Category Culture

Charles Addams’s “Ascent”

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Comedy—the theme of this year’s Archive Issue—is forever present in the work of the late cover artist Charles Addams. This image originally ran, without a title, as the cover of the…

A Drag Story Hour Simply Observed in “It’s Okay”

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Watch “It’s Okay.” In late December, 2022, when demonstrators gathered outside a public library, in Queens, to protest a Drag Story Hour, the filmmaker and investigative journalist David France was present…

How “Industry” Made Prestige TV for the TikTok Era

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story In the first episode of the third season of “Industry,” which premières this weekend on Max, a new character is introduced to the show’s ensemble. “Industry” focusses on the British office…

“Weird” Is a Rebuke to Republican Dominance Politics

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Are you weird? According to Democrats—who have made “weird” a new term of art for Republicans—you’re weird if you get overexercised about the genitalia of Olympic athletes, think childless people shouldn’t…

“Out of Anger”: Listening to Elizabeth Taylor

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story The art of storytelling is the art of simplification—of giving smooth contours and sharp points to messily loose-ended incidents. That’s why, when artists tell their life stories, the plethora of factual…

Why I Finally Quit Spotify

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story The other week, I updated the operating system on my Mac laptop after putting the task off for many months. (One intractable flaw of technological devices: they never actually update overnight…

What Don’t We Know?

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story My son, who is at pains to tell you that he is not five but five and three-quarters, is obsessed with the future. He draws pictures of crystalline cityscapes crisscrossed by…