AI Comes for the Artists

Though hyped in the media as the latest thing, the images generated by AI art are actually old, trapping the viewer in a time loop of kitsch.

Jun 14, 2023 / Dwayne Monroe

A visitor takes a picture with his mobile phone of an image designed with artificial intelligence inspired by Johannes Vermeer’s painting “Girl With a Pearl Earring.”

Truth in the Age of the Deepfake Truth in the Age of the Deepfake

Could our interest in true-crime podcasts and celebrity biopics be telling us something about our collective discomfort with faking it?

Jun 2, 2023 / Marianela D’Aprile

A panel from Love That Bunch, by Aline Kominsky-Crumb

The Queen of Candor: Aline Kominsky-Crumb 1948–2022 The Queen of Candor: Aline Kominsky-Crumb 1948–2022

Her fearless autobiographical stories revolutionized cartooning.

Dec 5, 2022 / Obituary / Jeet Heer

Searching for Local Identity in “The Bear” and “Chicago Party Aunt”

Searching for Local Identity in “The Bear” and “Chicago Party Aunt” Searching for Local Identity in “The Bear” and “Chicago Party Aunt”

The FX drama and Netflix animation both attempt to embody the city of Chicago. That’s an increasingly difficult task when the city itself is a jumbled simulacrum of its own past.

Aug 25, 2022 / Ryan Zickgraf

When Sidney Poitier Picked Up the Gun

When Sidney Poitier Picked Up the Gun When Sidney Poitier Picked Up the Gun

Notes on a couple of native sons.

Jan 10, 2022 / Gene Seymour

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