Pop Culture

Entertainment is, among other things, an escape. An absorbing story, enriching world and compelling characters can help us forget our problems and fears for a brief time. In Disney+’s Marvel Cinematic Universe spin-off WandaVision, Wanda Maximof—the ex-Avenger with the power to influence behavior and reality—has made television, quite literally, her life in order to escape

The origins of Daft Punk, the French dance music juggernaut who announced their dissolution this morning, go all the way back to the 8th grade, where Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo first met. They started making music together in Bangalter’s bedroom around 1993; in 1995, they released “Da Funk,” which married the nascent thump

Yes. And that’s not what I’m interested in. But, there were questions about what this portrait of a relationship meant and what it looked like. So, what I remember being struck by the whole film was I really just wanted Zendaya’s character, Marie, to have a friend who’s like, “girl, come over, I’mma make some

Myrick first came to Ithaca a decade and a half ago to attend Cornell University. Initially he planned to become a journalist, but before long he was working as the assistant to a member of the city’s Common Council. He’d long been fascinated by the concept of public service. His family had been in and

The most interesting development of the Quality recording sessions was my burgeoning relationship with a young producer named Kanye West. One night late into the recording of the album, Kanye walked thru the studio door looking for Yasiin Bey. Yasiin had said he was showing up to record vocals for “Joy” that night, but he

This story is part of GQ’s Modern Lovers issue.  Making art about your family is uncomfortable. “You don’t want to do your partner injustice,” photographer Erik Madigan Heck says. “You’re almost like, ‘How could I ever capture what we have?’ ” But his latest book, The Garden, does just that. Part of a larger project

The great American filmmaker Ken Burns is known for many things: His oeuvre of engrossing and award-winning documentary series on topics as varied as baseball, jazz, the Shakers, national parks, and the Civil War. His eponymous panning shots and zoom effects. And, of course, his trademark bowl cut. A New Yorker profile from a few

I understand you’ve given some recommendations to the Biden transition team. Can you say more about that, and why you feel better about passing the torch? AM: The number one thing is that the people we have been pressuring at HHS to deliver have really been delivering. When we first made contact with people there,

What did you think of the finished movie? I’m hoping to see the story of nomads, but of course, it’s a story and the story takes precedence. The story is really about grief and healing and I think it’s a fantastic story for all who have suffered and been involved with grief and the healing

WandaVision, Marvel’s first Disney+ series, initially appeared to be a parody or satire of traditional sitcoms: The first two episodes played out in the style of 60s shows like I Love Lucy and Bewitched down to being filmed in black and white, and each episode since has advanced a decade with a corresponding homage: The

This story is part of GQ’s Modern Lovers issue.  Desperate Times He moved to Nashville to make it as a singer but wound up working as a barback, a job that in three years had gone from tolerable to marginal to almost unbearable. At 26, his dream of a career in music had already begun

This story is part of GQ’s Modern Lovers issue.  It was the first week of summer 2018 when Richie Shazam spotted Ben Draghi gyrating on the dance floor at Brooklyn’s Spectrum. Neither of them had been in a serious relationship: Draghi had just graduated from college and was acclimating himself to New York’s queer scene,

This story is part of GQ’s Modern Lovers issue.  “I love your work,” Mikaela Straus, the 22-year-old musician known as King Princess, once impulsively sent into the direct-message abyss while staring longingly at Quinn Wilson’s Instagram avatar. For her part, Wilson, the 27-year-old, Minneapolis-born director, had recently been introduced to Straus’s music through a friend.

Clive Chin probably should have expected a little bit of turbulence when he caught a flight from Kingston Jamaica to New York City with Peter Tosh as his traveling companion. The weather wasn’t a problem, but when the captain turned off the No Smoking sign and the reggae legend sparked up the ornate ganja pipe

Fox, on the other hand, has leaned further into a particular brand of soft, nerdy style that Matutina clocked as instantly attractive when they first met—think corduroy, printed fleece zips, high-water pants. He says he likes to look “aerodynamic” but admits it’s closer to “divorced dad” than cyberpunk. “I look like I work at Blick,

Yeah. And it is funny. That I don’t mind as much. I’m always curious to see how I’m going to be introduced because I will sometimes be introduced as Twitter’s Poet Laureate, which, what is that even? Or a tweet will be mentioned, or I’ll just be introduced as the author of “Rape Joke,” which

Good morning, modern lovers! It’s a very quarantine Valentine’s Day and we’ve got love on the brain like Rihanna. As you might have heard, the March ‘Modern Lovers’ issue of GQ is on newsstands now. So when the GQ social squad asked me to put together a new Spotify playlist to mark the swooniest season

Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial began earlier this week, this time for charges of “incitement to riot;” the prosecution wrapped its case Friday morning. Although he’s out of the White House, if he’s convicted this time around Trump would be barred from running for office again. But while Senate Republicans were ready to acquit Trump

Throughout that time the trio worked to get the track in front of Jay-Z. “We always thought that was going to be Nip and Jay-Z,” says Mike, “from the jump.” Dopson regularly tours with Jay-Z as part of his backup band 1500 or Nothin, and put the track in Jay’s hands via his longtime engineer

The opening scene of The Silence of the Lambs is a masterclass in restraint. For roughly two minutes, director Jonathan Demme turns his focus to a woman climbing a hill on a training course. When she reaches the summit, she gazes around; a small smirk crosses her face as she turns to see a bird