Mike Johnsonis the new Speaker of the House. The Louisiana Republican won the gavel on Wednesday, three chaos-filled weeks after the partyoustedKevin McCarthy from the position earlier this month. Republicans voted unanimously to make him second in line to the presidency. Johnson, who was elected to the House in 2016, …
Read More »Kevin Abstract Grapples With Guilt and Grief on New Song 'Running Out'
Brockhampton founder Kevin Abstract has shared another new song, “Running Out,” from his upcoming solo album, Blanket, out Nov. 3. The song finds Abstract continuing to explore the contours of indie and alternative rock, with a simmering lo-fi guitar riff that gives way to the uneasy keen of a synth. …
Read More »Tierra Whack Can Feel Everyone Watching Her in 'Cypher' Documentary Trailer
If Tierra Whack didn’t want to be seen, she wouldn’t have made an entire documentary chronicling her rise to fame. But as Cypher will detail upon its Nov. 24 release on Hulu and in select theaters, fame requires adjustment and balance, and with that comes a type of visibility that …
Read More »'Maestro': Bradley Cooper's Leonard Bernstein Biopic Unveils Official Trailer
Bradley Cooper embodies Leonard Bernstein in the new trailer for Maestro, the actor-director’s acclaimed biopic about the legendary composer and his lifelong relationship with Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan. Following its teaser trailer this summer, the latest preview further highlights the painstaking (and somewhat controversial) level of detail that …
Read More »It's Time for Big Tech to Stand Up for Journalism
The California State Legislature wrapped up its work. It passed several bills that will drastically reshape our state and country. The California Journalism Protection Act was not among them. This is a missed opportunity. In a world that once celebrated the internet’s promise of connectivity, shared experiences and equal access …
Read More »Museum Corrects Dwayne Johnson Wax Figure Skin Tone: 'We Just Made an Honest Mistake'
Dwayne Johnson‘s melanin has been returned to his wax figure at the Grévin Museum in Paris. After a weekend of being criticized for white-washing the original statue of the actor, who requested the change, the location reinstalled the new figure that more closely resembles his true skin tone. In response …
Read More »Sam Bankman-Fried Will Testify at His Fraud Trial
Sam Bankman-Fried will take the rare, and potentially precarious, step of testifying on his own behalf at his ongoing criminal fraud trial, The New York Times reports. Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Mark Cohen, confirmed the embattled FTX founder’s plan to testify during a recent hearing with prosecutors and the judge overseeing the …
Read More »Are Daft Punk Planning on Reuniting for Next Year's Olympics? 'Non'
Daft Punk will not be playing at your house, and they most certainly will not be reuniting next summer for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, Rolling Stone has confirmed. “This is a rumor and not true,” a rep for the robots tells Rolling Stone. The twosome …
Read More »A Lesson on Eastern Fandom for Western Advertisers: The Case of Yonezu-Miyazaki
Our era of transient media consumption has pinned aesthetic depth in the hands of a few niche subcultures. Outside of which, the artistic outputs are dominated by psychologically driven design meant to trick the eye and offer an algorithmically satisfying viewpoint. In the house of the rising sun, there is …
Read More »Are These 'Reasonable' Republicans Privately Plotting an Abortion Crackdown?
At a fundraiser at the Country Club of Fairfax earlier this month, an attendee sidled up to Bill Woolf, a Republican running for state Senate, and told him plainly that she was disappointed in his embrace of a “compromise” on “the issue of life.” Woolf, who is running for office …
Read More »