Twisted Metal is back — at least on TV. While the beloved PlayStation-era game franchise has remained dormant since its last entry in 2012, the vehicular carnage returns this summer in season two of Peacock’s live-action adaptation. The first teaser for Twisted Metal’s second season has arrived, providing a first …
Read More »'You Got Fucking Lucky': One Family's Improbable L.A. Fire Story
M y wife — as usual — understood the situation before I did. The night before, Monday, Jan. 6, we’d both been awoken by the wind. Hundred-year-old pine branches snapping off like matchsticks. Iron lawn furniture tumbling across the yard. Our dog, shaking, tried to crawl under our pillows. “This …
Read More »'It's All Gone': Devastation, Survival, and Hope From the California Fires
T he sun rose over Los Angeles County at 6:59 a.m. on Jan. 7 with many of its residents already on high alert. In Malibu, David Hertz had spent most of the night prowling around Xanabu, his aptly named 150-acre property nestled four miles above the Pacific Coast Highway. Hertz …
Read More »Why Los Angeles Burned
W e’re in serious trouble. That’s the message I saw written in the ashes of Los Angeles. And by “we,” I mean every human on this planet, rich or poor, young or old, Black or white or brown. In L.A., an $83 million house with 18 bedrooms and six bathrooms …
Read More »A Complete Timeline of the Far Right's Tumultuous Relationship With Taylor Swift
You can’t please all the people all of the time — even if you’re as popular as Taylor Swift. Having attained a somehow higher level of mega-celebrity with her record-breaking Eras Tour and a closely followed romance with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs (who are headed back to …
Read More »How 'South of Midnight' Weaves A Stop-Motion Fantasy from Deep South Lore
In the ideological battle for the soul of video games, South of Midnight (out April 8) is the stop-motion heart beating a strange, staccato rhythm at its center. The upcoming third-person action-adventure title from Montreal-based studio Compulsion Games (We Happy Few, Contrast) challenges Roger Ebert’s infamous “video games will never …
Read More »Why BookTok Is Absolutely Obsessed With Dark Romance
When Brynne Weaver first released her novel Butcher & Blackbird, she was on a fact finding mission in the self-publishing world. The author had started with fantasy, then moved into paranormal, and then contemporary dark romance— all with the express purpose of laying the groundwork for her eventual big hit. …
Read More »Tom Robbins, Counterculture Scribe of 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,' Dead at 92
Tom Robbins, the celebrated author whose novels included Skinny Legs and All, Jitterbug Perfume, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, died Sunday, Feb. 9, The New York Times reports. He was 92. Robbins died at his home in La Conner, Washington. His son Fleetwood confirmed the news but did not …
Read More »Kanye's Super Bowl Ad Plugged Website Now Selling Swastika Shirts
After half a week of using his X account to declare himself a Nazi, express his love for Adolf Hitler, denounce Jewish people, and post hardcore pornography, fallen rapper Kanye West appeared in a Super Bowl ad on Sunday evening. Though the commercial did not run nationally — this year, …
Read More »The Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed From Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Performance
Kendrick Lamar got the world talking with his attention-grabbing Super Bowl halftime on Sunday night. As the Pulitzer-winning hip-hop legend took centerstage in the New Orleans’ Caesar Superdome, everyone wondered what he might do — and the main question was whether he’d perform “Not Like Us,” the ubiquitous, chart-topping diss …
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