Tag Archives: Culture

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – June 17, 2024

People play chess in Washington Square Park.

The New Yorker (June 10, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “Pawns in the Park” – The artist captures a corner of calm contemplation in the midst of New York’s hustle and bustle.

A Striking Setback for India’s Narendra Modi

The truly disquieting thought was that the cult of personality around the Prime Minister had become suffocating and seemingly impossible to pierce—until now. By Isaac Chotiner

A Journey to the Center of New York City’s Congestion Zone

A Journey to the Center of New York City’s Congestion Zone

After Governor Kathy Hochul’s flip-flop on congestion pricing, a cop reconsiders his retirement while inching his Lexus through snarled-up traffic on the F.D.R.

By Ben McGrath

How Liberals Talk About Children

Many left-leaning, middle-class Americans speak of kids as though they are impositions, or means to an end.

By Jay Caspian Kang

Culture: The American Scholar – Summer 2024

THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR (June 4, 2024): The latest issue features ‘An Olympian for the Ages’ – Why George Eyser’s feats at the 1904 Games deserve to be celebrated today; Joshua Prager on a forgotten Olympian, Mickalene Thomas and the art of remixing, new poetry from Ange Mlinko, and more…

A Forgotten Turner Classic

Who was George Eyser, the one-legged German-American gymnast who astounded at the Olympic Games?

Femmes Fantastiques

Mickalene Thomas and the art of remixing

We Are the Borg

Is the convergence of human and machine really upon us?

The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI by Ray Kurzweil

In the fall of 2014, an MIT cognitive scientist named Tomaso Poggio predicted that humankind was at least 20 years away from building computers that could interpret images on their own. Doing so, declared Poggio, “would be one of the most intellectually challenging things … for a machine to do.” One month later, Google released an AI program that did exactly what he’d deemed impossible.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – June 10, 2024

Donald Trumps small hands reach toward outstretched handcuffs.

The New Yorker (May 30, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features John Cuneo’s “A Man of Conviction” – The former President is found guilty on all thirty-four counts.

Trump Is Guilty, but Voters Will Be the Final Judge

The jury has convicted the former President of thirty-four felony counts in his New York hush-money trial. Now the American people will decide to what extent they care.

When the Verdict Came In, Donald Trump’s Eyes Were Wide Open

In the courtroom with the former President at the moment he became a convicted felon.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – June 3, 2024

A woman rides a scooter along a river and New York Citys skyline.

The New Yorker (May 27, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features

Sergio García Sánchez’s “Scoot” – The artist depicts the thrill of leaning into summer in the city.

The People’s Commencement at Columbia

It’s 1968 all over again, as New York Ivy Leaguers flip the script and stage an unofficial counter-graduation ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

The Bronx Cheers—Mostly—for Trump

Biden’s a pedophile; Trump’s a fascist; the maga Hasidim have to get their act together—and other sentiments spewed at the former President’s rally in Crotona Park.

How to Pick Stocks Like You’re in Congress

The team at Autopilot, an app that lets you copy the trades of Nancy Pelosi’s husband (up forty-five per cent last year) or Dan Crenshaw (up forty-one), choose their newest offering.

Culture & Cities: What Its Like To Live In Amsterdam

DW Euromaxx (May 25, 2024): Beyond Amsterdam’s famed canals, bikes, coffee shops, and the Red-Light District lies a deeper narrative of what it’s like to grow up and be young in the Dutch capital.

CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:30 Living arrangements 01:56 Education 03:11 Heritage 04:24 Social life & hobbies 05:39 Legal milestones 06:55 Red-Light District 07:25 The pros and cons of living in Amsterdam

Meet Cosmo, a 19-year-old student and native Amsterdammer, as he shares his perspective on life in the city: how he spends his free time, gets around, and how Amsterdam has shaped him. #Amsterdam #Netherlands #YoungEuropeans

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – May 27, 2024

A woman carrying a bag eyes a similar counterfeit bag for sale on a city street.

