The Lost Diary of Anthony BourdainFor years, the chef and TV star posted anonymously to a martial-arts forum on Reddit — but his voice was too singular to go undetected for long.
Dibyendu Bhattacharya opens up about his journey in Bengali and Hindi cinema“If you talk about cinema here and there, it’s not like there’s a difference. Everybody is working in their way. Everyone has the same passion, he added.
Devdas to Heeramandi: The Vices and Virtues of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s CourtesansThe semantic fragility between a “randi” and a “tawaif” is best exemplified in the court scene in Heeramandi, in which we see Bhansali insist upon a strange and inconsistent manifestation of courtesan culture that somehow makes courtesan culture itself indistinguishable from sex work.
Did Inadequate Women’s Healthcare Destroy Star Wars’ Old Republic?The central, overarching conflict of the first six Star Wars movies is that a democratic republic devolves into an authoritarian dictatorship. A key part of that political coup is Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side and becoming Darth Vader.
Say Cheese! How Bad Photography Has Changed Our Definition of Good PicturesKim Beil’s “Good Pictures: A History of Popular Photography” identifies 50 photographic trends that have guided the aesthetics of photography.
Confessions of a Hollywood Screenwriter: Brit Marling’s Secrets of SuccessThe 'Murder at the End of the World' creator and WGA Awards honoree bemoans the lack of performance metrics in Hollywood but shares that it is freeing as well.
Michelangelo and the most sublime declarations of gay love in artTommaso de’ Cavalieri was the light of the age, unique in the world – at least in the eyes of the man who loved him. That ardent lover was Michelangelo, who described Cavalieri in these glowing words in a letter from 1532.
11 Great Shows You Can’t Find Streaming Anywhere (and Why)When Andre Braugher died unexpectedly at the end of 2023, everyone was reminded that one of his best works, and one of the best shows in TV history, Homicide: Life on the Street, wasn’t available to watch in his honor.
20 Delightful Idioms From Around the WorldIdioms are by definition non-literal, but native speakers of a language rarely think about just how nonsensical these sayings can sometimes be.
How ‘Go,’ the Wildest, Druggiest, Horniest Cult Movie of 1999 Got Made (And Almost Didn't)I discovered Doug Liman's 1999 film Go the same way a lot of people did. I rented it from Blockbuster. I was in middle school; my mom, God bless her, let me rent anything I wanted, more or less.
The Unforgettable Power of Anna SawaiThe following interview contains spoilers for Shōgun episode 9. When the credits roll on Shōgun’s penultimate episode, Anna Sawai knows exactly what will last in the audience’s mind. “The explosion scene?” she asks. Yes, the explosion scene.
Bouncing Around the Room: Scenes From a 4/20 Phish Sesh at SphereClouds shaped like seahorses; psychedelic exploding trees; the earth’s biggest screen in your face. Phish at Sphere on 4/20 was a feast for the senses—and a celebration of the four friends we’ve made along the way.
20 Delightful Idioms From Around the WorldIdioms are by definition non-literal, but native speakers of a language rarely think about just how nonsensical these sayings can sometimes be.
How Long Will Your Blu-Ray Collection Last?Physical media is very popular these days. Nostalgia, fandom, and streaming burnout have caused certain segments of American society to switch off their Amazon Prime accounts and fire up their Blu-ray players.
The Return, Again, of the Power LunchIn 2015, when the great glassy tower that reaches up to the vault of heaven on Park Avenue between Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Streets was barely a hole in the ground, David W.