There was a cipher going on outside the Hip-Hop 50 Live show at Yankee Stadium. One woman took the mic, intently closing her eyes while focusing on her next bar. As I walked away, she rhymed an improvisational derivative of recuperate, before spitting “that’s not even a word, I just …
Read More »What Really Happens When You End Legacy Admissions
The morning Amherst College announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed it was ending admission preferences for legacy students, alumni group chats lit up. As one Amherst grad characterized it at the time: “I’ve received about 40 texts from aggrieved rich white people since 8 a.m.” Privately, some graduates of …
Read More »See Bono Serenade Sarajevo Film Festival With Bob Marley Classic
Bono delivered an impromptu, a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s classic “Redemption Song” Friday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where a documentary about U2’s long history with the Bosnian city premiered. Both Bono and the Edge were on hand for the screening of Kiss the Future, which documents aid worker …
Read More »Why 'Winter Kills' Is the Perfect Conspiracy Thriller for the QAnon Era
The ’70s were the perfect time to be paranoid: rumors of government-sanctioned assassinations here and abroad, second-gunman theories around dead presidents, whispers of elite secret societies pulling strings, that whole Watergate thing. It wafted in the air like yesterday’s tear gas. The movies picked up the vibe and amplified it. …
Read More »What Hollywood Strikers Can Learn From the Porn Industry
Performers are making the most in industry history. If you’re following the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, this may sound shocking, but I’m not talking about mainstream Hollywood. I’m referring to the so-called “Other Hollywood” — the porn industry, which is in the midst of a financial renaissance thanks to big …
Read More »These Women Tried to Warn Us About AI
T IMNIT GEBRU didn’t set out to work in AI. At Stanford, she studied electrical engineering — getting both a bachelor’s and a master’s in the field. Then she became interested in image analysis, getting her Ph.D. in computer vision. When she moved over to AI, though, it was immediately …
Read More »Inside 'The Shark Is Broken,' the Meta Play About the Making of 'Jaws'
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A man goes to make a movie about a shark. He decides to shoot on the ocean instead of a tank on a soundstage, to give it that extra sense of realism. Virtually everything that can go wrong does go wrong, including …
Read More »Inside the Hunt to Find an American FBI Asset Who Vanished in Russia
In the summer of 2018, I traveled to Russia in search of a lost American named Billy Reilly. He had disappeared three years prior in connection to the war in Ukraine. While scores of Americans encounter trouble abroad each year, Reilly’s case was unique: He worked for the Federal Bureau …
Read More »Lorde Teased Two Unreleased Songs at UK Festival
Earlier this week, Lorde hinted at new music “soon” on a rare social media post. The singer-songwriter made good on her promise during her headlining performance at the UK’s Boardmasters Festival on Friday. Video clips from her set reveal the artist against the outline of a moon and singing new …
Read More »Sam Smith Takes the Driver's Seat in Calvin Harris Video Collab 'Desire'
Sam Smith + Calvin Harris on a track always leads to pure magic. On Friday, Harris and Smith released the drag race-themed video for their newest collaboration, “Desire.” The video follows Smith (with a scar on their nose) speeding through an empty parking lot alongside another racer. The video splices …
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