The New Yorker (May 20, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features

R. Kikuo Johnson’s “Genuine Style” – The artist depicts all the luxuries the city has to offer.

Donald Trump’s Abortion Problem at the Polls

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, G.O.P. efforts to ban abortion have backfired with voters in many states—and they could do so again in November.

The Guy on Trial for the Same Thing as Trump

At 100 Centre Street, another man charged with falsifying business records had a good day in court.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – May 20, 2024

Students are escorted by police as they cross a graduation stage to accept their diplomas.

The New Yorker (May 13, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features Barry Blitt’s “Class of 2024” – The campus tensions take center stage.

An Israeli Newspaper Presents Truths Readers May Prefer to Avoid

Haaretz consistently attempts to wrestle with the realities of what is going on in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

By David Remnick

A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?

Colleagues reportedly called Lucy Letby an “angel of death,” and the Prime Minister condemned her. But, in the rush to judgment, serious questions about the evidence were ignored.

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – May 10, 2024

The Guardian Weekly (May 8, 2024) – The new issue features ‘Nowhere to call home’ – Inside Europe’s housing crisis…

Elections for the European parliament are less than a month away and far-right parties are predicted to make significant gains in many of the bloc’s 27 member states. The dire shortage of housing, leading to rising rents and property prices, is becoming a unifying focus for voters’ discontent with their current political leaders.

The issue has sparked protests from Amsterdam to Prague and Milan, as the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, reports. The data is undeniably worrying as young Europeans spend up to 10 times an average salary on rent and mortgage payments, and big cities from the Baltic states to the Iberian peninsula have registered average property price rises of close to 50%. As a result more EU residents live with their parents for longer and put off life-decisions later into adulthood.

While housing does not fall within MEPs’ remit, it is a visible locus for the sense of social unease that has beset the whole bloc and has become a pivot for the far right to turn on racialised minorities. But as European community affairs correspondent Ashifa Kassam discovers, it is those communities that are doubly penalised through discrimination from landlords who, research has shown, turn away potential renters with “foreign” surnames. The political and social ramifications of the housing crisis in Europe is mirrored elsewhere across the globe and is a subject we will return to in the Guardian Weekly in this year of elections.

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – May 13, 2024

Image may contain People Person Sport Team Team Sport Athlete Ballplayer Baseball Baseball Bat Clothing and Glove

The New Yorker (May 6, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features Mark Ulriksen’s “Shotime” – For many fans, the real harbinger of spring is the beginning of baseball season.

Hilton Als on the Sui-Generis Films of Charles Atlas

Hilton Als on the Sui-Generis Films of Charles Atlas

Also: “Uncle Vanya” and “Staff Meal” reviewed, superstar pianists at Carnegie Hall, and more.

Are We Living Through a Bagel Renaissance?

Are We Living Through a Bagel Renaissance?

A new wave of shops has made its mark across the country—and shaken New York’s bagel scene out of complacency.

By Hannah Goldfield

What Sleepy Trump Dreams About At Trial

What Sleepy Trump Dreams About At Trial

Mashed-potato nightmares! Kafka in the Oval Office! And other things going through the mind of the nap-happy ex-president in court.

By Barry Blitt

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – May 6, 2024

Sonny Rollins plays the saxophone on the Brooklyn Bridge.

The New Yorker (April 29, 2024): The new issue‘s cover features Faith Ringgold’s “Sonny’s Bridge, 1986” – The late artist’s work recalls her pioneering spirit through vivid, inventive designs.

Teresita Fernández’s Shifting Sculptural Landscapes

Also: Kamasi Washington, “The Outsiders” reviewed, Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival, and more.

The Return, Again, of the Power Lunch

Four Twenty Five, a luxe new dining room from the mega-restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten, takes square aim at the expense-account crowd.

Donald Trump’s Sleepy, Sleazy Criminal Trial

The most striking aspect of the former President’s hush-money trial so far has been that, for the first time in a decade, Trump is struggling to command attention.