Tag Archives: culture

On January 1, Mike Neville gave Midjourney the following prompt: “Steamboat Willie drawn in a vintage Disney style, black and white. He is dripping all over with white gel.” There’s no polite way to describe what this prompt conjured from the AI image generator. It looks, very much, like Mickey …

When access to reproductive health care is threatened in the United States, a growing number of women stock up on abortion medications to keep on hand in case they need the pills in the future, new research shows. A study analyzed 48,404 requests for “advance provision” abortion medications made to …

In Hollywood, 2023 will forever be known as the year of Hot Strike Summer. With both the writers and actors guilds on the picket lines, film and television production—and publicity—as we know it (mostly) came to a halt. The work stoppage inevitably wreaked havoc on every network, studio, and streamer’s …

All told, despite the fact that the industry was on strike for half of the year, 2023 was a pretty good year to go to the movies. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Fast X, Barbenheimer—all of them were big hits at the box office. Problem is, the real pain of …

The millennial internet first died in 2015. I remember the day exactly because I was one of seven staffers, in addition to many more permalancers, at Gawker Media who were laid off as part of a company-wide restructuring. I received a message on Slack, was asked to join a meeting …

The Dungeons & Dragons video game Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a cultural phenomenon, winning countless accolades including Game of the Year. One of the game’s biggest fans is science fiction editor John Joseph Adams, who has played Baldur’s Gate 3 for more than 1,000 hours. “It’s absolutely an amazing …

While the writers strike may have crippled late-night TV in 2023, scripted television—at least for the first half of the year—was in full swing, and at a distinct high point. If the only series to air all year had been Succession, it still would have been a phenomenal year for …

One of the more amusing TikToks that followed the announcement of the forthcoming Legend of Zelda movie riffs on a scene from the animated series Drawn Together. In it, the blue-caped Captain Hero sits in a wheelchair at the bottom of a staircase next to the text “Zelda fans when …

While Barbenheimer was undoubtedly the biggest movie story of 2023, the year in film was one jam-packed with dozens of truly great movies—not all of which managed to generate the nonstop headlines or mainstream traction that an iconic doll and the “father of the atomic bomb” did. It was a …

A large group of young people are cosplaying as their favorite characters. Others are wearing T-shirts with similar motifs and bright, colorful hair. This scene is typical to many conventions around the globe, but here in São Paulo, it’s different. Many of the attendees are Black and brown Brazilians. Their …