CATEGORIES
HOLIDAY PUNCH
\"Cult of Love\" on. Broadway and \"No President\" at the Skirball.
THE ARCHIVIST
Belle da Costa Greene's hidden story.
STIRRING STUFF
A secret history of risotto.
OCCUPY PARADISE
How radical was John Milton?
UP FROM URKEL
\"Family Matters\" and Jaleel White's legacy.
OUTSIDE MAN
How Brady Corbet turned artistic frustration into an American epic.
CHAOS THEORY
What professional organizers know about our lives.
120 MINUTES WITH...Alex Cooper
The podcaster launched an \"electrolyte beverage\" with a ski-themed party for her thirstiest fangirlies.
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
WHAT IS MAHA?
HOW WELLNESS CULTURE, WITH LEGITIMATE CONCERNS (and Some Conspiratorial Beliefs), TURNED INTO A POLITICAL MOVEMENT THAT'S POISED TO TAKE OVER WASHINGTON.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE LATE EIGHT
AFTER THEY MISSED THEIR CRUISE'S ALL-ABOARD TIME, A GROUP OF PASSENGERS WAS STRANDED ON A REMOTE ISLAND IN AFRICA. THAT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
The Story Is Offline
Alleged murderer Luigi Mangione left a digital trail but no answers.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
The Battle of the Trump Transition
Nationalists, misfits, Reaganites, and dorks jockey for position.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
FRIENDS Like THESE
When Brian Jordan Alvarez finally made it big with his FX series, English Teacher, he brought his friends along with him, just like they'd always dreamed. Except one.
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
DOORDASH STEPS UP DRIVER ID CHECKS AFTER TRAFFIC SAFETY COMPLAINTS
DoorDash will require its drivers to verify their identity more often as part of a larger effort to crack down on unauthorized account sharing.
FORTNITE PLAYERS 'TRICKED' INTO UNWANTED PURCHASES ARE STARTING TO GET REFUNDS. HERE'S HOW TO APPLY
U.S. consumers who were “tricked” into purchases they didn’t want from Fortnite maker Epic Games are now starting to receive refund checks, the Federal Trade Commission said this week.
CHINA'S BAN ON KEY HIGH-TECH MATERIALS COULD HAVE BROAD IMPACT ON INDUSTRIES ECONOMY
China has banned exports of key materials used to make a wide range of products, including smartphones, electric vehicles, radar systems and CT scanners, swiping back at Washington after it expanded export controls to include dozens of Chinese companies that make equipment used to produce advanced computer chips.
NEW JERSEY TARGETS PLASTIC PACKAGING THAT FILLS LANDFILLS AND POLLUTES
New Jersey is aiming to drastically reduce the amount of packaging material — particularly plastic — that is thrown away after the package is opened.
CHINA'S CATL FORMS JOINT VENTURE WITH STELLANTIS TO BUILD ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY FACTORY IN SPAIN
Chinese electric battery company CATL and automaker Stellantis will build a major battery factory in northern Spain, the partners announced this week.
FROM 'LOVE ACTUALLY' TO 'BLACK DOVES' WITH BEN WHISHAW, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY HAS YOUR CHRISTMAS COVERED
Keira Knightley starred in one of the most popular Christmas films of the 21st century, the 2003 romantic comedy “Love Actually.”
BILLIONAIRE WHO PERFORMED THE FIRST PRIVATE SPACEWALK IS TRUMP'S PICK TO LEAD NASA
A tech billionaire who bought a series of spaceflights from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead NASA.