Culture

Loving to Lose

Loving to Lose 1

There is nothing like the exquisite pains of Browns fandom. Credit: Jeff Thrower/Shutterstock As a sincere but not vociferous fan of the Cleveland Browns, I have become accustomed to losing records, coaching carousels, quarterback changes, and a litany of high…

“Babygirl” Never Really Makes a Mess

“Babygirl” Never Really Makes a Mess 3

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story In November, the reality star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian posted a series of images and videos to her social-media accounts, in which she appeared to promote Tesla’s new A.I. robot, Optimus.…

The Best Theatre of 2024

The Best Theatre of 2024 5

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story In 2024, the theatrical fortunes of the city diverged: Broadway returned to boom times, and several commercially produced shows did gangbusters business in smaller theatres, but Off Broadway’s nonprofit companies continued…

The Remarkable Collapse of Iran’s Powerful Alliances

The Remarkable Collapse of Iran’s Powerful Alliances 16

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story For forty-five years, Tehran’s Shiite theocracy has heralded its political system as a model for all predominantly Muslim countries—and even beyond. “We should try hard to export our revolution,” Ayatollah Ruhollah…

The Afterimage of Arlene Croce

The Afterimage of Arlene Croce 19

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Arlene Croce, who wrote the Dancing column in The New Yorker from 1973 to 1996, died on December 16th, at the age of ninety. She was a towering figure, a critic…

Critics at Large Live: The Year of the Flop

Critics at Large Live: The Year of the Flop 21

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Download a transcript. Listen and subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Wherever You Listen Sign up to receive our weekly cultural-recommendations newsletter. 2024 in Review New Yorker writers reflect on the year’s…

IT’S A SALE-A-BRATION

IT’S A SALE-A-BRATION 26

What’s wrong with the commercial Christmas? Credit: Lyuba Bilyk/Shutterstock Well, I’m lighting an artificial log in the fireplace tonight, and not just any artificial log, either. I’ll be firing up the KFC 11 Herbs and Spices log, which beat out…